Help with Doctors and PCOS?
So, my sister has recently complained about having irregular periods which she said started years ago but are becoming weirder and weirder. Our Dad died four years ago and both of our periods stopped (probably stress) mine is regular again, but hers is not. She’s 17 and weighs 223 pounds. (She doesn’t look like she should weigh nearly that much.) Anyways, she’s got a doctors appointment with our family doctor (a man) on January 7th, but wants to see an OBGYN. The catch is that she doesn’t want an internal exam, she refuses it. The point I’m getting at is this: Last night we researched possible diseases or infections she might have to cause this in her and we came up with polycystic ovary syndrome. It said that that also causes hirsutism (excess hair growth in women.) When we read this, my sister showed me her back and legs. She has thicker hair at the bottom of her back and on her thighs than she should. Her inner thighs are also a darker colour than normal. That’s another symptom of PCOS. So, we managed to come up with a probable diagnosis for her but now she has to see a doctor to find out for sure. She absolutely refuses to get an internal ANYTHING and she really doesn’t want to talk to our family doctor because he’s not a woman.
The websites we looked at said that low-dose birth control could easily solve this problem, so we thought maybe she could just request that? Or do you think she should express her concerns about PCOS to our doctor right away? Please help!
Other symptoms that she has included:
Acne
Sleep apnea
Decreased breast size
Excessive hair growth
Irregular periods
Increased muscle mass (like I said, she does NOT look like she weighs over 200 pounds.)
And more.
Please help!
Tagged with: acne • appointment • birth control • breast size • diagnosis • diseases • doctors • excess hair growth • excessive hair growth • family doctor • inner thighs • irregular periods • legs • low dose birth control • muscle mass • obgyn • ovary • ovary syndrome • pcos • thicker hair
Filed under: Sleep Apnea Symptoms
Being a registered nurse, as well as someone with PCOS, I do think she should express her concerns with her doctor. At this point, an internal exam isn’t crucial for diagnosing or even treating her symptoms. If is is PCOS (which sounds likely), have your physician check a fasting insulin- which typically comes back very high with PCOS. Birth Control will most definitely help regulate her periods, but a lot of times you need Metformin to help control the symptoms as well. Good luck, hope this helps =)
Birth control would cure some of those things Im not trying to be rude but your sister needs (1) to get over her fear of internal exams and male Dr’s, what is she going to do when she has to start getting paps and male DR’S are part of this world (2) She might try to loose some weight that might be the reason she has irregular periods