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Re: Am I just imagining it?From: jodi (anonymous@obgyn.net)Mon, 8 Apr 2002 15:14:23 -0500 (CDT)
Hey Angie First... WHY won't your mother let you see an ob/gyn??? Current concerns aside, you're supposed to see one when you become sexually active or when you turn 18. I know nothing about your sex life, but you're close enough to 18 in my opinion to become concerned about the health of your womanly parts. If you are sexually active and you're comfortable sharing this with your mother, you might want to bring that up as a push to let her let you go. (If you're not comfortable with it, though, that's understandable... try pushing the "I'm almost 18" thing instead.) OK, all that said... you TOTALLY sound like you have PCOS, or something else very similar, and equally wrong. It is NOT normal to have periods 14 months apart. It is NOT normal to have skin tags. Hairiness might or might not be normal for you... I don't know anything about your family and genetic background. If you feel you are hairier than your female relatives, then it is possibly a problem. Being overweight can certainly worsen some of our symptoms... but it does NOT provide the sole explanation for them. I have seen an awful lot of obese women who did not have body hair issues. I have known an awful lot of overweight girls who had regular periods (my best friend in college was an inch or so shorter than me, outweighed me by a good 15 pounds, and had clockwork periods). The insulin problems behind PCOS can make weight gain easier... and the excess weight can make PCOS symptoms worse... but "You're just overweight" does NOT explain PCOS. Neither does being young!!! I wish I could have back those years when ignorant doctors told me my periods were irregular because I was "still growing." I started having periods at age 11. For doctors to not be alarmed when they were still wildly irregular at 16 was, in retrospect, a darn shame. Bottom line, do not think that your weight or your age are causing your problems. Also, though, do not think a gyn is the solution here... the first gyn I saw was a complete moron when it came to PCOS. She's fine as a gyn... but even after my diagnosis, when I knew bloody well I had PCOS, she was a moron when it came to that. She told me I wasn't overweight enough to have PCOS, and she told me that even if I did, PCOS does not result in infertility. I'm not saying all gyns are morons, just not to hang your hopes on a gyn being the only person who can help you. PCOS is en endocrine problem that manifests itself in a bunch of ways... as a skin problem, as a menstrual problem, as a weight problem... it's a very puzzling disorder. That's why not all gyns are knowledgable about it. You wouldn't expect your dentist to treat your ingrown tonails, right? So you shouldn't expect your gyn to treat your endocrine problems. HOWEVER... your dentist being a dentist doesn't mean he just might have some experience with ingrown tonails. Maybe he has a foot fetish. Maybe he failed out of podiatry school before he became a dentist. What i'm saying is... well, it's not certain you gyn won't know about PCOS. Do you have a trusted family doc you could bring this up with? Maybe he/she could make some referrals, and then your mom would have to listen (in theory...) If you can't get your mom to take you to the doc... well, if I were in your situation I would write to him and say, ehy, I'm having these weird problems, and my mom won't take me seriously. Do you think these are cause for concern? I'm wondering if I could have PCOS. I've done some reading and... Two other possibilities... to be used alone or in cojnuntion with each other... Planned parenthood. All they could do is do a gyn exam and give you birth control pills. BCPs are by no means the best treatment for PCOS... nor are they even really a treatment... they put the symptoms on hold. Think of it as hitting Pause on your VCR. As soon as you hit play, the movie will still be there... but for the time being, it's stopped. some argue that BCPs might even make things worse. i personally do not take BCPs because i suffered too much with side effects... but there are a lot of BCPs out there, and if you really are unable to do nothing else about this problem... well, you can at least control it with BCPs for a short while. When you're older and have your own health insurance, you can take more aggressive treatment. You might want to try some research on which BCPs are best for PCOS, too... stay away from those that aren't monophasic. (I could go on forever about the pros and cons of BCPs... I have not, to be honest, decided that they are all good or all bad. i personally cannot handle them - I become completely suicidal on them, and i have tried > 10 kinds... but I do see a lot of good in them, albeit as a less-than-number-one treatment option...) Natural remedies. A very good very motivating book is something like "PCOS: A woman's guide to living with polycystic ovarian syndrome" by Claudette Harris (I think...) Do a search on Amazon under PCOS and see what comes up. I have seen this book at barnes and noble, so you can buy it there if ordering on line is a prob for you (i know i certainly did have a credit card at 17!). Most bookstores will special order, too, so if you can get to a book store, you can get this book. PCOS: the hidden epidemic is also required reading... it provides information on the causes and treatments more than it provides an empowering do-it-yourself approach. both good books, just diffeent angles here... ANYWAY... on your own, without a doctor, you can: - reduce your carb (especially refined carbs and sugar) intake and increase your protein intake - exercise more - even just walking 2 miles a day has been shown to help - research vitamins & minerals that have helped people. chromium (200mcg/day) has been said to have helped a LOT of women. I have seen studies where increasing vitamin d & calcium have helped (dunno if I buy this...)... and there are others, as well... - reduce/eliminate caffeine any other tips, anyone? i know how awful it is to not be able to get a doctor or parent to take you seriously... i suffered for years, thinking i was the only woman in the country with this problem... i was 23 when I finally got a diagnosis. i played doctor roulette for more than 6 years... the fact is, though, that as nice as it would be to get medical treatment when you know you need it... there are still measures you can take yourself to control this. good luck, and i hope this helped a little. - jodi
At Sun, 7 Apr 2002, Angie wrote:
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