Skin issues/birth control/terrible anxiety

[proseccoaficcionado]

Hi everyone,

It looks like I have terrible anxiety over a topic I thought many times about. I thought maybe you could help with putting my mind at ease. It may be a long(ish) story but please bare with me.

4.5 years ago I was on the Dukan diet (I know it's crap)! For those of you who don't know it is FULL of protein. A couple of months after I finished the diet my skin burst out in tiny little whiteheads which my derm diagnosed as "mild acne", and the ob saw some micro-cysts on my ovaries and thought my skin broke out because of "micro-polycistic ovaries" (apparently that's not the standard PCOS)

Right. I was put on birth control. I am still taking birth control and kept going to check ups, obviously my skin is great (though I still have mini breakups) and my ovaries all clear.

For some reasons I decided I'll stay on the pill one more year from now on and then come off it. I know, 5-6 years is a very long time.........

Where terrible anxiety kicks in is that in my mind I convinced myself that as soon as I come off the pill I will have horrible acne and my hair will fall and I will become bald.

I know, I have no idea if this will happen and there are so many great acne treatments, great supplements you can take and great doctors, but I AM TERRIFIED and my mind keeps thinking about that.

I don't even know what the question is, I was just hoping I can get some opinions on it....

Oh, and also I do know that I am worrying about something that might or might not happen in a year or so...

Also mentioning that before that I didn't have skin issues, never had hirsutism, and I am not overweight. Thought these would also be helpful to mention

The worry is far worse for you than any of the other problems.
So if you didn't worry about your health, what else is bothering you in life?

@ragged Nothing! My life is perfectly fine otherwise, it's only this worry that kills me slowly. In my best moments I know this is completely irrational and whatever it will be it can be solved. But then I am scared, truly scared.

Lets clear up one thing straight away. Polycystic ovaries is NOT PCOS. The two things are not related. PCOS is a particular condition which results in acne, obesity, infertility. Polycystic ovaries simply have some little cysts on them , which are pretty normal for many women. So you can stop associating your little ovarian cysts with PCOS.

You got some little pimples 4 years ago and you haven't got them now. OK, so that's fine. It may be due to being on birth control or it may be because you're a few years older.

Your hair won't fall out. Where did that idea come from ?

I think you need to see someone about your anxiety. All this worrying about getting a few pimples in a year or so, makes no sense.

@Birdie6 this is so odd, because I kept reading crap about PCOS. Also my doctor told me I shouldn't worry about fertility because this is not the case.

I really need to manage my anxiety about this, take the plunge, come off the pill and see what happens

I was also stupid enough to read about coming off the pill and side effects such as horrible acne and terrible hair loss. I know, google....

And I swear, I am a grown-up, professional woman who people rely on! I seem so dumb here!

When I had an eating disorder I was sure my life was fine too.
It was only when I forced myself to stop obsessing over food that I noticed all the things in my life that bothered me. I was ashamed to admit I was weak enough to be bothered.

I guess that won't help. But it's the only path I know out of stupid obsessions.