What does this mean?

[Beccarox12]

Hi, my name is Becca and this is my first post.

I was diagnosed with PCOS a year ago. I have all the symptoms of PCOS (excess hair, weight gain, ect).

I haven’t seen my doctor in a year and now I‘m experiencing pelvic pain and every time I have sex i will bleed from it and it’s somewhat painful. I don’t have an appointment for a few weeks but I'm starting to get scared and I'm wondering what's wrong with me.

I was put medication for my PCOS (I don’t remember what the name of it was but it was some type of hormone) a year ago. I was only given a week's supply and I got my period back for 2 months but stopped after that. I had no sex drive before but once I was on the meds it was like I couldn’t get enough. About 2 weeks after coming off the medication I started to experience a really bad bout of depression. So now I'm afraid of being put back on any type of medicine.

I'm beginning to fear it might be something worst. I’m due to get married in a few months and if it wasn’t for my guy pushing me to go to my doctor I would probably just try to live with the symptoms. I'm only 22 and I'm just afraid my problem might not be fixable. Any type of information would be great.

Thank You

[splashsmama]

The pain during sex and the bleeding during sex could be attributed to endometriosis. I'm sure the dr will bring that up, and if not, then ask him/her about it.
Also, make sure they test you for hypothyroidism. Sometimes the symptoms match those of PCOS.
A lot of women on here have had both along with their PCOS, and they were able to manage their side effects and go on to have healthy children.

The only meds they may put you on, if it's just PCOS, will be small doses of Metformin (about 500mg) and then steadily work you up in dosage to probably 1500mg-2000mg. Some women experience stomach problems with this drug, but if you start on a low dose and work your way up, you should only have a day or two of these side effects. But Metformin is the #1 go-to drug for PCOS right now.

If you haven't had a period in over 2-3 months, they'll want to induce it. Do NOT let them put you on birth control pills because it'll "regulate" you. That's a lie. It'll simply mask the effects of PCOS, and the moment you stop taking the BCP, your symptoms will come back in full force.
To induce a period, you'll be prescribed either Provera or Prometrium. The side effects are hardly noticeable or inconvenient. Most of the time, Provera is prescribed. Some women react differently to it. For me, it was too strong and made my period cramps hurt bad along with really heavy bleeding. So I switched to Prometrium and it was gentler on me.

If you have any other questions, please feel free to ask.

Oh, your dr should run blood tests to check your hormone levels and such the day you go in for your appt. And you should also schedule an ultrasound to check your ovaries for cysts. These are normal diagnostic tests to go through when first dealing with PCOS.

[sweetsunshine72]

You need to make sure that you get AF at least every 3 months to aviod an increased risk of cervical/endometrial cancer! So, that should be priority #1! If you can remember the name of the med you were given before (it sounds like Provera or Prometrium, Provera is man-made, and Prometrium is "natural"), then let the doc know so he can give you the other one, to avoid the depression!

PCOS is really a hormonal imbalance caused by Insulin Resistance (or, more rarely, hypothyriod, sometimes along with the IR), so be sure to get thoroughly checked out for that. There's more information in the FAQ's sticky, so go through that, too.

On your own, you will need to switch to a low-GI-type diet and increase your exercise. This will not only help you feel better in the long run, but if you take Metformin (which you probably will), it will help the Met work better and you should experience fewer side effects.

Let us know how things go! Take care, HTH!!! :)