Health
I'm just writing here for now... I was hoping to find a community to post to but there don't appear to be any active ones. And I don't want to join some random discussion board on the internet for this one topic.
So, I have been diagnosed with PCOS (poly-cystic ovary syndrome). This could explain my lower right quadrant pain along with a large number of other health issues I have. It could have something to with my periods having always been so weird. It could be contributing to the difficultly I've had losing weight. It man also be a cause or irritant to my acne and severe female facial hair problem. And also, apparently, be part of the cause of my depression.
Basically, if this is all true, PCOS is the cause of literally all of my health problems.
My OBGYN was trying to give me a topical solution to my facial hair; unfortunately my insurance won't cover it because it is for a completely harmless, if emotionally/mentally/self-image damaging, problem. So if I wanted to try that solution, it would cost be $153 out of my own pocket, which I can't even pretend to be able to afford.
Lately, I've been very fatigued so I went to my GP to talk about that and also brought up the facial hair. She decided that it is likely PCOS from my other symptoms and the fact that an old ultrasound showed my right ovary to be poly-cystic (even though I was never told that). So, she upped my antidepressant because she thought that would help. And she also prescribed me with metformin, which is typically a diabetes medication but is often used in women with PCOS. It is supposed to act as an anti-androgen to help balance out your body and its hormones.
The thing I'm super concerned about is that it is often given to PCOS women who are trying to conceive because it helps promote a regular cycle and restart ovulation if your body is stupid and stopped ovulating. So, now I'm nervous about taking the medication because I don't want it to increase my chance of getting pregnant. Because I totally don't want that. But I'm on the IUD and the effectiveness of that shouldn't change even if my ovaries decided to work. Also, the metformin only makes you a normal amount of fertile not like extra fertile... but I don't know. I'm just concerned that it might cause problems.
Also, it seems like the kind of thing that once you start taking it you just need to keep taking it for all of ever. When you do go off of it people seem to gain back a fair amount of the weight or more.
I'm also concerned that my mom is going to freak out about it because it is a diabetes medication and she'll just assume that I'm diabetic and get all flustered about it. But I'm not. I'm not even sure that I am insulin resistant, like many PCOS folks are, because we haven't tested me for it. My blood sugars are always fine... but yeah. I don't want her to freak out and worry about me more than she does already. I also know that I can't NOT tell her about it because I just am not that kind of person. I want to be able to talk to her about stuff.
Then there's the potential side effects of digestive problems. Many people have a lot of GI problems taking it. And that's just not fun.
But if I'm just freaking out about nothing and this med works for me, it could literally change my life. It could help me get back to a healthy weight and feel more confident in myself both from weight loss and from the acne/facial hair stand point... it could even be PART to blame for my depression, so maybe I could stabilize on a brain drug that works. And maybe it would stop that random side pain too.
So, I have been diagnosed with PCOS (poly-cystic ovary syndrome). This could explain my lower right quadrant pain along with a large number of other health issues I have. It could have something to with my periods having always been so weird. It could be contributing to the difficultly I've had losing weight. It man also be a cause or irritant to my acne and severe female facial hair problem. And also, apparently, be part of the cause of my depression.
Basically, if this is all true, PCOS is the cause of literally all of my health problems.
My OBGYN was trying to give me a topical solution to my facial hair; unfortunately my insurance won't cover it because it is for a completely harmless, if emotionally/mentally/self-image damaging, problem. So if I wanted to try that solution, it would cost be $153 out of my own pocket, which I can't even pretend to be able to afford.
Lately, I've been very fatigued so I went to my GP to talk about that and also brought up the facial hair. She decided that it is likely PCOS from my other symptoms and the fact that an old ultrasound showed my right ovary to be poly-cystic (even though I was never told that). So, she upped my antidepressant because she thought that would help. And she also prescribed me with metformin, which is typically a diabetes medication but is often used in women with PCOS. It is supposed to act as an anti-androgen to help balance out your body and its hormones.
The thing I'm super concerned about is that it is often given to PCOS women who are trying to conceive because it helps promote a regular cycle and restart ovulation if your body is stupid and stopped ovulating. So, now I'm nervous about taking the medication because I don't want it to increase my chance of getting pregnant. Because I totally don't want that. But I'm on the IUD and the effectiveness of that shouldn't change even if my ovaries decided to work. Also, the metformin only makes you a normal amount of fertile not like extra fertile... but I don't know. I'm just concerned that it might cause problems.
Also, it seems like the kind of thing that once you start taking it you just need to keep taking it for all of ever. When you do go off of it people seem to gain back a fair amount of the weight or more.
I'm also concerned that my mom is going to freak out about it because it is a diabetes medication and she'll just assume that I'm diabetic and get all flustered about it. But I'm not. I'm not even sure that I am insulin resistant, like many PCOS folks are, because we haven't tested me for it. My blood sugars are always fine... but yeah. I don't want her to freak out and worry about me more than she does already. I also know that I can't NOT tell her about it because I just am not that kind of person. I want to be able to talk to her about stuff.
Then there's the potential side effects of digestive problems. Many people have a lot of GI problems taking it. And that's just not fun.
But if I'm just freaking out about nothing and this med works for me, it could literally change my life. It could help me get back to a healthy weight and feel more confident in myself both from weight loss and from the acne/facial hair stand point... it could even be PART to blame for my depression, so maybe I could stabilize on a brain drug that works. And maybe it would stop that random side pain too.