Re: age the different aspects of pcos began?
From: Jenn (anonymous@obgyn.net)
Tue, 17 Dec 2002 12:41:56 -0800
Wow. SO much of that sounds like stuff I went through. My friend and I were
just talking about the whole "boobs in 2nd grade" issue. I remember the
teacher telling the boys "It's not polite to poke Jenn in the breasts".
Argh.
I didn't have the extreme weight gain but I was ALWAYS just a little
"chunky", never seeming to lose any weight like all my other friends could
do.
Wasn't there a recent study at Medscape.com about the relationship of early
puberty and PCOS?
--Jenn
>----- Original Message -----
From: "jodi" <anonymous@obgyn.net>
To: "Multiple recipients of list PCOS" <anonymous@obgyn.net>
Sent: Tuesday, December 17, 2002 12:31 PM
Subject: Re: age the different aspects of pcos began?
> OK, here's mine. Stuff I didn't know had any meaning at all at the
> time, but now think has to do with PCOS/IR.
>
> Age 8, I was taking a bath and noticed that the skin on the soles of my
> feet was dry and thick and hard. My mother said I should use Dove soap
> on them. I don't think she realized I meant dry like rawhide, not dry
> skin!
>
> Also age 8, 2nd grade - we always ended morning prayers in school with
> the Pledge of Allegiance. One day I noticed my hand didn't fit so flat
> on my chest - my boobies were growing. I was not pleased.
>
> Also age 8, my pediatrician tells my mother that I am too fat and should
> go on a diet. I weighed 75 pounds, he thought I should weigh 60. Thus
> began a cycle of sneaking food and yo yo dieting that continues to this
> day, as does my loathing of my pediatrician.
>
> 3rd grade - the dreaded yearly school physical. Four of us at a time go
> to the nurses office, where we are weighed and measured in front of our
> peers. The weight results are shouted out. I weigh 113 pounds - I
> guess this was my biggest PCOS to come weight jump. (Of course, the
> nurse did not mention that I also grew six inches between my last
> physical and then... and all the boys - and it was all boys I got sent
> down with - laughed at me.)
>
> Also third grade... notice pubic hair. I am not pleased! I try
> trimming it with safety scissors in the girl's lavatory. Not too
> effective. Also at this time I start getting that
> revving-up-for-menstruation vaginal discharge in my underpants - I think
> I am just not wiping well enough!
>
> Fat kid through 4th, 5th grades... Late in 5th grade, one month shy of
> my eleventh birthday, I get my first period. It is Valentine's Day. I
> was not pleased. I still have weird feelings about Valentine's day...
>
> Now, in retrospect, having done a good deal of research on both PCOS and
> puberty, I think that my puberty was VERY drawn out. I think this has
> to have had something to do with PCOS, my body was revving up but
> couldn't quite get over the bump. So all of the above does have a
> point. :-)
>
> Also in 5th grade, leg hair is horrible. I begin shaving. Or else I
> wear tights. In June.
>
> 6th grade, still a fat kid. I have no idea if during this time, my
> periods were normal or not. I know I didn't have problems with cramps.
> But I wanted nothing to do with the whole mess. I didn't chart my
> periods when they came and anticipate their coming by carrying
> protection - I simply wished and wished and wished they WOULDN'T come,
> and when I had them, I wished they'd go away. But I know that during
> this time, I had periods, that I went through several packages of
> feminine protection. Also during this time, my weight rose to - I am
> embarrassed about this to this day - 180 pounds. I was a fat kid!!!
>
> In 7th grade, I decided to do something about it. I decided to go on a
> diet, and in the end became anorexic. Not your skin-and-bones, People
> magazine sort of anorexic, but between September and December, I dropped
> a good 50+ pounds. My periods stopped. This was to be expected in
> someone who is doing aerobics 2 hours a night and isn't eating enough to
> sustain your average ant. I have no idea if PCOS was in play then or
> not. 8th grade, I can't keep starving, I become bulimic. Weight over
> the next 10 years or so will range between 125 and 165 pounds. Weight
> loss is VERY difficult. Age 13 or 14, I discover my first chin hair -
> or rather, my brother discoves it for me. Another embarrassing event...
>
> Never had regular periods through my teens/early 20s. Most doctors -
> and believe me, I went to a lot of doctors - blamed it on being young or
> the eating disorder. I first noticed my hair was thin at the temples in
> 11th or 12th grade. I shed a lot in high school but it never seemed to
> result in noticable balding. I continued shedding up until I learned
> about PCOS and how to really treat it. Facial hair and
> under-belly-button hair worsened through college. Inner thigh
> hair/bikini jungle made summers and bathing suits a nightmare. (Hair
> explained as "Some women are just hairier than others.") Didn't learn of
> PCOS until I was 23. By then the "It's normal for young girls to have
> irregular periods" line was wearing thin, I was over my eating disorder
> for the most part, and I KNEW other women weren't hairy like me! It took
> a while top find a doc willing to try me on glucophage, but I did. A
> year and a half later, I was much improved. 6 months after that, I am
> much relapsed, and not 100% sure why. Facial hair not a problem due to
> laser, but periods gone again and hair loss out of control...
>
> So that's the age-related progression of my PCOS.
>
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