PCOS before and after weight loss surgery

Before my Lap Band in March 2008 I was diagnosed with PCOS when my hubby and I were trying to get preggers. I was always skeptical of the diagnosis because the only symptoms I had was a big gut and elevated testosterone levels. I even remember running around telling everyone, "seeeeee I always knew I was a guy!!" lol now that I am 16 months post op I have began seeing a fertility specialist again and I just had my PCOS pannel done again. EVERYTHING was normal. No one ever found a cyst on my ovaries so I don;t know what to think. was I misdiagnosed??? Has anyone else experienced this? I'd love your feedback!

Thanks,

Rachel

I was recently diagnosed (within the last year) with PCOS but always suspected I had this. Not everyone who has PCOS actually has cysts on their ovaries. The only symptoms I have are being overweight, higher levels of testosterone and hirutism (sp). That's when you get extra hair growing places where they shouldn't. For me, it's under my chin. These are just a few of the many many symptoms that can develop with PCOS.

It's actually been shown that a 10% loss in body weight will regulate your period and make the majority of PCOS symptoms disappear. Since you had lap-band over a year ago and have most likely dropped more than 10% of your original 'starting' body weight, the symptoms you DID have, have disappeared completely. When I was on atkins and dropped a large amount of weight, mine disappeared also and I became regular, unfortunately, they returned when I was no longer on atkins.

It's normal, you probably were not misdiagnosed. You've just made the steps to improve your health, so it's corrected itself.

I always had the symptoms even before surgery just no one ever diagnosed me. Not until after the surgery. Before surgery I had whiskers under chin and irregular periods but never really had problems with fertility. I have 3 kids and they just happend. After surgery I started to develop more and more PCOS symptoms told my Gyn and he prescribed spiro,metformin, bcp's. Lately my periods been really crazy even with bc. So your lucky cause your symptoms have gone away with the weight loss. I wish mine would.....

Hi LIz! I know this is a bit late and you've probably figured this out by now, but I had to post just in case. I have been doing alot of study on PCOS & Bariatric surgery lately and what I've noticed on alot of the med sites is that under the 'risks' section, they say that malnutrition is the thing that cause PCOS symptoms to become worse after surgery. They say it's usually due to not adhering to the post operative eating guidlines and not taking the right vitamins and supplements that are supposed to be prescribed by your surgeon. If you haven't had this problem corrected yet, you might want to look into that...............Big hugs!

I was diagnosed in 2005 with PCOS and knew nothing about it.  At the time i had just had my second child, and was struggling both physically and mentally with the major weight gain....after two pregnancies i doubled in weight!! After losing some i naturally concieved my son who was born this past winter. Now, unfortunatly, i am right back at my heaviest. I am struggling to lose the 5 percent that will allow me to have a RNY. does any one have any suggestions?? weigh gain has been my major symptom however, recently my insulin resistence is getting worse even on Metformin and i have stopped periods on BC. i have also had high BP since the last trimester  of my third child.  i am feeling defeated!!
thanks, new to this ,
steph