Before I started taking birth control, I was fit and had clear skin, though I’d always had problems with facial oil. Once I started the pill, I immediately started gaining weight, got bad acne, and started growing facial hair, especially on my chin (and this is dark, coarse hair, even though I’m naturally blonde). I changed pills, and then stopped taking birth control, but things didn’t go back to normal. Seven years later I have been to numerous doctors, and the problems are only worse, including hair loss on my head. I'm borderline hypothyroid, though synthroid has not helped with my symptoms. I'm only slightly high in androgen, and I've been taking spironolactone and glumetza for it for over a year. It's gone down according to blood tests, but it's made no difference to me. My monthly cycle has gotten all messed up, but despite that and the other problems, they don't think I have PCOS because I don't seem to have cysts and my periods apparently aren't painful enough, though they are incredibly heavy. I had one gyno basically tell me to buy some rogaine and give up - it just must be hereditary. I know it's not - my mom has heavy monthly bleeding but that's the extent of it. Having an oily, hairy face, about 1/3 of hair left on my head, and being overweight is not normal or hereditary for me. Even my nails have gotten in on the act. They now have ridges, curl under if I try to grow them, and they constantly break. Awful nails I could deal with, but not the rest.
So what else could this be? What are the doctors not considering/checking for? I’m on tons of pills, and it feels it’s for nothing. They almost seem to make up problems I might have, diagnose and medicate me, then pat themselves on the back. All the while I’m still sitting here with the same dang problems.