Hairy ( PCOS) what do u do??

[*LittleMissSummer*]

That is actually great motivation. Except i am one of those people who sulks for a while and then does something.

I have had problems since i was 16/17 but i was only diagnosed June this year. My first instinct that i knew something was wrong was when i started gaining weight and AF became very irregular oh and hair started growing in places that didnt grow on any of my friends. I didn't start having other symptoms until recently so the cysts didnt appear until about 12-18 months ago. The horrible cramping didnt start until around the time of being diagnosed, i was actually at work one day and got this horrible pain and had to go home and it didnt go away for 2 days..

I was shattered when i learnt i had the condition, i cried for days and days. I mean i was happy that i finally knew what was causing all my problems but i so badly want to have kids and i felt like that was ripped away. And i felt like i let my DP down.

When did you ladies all find out?

[CoNNiE_Melb]

I found out when I was 19, I am now 26.

I am lucky I have never had the weight problem... however, since coming off the pill I have put on a few kilos, and I am worried it's going to pile on, especially if I get pregnant.

I actually dont have much obvious hair on my upper lip, it might just be the only area I dont wax! Just the end have a few hairs which I wax once every blue moon.

trying4baby88 - I am in the same boat as you. Hair all over my thighs - inner, outer, under, over - I've got it all. The hair on my legs and underarms grows so fast I can't keep up. When I was younger and single, if I went away with the girls to the beach, they would shave every 4-5 days, I had to do it almost daily.

mummy2chloe - Sorry hun, but I am pretty large pores are just one of those things... I dont think you can make them shrink or close up. All you can do is try to keep you face as clean as possible so they wont fill up with dirt.

I have been in meetings with clients at work, where I have had to keep my hand over my chin the whole time because I knew I hadn't had a chance to wax and I was so self conscious... terrible.

I am so lucky my DH is ok with it all and tells me he doesnt care about it. But I see photos of all these girls on holidays, at the beach in bikinis, with these smooth hairless bodies and think, I will never be like that, that would take me hours of waxing, trimming, plucking and shaving.

[*LittleMissSummer*]

Excessive hair is caused by hormones but i am pretty sure you would have to be showing other symptoms but a simple blood test can confirm a hormone imbalance and even PCOS. That's how i found out, but i had the ultrasound to see if i had the cysts to go along with that and sure enough i did. But i say if you're worried about it go see a doctor, it cant hurt

[CoNNiE_Melb]

The 2 main symptoms that ALL PCOS suffers share is cysts on the ovaries (an ultrasound will show this) and a hormone imbalance (a blood test will detect this).

As for all the other things, some have them and some dont... things like:
Irregular periods
Lack of ovulation
Painful periods
Acne
Excess Hair
Weight Issues

[*LittleMissSummer*]

Connie- i am exactly the same! if i shave my legs in the morning and i wanted to wear lets say a skirt at night i would have to re shave because i would have stubble. I never have silky smooth legs and it drives me insane!

My weight bothers me sometimes, i mean i am a size 14 so im not overly fat but its comments i get from people i know. When i gained the first 10kgs my bestfriends dad told her that i was getting a bit fat. My weight went straight to my boobs and belly so rumours went around my school that i was pregnant. I stopped talking to my bestfriend in the middle of year 10 and have recently started talking to her again. She took a photo of her son and my legs are in the background and the other night she messaged me and said that her partner (who doesnt like me) saw my legs in the photo, i asked how he knew they were mine and he said that he knew because they were fat legs and im fat so they must be mine. I was so upset when she told me that, i couldn't believe id be told i was fat by a guy

[YoYo]

I am more just so self conscious about my hairyness more than anything. I would have never bothered going to the doc to get checked prior to reading this info, coz I just figured it was my spanish hairy genes passing through

I have such hairy legs that I have about 3 hairs coming out of 1 follicle! I even got told by a beautician not to bother waxing my bikini coz i'll just end up with megga ingrown hairs. It makes me feel sooooo unattractive.

Maybe I'll just go to the doc for a blood test to see...no harm I guess

Thanks for the info girls

ETA: TFB - That is an AWFUL thing to say.....perhaps there was a reason you stopped being friends with your friend in year 10...she's obviously not sensitive toward you either by TELLING you that her dumbar$e BF said that! Some people!

[mummy2chloe]

T4B- that its so horrible and sad that someone can be soooo mean and say things like that!! dont put up with it, tell your friends partner to back off, tell him you have a condition that is making you like this. what a horrible person. i have had heaps of comments in the past 10yrs about my weight and i have put them straight back in there spots!! i wont put up with comments like that. life is hard enough, you dont need comments like that.

[mummy2chloe]

minimax- there is no harm in going to see a doc, let us know how you go xxx

[CoNNiE_Melb]

trying4baby88 - No offence, but your friend sounds like a biatch!! I mean, her partner sounds like a total loser, but I don't know why she would tell you that? What did she expect to achieve by telling you? That's really poor form in my eyes.

[mummy2chloe]

well said connie

there was no need for your friend to pass on that message!! weather a person is big from PCOS or is just big, there is no way i would go out of my way to tell them that they are, i have been a big person so i have been on the other end of those comments, and its heartbreaking!!! people can be sooo mean

[Turkish Delight]

I am a hairy girl! Megga thick head hair, hairy arms, belly, toes, bikiki line from HELL....would megga hairyness be something to go to the doctor about to see if it's caused from PCOS, or are there loads of other symptoms that go along with it?

Hey that is a great idea. I wonder if we get IPL, the laser hair removal thingy could we claim it back on private health insurance?? Just because hairyness is a symptom of PCOS, a medical condition. Hmmm, i have to think that one through a little.

I only found out in 2006, when we were TTC DD. I fell pregnant to DS within 8 months of TTC but DD took us about 1 year. I had all sorts of blood tests done, CT scans, U/S, everything. I was then referred to an endocrinologist, hormone specialist and looking at my x-rays. bloods etc said that i had PCOS. I had a 6cm cyst on one of my ovaries and many more little ones on the other. My testosterone levels were through the roof. He got me to lie down and the first thing he checked out was my legs, belly and snail trail. I guess looking for signs of hairyness. I was 80kgs on a 165cm frame, so big, but not overly big. He told me to lose weight as my body could not cope with this amount of weight. I began losing weight and shed 10kgs, when i fell pregnant with DD.

The weight got back to 80kgs after having DD and i thought that i need to lose the weight otherwise PCOS will get worse. I lost 16kgs and was down to 64kg, but the weight just creeps on. I'm at 67kgs now, so i want to lose a few more kilos, but the weight DOES NOT move I cannot get down below 64kgs. Won't budge. I find the weight issue the hardest. Don't mind the hair as i can fix that easily.

I only wish i had known i had PCOS as a teen. My period were 50 days apart and mum thought oh well, nothing to worry about. I was always a fat girl and always hairy, again just thought that it was genes.

[Rouge]

There is a blood pressure med that helps with the hair issue. I'm taking part of a hairloss study atm, and the person who is heading the study has taught me a lot about what drugs are on the market and how they are being used to help treat women with PCOS. (hair loss and growth!)

I don't have the exact name of the drug but I'll find it out for you and then you can talk to your doctor. When I've finished the study I'll be getting a prescription. It is also on the PBS.

[CoNNiE_Melb]

The drug you are talking about is Aldactone... I took this for about a year but it made me pee so often it drove me crazy! It made the hair lighter, and there was less of it, but it didnt go away all together, it just made it more manageable. At the time, my pill was doing that anyway, so I dropped the Aldactone. You also cant take it if you are TTC.

[*LittleMissSummer*]

trying4baby88 - No offence, but your friend sounds like a biatch!! I mean, her partner sounds like a total loser, but I don't know why she would tell you that? What did she expect to achieve by telling you? That's really poor form in my eyes.

None taken! i was actually so shocked that she told me! i was like and i needed to know that, why? i'll be the first to say i need to lose some weight but its not as easy as that, i have tried so many times i may lose 5kgs but then gain it back and then some. She doesn't understand what its like to have gone from a size 10 to a size 14 even 16. None of my friends do because PCOS is something a friend of a friend has or a lady that one of them works with.

[CoNNiE_Melb]

You are going through enough without having to deal with insensitive friends. You know what you need to do, other people telling you won't motivate you, at the end of the day only you can do that.

It's hard when they don't understand, but you should only have to explain it once and they should accept it.

[Rouge]

The drug you are talking about is Aldactone... I took this for about a year but it made me pee so often it drove me crazy! It made the hair lighter, and there was less of it, but it didnt go away all together, it just made it more manageable. At the time, my pill was doing that anyway, so I dropped the Aldactone. You also cant take it if you are TTC.

Thats a shame it didn't work for you. I know so many people who have had awesome results! I say anything is worth a try. I have the beginnings of major hairloss too (a grade 2) so for me I have the worst of both worlds.

[Floweryfields]

To try and be positive for you, it could be worse, you could be dark and have a dark mow!

[frog]

My doctor has just prescribed Vaniqa cream.... Haven't started yet, and it can take about 8 weeks to work, so you continue your normal hair removal (waxing etc) and it sort of stunts the growth of the new hairs.... But it is only for facial hair. Can't wait to see how it goes!