PCOS

[JessMcL]

I'm asking for a friend- she doesn't want to sign up and ask herself.

She is 32, quite seriously overweight and is wondering if PCOS. She has been sent for a pelvic ultrasound by her GP and apparently everything was normal- although apparently it's common for some women to have PCOS and it not to show up on a pelvic ultrasound.

She suffers from mood swings and has lots of excess body hair (lower back, buttocks and it's started growing on her chest)

She has very heavy periods that tend to come every 30-35 days. She was on birth control until a year ago and it took a long time for her periods to come back.

What do we think ladies?

Its quite likely that she does have this condition. PCOS however is a very individualistic disorder and does affect each woman with it very differently.

Also an internal ultrasound (rather than a pelvic one) would be more useful to her to have done as this would assess the state of her ovaries as well as her uterine cavity. The cystic follicles associated with PCOS can and do disappear and it can take a skilled sonographer to pick it up.

She can and should have blood tests done to check her LH levels against her FSH levels (with PCOS there is usually but not always a LH/FSH imbalance). A day 2 test can be done to compare these two levels.

I have pcos , it was diagnosed via an internal and abdominal ultrasound, my periods were every 30-35 days apart, now I'm loosing weight they are starting to be come more regular.
On the otherhand I do not have any other symptom (facial hair, deeper than normal voice, mood swings etc)
I don't know how long I have had it but I have conceived 7 times between 2002-2007 resulting in 3dcs,3miscarriages and an ectopic- again all unrelated to pcos, I know that people with pcos find it hard to conceive so I'm assuming mine started after younges was born 2008.
From your friends symptoms I would say its likely she has pcos, however I am not medically trained.
I did not need a blood test to confirm like above mentioned but my ovaries are both covered in cysts so easily picked up on scan.