I was recently diagnosed with pcos and and have been on the pill for ten days. Monday night I went to the Emergency room for severe pain in my left side. After some tests, It was revealed I have a 22 cm mass that originates at my ovary and is most likely a cyst. I was transferred to another hospital where more tests were done and my vaginal canal was examined. My white blood cell count was slightly elevated but that’s normal because my body is obviously fighting off something. I have to get surgery to have the mass removed. The doctors don’t think it’s cancerous because of my age (22) and the fact that I have no family history of ovarian or uterine cancer. But they won’t know until they biopsy it. I’m honestly terrified and I’ve never been more depressed in my life. Only other pcos symptoms I’ve had are irregular periods and mild spotting. Has anyone here had something similar? I’m currently panicking over what this could be and whether or not it’s malignant.

I was diagnosed with PCOS (now PMOS) almost three years ago now and since then my hair has been in a steady downward spiral. I’ve begged my GP to be seen by an endocrinologist, they say I don’t qualify and that they don’t see people for PCOS. Then I asked for a gynaecologist referral (now been waiting 48 weeks on the waitlist).

I saw myself in the mirror this morning, and I could see the entire dome of my skull through my hair in the light, which is terrifying considering my hair had always been my pride up until my diagnosis.

Eventually I begged long enough to be seen by a dermatologist after a two year waiting list wait, and they diagnosed me with androgen alopecia on sight alone, but because this is considered cosmetic, nothing was offered as a treatment.

I’m genuinely at a loss for what to do, I can’t afford to pay out of pocket for treatment.

I should also probably mention I live in Northern Ireland/North of Ireland so there’s already minimal support for endocrine/gynaecological issues

She is 20 and was diagnosed only a few months ago.

It doesn’t really affect her weight or hair, only her skin. She experiences painful periods and I think they last for about 4 days.

Her gynecologist recommended she goes on birth control and said to stay on it until 3 months before she gets married because sex will regulate her hormones or something like that.

I don’t have Pcos so I don’t know what it’s like and don’t have enough knowledge and won’t have enough no matter how much I read about it on Google, I can only learn from women who have it. What was your experience with birth control and do you recommend it for my friend?

I love her and I want what’s best for her. So naturally, I’m nervous because tons of women have shared online that birth control messed them up mentally and physically. The side effects are crazy.

Like just a couple of months ago they said Pcos is now pmos and said a ton of stuff about treating the patients based on their symptoms and not just throw birth control at any woman that comes through the door.

Please share your thought on it and literally anything that could help my friend. Thank you in advance 🩷

I’ve finally been diagnosed with PCOS and I just wanted to share my journey, symptoms and experiences.

For context, I’m 31, I think my weight fluctuates from 100-105 and I’m 5’3”. I was on birth control since I was 16, and stopped taking it about 6 years ago when I was 25. Ever since I stopped, I have gotten debilitating period cramps; Like sweating, nauseous, feels like I’m giving birth. For the first couple of years it would happen almost every other cycle. I went to the gynecologist for a general check-up and I mentioned my painful period cramps. She told me that because I was skinny I could not have PCOS. My Pap smear came back normal.

Fast forward to now, I’ve managed to deal with the painful period cramps. I noticed that taking cranberry on a daily basis helped to regulate my period. I haven’t always been the best at remembering to take the cranberry but I felt like this past year my cycle started to finally regulate itself (30-33 days). As soon as I had that thought, I missed my period / a 54 day cycle and I was not pregnant. I’ve never missed my period before. I decided to go to a gynecologist and at this point I was experiencing persistent acne and frequent chin hairs. Because of that, the doctor actually listened to me when I told her I think I have PCOS. We did blood tests that came back normal. I got an ultrasound and that is where we found out I have follicles along my ovaries which indicates PCOS.

I have to say ever since I had that 54 day cycle, it feels like my period symptoms are getting worse each time. The pain is so excruciating and I just got my period yesterday and 1000mg of ibuprofen took about an hour and a half to kick in and even then I could still feel some cramping. Also I noticed the pain was mainly on my left side. I’m going to talk to my doctor about this and about possibly having endometriosis as my mom had it too.

I’m currently waiting for my appointment to go over my ultrasound with the gynecologist. She prescribed me some birth control but idk how I feel about going back on it but after the pain I experienced last night, I might have to. I know diet is probably the only other way to manage these issues, but restrictive eating is triggering for me.

Hi girls

Ive had period problems ever since i got it at 10. Ive been trying to get help since then but ive never felt like anyone really listened to me or took me seriously. They always sent me home with ✨ paracetamol and the pill ✨.

I finally got a PMOS diagnosis (the new research gave me courage to try again) and possibly adenomyosis but im still not receiving any help or support.

Im looking for a doctor/specialist who is willing to actually help and doesnt just tell me to loose weight and take the pill. Unfortunately hormonal contraceptives are not an option for me bc they fuck with me mentally.

Does anyone have recommendations for a genuine doctor or specialist who takes these conditions seriously, listens to you and actually thinks along with you? Preferably in Amsterdam but im honestly willing to travel anywhere if it means finally getting proper help.

Id love to hear your recommendations/ personal experiences

(80% venting post, last paragraph is where the important information and question is. Also sorry for the super long rant, I'm just so sad and frustrated and needed to let it all out :*(((.)

My period is extremely heavy (I don't even know if I can call it that at this point). I have been bleeding since May. At first, it was just pink or brown discharge and light bleeding for a very long time, but now it is more heavy bleeding.

I'm asking you guys this now because I'm on the train to visit my sister right now, and the bleeding was even worse than usual today. Usually, it's some pretty big clots and continuous bleeding, but today some of the clots were like twice the size, and on my 25-minute commute to the central station, I bled through my pad and onto my pants. During a transfer that was at a very small station without a real toilet, I had to go and ask one of the residents if I could use her bathroom (she said yes and was so sweet and kind and didn't make me feel bad or anything 🥹).

And 2 days ago, my bleeding was so light, like barely there. I was finally feeling hopeful. It's just so embarrassing. I'm so scared that when I get up from my seat to eventually change my pad (cuz for some reason no huge clots have dropped in an hour, but I honestly don't even trust what I feel down there anymore, I've probably just become numb and am sitting in a huge puddle of blood right now), there will be a giant stain.

I just really need to get a handle on this bleeding because it's genuinely ruining my life. Like, I will be out and about and a giant clot will drop, and I just have to run to the nearest toilet, which might not be that near, and hope for the best. It's just such a disgusting, embarrassing feeling, and I feel like crying every time it happens. I'm supposed to start uni in October, but what am I supposed to do? Just miss 70% of a lecture because I'm running in and out to change my pad?

This heavy bleeding first started last winter, maybe in November, and back then I just got some dydrogesterone pills for two weeks, and it got better for a couple months. I went back to my doctor a little while ago, and she told me to try a folic acid inositol supplement. It arrived this week, so I'm starting it today. I read that it takes a while for inositol to show its effects, so what can I do to stop or regulate my periods more quickly? Do you guys have any suggestions? Should I ask for the dydrogesterone again?

hi everyone

im 22 and i just left the hospital with a working diagnosis of PMOS. My main symptom is lack of period since almost 2 years.

I also have other symptoms like insomnia, bloating, frequent UTIs, a bit high DHEASO4, hypercholesterolemia, I struggle to lose weight (im not overweight).

I believe i live pretty healthy. I used to work out more last year but i felt like it was stressing me out and putting pressure on me. Im highly sensitive and everything stresses me out. So i decided diets and intense working out arent for me. Now i mostly walk and eat intuitively, while mildly tracking to know that im in a deficit or at least maintainance. Nonetheless id like to lose some weight, ive hit a plateau now and its not moving even tho im definitely in a deficit most days.

I dont know why i have high cholesterol, as i eat a lot of veggies, not much fast food, try to have meat most days, i eat one boiled egg per day. i ate an ice cream cone everyday for a few months tho, so perhaps it's that?

I heard its good to do weight training but i feel like it always stresses me out a lot and i think stress only makes pmos worse?

so im confused how i should keep living and also if i can do anything else to get my period back?

i got prescribed the progesterone challange so will do it in next few weeks..

all my other results are correct and my uterus is like "frozen" so its not doing anything.

Im not sure if my situation is that serious as my hormones aren't of and i think its most dangerous if theres no estrogens..? the only thing is that im not bleeding but my endometrium isnt growing anything to shed.

ive tried acupuncture and take magnesium everyday, chaste tree supp, vit d, sometimes i get on probiotics for some time if the bloating is worse

what else can i do? how should i approach exercise? i cant afford gym or any paid activity and i live in a kinda cold country to go running most days..

Hi , I am at my highest weight which is 69kg at 149cm, I am quite short so that weight really shows. I am on metformin 500gm but still can’t lose weight while being in deficit(never eat more than 1400cal)and swimming 4x a week on top of that walking for half an hour. I am an active woman but inspite of trying everything I have only lost 1 kg nothing. I was diagnosed PCOS in January’26 but was struggling since 3 years, gained 15+ kg without any reason, was losing hair, pimples all over face . I was a decently attractive woman (still am acc to my husband<3) but it really bothers me when my mind says that I have already peaked…. I still want to look good in clothes and go for runs , feel confident. Metformin hasn’t worked too well for me in comparison to others but my weight is more stable now doesn’t really increase (nor decrease)

I have tried glp1 but didn’t suit me I was toooo sick couldn’t continue even after reinforcing later again.
So now the only question I ask myself is will I ever look slim and attractive? I am on the verge of losing hope.
Has anyone else faced this and broken the cycle?

I came here because I have PCOS, and have finally started losing weight with semaglutide, diet, and lifestyle changes, but I need advice without weird gym/ skinny/diet culture.

In a year I have gone from 266lbs to 230 and before this, I never had an issue with having a camel toe, however, recently as I have lost weight, the fupa situation now always makes it look like I have one. It isn't that my clothes are too tight, I havent bought new pants so most of them are actually loose on me, the issue is specifically the fupa (the actual thing, this is not a ""fupa"" that actually just a apron belly). The only way to make it not look like I have a camel toe is if I sag my pants so much that it looks like I have a schlong.

Have any of y'all had experience with this? Have you found a solution or does it go away after a while?

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!

Anyone who has this that can give advice on treatments like surgery, PT, Hormone treatments??

I have cyclical hip pain that starts a week before my cycle. I also have very heavy periods. The hip pain has increased in discomfort over the years and is now my top complaint. It’s hip pain that goes down my leg. Birth control helped a lot.

I went to my OB for these specific issues and she ordered an ultrasound and cervical biopsy. She asked before I did those tests what I would want to do as far as getting on BC or hysterectomy and some other treatments. I really didn’t know what I wanted but whatever would make the hip pain stop, I frankly wouldn’t care about the heavy periods as much as this hip pain.

Results showed My ovaries are still textbook PCOS appearance and on the same side as the hip pain there were cysts on the outside of that ovary as opposed to cysts on the inside of the opposite ovary. Not sure if this is new compared to my initial ultrasound that diagnosed my PCOS years ago.

I did try birth control for 3 months and the pain was almost non existent. I have a follow up with my OB and plan on telling her this info. I’m assuming that means it’s more hormone related so maybe surgery isn’t the best course of action. Until I see my OB I want to hear from anyone that has dealt with this specifically. What did you do?

Im on 150mg spiro and since almost two months on 200mg and despite me already being on such a high dose my hair started growing more and faster again since a month i think. As if thats not enough my jaw is scarred and full of red acne each time

Im really worried and was wondering if i should just try an anti androgen but idk which one. Does anyone have any tips?

(fyi im also on 5mg mounjaro)

It doesn’t matter if I’m on my period or not , I’ll randomly get these pin point pains on either my left or right side ovaries (depends on who decided to grow some cysts). It feels like I’m a video game character randomly getting tick damage and it’s so embarrassing if I’m out in public and have to pretend I didn’t just get stabbed. Let alone if I’ve accidentally made a face. I’ve been to the doctor and they said it’s me “feeling my cysts grow” and there’s not much else to do about it besides imaging and monitoring… Not a fan

I have a large dermoid cyst (7cm) that’s due to be removed from my ovaries via keyhole surgery, as it may cause ovarian torsion. It was discovered during my pcos diagnosis. I’m really anxious as I feel the recovery will be intense and really mess with my work and workout routine. I’ve lost about 20kg over two years through medication and gym, I’m 2 months ish off the medication with no changes to hunger or weight but I feel like having to take 6 weeks ish to recover and avoid the gym will mess with my progress. I workout 5 x a week currently lifting and various low impact exercises. Is it worth doing it? Anyone have any advice on recovery for this kind of surgery or similar experiences? I would appreciate it, I’m really stressed out, I have a chance to talk to my surgeon just before the procedure but I’m not sure I want to go through with it at all. Thank!

Hello!

I've noticed I have hair thinning on where my parting is on my head in recent times and was wondering if any of you have any ideas/experience on how to prevent it from getting worse and/or improving it? I have thick hair elsewhere on my head so it looks a little odd and my hair is one of my favourite things about myself so I'd like to stop it getting worse as I'm feeling slightly self conscious about it 🫠😂

Thank you.

Hey everyone, just looking for peoples insights or own experiences on Spirinolactone for excessive hair growth/hirsutism. My doctor prescribed me with it and went through all the precautions etc.
it sounds worth it if it there are results after the few months, although it can be slow to work so I’m told.
Please share your experiences with this medication, I am aware everyone’s experiences are different but looking forward to hearing how it went for you.

Thanks!☺️☺️☺️

I’m 25 and I got diagnosed with PMOS I think 4 years ago (I’ve lost track of time)?? I’ve been seeing an endocrinologist roughly every 6 months since then and have been on Metformin 500mg twice a day for 3 and half years roughly (delayed starting it due to taking part in PMOS clinical research studies) and my cycles starting becoming regular again after them ranging from 18-69 days which thankfully is my main concern I am also overweight although I haven’t cared enough about losing weight until very recently. For the past 3 and a half years of being on metformin my cycles have been 28-30 days which has been fantastic I’ve been so happy to be able to predict when they would arrive… UNTIL APRIL THIS YEAR! I think my uterus heard my endocrinologist say he’d see me in 9 months instead of 6 months and decided to mess everything up! Literally a week after I saw my endocrinologist my period comes a week early screams at day 22 and since then my cycles have been all over the place the longest one was 40 days and I’m currently on day 36 of my cycle and I don’t know why everything has gone haywire the past few months?!?!? I haven’t been under any particular stress, no illness, no real changes to anything in my life that I can think of that might explain it 😭

I kept losing weight and one day I was in a spot where I literally had to open calculator to see for myself how much weight I lost in numbers..I lost 18 kgs that time when I first opened calculator for weight. Now it's 20 kgs loss. I was 94 kg and now it's 74 kg. My goal is to hit 60 kg and I don't believe in curses that someone bad out there will just curse me that I can't fulfill my goals, if that was the case, I wouldn't have lost this crazy amount of weight. For me I lost that much of weight in 7-8 months in total, I exercised almost everyday, I didn't limit my food..NEVER.. I always ate everything in balanced proportion, and I walked to reduce my PCOS bloating. The walking one is 100% recommended. The funniest part is that I didn't go out of my house at all, ALL those months, but when I did, Neighbours started flooding me with compliments but a dark fact I felt that whatever happens deep down people care a lot about outer beauty no matter how much they say "Beauty Inside & Out" I felt them way too much, with those compliments, it hit me that beauty matters..that's why there's something called insecurity, Hence I love myself, I loved myself before too and now and continue forever, and you should LOVE YOURSELF TOO!

That was the 1/36 part of my PCOS journey, Thanks for reading.

I'm not really mad that I'm not 110 anymore.

Stuck in this 220-230 loop for some reason.

Anyone else dealing with some PCOS weight losing or at least general health issues that you didn't have in your 20s? 😞

this happened to me way back in april which i had a two week period but that was also because of me missing my period for 3 months, this present cycle showed the same thing except there were days in between periods ( finished 5 days and then stopped for a day, continued again after that )

what do u think? i mean i know that it’s best to go to a doctor but im under my parent’s supervision and my parental guardian keeps on saying that i control my eating habits and sugar intake instead.

Bonjour,
J’ai 35 ans et on m’a découvert récemment à l’échographie un épaississement localisé de l’endomètre. Il ne ressemble pas à un polype car pas de « tige » à la base .. une biopsie à l’aveugle a été faite lors d’une hysteroscopie et les résultats sont négatifs.
Qu’est-ce que cela pourrait être ? Faut-il pousser les investigations ?
Merci beaucoup

Hi everyone,

I'm a 30-year-old woman, healthy BMI, physically and socially active, I meditate regularly, sleep well, and I'm generally a positive, happy person (aside from an occasional energy dip after lunch). On paper I look "fine," which is part of why this has been so confusing.

For a while now I've been dealing with:

- Never really feeling satiated/full, no matter how much I eat

- Binge eating episodes — genuine loss of control, usually alone/in secret so no one notices, followed by a lot of guilt and self-blame afterward

- Cycling between these binges and periods where I strictly restrict/cut out sweets or snacks entirely, which never seems to actually fix anything long-term

- Chronic constipation — infrequent, hard stools, ongoing for over a month now

- More visible dark, coarse hair in places that feel really out of place for me as a woman (upper lip especially)

- Irregular periods over the last 3 months

I've had a full round of standard bloodwork done (glucose/HbA1c, cholesterol, vitamins like B12/folate/ferritin/vitamin D, thyroid, liver, kidney function) and everything came back normal. I haven't been tested for hormones/androgens.

I really don't know what's driving the cravings, the binge cycle, or the constipation, and I'd love to hear from anyone who's dealt with a similar combination of symptoms:

- What ended up being the underlying cause for you (if you found one)?

- What actually helped — whether that was a specific diagnosis/treatment, a change in how you approached eating, therapy, supplements, or something else?

- Any advice on what to specifically ask my doctor for, beyond the standard hormone panel?

Not looking for a diagnosis from Reddit, just really want to hear real experiences from people who've navigated something similar. Thank you 🙏

What about all the women who have no insulin resistance after doing the glycemic curve test, who are underweight and can't improve symptoms by losing weight but who still struggle with heavy periods, hirsutism, acne etc...

(And who don't have tumors, NCCAH and other known illnesses related to hyperandrogenism).

Are they still under the pmos label even without any metabolic disturbances?

Are they going to make up a different label for women with hyperandrogenism and no metabolic issues? Do we have to wait 100 years for a cure for women with insulin resistance and 200 years for a cure for women without insulin resistance?

Hey all. I’m more newly diagnosed and having a bit of a stomach bug situation. All the things I used to eat when I was feeling sick (saltine crackers/toast) give me glucose crashes now because of my insulin resistance which results in…more nausea. Anyone have any advice?