Re: Hopes shattered by a prominate PCOS doctor (kinda long, sorry)
From: jodi (anonymous@obgyn.net)
Mon, 25 Nov 2002 13:51:38 -0600 (CST)
1. My absolute worst experience with doctors - once I knew PCOS was my
problem and how it could be treated - was with a supposed PCOS
specialist at a renowned women's hospital in Pittsburgh, PA. I ended up
getting my best treatment from a regular old endocrinologist I had never
heard of.
(This is how I found her - I did a search for reasearch on PCOS in my
town, and I emailed the director and asked if he know of any good docs
for PCOS in our area. It was a peds research project so I couldn't be
in it anyway.)
Moral - titles/laurels don't always mean a thing! Find a better doctor.
There are a LOT of idiots practicing medicine out there, sadly.
2. As for the weight... Sam Thatcher says in his book, for a lot of
women, just aiming to get under 200 pounds is the best they can do.
Maybe for some of us, it's true... He does say though that just getting
under 200 pounds DOES help those women a lot. So it may or may not be
true that you will never be super thin... but that doesn't mean you
can't improve your health anyway, despite your weight.
3. Any chance you can try regular glucophage? Not XR and not generic? I
think a lot of women have better weight loss success with that than the
XR stuff...
4. Keep your chin up! I truly believe that this disorder is by NO MEANS
100% genetic, that it may be difficult, but that we CAN make life
changes to improve our health tremendously. This may mean medication,
this may mean diet modifications... but I think it can be done. We
will never be 100% cured but we can make our health a lot better.
At Sun, 24 Nov 2002, anonymous wrote:
>
>First of all, I have been diagnosed with PCOS for about 3 or 4 years,
>though have suffered the effects since puberty. I have all the classic
>symptoms: obesity, excess body hair, infurtility, acne, etc.. and have
>had an ultrasound which confirmed that my overies were polycystic. After
>the intial diagnosis 3 years ago, I was put on birth control pills and
>Glucophage XR 1000 mg/day by a reproductive endocrinoligist. Two years
>have passed since being put on the meds and I have seen no positive
>results and have actually gained weight. At the urgeing of my family, I
>decided to make another appointment. The endocrinolist who I saw two
>years eariler had moved and I made an appt. with another doctor at the
>same health facility. The dr. I was going to see is VERY respected and
>(from what I gather) is one of the formost experts in the country in
>PCOS. I was very excited to be able to see him and held hopes that
>maybe he could help me. Imagine my absolute horror when he said that I
>was basically beyond hope, that I would never get under 200 lbs unless I
>became "a marathon runner and anorexic" and that basically I should
>enjoy my shortened lifespan as much as a could (He was entirely
>serious). Trying not to breakdown and cry in his office, I jokingly
>said "Well, it's a long, hard road out of hell" He just looked at me and
>said that my long, hard road was through hell. With my genes, I would
>never actually make it out. He did say that they could run some blood
>work and put me back on Glucophage XR but that it was probably a waste
>of my time and money. It was very apparent that he didn't care if he
>ever saw me again. His attitude during the whole visit varied from
>ampathy to outright contempt. I was glad my sweet husband was waiting
>for me after I got out. As soon as I got into the car, I burst into
>tears. I have been constantly fighting severe depression for the last
>five years and this really didn't help. I don't know what to do now. If
>one of the leading national doctors in PCOS has no hope for me, why
>should I even bother to continue this fight. I pray to God that no one
>else has to go through the kind of self-esteem shattering, humiliating
>doctor's visit that I endured.
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