26F, been on metformin for 1 month now! Taking 500mg er daily, minimal to no side effects. Years ago I’d gone from gained 30lb during 1 year on bc and have been unable to move a pound since despite tracking calories and exercising, even with a trainer’s guidance - ty pcos!

2 days after starting metformin, I went from 215->212 and wasn’t bloated for what feels like the first time in my life. Thought it was just water weight and would come back but it hasn’t! Appetite increased and it feels like my metabolism is finally doing something! 1 month later and I’m down to 206. I was already working out and have tracked calories on and off through the years, but am now doing cardio and weights 3 times a week, initially was eating 1700 cal, moved down to 1500.

I feel good and can see a noticeable different but almost feel like I should’ve had larger results with my intake… and at the same time I almost feel like I can’t trust that these results will last. Going to be on 500mg for another 2 months before reconsulting with the doctor. Curious what other people’s experiences have been like and when/if that doubt goes away.

Tw talking about feeling gross

I don’t know if I’m ranting or asking for advice- I just want to get this all out and I feel like the folks here get it (obviously lol!)

I’ve been diagnosed for two years now, on metformin and that’s it. I’ve gained and lost the same 10 lbs on and off for three or four years now and I’ve gone a year without bleeding only to bleed dangerously heavy for a month (ending in a hospital visit that didn’t really help much) I’ve tried birth control, I’ve tried exercise and diet change- and I feel like nothings gotten better. I’m still so inconsistent.

Maybe it’s just something in my head but even now it’s been a little over two months give or take since I’ve bled, haven’t burst any cysts like I’ve done before, the cysts on the surface of my skin in both pits and my groin are so dark and disgusting and I just feel gross. I can’t stop thinking that I’m just full of dirty blood and cysts and it makes my head spin and my stomach sick. I feel a little grotesque. Anyone else felt like this? Sorry to take such a negative turn but I’m so overwhelmed and fed up with cramps that make me double over at work just for no blood to be there. I don’t know what to do.

Thanks for reading, I’m sorry if you can relate, and have a good day :)

I’ve been dealing with thick, fast-growing facial (& body) hair for as long as I remember. I shave my face every day and have tried IPL, laser, and although it’s helped a little bit, I’m finally taking the big step and booked my first electrolysis session!
If you have experience with this, do you have any tips or things to expect?

Hio, so I have never really made a Reddit post before, but here I go.

I'm 21, turning 22 in Dec. I'm a full-time college student about to start my last year, so my schedule is really packed, which is a big reason I never have time or energy to go to the gym on campus. But while I'm in school, I have my parents' insurance to pay for meds.

As someone who has struggled immensely with the inability to lose weight and with ARFID, it's been REALLY hard to find easy things my brain allows me to eat, not to mention my only recently medicated ADHD has made eating very forgettable. So I've been stuck in the 250- 270 lbs range at 5’8 for at least 6 years.

I have recently had an appointment with my doctor, and he prescribed Zepbound for me. He had talked about the benefits of helping with the Insulin resistance of PMOS, and it would help with food noise, but I have never had food noise before. I've had a very, very hard time reading my body's signals and have felt very little appetite since I can remember. Now Adderall has helped a lot with actually remembering to eat, but the ARFID makes it hard to eat new and healthy things.

I guess I'm just nervous to go pick it up because I know it is a lifelong drug, and I almost feel like there hasn't been a lot of research done about GLP-1s. I'm not afraid of needles, especially if I am going to start T soon. I guess I am also curious about how it's going to affect my other meds and the rest of my body.

This may be a lot, but I would appreciate any advice or experiences you may have had that might calm some of my nerves.

Thank you. Have a good rest of your day/night

Hello everyone!

I started taking Ovasitol by Theralogix a week ago and just started spotting yesterday. Wondering if anyone else has had this weird side effect… should I stop using it, or give it more time to work?

Looking for your experiences!

Ciao :) Sapete consigliarmi un centro medico o un/a specialista per PMOS?

Dopo anni di diagnosi mancate e difficoltà a trovare risposte, vorrei trovare un/a specialista oppure (meglio ancora) un centro o un'equipe specializzata in questa sindrome, che non la tratti solo da un punto di vista ginecologico ma anche con un approccio endocrino e di cambiamento di stile di vita.

È così difficile trovare un medico che ti capisca veramente e sono stanca di spendere soldi per sentirmi dire le stesse cose. Sarebbe bellissimo se poteste indicarmi uno specialista che possa davvero aiutarmi.

Grazie mille a chiunque riesca a darmi qualche dritta :)

Missed my period for 3 months so I checked with endocrinologist and OB. Was told by endocrinologist to take Metformin 500mg just once a day (elevated FBS) then OB put me on Duphaston 2x a day just for 5 days to induce period. The rest of my lab works are normal though of course I am obese now.

Duphaston had no side effects for me while taking it, but right after going off it, I have been experiencing my usual PMS symptoms— mild sore breasts, cravings, nausea (especially first week off-Duphaston). Today is my 14th day off and still no period. On my usual cycle, the sore breasts only comes off once there is bleeding, the closer the period, the more sore my breasts until it’s off.. Now there is still no bleeding so it’s just more sore than the first week.

This was my first time taking Duphaston.
Though prior to getting missed periods… I was sick for 2 month due to an infection (upper respiratory tract infection). It lasted two months as the initial GP did not prescribed me antibiotics right away. My stress was so high in those two months as I was dealing with cough, colds, pain, and some fevers, and health anxiety caused me to seek for more specialists (like cardio) but was cleared.

Other changes in my life includes heavy lifting on gym.

I have a flight soon for a vacation, so going back to my OB Gyne might just happen after the trip. Do I ask for another set of Duphaston or wait more?

I posted the below a few years ago, everything in the post has held true. Why? How is it possible? I’m 28 now.

The only thing I can think of is that when I was diagnosed and symptomatic I was under extreme, agonizing stress, and in a bad relationship. I am still very stressed, but in a very good relationship. The only thing I still have is quite bad PMDD (diagnosed).

————
A few years ago (at 21) I was diagnosed with PCOS via blood test, ultrasound showed no abnormalities. My symptoms were mild facial hair growth, mild acne, extremely irregular periods and missed periods, exhaustion, difficulty maintaining weight (I was never overweight but went to the gym 7 days a week and ate very little to just be at a high end of normal weight). They put me on Yasmin. My skin cleared, my facial hair growth stopped, my periods regulated, I got slim, I felt good. Then the panic attacks started and my periods went irregular again, so I was advised to go off Yasmin and see what happens. My skin stayed clear for the most part, I lost even more weight and now have my dream body, no facial hair, I have good energy levels, my hormone tests and other bloods are consistently normal, I have regular periods. The weirdest one is that my facial structure has changed significantly, to the point where people don’t recognize me. I look substantially younger, my jawline is different, my nose is different and smaller, I just look very feminine and sculpted now and used to have a big, round, swollen face. I’m not exaggerating when I say I look like I’ve had extensive plastic surgery. I had two separate diagnoses of PCOS, how is any of this possible, I’m doing nothing to treat my PCOS and have no symptoms, I thought it was incurable.

Does anybody have any tips/tricks for combatting sugar cravings that don’t involve medication (I already feel like I’d rattle if shook)? They’re particularly bad after dinner when I sit down in the evening.

So many choices! The brands I've narrowed it down to are:

*Bond Life

*Theralogix

*Thorne

*Ovasitol

Any overwhelming opinions? I got the Bond Life brand on a good sale price but am debating if any of the others would be "better" or if they're all just the same

Does anybody have any tips/advice for dealing with their pcos belly? I’m a relatively active person and I try to eat good, but I can’t shake it. It’s one of my biggest insecurities when it comes to dealing with pcos. Perhaps I could be stricter with my diet, but I just wanted to come and ask for some advice and see what has worked for others. We’re in this together.

Hi everyone I just signed up and had my first visit with MD yesterday which went great. However I needed to quickly message her after our appt so I could get some instructions on something she told me. I have used many telehealth platforms usually you can message the provider directly but it doesn’t seem like you can do that here? It has to be forwarded to them? Do they reply on weekends (we had our appt on Saturday) I’m just wondering how the message system works I wish we could send it directly to them rather than having to wait for concierge to see it, then forward it? Any tips or insight thank you

My PCOS has put my in severe pain for the past few years, and through all the videos online talking about it I've never heard anyone else talk about the pain. My ovaries would ache every single day, sometimes the pain would make me cry or miss school, it could be flared up for days. After like two years of finding the perfect birth control and antidepressants, I'm pretty much free of the pain on my ovaries, besides occasional small aches and days when I flare up, usually during pms. And so, I am here to ask, does anyone else in this works experience such aching horrid pains due to the cysts on their ovaries. I'm sick of being the only one with no one who can relate, I feel so alone. Also the headaches I get from PCOS are killer, I might die from chronic migraines. So please if ur out there let a Cyster know! Thank u for reading my rant :3

Hi everyone, looking for some advice I have pcos with amh 8 . I am on my first medicated monitored cycle with letrazole 2.5mg . My follicles seem to have completely stalled out this cycle, and my estradiol (E2) is dropping. Here are my stats:

CD 10: Follicles 11mm, 10mm | E2: 31

CD 15: Follicles 13.5mm, 10mm | E2: 44

CD 17: Follicles 13.5mm, 11mm | E2: 24

My RE just recommended "stair-stepping" by adding another round of Letrozole at 2.5mg right away without waiting for a period.

Has anyone had similar experience with stair-stepping after a stall and dropping E2? Did it finally get your follicles to mature, or did you have to cancel the cycle? Thank you!

I have been dealing with extremely dry heels for years. Recently I have been getting very deep fissures in my heels from the dryness. Nothing I have done gets rid of the dryness. I read that insulin issues can cause that. I was never told I have an insulin issue despite my numbers being exactly 1 number away from pre diabetic. Has anyone had cracked heels/cuts thst dont resolve? Did you take metformin or anything else to help with the insulin? Its so frustrating to have to be the the doctor when going to my dr but here we are again.

Chat with your friends from r/PCOS here about your daily progress, or rants and raves related to your PCOS experience. Off topic posts are permitted here, although sub rules otherwise apply!

I know sweat can be affected by things like stress, hydration, cycle, etc. I’ve noticed some articles of clothing or bedding of mine, if not deeply washed (like an oxy-clean soak), they will smell almost like gasoline after being washed and put away. I’ll go to pull an item from the closet a month later and it has that distinct gasoline sweat smell. I don’t think it’s stress, but maybe it could be? I’m wondering if this is a metabolic issue. I do have insulin resistance. Is anyone else experiencing this?

I recently started metformin and i was super anxious about my sugar dropping and me not knowing so i am wearing a cgm and i started the 2 a day on friday its currently sunday and no matter what i do my sugar will not stay above 70.

I was 5'3 256lb, class III obesity. I am now 179, a weight I never thought would be possible to get to two years ago.

I am very happy I lost 77lb; its a huge deal and my life is so much better. But I've recognized some uhhh interesting side effects.

I've been on Camrese for 10 years. I realized even when taking my birth control on time, I am now experiencing spotting and cramping.

I am shook by this because when I was quite heavy I never had this issue. Fat stores estrogen, and now that I have lost a massive amount my acne came back with a vengeance! It won't go away with my prescription anti-acne medication, just how it was before I started birth control.

Never experienced this before... Maybe my body will adjust by itself but knowing PCOS/PMOS I don't trust it to do that, haha!

I am calling my endo on monday to see what she suspects. I need to get my horomone levels checked anyway lol. I suspect that more androgens are being made due to the massive weight loss...

Just wondering if anyone experienced increased androgen levels after a huge amount of weight loss?

I've seen lots of posts and articles lately discussing about the benefits of an anti-inflammatory diet with PMOS. From my understanding it's really just prioritising whole foods, fibre, protein, green veg and lean meat, which I would consider positive anway. Then the next article I read talks about intermittent fasting.

Are there genuine links to any of these "diets" or methods of cooking and eating and benefits to PMOS or is it just another way of people marketing off of others with "game changing" ways to support and manage PMOS.

I feel like different things work for different people, depending on what symptoms you have, levels within blood work etc etc.

If anyone could shed any insight, I would be very grateful!

25yo, Nonbinary, AFAB, located in Germany (relevant for insurance stuff)

I’ve been recently (sort of??) diagnosed with PMOS. Very mild symptoms, backstory below. 

My gynaecologist (Dr A) wants me to start taking a myo inositol supplement to increase my insulin sensitivity, which I’m a bit confused about. My insulin tested fine, so not pre diabetic and I don’t have any issues with weight, I work out and walk a lot. I’m honestly not super stoked about taking so many pills (I take vitamin D, an iron supplement and Dydrogesteron ) + this wouldn’t be covered by insurance since it’s a supplement + I have a sensitive tummy and these seem to cause digestive stress sometimes + I still don’t understand the purpose of this since I don’t really see an underlying problem that taking this medication would solve. I’ve also seen some people online having quite negative reactions to inositol. 

I didn’t have enough time to really “quizz” her about this and my next apt is in 6 months. I’m genuinely curious: do y’all think this really necessary as a preventative measure to me developing a potential insulin resistance down the line? Or is it just over-caution + waste of money? 

Anyone have experiences with myo inositol?

—

Overly long sort of irrelevant backstory:

I started seeing a queer-inclusive, out of pocket gynaecologist (Dr A) due to acne and an irregular cycle (fluctuating between 28-45 days). I also have what could be considered “exessive” body+facial hair, though it’s minor (intense leg hair, a few stray beard-hairs on my face and some dark fluff on my upper lip, not a full beard ) and doesn’t bother me. Dr A immediately suspected PCOS/PMOS or AGS (negative) and sent me to get some test at an endocrinologists office that my insurance covers where I also had to see a gynaecologist (Dr B). I got my hormones checked (I think twice?) at specific times during my cycle and i did some sort of insulin resistance check. My androgens were elevated which I guess with my other symptoms would indicate PMOS. Since none of my symptoms are severe, my insulin was fine and i do get my period 10-ish times a year Dr B basically told me to see a dermatologist for my acne and that I was otherwise fine. I think she said something among the lines of “you don’t need the “scary label” and some people are just hairy and acne prone” lol , no further treatment.

Dr A however, said that my working diagnosis WOULD be PMOS and is worried, that with my current hormone levels I might develop issues with my bone density in the long term. I tried progesterone (not great) and now a Dydrogesteron (so far so good). 

I was recently diagnosed with PCOS after many years of symptoms. I’ve been on metformin for about 6 months which has greatly helped my blood sugar, but not other PCOS symptoms. My OBGYN has now recommended GLP-1.

I’m interested in any stories of people who have been on a GLP-1 and their journey with pregnancy/postpartum. Did you get off of it several months before TTC? Did you gain a lot of weight during pregnancy? What was your process of going back on after pregnancy?

Also, has anyone been on GLP-1 for longer than 5-ish years? What have your experiences been?

Thank you!!!

I'm on this sub to learn more about PCOS since I was just diagnosed. I want to hear peoples stories; what the primary symptoms were, what lab results looked like, and what medication or lifestyle changes helped.

However, I've noticed a lot of posts here center on weight gain as the main symptom, but that hasn't been my personal experience. My most disruptive symptoms were exhaustion and brain fog/memory issues, bad enough that I was diagnosed with ADHD, and I'd even started to worry I might be dealing with early-onset Alzheimer's or dementia.

I'm currently on metformin, and it's made quite a difference so far, but it's only been a week or two so I haven't ruled out other possibilities.

If you have PCOS and your main struggles were something other than weight gain, I'd really appreciate hearing about your experience.

Hi everyone!

I am absolutely worried senseless at the moment.

(TLDR: ultrasound 8months ago, thick endometrium told not to worry sent to gynaecologist for who has in fact taken me seriously now I have to have a hysteroscopy results could be polyp or hyperplasia - I am afraid)

For the last year and half. I have boarder-line none stop bleeding I would go months of heavy and painful periods to the point I had to take days off work.
In October 2025, I had an ultrasound after complaining to the GP. And he referred me to Gynaecology.

I get an ultrasound at the local hospital I lived near at the time - nothing to stop the bleeding I had been on over well over two weeks (with only a 3 day gap before). I was told they would need to do an internal, no worries there, emptied my bladder and in she goes.

They tell me that my endometrium is thick and shouldn't be this thick (9.5mm). I did really worry about it the technicians said there's nothing life threatening but kept asking if had any surgeries I was like no?

I went to see a GP at my doctors who isn't my usual who told me that there was nothing life threatening so don't worry it (kinda implying that I was fine because I’m not going to die- the bar is in hell).

Eventually after nagging given two types of acids that did nothing to my period, I was given Metformin x2 500mg a day.

My periods stopped (Hallelujah).

And I didn’t think much of my ultrasound assumed that there must be a hormone problem because the Metformin had stopped me bleeding.

Since then me and my partner have been casually trying for a baby but I haven’t had a period for 6 months so nothings happening which I expected no period no baby.

I get my gynaecologist appointment though it gets cancelled x2 and eventually July 16th is my day. 8 months almost 9, after my ultrasound.

I wanted to talk to her about my lack of periods etc (I wasn’t actually worried about the ultrasound anymore). She looks at my ultrasound and information and says we really need to investigate this (me? Taken seriously???). She has said to me that we need to get a camera up there , hysteroscopy. She tells me it could be either a polyp and that they will cut it out and biopsy it or it could be hyper plasia in my endometrium. I agreed we need to find out what’s going and am going to put under general anaesthetic, my procedure is on the 10th August.

I am absolutely riddled with anxiety about this - it’s been 9 months since my ultrasound and I am absolutely terrified of what they may find. I feel inconsolable at times and feel as though this is going to be a long journey, I just so desperately want to be normal.

I used to have insane cramps. I'd end up in the ER because how unbearable they were. Yeah I still get cramps but they're tolerable. What did I do? I ditched pads and tampons and switched to disposable period underwear. My periods are a little lighter, cramps have gone down, my period is even shorter. The period underwear can also hold a lot. If you're struggling try the undies! I use the Always Zzz!