PCOS Messages for February, 2002: Re: hair growth

Re: hair growth

From: Belle (anonymous@obgyn.net)
Sat, 9 Feb 2002 17:53:06 -0600 (CST)

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In reply to: anonymous@obgyn.net: "hair growth"

I would like for you to do some reading on PCOS. http://www.pcosupport.org is good, http://www.inciid.org/faq/pcos.html will also give you some basic information.

The BCP is not a treatment for PCOS. It makes the problem worse in many cases because of the decreased metabolism that is a side effect. You do not mention which one you are on but I hope that it is a mono-phasic pill. These are ones that you take the same level of medication throughout the month. The tri phasic pills often cause more cysts to form on our ovaries if you have that symptom.You

Hirsutism (unwanted hair growth) is another side effect of the pill. You should have some prescribing information from the pharmacist, if not, you can find that information on the web. If you cannot find it, let me know and I will see if I can find it for you.

You do not say what test you had for insulin resistance. Some doctors who do research in PCOS will tell you that probably all women with PCOS will test insulin resistant if our tests were sensitive enough. You can have insulin resistance even if you are thin. I started out thin and stayed that way for many years. My daugher has always been thin, so thin the pediatricians always commented about it. Both of us have hyperinsulinimia which can suggest insulin resistance. There are VERY few people who have been tested for insulin resistance since it is very expensive and only done as part of research trials. The GTT with insulin levels is what most of us have had. It cannot be only fasting levels. That tells us nothing until we are very severe.

If your testing was done while you were on the pill, your hormonal values will reflect what your pill has been putting into your body and is not a reliable test of your body's true function. The testosterone level is also not the only test for male hormones that is available. If you are having excess hair growth, you have some problem, now you just have to figure out what it is. You should not let this continue as that makes it harder to reverse.

At Sat, 9 Feb 2002, anonymous@obgyn.net wrote: >
>i was diagnosed with pcos about 7 months ago and have been on bcp ever
>since. i had some blood work done recently that showed that my
>testosterone levels were back in mid-normal range and i didn't have a
>trace of insulin resistance. i am 21 years old and thin.
>unfourtunately, though, i still feel like my excess hair growth is
>worsening, especially since i've been on the bcp. is this to be
>expected?

-- Hope this helps,

Belle

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