spotting can arise for any number of reasons... it could mean that AF is about to arrive, though... just wait and see.

Some of the main symptoms of PCOS include excess weight (particularly around the abdomen), acne, excess body hair (particularly following a masculine pattern), irregular or absent periods... and I think mood swings and depression fit in there as well. Periods also tend to be extremely painful, heavy and clotty.

However, it is possible to have those symptoms, but not have PCOS, it's also possible to have PCOS but not have many of those symptoms. I'm not overweight, have never in my entire life had acne problems, don't have much of an issue with excess hair (a few coarse ones around my nipples and in a line up my belly heading for my navel - they get plucked easily enough). But I do have the unbelievably irregular periods. And then there are the cysts on my ovaries.

PCOS arises through insulin resistance - I can't remember the exact mechanism of it all, but it does mean that hormones do get out of balance, and there tends to be an excess of the male hormones. That said, my hormone levels are also very normal (only a slight excess of free androgens), so it's actually pretty strange that it's taking so much effort to get me to ovulate at all!

BW