So today I was diagnosed with polycystic ovary syndrome (is that what kids call it these days? I always used to hear “ovarian” not “ovary” but “ovary” is all over the web). The diagnosis isn’t really a surprise. I’ve always been pudgy and furry, always had problems with my periods (though I have short cycles rather than irregular ones), and I have autoimmune thyroid disease which is associated with PCOS. I get hungry and shaky easier than most people too, it seems.
But until I had a pelvic ultrasound today nobody had come out and diagnosed me. My blood pressure and cholesterol and blood sugar have always been fine and my weight has always been south of 200 pounds (fairly well south, before I had my daughter). I don’t have much inappropriately-placed fuzz, though doctors have been asking me if I do since I was a teenager.
Anyway, now I’m on metformin and a low carb diet. My case is “mild, even borderline”. I hope I start feeling better. Anybody have anything to say?
By committing wholeheartedly to diet, exercise and metformin, my very sweet cousin-in-law was able to have 2 boys 3 years apart and is in the best shape of her life. She’s the first to say that every day she has to make those choices (her husband isn’t able to be as committed to diet and exercise and that makes it harder for her) but having control over her life has been freeing for her. She wasn’t diagnosed until after college and she was in denial for some time.
Like any chronic health issue there’s enough on the internet to overwhelm you a hundred times over; don’t do that to yourself.
Remember to tell every medical practitioner you come across that you are not diabetic, because to every one of them - nurses, doctors, dentists, eye doctors - metformin = diabetic. Even the nurse practitioner I was seeing for years who put me on the metformin forgot I wasn’t diabetic.
It makes me feel squicky to have to announce in the middle of the open-air dentist’s office that no, I am not diabetic, I have PCOS. Oh, what is that? Polycystic ovarian syndrome ok? So now everyone in the whole office knows I have cysts on my ovaries. Please, tell your friends.
Welcome to the PCOS club! I am very glad to hear that you are taking metformin, even though they say your case is borderline. I’m borderline as well…and my doc refused to put me on metformin because like you my sugar levels were fine. But I still got the hunger and the shakes (awful feelings, aren’t they?). Not to mention hideous skin breakouts (all through my 30’s…oh joy). Finally I got so desperate that I ended up ordering the metformin illegally off the internet. Fessed up to my doc after a year when he complimented me on my improved complexion. It was only after that, that I FINALLY got a real, honest-to-God prescription for the met.
The metformin will make you feel better, but give it some time. Several months worth of time, depending on how long it’s been that you were undiagnosed. For me, I wasn’t diagnosed until I was past 40…been on met now for 2 years and things are finally working like they should.
If you are new to the low carb community and want to ask questions or get some recipes, these two sites seem to be the best.
Good luck. My younger sister was told she had something like PCOS (don’t remember what exactly) and is being put on Metformin soon if the other stuff they are trying isn’t working.
Thanks for the responses, everyone. Especially thanks for advice about being a “borderline” case. I’ve been vacillating between feeling glad that I finally have some motivation to clean up my diet and exercise routine, and feeling that since I don’t “really” have it I don’t have to be strict with myself. Except I do have to be strict so I can get pregnant again–that’s how this whole thing started.
I picked up my metformin today and will start taking it at dinner tonight.
I am 33 and doctors have been asking leading questions about this for twenty years, but nobody bothered to go any further with it until I had an ultrasound yesterday.