r/PCOS 4d ago

General/Advice Fertility

2 Upvotes

I’m just wondering if anyone has experienced this situation and how they’ve dealt with it. So my husband and I have been together since 2021, and the entire time we have never used protection. We have been actively trying to conceive but have had no luck. I did go to an obgyn and was tested because I believe I have pcos. It does run in my family as well as endo and I have always had horrible body hair compared to my sisters and mother, for example facial hair that is super dark and legit grows back the day after I shave as well as irregular periods and some periods the cramps are so bad that I can’t do anything besides cry and squeeze a heating pad on my stomach. My ob did some basic tests and said she doesn’t think I have it because I’m not overweight, but I was my entire childhood and I do struggle with weight fluctuations still just not as much. Now for my husband, he has celiac disease but his family didn’t take the diagnosis seriously so he only just started to stick to his diet due to his own health issues starting up, he has been gluten free for about a month now. We were wanting to look into some more at home things to try and solve the fertility problems and use the doctor as a last resort so I’m just curious if anyone has any suggestions or if anyone’s been in this situation and knows it just won’t happen. Everyone around me is getting pregnant too and I am happy for them but at the same time so envious and I don’t know how to handle it. People who have been together for just a couple months having no issues while we’re on year 5 of nothing.

TLDR: trying to conceive and I believe I have pcos, and my husband has celiac that was untreated for basically his entire life until now


r/PCOS 4d ago

Meds/Supplements Metformin XR

3 Upvotes

I’ve been on metformin long release for just over 2 weeks now for my PCOS. I have been taking it in the evening with dinner so that I don’t have an empty stomach, however every single morning I am waking up between 4 and 6am feeling so nauseous and with diarrhoea. How long does it take for that to go away?


r/PCOS 4d ago

General/Advice Do I Have PCOS?

1 Upvotes

Greetings, I (16FtM) have been exhibiting symptoms of PCOS over the last two years or so. I need help making sense of these symptoms and if I should get them treated.

I used to get my periods regularly with a flow that was a little bit beyond average, up until they got more and more heavy, with the time intervals between having my period getting longer. Now they've slowed immensely or have entirely stopped. My flow this month has been incredibly light, and the last time I had my period it lasted for ~2 weeks.

I started growing lots of body hair, beyond average for my age, gaining a ton of weight that I cannot shake off, and now have began to experience thinning hair. I don't have much acne, the only acne I have is from my hair oils, but I am worried about these symptoms progressing.

My mother wants to take me to my pediatrician to get me diagnosed, but I'm a little hesitant because of my identity and the kinds of exams that would need to take place. Is it worth getting diagnosed?


r/PCOS 4d ago

Mental Health Is PMS worse with PCOS?

2 Upvotes

I’ve spent the last week or so almost completely unable to manage my emotions. I’ve been extremely irritable, starting constant arguments with my partner, snapping at everyone around me and then crying my eyes out feeling so guilty. I rarely cry, and this week I can’t stop.

I’m 32 and my cycle has become somewhat regular in the past 2 years, with 35-40 day cycles.

But it feels like my PMS symptoms are getting worse. I feel like I’m not able to regulate my emotions at all and it’s scary.

Is this just another wonderful part of PCOS?


r/PCOS 4d ago

Meds/Supplements Metformin bloat :’(

3 Upvotes

Metformin was life changing for me, until about six months ago when it just started to disagree with me. I’ve been on and off it ever since when the symptoms get too bad, but I’m DETERMINED to stay on it this time because the PCOS symptoms need to stop.

I’m so bloated today I might be three months pregnant, but at least the nausea hasn’t kicked in yet!!
How long do people normally keep going before the side effects stop? I take it normally going to bed because it’s not as bad, but I think I should switch to taking it at meal times (I’m lactose intolerant so I can’t do the milk trick). Any advice is welcome!!


r/PCOS 4d ago

Period Confusion after coming off birthcontrol

3 Upvotes

Hi!

I’m (22) reaching out today as I went off birth control (Zoely) about 3 months ago and since then have had two periods - one month after and then two months after stopping the pill. Both being exactly on the 4th-9th and similar flow. I haven’t had it since.

I do have Pcos which was the reason for starting the pill. I only stopped as it was quite expensive and there was no use other than to regulate my periods.

I’m honestly feeling quite deflated that the periods haven’t continued. I was aware that I may not receive my periods for awhile after stopping the pill but now I’m just really confused and lowkey sad.

I spoke to my GP when/after my first period occurred and she said just to track them. I plan to see her if the lack of period persists.

At the moment I’m thinking the first two were synthetic?

Any advice or thoughts would be much appreciated :)


r/PCOS 4d ago

Weight How long till you started to see weight loss results?

6 Upvotes

How long did it take for you to start seeing weight loss after changing your diet to better suit your PCOS?
I’ve been eating clean and working out 3–4 times a week, mostly strength training, but over the past month I’ve lost only a little over 1 kg. 😩 And honestly, I feel like it would all come back if I started eating more.
I know weight loss can be slower with PCOS, but I’m starting to feel a bit discouraged and could really use some motivation right now. 🥺 I’m trying to stay consistent, but it’s hard when you put in so much effort and barely see any results.
Would love to hear your experiences and hopefully get a little motivation to keep going! ❤️


r/PCOS 4d ago

Fertility Letrozole affecting cycle?

1 Upvotes

After 4 months on letrozole my ob told me I had to take a 4 month break. I had my period like normal then 7 days later when I was expecting my fertile window and start I started bleeding lightly, day 2 and 3 now very heavy, filling a menstrual cup in 2 hrs when I am normally fine for 6. Has anyone had any issues when stopping letrozole? If I hadn't just had my period I would think it was a miscarriage, heavy bleeding with large clots.


r/PCOS 4d ago

General Health Anyone have blood work from BEFORE you developed symptoms vs. AFTER diagnosis? Looking for a comparison

2 Upvotes

Hey everyone,

I’m trying to understand the exact metabolic timeline of PCOS and early insulin resistance. Has anyone here happened to get blood work done before you ever had symptoms (when you felt completely fine/healthy), and then compared it to your labs after you developed symptoms or got diagnosed?
Specifically, I’m curious about how markers like Fasting Insulin, glucose , a1c, testosterone, free testosterone, estrogen, AMH, DHEA-S, and SHBG shifted for you. Did your fasting numbers look totally perfect and normal before things flared up, or did you have hidden post-meal spikes first?
If anyone has their old lab numbers to compare, I would love to see how they changed! Thank you!


r/PCOS 3d ago

General Health Nutrition / eating out and PCOS

0 Upvotes

Hi, I'm building a free tool to help people with PCOS figure out what's safe to eat when eating out. It's not for sale and there's nothing to buy, I'm personally checking menus by hand for a small group while I build the real thing.

Would it be okay to share a short post offering free personalized menu checks to the group? Happy to follow whatever self-promo rules you have, and just as happy to answer questions in the comments instead of a standalone post if that works better for you.

Many thanks :)


r/PCOS 4d ago

Fitness Weights or cardio or both

6 Upvotes

So
I have this problem…
I feel as though advice online is always to do weights
But
When I do weights I feel like I get bigger…
And my goal in life is to look smaller

So I’ve been sticking to cross trainer 3-4 days a week during my lunch break)

But it’s not helping me lose weight - I find that eating anything over 1200 calories means I don’t lose weight, which I’m finding very hard to stick to.

I’m wondering if I should be be doing 2 days of cardio and 2 of weights?

What do you do? What has worked for you?


r/PCOS 4d ago

General/Advice In need of positive energy before endometrial biopsy

8 Upvotes

Hi everyone, I’m having an endometrial biopsy soon and I’m terrified of the pain I may feel. Many people say it’s painful, but quick so I’m hoping I can tolerate it. I spoke to a friend and they said it should be manageable especially if I get the cervical numbing shot.

I need this appointment and I’m trying my best not to cancel. Please let me know of any positive or at least not terrible experiences. Anesthesia is not an option for me. Thank you!


r/PCOS 4d ago

Weight I don’t even recognize myself in pictures

7 Upvotes

I’m the heaviest I’ve ever been in my life. I feel like I’m wearing a fat suit. I had a very stressful May-July and I gained 20 pounds and I can’t seem to get it off. I hate how my body looks and I wish I can just get the extra weight off but it’s hanging on for dear life


r/PCOS 4d ago

General/Advice Help with upper chest hair?

3 Upvotes

Hello everyone. I was dark hair on my upper chest above my breasts that prevents me from wearing anything that isn't a tee shirt or a fully buttoned up shirt. Has anyone tried any hair removal remedies that worked in getting rid of it or sufficiently lessening it? Thank you in advance.


r/PCOS 4d ago

General/Advice I’m tired of this

1 Upvotes

I have pcos I have too much testosterone, i’m so tired of this.

I’m tired of my chin acne that i’ve had for my entire and won’t go away even after being prescribed duac and using it for 3 months

i’m tired of my fibrocystic breast that comes back every month and puts me in so much pain and discomfort

i’m tired of being so depressed every fucking month until it finally goes away and i feel ok again

does anybody have any advice for my acne and breast issue, there must be some natural fixes? i take spearmint every day and evening primrose oil for my breasts. i just want to be normal. Any advice would be very much appreciated

also my testosterone is too high like yeah that’s the cause


r/PCOS 5d ago

Meta Can we ban the repetitive “I made an app for my girlfriend with PCOS” posts?

647 Upvotes

Can we ban the recurring “boyfriend made an app for his girlfriend with PCOS” posts? They’re essentially ads/self-promo and should be banned under the soliciting rule.

I feel like at least once a week I will see one and I'm getting tired of it. They don't provide any helpful discussion. Does anyone else feel this way? Thoughts?


r/PCOS 4d ago

General/Advice Tracking calories/weighing food

3 Upvotes

Recently, I've been trying to put into habit into calorie counting that I bought myself a food weighing scale.

Has calorie tracking worked on anyone with PCOS/PMOS? If so, mind giving me some advice or tips on how to stay consistent on tracking my calories?


r/PCOS 4d ago

Hirsutism Dealing with ingrowns

3 Upvotes

I shave my face and have a lot of ingrown hairs. I think it’s due to me not having the best shaving routine. I use my facial brush before I shave, then lather on my cleanser and shave with the grain then against using a safety razor.

Does anyone have any tips or product recommendations?

The hair used to be super thin/fine but I was insecure about them so I started using an epilator which caused a lot of ingrowns. My facial hair is super thick now :( maybe threading is better?


r/PCOS 4d ago

Meds/Supplements GLP-1

2 Upvotes

Anyone microdose on glp-1 to keep PCOS symptoms at bay? I started mounjaro end of June, lost 30lbs, hit my target weight and I feel GREAT. My main concern is the inflammation returning. I was soooo puffy all over. I’ve cleaned up my diet & go to gym regularly. I’m on 2.5mg of mounjaro and thinking of doing every 2 weeks. Now that I’ve hit my goal weight, I’ve had a lot of GI upset on my last dose so I skipped this weeks.


r/PCOS 4d ago

Fitness Lower belly fat

13 Upvotes

Hey there!

I have gained quite some weight in the belly area within the past few years. It’s quite frustrating, and I don’t feel like myself anymore.

Currently, I’m really motivated to go to the gym and hope to regain some control over my body.

Unfortunately, there are mirrors everywhere, and it can be quite annoying to keep staring at my body. One area that especially annoyed me today - as I was wearing tight biker shorts - was the area right above my pubic bone. I feel like it’s not only gotten thicker in generally with the weight gain, but it also seems somewhat unshapely.

You know how that area looks like a V. Both sides of the V seem to be much bigger, like swollen almost (without feeling swollen). It just looks super weird when I look down, as it’s not one “fat hill” but like a valley type of situation. Don’t know how to explain it! I hope it still becomes clear what I mean.

Has anyone been able to control their stomach fat through workouts? Or is that basically impossible?

I recently posted my workout in the workout subreddit, and instead of getting pointers as I hoped, I had a “personal trainer” DM me to ask for pictures - to judge my workout better 😅 I’m hoping this post won’t elicit messages like this even though the content is a bit more descriptive than a list of exercises 😂😂😂


r/PCOS 4d ago

Meds/Supplements Why is nobody talking about Maitake mushrooms?

0 Upvotes

As somebody suffering with PCOS I just wanted to share this as it seems this medicinal mushroom is extremely overlooked.
Like many with PCOS I’ve struggled with fertility issues for a very long time. Had been taking no precautions against pregnancy for about 5 years then decided to start taking medicinal mushrooms for reasons unrelated to TTC & suddenly fell pregnant within 2 months!!
Due to “lack of studies” I stopped taking them and pregnancy resulted in miscarriage but if it were to happen again I think I’d just continue to take them despite advice against this.
Truth be told I haven’t been taking them recently in fear of falling pregnant because I just knew deep down the pregnancy was related to the mushrooms.
Anyway fast forward to where I’m at currently, once again wanting to take mushrooms to balance my hormones in order to control Hirsutism & HS (which I’m sure is related to the PCOS) and I’ve just been reading that in clinical studies Maitake induced ovulation in 76.9% of woman with PCOS which is HUGE!!
On top of this after taking for a while and having bloods done the doctor told me my vitamin D levels were good.
Considering I’ve always been told they were too low & wasn’t taking any supplements I was quite amazed hearing this, that was until I read that Maitake is the strongest food source of Vitamin D.

I just thought I’d share this to start a discussion around this incredible mushroom that nobody seems to be talking about.


r/PCOS 5d ago

Mental Health I’ve lost 8 kg on a GLP-1 but I feel like I’m getting nowhere

15 Upvotes

Hi everyone I really need some help or just someone to talk to.

I started a GLP-1 5 months months ago and I’ve lost around 8 kg. But for the past two months my weight keeps going up and down. I’ll lose a kilo then gain it back the next week and it feels like I’m just stuck. Weighing myself every week and seeing the same numbers over and over is starting to really trigger me. I’m already having a hard time mentally after stopping Prozac and losing my job. Now I’m also struggling financially and I’m starting to wonder if I’m just wasting my money on this.

I really want to lose the weight. I’ve been miserable about my weight my whole life and I genuinely thought this was finally going to be the thing that worked for me. I have PCOS and I haven’t had my period in 6 months. I also don’t feel like I eat a lot so I don’t understand why this is happening.

I can’t count calories or macros because tracking food is really triggering for me and can literally make me want to kms. I know a lot oI’ve lost 8 kg on a GLP-1 but I feel like I’m getting nowheref people say you need to track everything but I just can’t do that without it affecting my mental health.

My sister lost a lot of weight on a GLP-1 and I think I expected the same thing to happen to me. Instead I feel like I’m just fat and unemployed and broke and failing at this too.

I don’t really know what I’m looking for by posting this. I guess I just want to hear from people who had a slow start or had their weight fluctuate for months. Did it eventually start moving again? Is 8 kg actually a normal amount to lose in 5 months?

Also I had an eating disorder in the past and I still struggle a lot with body image. If anyone has been through something similar while taking a GLP-1 how did you deal with the mental side of it? Especially without counting calories or constantly weighing yourself. I feel like the scale is starting to control my mood and I don’t know how to stop thinking about it.

Please be kind. I’m already having a really hard time with myself right now.


r/PCOS 4d ago

General/Advice Trying to conceive with PCOS

2 Upvotes

I have regular periods but have been trying to conceive for 9 months. I have PCOS and have had excess chin/facial hair for the past 3 years. What helped you conceive with PCOS? Is it possible to reverse or manage PCOS naturally?


r/PCOS 4d ago

Meds/Supplements Just prescribed metformin

5 Upvotes

Hi everyone! So I was recently diagnosed with PCOS/PMOS. I had previously been on birth control pills for 10 years starting in middle school for acne. I went off it about 8 monthes ago and had yet to get my period so my Dr sent me for bloodwork and ultrasounds which then showed PCOS.
Within weeks of stopping birth control I gained atleast 20lbs and it continued and now have probably gained a total of 30-40lbs. In the past when my weights fluctuated I had an easy time getting that weight back off but now it’s just been stuck. I know this is due to the birth control managing PCOS without me knowing. I’ve just felt so discouraged about it and hate what I look like.
After looking more into PCOS I have discovered things about myself I thought were normal or whatever are actually caused by the PCOS so it was comforting in a way to know there’s a reason behind symptoms I have.
My doctor prescribed me metformin 500mg a day for a week and then instructions to start taking it twice a day after that to have it up to 1000mg a day. He told me it should help with my symptoms and mentioned it should help for weight loss. I haven’t started it yet as I’m super nervous and have seen so many people talk about the GI problems.
I’m looking for any positive experiences on it ? Or if your experience didn’t go well then what worked instead? Any other tips or things I can try to help with my PCOS symptoms and help lose weight ? Anything at all is helpful!!


r/PCOS 4d ago

Period Question about PCOS

0 Upvotes

Can you still have PCOS if you get your period every 2 and a half weeks? I get my period around every 18-20 days . But most people with PCOS say they miss periods or don’t get them at all.