Teen daughter, no periods, GP blaming weight?

I thought she was going to be underweight! I've never heard of being over weight stopping periods. I was at the higher end of healthy as a teen and my periods were like clockwork. I'd be worried about the high testosterone, with things like intersex and Turner's syndrome in my head.

PCOS is a range of medical signs, (as you probably know) some people have several of those, some just a few. I would ask for a referral to an endocrinologist for an opinion, over and above a gynaecologist. You and your daughter are very sensible to be proactive about this, imo. You may need to insist on seeing another GP and aak that person for the referral. I have 2 wider family members with PCOS, both have encountered very varying levels of knowledge and understanding in GP land, I'm sorry to say. Now both under the care of endocrinologists.

I’m not an expert but I had a colleague who wanted a baby and her doc said if she lost weight her periods would return
She lost the weight and indeed they returned and she had a little boy. There are ex two colleagues actually altogether and a relative and all three lost weight and periods returned

I have PCOS. I asked my GP about my 15 year old. They shrugged it off. She has all the symptoms. She was on the pill for her acne after starting periods age 11 but her weight exploded. She came off of herself she 14 as she wasn’t taking it regularly so having periods every time she forgot for a few days!! Her periods took a while to come back but they are very heavy and more frequent than should be -2 week gap. She’s definitely overweight. I’ve had her at the GP about something else which could be related and even mention her weight. GP said PCOS isn’t something they consider unless she wants a baby later in life. Hmm. Referred to paediatrician who then wanted to consult someone else about PCOS as she’s never dealt with a teen who might have it. Had no further tests other than bloods. Paediatrician still hasn’t mentioned weight. But my DD is autistic and they’re trying to blame that for her other symptoms - saying she feels things in her body more than NT people. She’s having full on hot flushes and dizzy spells. Anemia ruled out. Low iron dealt with by some supplements but nothing much has changed. Waiting for paediatrician to get back to me after consulting colleagues on PCOS but they keep cancelling out appointment.

I saw a specialist on This Morning the other week who said they don’t like to diagnose PCOS under 18. They talked about healthy lifestyle - eating and exercise - as first port of call anyway. But easier said than done with an autistic teen who avoids exercise and eats the same things a lot.

My PCOS wasn’t picked up until my 30s when I went for fertility investigations. It had been dismissed by the GP as bloods were borderline and I was underweight-healthy weight most of my life. I fell pregnant whilst awaiting fertility results so was never given an answer but when we struggled second time I asked gp what the outcome of my tests were from the fertility clinic and she confirmed PCOS.

Stress and anxiety can cause periods to be missed. PCOS is also a possibility. Usually being underweight causes them to stop. But it’s definitely worth perusing for an answer.

High male hormone levels can be a sign of pcos, they need to investigate further as it doesn’t always show all the time and high testosterone is obviously not good, she is within normal bmi range, and hormones can cause excess weight anyway (testosterone bulks)

Ahh but are you on the "larger side and always has been" 🙄

Otherwise @BooBooDoodle won't believe you.

She needs to be referred to a gynaecologist- a GP would have no way of diagnosing or treating any other issues. Being slightly overweight wouldn’t be a reason for periods to stop (just like being slightly underweight wouldn’t be - it’s the extreme over or under that would stop them).

High testosterone levels would account for both the lack of periods and the testosterone levels, probably the weight as well. Could you have her privately seen by an endocrinologist?

Bull shit

Plenty of overweight women have regular periods

I do

I’ve just posted about my cousins daughter but I want to put it out there that women and girls healthcare is absolutely atrocious to say the least. Perimenopause here and fobbed off for 4 years knowing I wasn’t right. I had to fight when I didn’t have anything left to give to get a diagnosis and hormone treatment. I honestly thought it was all in my head and what doctors told me at the time kept instilling that. Please keep up the fight, it’s not easy but someone out there will help. You just need to find them. Good luck and love to your daughter.

My cousins daughter is 18 and only ever had about 5. She is on the larger side and always has been. Had every scan going and nothing is wrong. My cousin was told it was her weight at every appointment and she needed to think about what she was eating and start exercising. She didn’t eat healthy, yo-yo diets and rarely exercises, more of a bookworm and homework kind of girl with a limited social life. A private gynaecological assessment was booked a year later after nothing and again nothing wrong but the same advice, diet needed an overhaul and she needed to get out and exercise. She had about 1 stone to shift. After shedding 1/2 stone her periods came back monthly. She wasn’t happy about having a period so deliberately stopped dieting and exercising and put it back on again. Periods stopped again. She’s happy being period free and a stone overweight knowing nothing is actually wrong with her.

I would agree with this.
I had the same challenges in my teens and my father took me to a private gynaecologist for a second opinion. The first ultrasound revealed severe PCOS and this was treated with the combined Pill - that's all there was then in the 1980s, but at least I had the diagnosis.

GP sounds very unreasonable. Has your DD been tested for an underactive thyroid? This can also stop or slow down periods. Definitely ask for a second opinion.

Sounds like GP is the sort who would have said the same if periods were heavy Insist on a gynae referral

What is wrong with the truth. How do you think you should tell your daughter about what her body is saying?

You're doing the right thing and honestly I am still bamboozled your GP was only look at LH and FSH. These rise and fall through your cycle so they are only reliable if you were to track them every day or week and to already know what her rough cycle is - but your daughter doesn't so what is the use of only using these?? Testosterone is the one to look at - it's just so bizzarely basic knowledge for a GP to have so I would even put in a formal complaint about the GP for delaying a diagnosis needlessly for half a year.

I'm so so glad you're not going down the line of weight loss. Everyone going on about weight loss is missing the point that with PCOS it is hard to lose weight and when you do, depending on the way you do it, you risk harming your hormones which will make it worse. I was 9 stone and had no period. I'm now 12 stone and have a 28 day cycle. I am losing weight currently (very slowly and mindfully and stress-free) but I needed to gain that weight and heal my relationship with food to heal my hormones.

PCOS is so much bigger than menstrual cycle and fertility. I had no idea for years that the exhaustion I felt through the day, the brain fog, the headaches, anxiety, was all rooted in my messed up hormones! I feel great now - and I'm 3 stone heavier!! Drs aren't educated on this so they say lose weight and/or I'll give you the pill/fertility treatment, and they forget the impact it has on every other area of your health and wellness.

I feel very passionate about this I'm sure you'll see 😂

Others have linked Glucose Goddess videos which are helpful so I wanted to share my fave Abbey Sharp who is a dietician who has PCOS too. If you search on Youtube "Abbey Sharp PCOS" you'll see lots of her videos but this is a good one. If you go to around 14 mins it talks about how dieting can worsen symptoms:

I've learnt that regular doctors (Even the gynae for some reason) still don't understand PCOS so you need to seek out private help from PCOS specialists, specifically dieticians who take a holistic approach looking at stress, diet, exercise, sleep, supplements, etc as it's a multi-pronged approach.

Once you have a diagnosis I promise it's not that hard to manage for most women as long as you have the right information (which is why I really recommend https://www.thepcosdietitian.co.uk/ - she is my hero 😍

Edit: also to add in that I got prolactin and thyroid function checked too when I was diagnosed to rule out other causes. If there's a thyroid issue at play too then she'll need medication to fix that on top of other changes. My dietician said not to bother doing bloods for insulin/blood sugar as it won't tell you much. Some women also find they are intolerant/allergic to some foods like dairy/soy/gluten or have coeliac disease but it'll become obvious if these are issues later if she adapts her diet macros/takes supplements/watches stress etc.

Please do specifically ask if they checked prolactin. See my post above. Such a simple and easy fix if this is it.

there's hope for me yet.

I have been fascinated with IF to see that in the two weeks I'm on progesterone as part of my HRT.... that's when I lose weight. In the two weeks I'm not, my weight fluctuates a LOT, trending overall higher. Then in the first few days of progesterone, it slowly subsides back to previous low, then in the 7-10 days before I stop the progesterone is when I actually lose weight.

@MrSeptember
"post menopause, do you find it easier to lose weight, and keep it off. A doctor told me that as I enter into perimenopause tha tmight happen to me but no sign of it so far!! I am losing weight currently, slowly, with intermittent fasting so I'm happy, but I've yet to find real success with traditional weight loss of just fewer calories, less fat etc.

Yes I do, after a lifetime of struggling to keep my weight down I now maintain a healthy weight easily, no more dieting after 40 years of constantly trying to lose weight & keep it off.
Excess body hair went away too.

I wouldn’t take her back to that particular GP but I would be wanting a referral to gynae by now who can do further tests. There’s clearly something amiss and telling someone, especially a teenager with a healthy weight that her periods “should kick in if she loses some weight” is ridiculous. I honestly can’t believe the attitude of some doctors- makes me grateful that although it’s often a long wait for a gynae referral, our GP referred my teenage daughter quite quickly when the various versions of the pill weren’t helping her. So glad they did- she’s on the list for endometriosis surgery but in the meantime they can help her a bit more with the pain management side and the horrendous symptoms in general than the GP could.

Interestingly enough, neither the consultant or the nurse who specialises in endo who we’ve seen so far have referred to endometriosis as a “label”. That’s quite galling to read when you routinely see your teenage daughter sobbing, writhing in pain and unable to eat, sleep or get to the loo on her own when the pain is really bad.

Exactly, it's a red herring.

I would not tell your DD to lose weight, but I would say that a higher protein, lower carb diet could potentially help her hormones. That's not the same as telling her to lose weight.

To see a private gynaecology consultant costs around £150-200. I did this and was then referred into the NHS for treatment.