How many years have you had a period?

[margo49]

Pregnancy *does* give the raging hormones something to organise themselves around.
Infuriating to realise as a feminist of course but can't argue with my own personal experience.

[HipGnosis6]

Overweight causes too much estrogen to be stored in your body, so if you're overweight and having problems with your periods, (polycystic ovaries, for instance), getting rid of lots of weight will help.

Ah but the catch 22 to PCOS is that it makes it difficult to lose and maintain weight loss so you have to fight harder to lose the weight to try to make the PCOS better to make it easier to lose the weight, etc, etc... not an excuse but PCOS isn't as simple as losing weight.

Yeah, I didn't mean to imply that it was easy. Just that weight is a factor.

Weight isn't a factor in PCOS. You can be slender and still have it. Unexplained weight gain and difficulty losing weight is a symptom but not a cause of the disease. Saying so is ignorant, but don't take it personally - a lot of health care providers are deeply misinformed about PCO.

Mary is right when she says that PCOS makes it harder to lose weight - it can be downright impossible. On the reccomendation that i do exactly that, I had to find a combination of excercise and diet that would actually cause weight loss. In doing so, I wound up exercising at a level that created a calorie burn in excess of what I was eating daily - not even considering calories used for day to day functioning. I lost my alreay irregular menstual cycle to overtraining and was technically anorexic - and STILL was only losing half a pound a week.

Once doctors stopped trying to diagnose me as being too fat and started considering the actual hormonal issue at hand, the treatment changed (I was prescribed a pretty sturdy dose of Metformin and spironolactone, an antiandrogen that was supposed to help with the hirstutism and hair loss) and lo and behold, my periods became regular. This was made possible not by my OBGYN; in fact, the people at planned parenthood literally refused to talk to me about it. My regular doctor referred me to see an endocrinologist and she was utterly shocked that my previous doctor had had nothing more to say about it than "Lose some weight, you're too fat."

As for the thread topic.... I started my period when I was 12. I still have it at 31 but it's irregular again after I had to drop the treatment for PCOS when my health insurance ended.

[Tuckervill]

Weight isn't a factor in PCOS. You can be slender and still have it. Unexplained weight gain and difficulty losing weight is a symptom but not a cause of the disease. Saying so is ignorant, but don't take it personally - a lot of health care providers are deeply misinformed about PCO.

I don't take it personally. When my friend was diagnosed with it I read up on the topic, and I recall reading that obesity was a factor in PCOS. Therefore, I don't think I was speaking out of ignorance. If you say otherwise, so be it. I don't even talk to that friend much anymore!

I'm glad you found something that worked.

Karen

[GulfCoastSwim]

I don't take it personally. When my friend was diagnosed with it I read up on the topic, and I recall reading that obesity was a factor in PCOS. Therefore, I don't think I was speaking out of ignorance. If you say otherwise, so be it. I don't even talk to that friend much anymore!

I'm glad you found something that worked.

Karen

I was diagnosed a while back...gaining weight while training for a marathon! I'm lucky in that I'm not overweight but I have read that excess weight makes the insulin resistance worse, and that losing it can even improve hirsutism and lessen the need for drug therapy. Don't worry, overweight people aren't the only ones who are treated badly because of weight. I kept insisting that I was gaining when the numbers said I should be losing weight, and nobody really seemed to care. I seemed to get the vibe that they were pissed at me for complaining about 5-10 lbs when their average patient is way more overweight.

[Python]

It is funny how we remember our first period like it was yesterday. I was 12 1/2, it was early evening (about 6.30pm) and I went over to my friend's house. She lived in a block of flats and while I was waiting for the elevator I felt something very warm and wet... No-one was around so I had a quick look and ran home faster than greased lightning. I was soooo excited about it. Kept thinking to myself "I am a WOMAN" LOL. AT 12 1/2...yeah right Never did get too much cramping except in the early days and was as regular as clockwork - including the PMS Things started going haywire about 7 years ago and got quite irregular. Now if I do get anything, if I blinked I'd miss it. I'm 50 now. I've had a few night sweats and that's really about it. Never been near my doc as I feel I don't need to (menopause is perfectly normal and natural) and wouldn't entertain the idea of HRT anyway - too much controversy about it.

Just one more thing to say on the subject:

Ladies. We do not get hot flushes/flashes...we get

POWER SURGES

[RoadRaven]

You know... I am amazed at how many of you remember your first period so well.

I remember my daughter's first - she was at school! Fortunately an understanding teacher was available, and I had already pre-warned daughter and made sure she had pads ready "just in case" in her school bag. She was nearly 14, now 19, she gets hers every 21 days - you could almost set a clock by her.

I remember when my best friend got hers at 11, and I was so jealous.

But mine? I don't recall... I got mine around 12 I think, def before I was 13 anyways. No recollection of where I was, or my response to it.

Was on 'the pill' from age 14 til 20, when I got married.
Used pregnancy and breast feeding to space babies. After number 5, I had my tubes "clipped" (like miniature pegs apparently).

Now nearly 42 and I have two days of heavy bleeding and significant cramps (as in, emptying of mooncup needed every 3/4 hour or so and going to bed/sleep with a towel between my legs!) and 3 days around those of lighter bleeding. On a 29-30 day cycle.

I'm leery of menopause - I'd love to be free of my period, but worry about it upsetting my, erm, "natural responses" and that interferring with sex!

[Kitsune06]

OK. I know I was all about the natural blah-blah in october last year, but I'm getting kinda sick of the whole cramping, bleeding thing taking me off my bike. The 2nd or 3rd days always get me. I'm not so bad if I can take some ibuprophen and take it easy, but if I try riding hard or fast, it just kills me. The whole cramping-so-badly-you-sweat, nauseous, panting thing. oh, agony.
Stupid diva cup. It's great for those 'just in case' days, when you're a little irregular and not sure when you'll start, and those 'ok it's the light-bleedin' last 3-4 days of my period' because you don't get all dried out, etc... but the 2-3 days when you're having Carrie flashbacks every time you head to the privy, you're emptying it every hour or so. Geez! RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!! ARRRRGGGHHHH
...oh and I'm sick of PMS. My stress doll at work got his head torn off this morning. With teeth. *sigh*

But yeah, the whole hysterectomy/menopause thing sounds great except for the whole decreased sex drive thing.