Any PCOS Experts around?

[redstrawberry]

On cycle 8 of ttc. had an earlier cp. had some blood work done on cd12 and it came back with high LH than FSH.

Got pelvic scan done today and the trainee nurse said I may have 'slightly' polycystic ovaries. She wasn't sure if she was reading the results correctly. She had newly learned to do pelvic scans. I was obviously very pissed off.

I just want some answers as to what this means? I have regular periods, no acne, no facial hair, no weight gain issues, healthy diet, all other hormones including testosterone was normal. My OPKs are mostly positive around cd14-cd16.my cycles are 29-32 days and come every month. Can I still have PCOS?

PCOS is generally diagnosed if you have at least 2 of:

very irregular or absent periods
excess testosterone
multiple cysts on your ovaries

Excess testosterone with often but not always cause hair and acne but if (like me) you are of certian races then your skin tends not to have many androgen receptors and doesn;t show th esigns of excess testosterone. A nblood test os the only way to be sure of you have excess free testosterone.
SOme inexperienced scanners can see a cyst or two (which is perfectly normal and diagnose "Polycystic" ovaries.

FSH will generally be low or normal with PCOS and LH high and a ratio in excess of 2:1 or 3:1 is often indicative of PCOS.

You sound borderline but if you've had blood work done they've probably also tested your free testosterone. I guess a gynae is going to look at the results and may want to rule out other things.

It is possible to have PCOS at every level from mildly to severely and most women who have it mildly would probably never realise.

Not sure if thats very helpful - is there something specific you want to know?

If they are borderline then they may suggest clomid.

sorry completely missed that tesosterone was normal.

On balance I doubt you have PCOS then. Maybe a few cysts on your ovaries which is probably quite normal and very common but that doesn;t make them polycyctic.

My ovaries have so many tiny cysts they are very enlarged and virtually glow in the dark!

Thanks kew how do I know if I am ovulating for sure?

My LH was 11 and FSH 2.5 so LH was very high.

She said I had 13 follicles on the right ovary on cd7 and 16 on the left ovary and that's too many and they are not in a neat line or something like that. She didn't explain any further

you definitely need to talk to a gynae.

No-one can be absolutely sure they are ovulating normally - even an OPK only measures hormone surge before releasing an egg, it doesn't mean the egg is mature and healthy but positive OPK is certainly a good sign.

Was test definitely done on day 3?

I know there are other reasons for high ratio but I'm no expert in that but not all women with PCOS have high LH/FSH ratios

sorry not reading your original posts properly - was were bloods done on CD12 not CD3 - I'm a bit past it now but it always used to be CD3 for accurate LH/FSH ratio?

At cd12 I don;t see how certian you could be that follicles weren;t cysts or vice versa again!

surely LH is going to be high on day 12 because you're about to ovulate. PCOS LH/FSH ratios certainly need to be done in first 4 days of cycle.

My lh fsh was taken on cd12 blood tests which was very close to ovulation. So don't know if that's why it was so high.

I have had a second round of blood tests on cd1. But the gynae didn't mention doing them on cd3.

Gynae is now busy till feb so they hv referred me to gp to discuss results! Ridiculous really as I don't think GPs have a clue abt fertility

cd1 is probably OK for more accurate result