PCOS - questions help pls

Hi guys,

Just wanting to know a few questions on PCOS please.

If your periods are regular but you have painful periods - is that a sign of PCOS?

I carry my weight in my tummy and have painful periods but that is my only real signs of PCOS.

Reason I ask is my sister has it and I have asked my doctor to test me but he thinks I will be fine because I do have very regular cycles?

TIA!

Eeek! Best I be asking the doctor I guess.

Its weird I get 1 day of REALLY full on pain and the rest isnt to bad.

How do they test for Endo?

Ahhh yes thanks, so is that the only way they find out? And do I need to go to my doctor and ask for a referal or something?

Hey BooBoo
I have to agree with kate - sounds more like endo than PCOS. Before my lap I used to have 2 or 3 days of REALLY REALLY bad pain (doc had to prescribe me some pretty heavy duty painkillers) and on those days AF would be really heavy and full of HUGE clots. Since my lap I only get 1 day of bad pain (but Neurofen and a heat pack is enough to make it feel better) and less clots.

Your GP will need to refer you to a gynae for treatment, and its best to try and find one that specialises in endo surgery so you can minimise the potential scarring. Which part of NZ are you in?

ETA: and do you have priveate health insurance?

Edited by Emily281

Yeah I have to agree Dal, PCOS is generally linked with irregular painful periods but endo can be regular and painful. And yes passing out type of pain is not normal - I can sympathise!

there are of course other things it could be, I had the lap etc to look for endo (already knew I had PCOS) but was diagnosed with an irritable uterus and a weird thing where the blood supply gets cut a little bit to the uterus and makes it contract causing labour type pains usually around period time (But you get no period).

If you're worried, I would get a second opinion as its something you shouldn't leave if you have your suspicions. Thinking of you hun

The only way you can now if you have PCOS is to get to a dr and do an internal scan to see if there is cysts on the ovaries. Now this alone is NOT PCOS.

For the second part you need to go for bloodtests. You can do the bloodtests first and then the scan second. But the bloodtests is the one that will tell you if you have it or not.

Signs of PCOS is so varied as it is a syndrome and not a specific illness.

I never had painful periods and have PCOS. I had other signs however and my gynae in SA gave me one look when we met and said you might have it (due to facial hair and acne) and the scan revealed the cysts (that some PCOS woman dont have however and some have without having PCOS) and then did teh bloodwork.

I've just had a laparoscopy (well to be exact a laparascopic cystectomy) on Monday to remove a LARGE cyst, check for endo and dye studies of my tubes. And honestly, the pain has really knocked me for six.

Took me a good 24 hours after the op before I could get out of bed unaided, and even now I am in immense pain, and surving on tremadol (strong pain killers). Not the kind of op i'd recommend unless you were 100% sure there was good reasoning behind doing so ...but then again everyone is different

My cyst ended up being larger than scans showed, Since having baby my periods were crippling for the first 3-4 days of my period and around days 14-16 of my cycle i was bed ridden in complete pain, nausea etc etc. Dull cramping 24/7 in lower pelvis which was the cyst.

I don't have endo, and yay my tubes aren't too scarred so thats a bonus. But gyne is hoping my periods won't be half as bad now that nasty cyst is out! I was showing classic symptoms of endo.

You just never know, and as someones mentioned aboe ...there are so many signs/symptoms you can't make a diagnosis without the op, I'm not sure if a doc/specialist would let you have the op if you're only experiencing the one day of pain when your period starts, public lists are horrid.

I certainly wouldn't go through a lap again unless I was darn certain I had something to remove (like another cyst). I've been told no heavy lifting or driving for 4 weeks, which really puts you out when you have kiddies etc.

Just my thoughts though darl, I hope you get it sorted and can come to some kinda decision, have you tried taking voltarin or similar pain killers/anti flams when you get this pain at the beginning of your period?

Buzzy - I've had 2 laps now (actually 3 if you count the one to remove my gall bladder but we won't 'cause it was on a different area of the body ) and the one that removed the endo was the worst pain wise (even if I do include the one where they removed my gall bladder!). It took me a good few days before I could move and I definitely needed the whole 2 weeks off work. The last one I had I was fine pretty much the next day because it was just a quick looksee to make sure my ovaries were still where he put them - I felt better after 1 day than I had after a week with the previous one. It's just cause they have to do so much work in there and move everything around (most of my endo was under my ovaries and he also had to relocate them).

BooBoo - I'd also have to agree with what Buzzy said - it's unlikely you'd get a referral for a lap on just the pain symptom alone. It really could be anything - endo, a cyst, fibriods. I would say its probably likely that you'd be referred for an ultrasound first. That was the first thing my doc did about 18 months ago (although that was for bleeding not pain). And I had heaps of symptoms on top of the pain and even then my GP doubted that I had endo. He only referred me to a gynae because the pain and the PMS was so severe and getting worse every month. He also tried me on Ponstan which is a strong anti-inflmmatory which you unlike neurofen you take 3 times a day every day from the time you start bleeding - its a very common treatment for period pain.

Hey Rianna - they probably thought it might have been IBS - apparently alot of women who have endo are actually diagnosed with IBS because the symptoms are so similar. Lucky me I have both lol

Take a diary of everything - not just pain. It's amazing what can be related to what. Eg. my endo symptoms included fatigue, depression, constipation, diarrhoea, sever mood swings, changes in appetite and a bunch of other small stuff.

how long have you been TTC? 'cause that will really determine at what point your GP will do something.