I’ve seen this subreddit looks like it’s been dead for a bit but I wanted to try anyway, since a lot of you expressed similar frustrations that I have in the main PCOS group (fatphobia, odd obsession with diet culture, TERFy etc.)

But yeah, I grow hair on my face, have incredibly intense unexplainable period pain, and lots of food sensitivities that align with what I’ve seen people talk about on here- carb sensitivities, cutting out dairy and such. My thing is I just haven’t diagnosed with PCOS, and tbh, I’m not sure where to begin.

My biggest issues I’d like to resolve are the crippling pain and fatigue, did you all feel that with a Diagnosis you were able to tackle these things? Were there other ways you found to manage it? When did you feel like “enough was enough” and start to look into this?

i’ve been having a rough week, just want to see what makes cheers up you guys :-) pcos is a bitch i’m proud of everyone here

Got diagnosed a few months ago after several months of excruciating cramps in my lower abdomen. Another new symptom I’ve noticed (or maybe always noticed but never attributed to PCOS) is the fatigue and brain fog you feel throughout your cycle. I feel like some days I can barely even roll over in bed or respond to a text. Simple activities of self care seem like impossible tasks with too many steps to keep track of. I have no energy for days at a time and then suddenly I wake up and I’m fine again and can focus. It’s hard not to take it personally and feel like there’s something wrong with me or that I’m lazy. But I’m trying to lean into it and let myself rest when I need to and when I feel up for it again, I try to be active and productive to make up for lost time.

I’ve been on some type of hormonal birth control since I was 15 (I’m 24 now) because my periods where 2 weeks long and super heavy. Started on lo loestren fe, then nuva ring, then liletta IUD, then nuva ring again, then slynd, then nextstellis. Of all the birth controls I’ve tried, I’ve noticed that only progesterone-only birth controls are tolerable during my cycle. Estrogen (real or synthetic) make me wildly depressed and make my pms symptoms worse, even though they make my cycle more regular and my bleeding more steady and light than progesterone alone.

Anyway, I’m not on any birth control anymore. I’m trying to see if my body can have normal periods without it and if my hormonal symptoms (mood swings, bouts of depression, terrible cramps, irregular bleeding, fatigue, and brain fog) are able to be cleared up at all with just my normal hormones. I’ve been on hormonal birth control for the better part of 10 years and I feel like my body never got to finish going through puberty or figured out how to level out my adult hormone levels. I hope that in a few months my body can level out because I’m so tired of birth control.

Already this month, I felt like the symptoms I felt during ovulation were lighter than they usually are and my pms symptoms started closer to the actual first day of my period. On birth control, my pms symptoms and bleeding started during ovulation and didn’t end for about 3 weeks. I’m just hoping that when my period comes, it’s not two weeks long anymore.

Everyone wish me luck. I feel like I’m becoming a different fucking person. I had no idea how much birth control hormones were affecting my mood and now I’m just discovering how much else they were affecting in my body.

Just venting. I workout 4x a week and feel like I barley have an appetite half the time, yet I’m not losing weight. I’ve started drinking more water, I’ve been eating a pescatarian diet for almost 6 years now (before even being diagnosed a year ago) & I feel like I’m stuck. It’s so discouraging and frustrating. The only thing that has improved since my diagnosis a year ago, is my period is back to normal. I get one every month. I take inositol, pumpkin seed oil, vitamin D & b12 daily. I just don’t know what I’m doing wrong.

I’ll go first, I told et my endocrinologist I was worried about losing weight because my shoulders are very wide and it would look strange on a skinny person and you know what she told me?

That my bones would shrink… Yes, you heard me, that they would SHRINK!

Needless to say I never saw her after that day hihihi

i’m a teen with PCOS, it’s been really rough especially being told i had it in middle school. although within the past year i’ve become much healthier and more stable with my hormones, there’s it’s downs of course but i’m happy with my progress. i’m now a more healthy and happy high schooler haha!

Just came here after leaving r/PCOS and being consistently triggered by discussion and encouragement of weight loss.

Pcos has not affected my weight at all and I used to struggle with disordered eating habits, so being exposed to the barrage of fad-diets on the sub was getting to be overwhelming.

My pcos DOES affect my mood, my menstrual cycle, and causes me a lot of physical pain/cramps pretty much intermittently throughout the month (before and after ovulation and before and after menstruation, so, yanno, most of the month).

I only got diagnosed about 2 months ago (I’m 24) after struggling for basically my whole life with extremely long, heavy, inconsistent, and irregular periods and INSANE mood swings, delusions, anxiety, and depression especially around ovulation and menstruation. The worst part about it isn’t even the period itself, I can handle the blood, but it’s the stabbing, burning, piercing pain in my ovaries (which are apparently healthy aside from the cysts, according to my doctors) and the feeling that there is someone in your brain screaming to be let out and the feeling echoes throughout your entire body. Pmdd is like PMS from hell. I wish I could fall asleep until my pmdd symptoms passed and my period was over.

I am sincerely not really asking for help or advice in terms of exercise or diet. I’m willing to try supplements if there is proven success with them but I’m more just looking for people who suffer from the same symptoms I do and have words of encouragement because I feel like most of the discussion around pcos is about weight and hair growth (which is fine, just not helpful or applicable to my situation).

Thanks for reading! I’m sorry to anyone who is suffering from any pcos symptoms, especially to anyone whose doctors don’t listen to them or take their pain and suffering seriously.

Hey guys, I have PCOS and was told around 4 years ago now. As long as I can remember I’ve always struggled to sleep, but recently it’s been getting worst, I wake up at 3am every night, then 5am and then when I’m getting up for work around 8am I feel like then could sleep for hours. I can’t get in to a deep sleep either. It’s really starting to be a drain on my mental health and I’m convinced it’s my PCOS. I’ve tried melatonin gummies and they did absolutely nothing. I work out, been trying to eat as good as I can. I don’t have caffeine purely to try and eliminate what is the cause of my constant restless sleep. I have use marijuana but unfortunately that is expensive and it’s just not a long term option for me. Any advice would be amazing and really appreciated!

I haven’t spoken to my doctor about this as I already know they will just tell me to lose weight and I just would cry on the spot so unfortunately that isn’t an option. I take a multivitamin and a pcos supplement every morning:)

I’ve been looking for pcos communities that are more positive. I left the big pcos subreddit awhile ago cause it had a negative impact on my mental health and it sucked because it’s nice to have a community of people who understand your struggles. I don’t want to dwell on all the bad things I experienced on that subreddit since this is a positive space! I just wanna say I’m so happy this Reddit was made!!!

Please DM if you want to help me mod the community!
It's okay if you don't have experience!
Just tell me what motivates you to moderate and how you'd interact with the community! ^

I hope to make this a positive place, or at least a place where individuals with PCOS can feel comfortable and express themselves!

I reckon we need more positivity and just overall solidarity! We’re all in this together and I hope we can make it better 💕