PCOS or Something More?

[appleme624]

Age: 28
Weight: 137

I have been experiencing discomfort/ache with both ovaries for a couple of months now. The aches arise whenever I am bending/hunched over, stretching i.e legs stretched out in bed, or exercising (on yesterday 1/14 particularly), I do sleep with my leg raised to the outside of me, laying on right or left side, and I have a horrible habit of standing when urinating given that I do not sit down on public toilets (I've found myself doing that while at home as well as in others bathrooms), plus I have lower back pain. I do have PCOS, could the amount of pressure I have placed on the area have aggravated the cysts or could it be something more?

[Sunnyday775]

My sweet dr at repro center says, there is no one single test that is done to diagnose PCOS. It is more a combination of different test results and your symptoms that will lead to a diagnoses.
Common testing that is done to diagnose PCOS: Blood tests for LH, FSH, TSH, Testosterone, Prolactin, Cholesterol, Triglycerides, Vitamin D. Progesterone blood test on 7 days past ovulating.
Glucose tolerance test, and fasting Blood glucose numbers to check for insulin resistance.
A pelvic ultasound to check your ovaries for cysts, and to see if they are enlarged.
I believe you have to take a closer look on those, have a good consultation with your dr on the point. wishing you the best.

[specialmom]

Oh gosh, I see now that you say you DO have pcos as in you already were diagnosed.  Sorry, that was a misread on my part.  Yes, important to take care of yourself and yes, your discomfort could be the cystic ovaries. I personally would want to know if anything else was going on so if it continues, when was your last pelvic exam?  I'd schedule one to investigate further.  Are you taking any medicine for the pcos?

[appleme624]

I was placed on Birth Control, but I wasn't to fond of the side effects so I stopped taking the birth control. I was prescribed Progesterone in December to jumpstart my cycle again which it did, now I'm waiting for my cycle to come on for the month of January. My last pelvic exam was in February 2018 now I'm scheduled for February 2019. I will probably be prescribed Birth Control again, this time I would eliminate caffeine, sugars, inflammatory foods just to keep control of PCOS. Thank you once again!

[specialmom]

Hm, well.  PCOS comes with a host of symptoms.  One of the hallmark signs is irregular periods.  Women often get less frequent periods.  Another thing that happens is that excess androgen which can lead to . . .gulp . . . things like facial hair.  I have a good friend with pcos and she can sprout lots of facial hair. She also has excess weight that her doctors say is related to the androgen issue.  And while the face can grow hair, you can lose it at your scalp.  

So, to know if you have PCOS, you have to (obviously) visit your doctor.  They will do a regular exam like usual but also add on perhaps a vaginal ultrasound where they can look at your ovaries.  They are usually larger due to the cysts if you have pcos.  

If you don't have pcos which it doesn't sound like you have true symptoms of it, other things to consider are just a single ovarian cyst.  Every women can get these harmless (although a pain to deal with) cysts from time to time.  I had one.  I still had my periods but they were heavier, more painful.  And I occasionally had cramps in my lower sides (the side where the cyst was) and then when the cyst passed, it was very painful with heavy bleeding.  

Another possibility is endometriosis.  

So, your best bet is to go for an exam and discuss this with your doctor.  Good luck

[appleme624]

Thank you for responding. I was diagnosed with PCOS probably 2015 or 2016, I know I haven't really been taking care of myself properly (such as eating healthy, exercising, sleeping accordingly, or not stressing) I'm thinking its all now affecting my body.