Women Only! Very Personal!

[anniedub 0]

wow...def. check out PCOS.

I had some thoughts that I might have it. Inability to lose weight, excess hairyness, acne, mood swings...when I told my doc that while doing my thyroid check maybe I could check my hormones just to make sure they were all normal...and he said "Honestly that's rarely ever the case" and he refused to test my hormones even though i asked...

Hey BlackCherry,

I would pursue it. I don't know whether or not you guys can change doctors in the US -- the whole "PCP" thing confuses me no end.

Anyway, my old doctor (who had treated me since I was 8 years old) refused to test me for PCOS, despite the fact that she had to put me on birth control pills from age 11 because I could not walk for 4-5 days whenever I had a period, due to debilitating pain. I've been on birth control since my 3rd ever period. I had the works - immensely heavy periods, inability to lose weight, excess hair, sporadic acne and major, constant PMS. She also refused to even refer me to a surgeon to DISCUSS a lap band, as "she'd had a patient who lost nothing and actually ended up gaining more, so the band doesn't work".

Eventually, I just said "bugger it" and went to another doc. The new doctor immediately sent me to a gyno/PCOS specialist who informed me that I have the worst case of PCOS she has ever seen in someone so young. I also asked the new doc to refer me to a lap band surgeon. She didn't know much about the procedure, but was happy to let me go and find out. (Obviously) I ended up getting the surgery, my doc is over the moon with my results and is now reccommending the lap band to all her morbidly obese patients. My gyno can't believe how much the lap band has helped me, and on my last visit she informed me that the lap band is the reason I will still be able to have children -- without losing that weight, she said my chances of ever conceiving would be less than 1%.

The bottom line (and the point of this bloody long message!) is that YOU know your body better than a doctor who might see you for 5 minutes and make a snap judgement based on that. If they won't even let you get tested, FIND SOMEONE ELSE WHO WILL!

Good luck to you,

Annie xox

[speck 1]

So we went from FUPA----Fatty Upper Pubic Area to PCOS!!! :thumbup:

On a serious note- it's great that someone can ask questions like this and get help.

Great board!

[blackcherry2002 5]

See I thought it couldn't hurt, I mean all it would take is a blood test and they were already testing my blood to make sure my thyroid meds were working. And since I already have hypothyroidism, I've gained weight like crazy and can't get it off, mood swings like you wouldnt believe including severe depression, hairyness(quite an embarassing symptom to bring up to a doc) and acne since I hit puberty(at age 8 yay!)....I'm just so confused about why my doc would down and out ignore me.

I went to my school doc to get acne meds and I asked about Spirolactone...and I read reviews and a lot of the people that take it say:

1. Their hair and face are less greasy.

2. Excess Hair growth stops or slows down

3. Perfectly clear skin

4. Mood swings are diminished.

Well I asked my doc this, especially because he gave me antibiotics and I don't want to build a resistance as well as mess with my birth control and it can cause a lot of stomach problems that I really don't want to mess with after having lap band. He wouldn't let me. And this is after I said I wasn't comfortable taking the antibiotics...he basically just said to take them and forget about it.

And my regular doc is the one that said that my problems probably weren't hormonal even after I asked if we could check it out just to rule it out as a possibility.

Maybe I need a female doctor.....Damn men.