My young sister is being tested for Polycystic ovaries...

[ELF1981]

... what (realistically) does this mean?
What happens if she is diagnosed with them?
TIA

Google Verity PCOS for the UK support group and pass it on to her, if she it.

You kind of have to get your head round it. At the moment there isn't a cure, but there are usually things you can do to make the symptoms better. However, it's different for everyone. I hope that your sister doesn't have PCOS but there are a lot of worse things to have. HTH

It means she has multiple small cysts on her ovaries, this can cause hormone levels to be irratic and cause symptoms such as hairiness, acne, weight gain. irregular periods and fertility probs.
Once she is diagnosed then nothing is done as such, women who aren't wanting a family usually start to take the pill to regulate their hormones.
Fertility probs vary greatly some women conceive without problems, oothers take longer others need help to conceive its very individual.

She is only 21, and has not had her period for four months, she is on the pill but even this has not made her have a withdrawal bleed. In recent months her usual peachy skin has gone terrible - she is now being treated for acne. She doesn't seem to have all the symptoms on the site.

She hasn't spoken directly to me - my mum has told me & our older sister, we're waiting for her to talk to us, I think she's in slight denial until she gets her blood test results.

becasue it's a syndrome, people have different combinations of symptoms. And to correct someone further down (sorry, I know it's picky, but it does annoy me ) the "cysts" are a side-effect of the hormone imbalance - they are actually the extra follicules which swell up every cycle until one develops into an egg, but with PCOS they don't die away as they ought to. The condition should be more correctly called Poly-Follicular Ovary Syndrome. [finish pedantry ]
Diagnosis is best done via a blood test, but the results need to be analysed by someone who knows what they're talking about - it's the ratio of some hormones to others, and not thier exact values.
Unfortunately the best way to minimise symptoms to ensure you don't gain excess weight (low GI diet, and regular moderate exercise). Acne is (again unfortunately) one of the most difficult symptoms to do anything about, but there are things which can help.
As your sister is only 21, I'm assuming she's not ttc, in whcih case, once/if she's diagnosed, she needs to push for a referral to an endocrinologist who can help manage her particular set of symptoms, and possibly refer on to a dermatologist/dietician as required. A gynae is probably better if you're ttc.

Sorry, but it is rather a chicken and egg scenario ,some articles says that the cysts cause the hormone imbalance due to the fact that they don't die away as they should, truth is the actual cause is unknown, but that detracts from your sisters dilemma. PCOS really isn't the end of the world her symptoms can be managed and it is good she has found out now as opposed to when she is 30 or so and decides to try for a baby.
She may also be sent for a trans vaginal scan which will show cysts on her ovaries if they are there.

I'd search for PCOS on MN as there are some very infomrative threads with I just don;t have the energy to find and repost for you

Is she on Dianette? becareful that stuff can make u crazeee and suicidal....

don't mean to scare you, just watch her moods if gp prescribes it!

Dabbles, no she isn't. She's on the very common green one (mic something or other).

I have been on Dianette before.

have just checked the latest PCOS medical stuff, and diagnosis in the UK (and in Europe) is now if you have two out of three main symptom groups : absent/irregular oulation; hyperandrogenism (excess of particular hormones causing acne, excess hair, hair loss); polycystic ovaries. Not entirely sure where excess weight fits in (possibly no 2) as the medical jargon is a bit above me . But it's no longer the ratio of two particular hormones as I thought earlier.
Insulin is regarded as the "trigger" for managing symptoms, which is why a low GI diet tends to work (as it evens out blood sugar highs and lows meaning the body doesn't need to produce so much, and has a follow-on effect for all the other hormones).

try this link

Excess weight isn't necessarily a PCOS symptom, there are many 'lean cysters'

The lh/fsh ratio is not a symptom but can be helpful in pinpointing PCOS as they tend to be inverted. Its why PCOS'ers shouldn't rely in ovulation testing kits they often give false positives.

and the problem with the androgen symptoms is that if you have low androgen receptors in your skin (typically celts and oriental races) then your skin won't absorb the androgens and you won't get acne and excess hair. Otehr races who have high androgen receptors like mediterannean and nordic races can have terrible problems with skin and hair.

Several doctors said I probably didn't have PCOS (mind you 20 yrs ago) because I had no excess hair and no acne. In fact based on ultrasound homrone tests and complete lack of ovultion it was decided that in fact I had it very badly. Sadly I was one of the rare PCOS'ers never able to get pregnant.

Kewcumber, that's interesting about the skin thing - I'm guessing I must be of celtic origin rather than Nordic as I don't suffer much with skin issues.
What I meant earlier about not sure where the weight fitted in, was where it fitted in to the latest criteria for diagnosis - presumably the insulin resistance is taken as a given.
Sorry to have sidetraced your thread Elf1981 - I'd recommend your sister reads anything by Colette Harris, and have a look at the Verity website and discussion boards.

even some gynae's don't know about teh angdrogen receptor thingie. I was lucky - treated by an endocrinologist who had studied PCOS for years and knew far more about the hormones involved.