Daughter with precocious puberty

[SueNYC]

I was just wondering if many PCOS people suffered from precocious puberty as my daughter was just diagnoses.  Though I did not  have PCOS, my mom did. She was successfully treated by a wedge resection back in the 60's.  She had a severe case and the doctors were surprised that it not only cured the condition but she had her first period at 24.  She also had juvenile hypothyroidism.

My daughter is 8 and is showing signs of precocious puberty.  We will find out many of the test results on October 27th.  She is athletic and not obese - so this isn't the reason.  I have some virilization (facial hair problem) but I don't think I have suffered from PCOS (I am exceptionally fertile) but I was also developed early. My mom says she was fully developed at the age of 11.  We were both the shortest people in our family (she was 5'4 and I was 5'5 - we were the midgets in a rather Amazonian Swedish family).    

Has anyone else seen a family connection - between PCOS and precocious puberty?  And if you had it, did you or do anything to shut it down.   Believe it or not, I am more concerned about the PCOS than the height (I have a pretty tall husband so I thinks she will be at least average).  I know my mom said it was really depressing - by 17 they told her she would be infertile as she had one of the worst cases they has ever seen at that point.  She even picked her future spouse (a much older man who had not planned on fatherhood - boy was dad surprised when they fixed her) based on many doctors' predictions.

Is PCOS auto-immune at all - my daughter had one autoimmune disease (Kawasaki) at the age of 3 1/2?

And, if their is a family connection - knowing early on - what can we do to prevent it?  Would taking Lupron help her further down the road?

Good luck to all of you.  My mom talks about how horrible a lot of this was.

Susan

[SueNYC]

My mom was one of the first wedge resections ever done.  Both her ovaries were exceptionally large.  She was told from 15 on that she would never have children. At 24 they operated and she became a baby making machine after hardly ever having a period.  Her operation was filmed in the early 60's and she made the medical journals because she was the first known case of infertility being cured in this fashion.  The intent had been simply to lower the testosterone.  

Back then there were no lapriscopes so they basically gutted her twice ( once for exploratory surgery ) and the second time to do the operation. Giant scars.  The only funny story was that her ob was unmarried, hysterical and at the time gorgeous.  He and my mom had a great relationship and he had the habit of climbing into bed with her at the hospital.  Another woman in the room protested and he yelled back it was ok he was her doctor.  My father also walked in on one of their cuddling episodes.  I asked the dic ( them my gyn) about it years later.  He said your mom had the best body I ever laid a scapel into and I was jealous that the damn jock (my dad was a coach) got to her first.  I was impressed that he still remembered what my dad did for a living 25 years after the fact.  Not the best
conversation to have in stirrups.  Anyway, my mom had 4 kids - so I hope your daughter does well.  I am getting checked out because I also think I have a high testerone level - tons of facial hair. I also have a tiny daughter - not the one mentioned above - and I doubt she wll be taller than 5 feet.  She is also a firecracker.  

[Marcia1964]

My daughter had precocious puberty as well. She also ended up having her right ovary removed because of "Massive Edema of the Ovary". (Her ovary grew to 12 cent) She has also been diagnosed with PCOS.
2 years after having her right ovary completely removed, her left ovary began enlarge at a rapid pace, which was my biggest fear.
Massive Edema of the Ovary is extremely rare, therefore nobody seems to know the best way to handle the situation.
She was now under the care of a reproductive endocrinologist instead of a regular OBGYN.
Obviously, because she was only 17, preserving her fertility was critical. This doctor did what's called a "Wedge Resection" which basically removed some "bulk" of the ovary, but had no effect on the length, which is still 11cm.  Removing this wedge also caused her high testosterone levels to come down to within the normal range.
Now, about your short stature thing... My daughter is a whopping 4' 11".. She may be small, but she sure is mighty :-)

[uhohxkate]

Yes, I had precocious puberty and now have PCOS. I was first diagnosed when I was five (I'm now 18) and had the Lupron shots. When I was receiving the shots, it was absolutely terrible, to this day the most painful shots I've ever received. But now, I hear that it is much better, so I would suggest your daughter received Lupron. To tell you the truth, Precocious Puberty is a hell of a lot worst than PCOS. PCOS, in my opinion, was much easier to treat and developing early truly scarred me. It was caught early enough that I didn't start menstruating until I was 11, almost 12. When I stopped growing, I was only 3'6 and Lupron helped me achieve 5'2. The part about your husband being tall is pretty irrelevent (my father is 6'4 and my mother is 5'2). Also, I'm not an expert but PCOS shows up within the first five years of menstruation (I was literally a month under five years when I was diagnosed). As for the PCOS/PP connection, my doctor told me that because I had precocious puberty, it was a 50/50 shot of me developing it. Family connection? I'm not sure. My mom's distant cousin had PP, but I don't know the whole story behind it. My dad is adopted, so it's possible that his mother or grandmother had PP. I don't think there is anything to avoid it, unless you go to genetic counseling before pregnancy (which I suggest your daughter does).

I hope this helped you and hope that medicine helps your daughter more than it helped me.