Astounded at the commonalities--happy to have found this board!

I have just this minute found this board. And I absolutely cannot believe how my experiences mirror those of several posters. I am as near to speechless as I get! My (drastically abridged) story is: Diag w/ PCOS at 20 (weight, acne, dysmenorrhea, etc. were mysterious before that), on BCP after that for regulation--worked wonders, stopped BCP for 18-month Atkins stint--had regular periods (docs don't believe that it was the low-carb), just had lap RNY 10/29, had constant barely-pink pads for a couple of weeks, then recently started the usual gusher a couple of nights ago (WHY does it always happen at night when you're unprepared or when you're wearing white pants?!), I also have skin tags galore (didn't understand that had anything to do with PCOS until 5 minutes ago when reading this board). I am 36yo now, down 20-ish pounds since surgery (can't tell exactly how much, as it goes up and down 3-5 pounds every day cuz of period), and am SO GLAD I found this board!! One thing I accidentally discovered recently about skin tags, BTW... I had one on my neck that was really irritated by collars of shirts. I put a band-aid on it to keep it from rubbing against collars--the band-aid was put on really tightly over it. I took off the band-aid two days later, and the skin tag was black and dead! It fell off 2 days after that. I'm not saying that I specifically *recommend* this, but--hey--try at your own risk! Does the heavy period at around a month post-op EVER stop, by the way? I can start BCPs again next Sunday (that will be the first Sunday after my month post-op date), but I'm actually hoping it will stop before then. What have been your experiences?

I think it's different for everyone. I had a "normal" period 1 week post-op, then 1 month later another normal one. Then it was 2 months or more of nothing, then 6-8 weeks of spotting and inconsistent bleeding. Enough to need something every day, but not always enough for a tampon. Then I had the mother of all periods that was a killer. Felt like a miscarriage (had one/was just as bad as that). Bled like a stuck pig, but finally got "cleaned out" and stopped bleeding a week later. Then it happened again - nothing for 2 months, then a very heavy, but not quite as painful period. Hopefully it will get regulated here pretty soon. Getting tired of all this crap! I'm 8 months out now and still waiting to see "normal." Dina