Anyone else with PCOS?

[puddlepuss]

Does anyone with PCOS have problems with excess hair? I find it hard admitting this on here let alone in rl but I have excess hair around my groin/thighs and under my chin. If I didn't pluck under my chin every other day I'd be rivalling dh for stubble. If anyone has any ways of dealing with this or stopping it growing I'd be so grateful to know.

I am totally with you.

Losing weight if you are overweight is one way of helping get it under control. I also found taking metformin helpful.

As far as the excess hair goes - I have tried electrolysis - painful, slow and useless in my case and IPL - Intense Pulsed Light - expensive but works pretty well. Main problem is you cannot pluck, although you can snip or shave .

Never tried laser, but that is another option.

Thank you. I'm losing weight at the moment. 1 stone gone but a couple more to go. Anything that costs money is out of the question at the moment. I was on meformin before I had the kids but I moved to France and they don't like people being on it long term here. I may gop back to the docctor and ask again as I feel like a freak and I have to do something!

I just got diagnosed last week. I see the endocrinologist later this month. I'm really depressed about it.

Your message about hair could have been written by me. I'm not over weight so I know losing weight wont help.

I have to get rid of mine every 2 days or I have a goatee! It's beginning to get sore with constant plucking. My friend suggested threading or waxing. I want to try the laser too but I haven't got round to it yet.

I'm not on any treatment yet. What do they generally give you? I have almost every single symptom and hormonal abnormality on blood tests that is possible with PCOS.

Vaniqua works well with some PCOS women - not always that easy to get hold of, but I know of some GPs who are happy to hand out prescriptions like sweeties for it, and others who won't even consider it.
Excess hair is one of the hardest symptoms to treat sadly. I think Dianette may also help if you're allowed that, although that's mainly best for acne.

A1980 - treatment tends to be symptom specific, and providing you speak to a sympathetic GP who will refer you (gynae if fertility is your main issue, endocrinologist for everything else). Metformin can be helpful, but needs to be combined with diet and exercise to be of any real value. Best thing is (sadly and annoyingly) to lose excess weight/maintain good weight adn then target specific symtoms.

Look at [www/verity-pcos.org.uk Verity]] for infomration and support - big relaunch of symptom booklets this autumn to accompany PCOS Awareness Week.

Also you can get laser on the NHS, but it's one of the "postcode lottery" treatments - I don't know a great deal about laser as hair isn't one of my main problems, but I seem to remember that white skin-dark hair is the easiest to treat, and dark skin-dark hiar is much more difficult, and needs a particular type of laser whcih isn't readily available. Might be wrong with that though, so do look into it carefully.

Thank you for your help but as I said, I'm not overweight (far from it) and I never have been. So losing weight is not going to improve my symptoms. It's a misconception that all PCOS suffered are overweight.

I will be seeing a hospital specialist but not until the end of the month so I guess I have to wait until then to see how they'll treat me. ut I have every hormonal abnormality on the blood tests that it's possible to have and also the irregular periods, facial hair, thinning hair on the head and mild acne.

I did look at Verity and tbh I didn't find it helpful at all. They seem to want £20 a year off you for the privilege of two magazines a year and having looked at their website and forum, I didn't see anythnig new that I didn't already know. I found the NHS website much more informative.

I'll just hang in there until I see the hospital again.

Shrinkingviolet, thanks for the advice. Unfortunately I don't live in the uk and treatments are very hard to get out here.

A1908, It's hell isn't it. I have to pluck every 2 days at least. Sometimes after I've been out with friends, I get home, see all hairs and drive myself demented thinking about how many times I leaned my head back, stood with the sun shining on my chin etc. Like you I have all the hormonal abnormalities. I had one period a year before I had the kids and now I have the most horrendous periods that I can never predict. When I had the original scan my ovaries looked like frogspawn. now I only have a few cysts showing up so my doctor doesn't want to treat it as it seems to be improving and says I just have to live with the symptoms.

I have this problem too, it can be v upsetting. I now use veet for facial hair, it works wonderfully, and I just need a bit of a pluck now and then in between. Doesn't stop the problem thoug, but does make it more bearable.

I hadn't thought of veet - do you mean wax or cream? I have very thin, sensitive skin and even wax on my legs rips my skin off so I'm hoping you mean the cream!

Puddlepuss my ovaries do look like frogspawn now!

My periods aren't that bad thogh. I have them every 5-6 weeks.

The hair drives me crazy at work. I hate getting 5 o'clock shadow and I wonder if my colleagues and friends can see it :(

Hi ladies, I've got PCOS and my GP put me on dianette for my skin and excess hair - don't know if you've already tried it & sorry if I'm going over old ground, but I've found it has really helped.

I have been told I can't take it long term though and its not suitable for everyone but it has helped for me.

Stickchildrenthree, I have to take ds to the doctor next week so I will ask him about that, thank you.

A1980, I know exactly what you mean. I can go out in the morning freshly plucked and come home looking like a bad trannie