PCOS/PMOS Is Ruining My Life
I got diagnosed pretty young at 16 (I say young bc many women don’t get a diagnosis for YEARS).
I’ve been on multiple medications but nothing really helps - they address one or two symptoms but the negative side effects are significantly greater than any small positive effects.
I am a very active person as a competitive athlete and have worked with a dietician in the past.
All of that to say, I am struggling in so many different ways and I feel like I am going crazy. I hate complaining and tend to just push through but life really f*cking sucks.
I don’t know if I actually hate my husband or if it’s hormones. The feeling comes and goes in waves with nothing initiating the feeling.
I bleed all of the time and always have a small cramp in my left ovary. I get heavy bleeding during/after my workouts (6x/week), during/after sex, and usually a consistent light flow between. I always have some kind of chronic pain in my left ovary but my ultrasound didn’t show anything. Sex is so painful that we have only one position that works and even then.. a slight change in angle or anything can cause a shooting pain so bad that I’ve thrown up before (no, my husband is not overly well endowed or anything and no, we aren’t animals in bed - everything has to be slow and gentle to not risk pain).
My facial hair gets worse and worse over time. Started with some chin hairs and now I grow a full beard. If I grow it out, it lines my cheek bones and grows all the way down to my neck in one full beard growth. I shave every day because I have a job that wouldn’t allow me to grow my facial hair out to wax. My skin always hurts from shaving every day.
I’m always tired and have this deep fatigue. I’ve messed with my workout schedule/volume/frequency along with sleep routines, diet, supplements and nothing changes this deep fatigue.
I have had chronic lower back pain that has gotten worse over the last 6 months and nothing happened for it to onset. I just started noticing it feeling achey and it just progressively gets worse. I have a physical therapist that’s assessed it and due to my training and background, she says it’s not a muscular weakness issue or pelvic floor issue. I don’t sit in a chair for work, I’m pretty active and actually get to go use recovery tools throughout my work day.
My mental health has deteriorated. I just get extreme waves of uncontrollable emotional outbursts. Obviously this is causing stress so it makes sense that it’d take a toll mentally and emotionally, but I feel like I’m losing myself and becoming a shell of a person consumed by dysfunction.
I’ve brought this up to my doctors and the first thing they point to is me working out and telling me that lifting can be dangerous… I have a PhD in exercise science.. I truly don’t believe the solution has to do with exercise. They don’t recommend losing weight because even though I’m considered overweight, I have a good amount of muscle mass. After trying meds, their recommendation has become to just manage the condition. I get there’s no solution and it’s just something we have to manage.
I guess this is my last attempt to put this out there and see if anyone has anything at all to help.
Advice on how to approach doctors about this? How do I triage these issues because I feel overwhelmed trying to manage them or prioritize them when talking to the doctor? Any advice for supplements/routines/management? If anything, just to know I’m not alone?