Normal Testosterone Levels after Surgery

I don't know quite what to make of this. I'm 5 months post-op and recently got my bloodwork back. My testosterone levels came back normal. Great news, I know, but I have not been on any PCOS related medicine since before surgery. So what does this mean? Has the weight loss (66 lbs) suppressed my testosterone? Is it the surgery itself? What do I do from here? I am currently using the Nuva Ring for Birth Control - so I have no idea whether or not my cycle would be normal without it. I was diagnosed with PCOS 9 years ago and this is the first time that my testosterone levels were normal without either glucophage or aldactone. Anybody know how to test for Insulin Resistance after surgery? That is another thing that I have no idea where I stand since surgery. I am seeing a new endo on Monday but don't know whether or not he will be experienced with PCOS. Any info or comments are appreciated.

i would get another fasting blood draw. get the full lab work up with insulin levels noted and check to see where you compare to your pre-surgery blood labs. your blood sugar for fasting should be pretty low, like less than 70 (although normal is 80-120 but that assumes you've eaten within 4 hours), according to a team of doctors who treated me for insulin resistance before i had surgery. it's probably not the weight-loss per say that's affected your testosterone levels, but the amount of insulin in your blood stream. now that you're making better use of your own insulin there's less running around to affect other hormone production. i was told that elevated insulin levels affected my testosterone and estrogene levels. i'm happy to report that 3 months out from WLS and a loss of 47 lbs. has resulted in more regular periods (i'm not on any form of birth control) so i know my PCOS is improving. -kari

My former doc, who was the one who finally clued in that I may have PCOS, told me that fat cells sometimes release androgens (male hormones). So in losing weight, you've lessened the degree to which that could be happening.

It's all very complex, but if you think of the issue at the core, you can see how everything fingers out to affect the other. Testosterone is a hormone. The cause of PCOS is insulin resistance. Insulin is a hormone. If you get your insulin under control, the other hormones can function normally. In order for your body to process the hyper-insulin, it has to pump out enough of the other hormones to process it and try to keep a balance. The body has a hard time keeping these things in balance though, that is why we end up with PCOS. When you lose weight, you lose not only the up and down of insulin, thus reducing the need for other hormones to try and keep up, but the hormones stored in your fat also get released and change the balance for a period of time. Many women will see a fluctuation in hormones all over the place for the first year after wls because the body is processing what is in there. For me, I had a period right away and was "normal" for 2 months, then went several without a period, then had a 6 week period, then about a year out it started to go normal and has been normal ever since. Taking all the drugs is not always going to be necessary for many of us with PCOS after we lose the weight. Sometimes the only thing we need to control the issues we have with PCOS is just to lose the weight and have the drastically smaller portion sizes, which in turn, regulates the insulin response better. Others will still need meds, but certainly some will not. As for birth control, keep up on that - conception is at a higher risk for all women after wls, especially for those who have PCOS! Dina