So yes, I went to see the doctor today. After listening to me list my various complaints (which are well documented here) about my lack of weight loss, he asked me, "Have you ever been tested for PCOS?" Now, I know that PCOS stands for Polycystic Ovary Syndrome, and I know that it is related to infertility, but beyond that, I don't know anything about it. We talked family history for a while, and he asked if anyone in the family has PCOS. Not that I'm aware of. One of the things that I like about this particular doctor, (besides the fact that he's easy on the eyes and I genuinely like the guy) is that when you are in one of his exam rooms, you have his complete attention, for however long it takes to solve the problem that you've come to see him for. I never feel that he's in a hurry to get to his next patient. He answers as many questions as I want to ask, he is polite, but is also blunt when that's needed. I told him that I think perhaps the problem with the lack of weight loss is the diabetes that runs in my family might be rearing its ugly head, or that I might have a thyroid problem. He thinks that I might have PCOS. He agreed to run blood work to test for diabetes and thyroid trouble, and run cholesterol levels as I asked, but he's also going to check hormone levels in an attempt to check for PCOS.
This evening, as I sat down to work on the book, I googled PCOS, just out of idle curiosity. There's a government website that lists symptoms, and there's Web MD. When I read through the symptoms, I have a lot of them. I'm certainly not going to list the ones I have here, that is way, waaayy, waaaaaayyyy TMI. Suffice to say that looking at the symptoms has frightened me.
There is no cure for PCOS, and very little treatment. Control your weight (hello, I'm trying), eat healthy, exercise. Meds include The Pill (which I am off of right now), diabetes medication, fertility drugs. Untreated, it can cause infertility, diabetes, and heart trouble.
Am I being a drama queen? Most likely. Without the family history, and the typical facial features of most women with PCOS, I probably don't have it, but I'm still frightened. I won't have the blood work results back until probably Tuesday next week, so obsessing over it isn't going to do me a damn bit of good.
Course that won't stop me.
Bethenny Frankel is still at the beach
7 years ago
2 comments:
Thanks for the information. This was posted back in January of 2007, and I found out a few days later that I don't have PCOS. But I am far better informed about it as a result of having had this episode. I will pass your info on to anyone that I come across that needs it.
Cheers-
~Lucy
Hi everyone, I hope this post will be relevant in a general way to the topic being discussed. I read an article that says Vitamin D plays a crucial role in calcium regulation and thus may help to normalize the development of your follicles and increase odds of becoming fertile. Calcium appears to play a role in egg maturation and normal follicular development. Vitamin D and calcium supplementation resulted in normalized menstrual cycles within 2 months for 7 of 13 women in a recent study at Columbia University. Two became pregnant and the others maintained normal menstrual cycles. I got this info from Dr. Dunne's site
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