"How Undiagnosed PCOS Affected My Life"

These are stories of PCOS written by women who have first-hand experience. We hope you find encouragement and support from reading them. If you would like to submit your own story please send it via email to PCOS My Story

I wish I had a dollar for every time that I heard the phrase, "you need to lose weight and then you'll be fine. If only I could. Lord knows I have tried. I started putting on weight in elementary school. Immediately before the onset of my menses. I started at ten years old. My mother never had a normal period in her life and I was destined to follow in her footsteps. I went without eating and only ate 'rabbit food' and still could not lose what was laughingly referred to as baby weight. I had zero self-esteem and could not understand how I was not losing any weight.

I decided in my junior year of high school to take my hard earned baby-sitting money and join Weight Watchers. Between the program and my careful re-reducing of the meal intakes, I lost 50 lbs. I was slim (finally) for the first time since I was nine years old. I still had a little fat that I couldn't get rid of, but I was so very tickled with myself I didn't care. I was in a size seven and thrilled to be able to go to the beach again. Obviously my body had other ideas. I had developed hairy arms in high school, after I lost weight it decided to graduate to hairy everywhere. My stomach, chest, neck, chin, upper lip, and sideburns. I was devastated. Five years after our divorce I found out that my ex husband had nick named me Hairy for all our "friends" to joke about behind my back.

When I wanted to have children with my husband (we've been married now for 12 years) it wasn't a big deal at first. We had our first son right away and were thrilled beyond belief. When he was three, I lost our baby girl. Then when he was six we had his little brother, which came as a surprise. One of those off times of actually having a period. One of three that year. I usually only have three to five periods per year.

I talked to my OB-GYN for years to no avail. The answer was always the same. Lose weight, exercise, some women just have more hair than others, and the topper, it's just normal for you to be abnormal in menses.

At age 35 I decided to get to the bottom of this problem and find out more. Empowered by the internet and a true friend who would tell me to find out, not to ignore it, I found out I had Polycystic Ovary Syndrome. I went back to my OB-GYN the same one who had been telling me all these years, lose weight, finally admitted I had PCOS. He put me on Glucophage and Spironolactone after I informed him that having had a tubal ligation, I was not going on birth control. It hasn't helped. I thought that the end had come to try and be normal until I read in this web site about Laparoscopic cauterization.

First, after the same OB-GYN for two decades, I am going to find a new one. Second, I am going to take charge of this hand life had dealt me and play it out the best way I can. I know now, it's not me, it's my body. I have a problem that others have and I can do something about it. I want to have a better chance of survival than my mother and grandmother did. Both succumbed to female originated cancers. I have two boys, 11 and 5. They need me. I want to stay around and spoil my grandkids.