Hi, I found this forum after starting the LC wol, and it got me to wondering if I may suffer PCOS.

I have had irregular mensis since puberty, which started at a normal age of 13 or 14. For the first few years I would go about 6 months with no menstration followed by a light flow that would not stop until I took some birth control pills. Being a young teen and sexually inactive, I would stop taking birth control until the non stopping flow would happen again. (trust me, I didnt mind when I was in those months with no flow).

I know my mother had one overy removed due to cysts, but never dealth with any infertility (I am 1 of 5 pregnancies). She also struggled with weight since she was about 30.

Well, now I am 36 years old and starting to develop the oft mentioned facial hair problem. I think it has been at least a year with no mentration other then some minor minor spotting. I also have weight issues, sleep apnea, acne, and a few other symptoms associated with PCOS.

I am seeking information on 3 symptoms...

Pelvic pain. Is this referring to vaginal/cervical pelvic? Or a lower abdominal pelvic? I am guessing abdominal, but want to make sure.

What is meant by a skin tabs? This one just has me completely baffled so I would assume it isnt something I suffer.

Ysabella posted in another thread that boils are common, but I dont find this listed as a symptom on most sites. How common are they? I have suffered boils on my inner thighs for years. And my mom had under arm boils many times.



thanks for any insite you can give me.

You might look into the website www.soulcysters.com for more information.

Skin tags are small tabs of skin that hang on different parts of the body. They can be as small as a grain of rice. I notice them on the underside of my biceps.

Hi Raeven, the pattern of menses sounds all too familiar. PCOS is referred to as a 'Syndrome' because it's a loose collection of symptoms. Not everyone with PCOS gets the same symptoms. My sister has it also, and even we don't have the same symptoms. Her periods were never as horrible as mine, but she has had facial hair problems that I've never had. I've never had any pain associated with it, beyond regular monthly cramps.

I don't know if anyone can tell you how common the boils are. Some PCOS sites describe it as Hidradenitis suppurativa, which is a disease of chronic inflammation of apocrine glands, a type of sweat gland. I'm not sure that's accurate, since it usually means really bad ongoing multiple lesions and I don't think typical PCOS sufferers have it that badly. But it is an interesting term, since Hidradentis whatever-it-is occurs in the same zones of the body as the boils that do seem to be fairly typical.

Skin tags tend to occur where there is regular rubbing on the skin; I tend to get a couple on my neck where the seat belt rubs me a little, or sometimes under my arms. Actually mine are seldom as large as a grain of rice, mostly much much tinier than that, but they are kind of annoying.
They have gotten much better since I adopted a more LC lifestyle.

Bear in mind that a lot of the symptoms we describe with PCOS are actually due to the insulin insensitivity that is a part of PCOS, or maybe its trigger. If you get that under control, with diet, exercise, and maybe even medication (I take metformin), almost all of the symptoms get much better. You're already here so you probably know that, but who knows who is reading so it's always worth mentioning.
Another typical symptom is acanthosis nigricans, which is dark skin around the base of the neck, in the armpits, and sometimes in the groin. I've definitely had that since I was a teenager, and it is definitely linked with insulin insensitivity.

I literally started crying when I read about acanthosis nigricans in this post and googled images. When I was younger other kids would tease me by saying "stop punching walls." I've always had dark knuckles on my hands, toes and ankles. Nobody else in my family had the same problem. I have a dark neck and dark underarms. My grandma use to tell me to "wash properly." But no matter how much I scrubbed just I couldn't get the "dirt" off. Then I started getting skin tags on my neck beginning in high school. New ones would pop up as I gained weight.

I have always had excessive body hair esp. on my stomach. In the last 5 years, facial hair has been a big problem for me. I hardly ever leave the house without makeup to cover up the spots from tweezing. I have acne on my face, arms and back. I started getting swellings/boils in my groin/inner thighs and sometimes in my underarms when I was about 10. They are less frequent now but I still have scarring.

I was fit (almost like a boy) through childhood. Kids used to tease me about my calves and my arms. To this day I will not wear sleeveless tops without a shawl or jacket. I became obese about 6 years ago and it happened almost overnight. I looked pregnant even though I had a perfectly flat stomach throughout my teens. I've had regular periods, minus the extreme cramping, which would come in a wave of pain stemming from my lower stomach, almost like contractions (from what I would imagine them to be, having never been pregnant).

I just started crying because I've suffered a lot with these symptoms. And every time I visit the forum or google, I find out about some other symptom that I always thought was MY fault. I spent so much time beating myself up about this issue and my self-esteem has suffered through the years. It's been a year since I first learned about having cysts and fibroids. I am recently beginning to understand that this is the only body I have...so I have to do my best at taking care of the things I can actually control.

Also AN and boils are a sign of diabetes 2. This is worth checking quickly.

I never had period trouble until I hit my 40s. Had a hyst. YAY!
but I did develop all the hairy problems... Now I'm laser clean.

I had my blood sugar tested in September for the first time and it was normal. Are there other tests I would need to check for diabetes? I have been eating lc since January...so I don't know if the results of the sugar test are affected by a lc diet.

Please do not let this symptom go unchecked. Very worth your while to get an appointment with your GYN.

Wow, azzyzzy. I really understand, though - I wish I'd known what this was when I was a teen. Instead, I tried to eat low-fat, ugh.
Fasting blood sugar is a good test for diabetes, and so is a hemoglobin A1c, or hA1c, test. It will indicate your typical blood sugar for the last several weeks. It's not usually expensive.

pennink, you're right, but if someone has diabetes they already have had insulin sensitivity for a while, usually. It is good to make sure you don't already have diabetes, definitely.

But if you're here in Low-Carb Land, you're already on the right track - eating LC can reverse you away from getting worse and worse, and sliding into diabetes. Exercise too - it helps insulin sensitivity.