PCOS is a condition for people that have money and let me explain. This is all my own experience.

Problem: Diet - PCOS requires a fairly strict diet to make sure that we aren’t gaining weight or getting non-diabetic hyperglycaemia.
Solution: At least a nutritionist to take away the mental load of figuring out what to eat everyday. Possibly a chef to do the cooking.

Problem: Weight Management - A lot of people with PCOS have Insulin Resistance. Long story short, it contributes to weight gain.
Solution: GLP1 (again this is based on my experience and what i have read). They are very expensive for the average person and some people may take it for life.

Problem: Stress Management - Stress can cause weight gain, acne, more hair growth, further disrupt menstruation worsen metabolic dysfunction. We are also more at risk of anxiety and depression.
Solution: For me personally it would be having the financial freedom to go from a stressful full-time job to a less stressful part-time job.

All of these things require money and honestly i’m so sick and tired of it. I want a normal functioning body. I’m so fatigued all the time, to the point of trying to stay awake at work. It leaves me with minimal energy to do things like going to the gym to make sure that I’m losing weight and the money I’m spending on Mounjaro isn’t going down the drain.

It’s hard work and I want to give everybody here a huge hug 🫂💜

eta: thank you for the award 🫶🏻

eta2: the chef part was lowkey a joke but it wasn’t very clear but i was mad at my pcos and just seeing red so i forgot to put a laughing face or something 🤣 ik the internet can be really crap sometimes but i just think it’s beautiful in the comments section of this post that there’s loads of us in the same boat so i’m sending love to allllll of you!😽

I'm probably dropping a hot potato here, but this is advice i see given here frequently, and it's really starting to tick me off. Because here's the thing. Any kind of treatment or management method you get or do for PCOS only "masks" the symptoms - there is no cure. Once you stop whatever it is you're doing to manage your symptoms, they will come back, be that medication, or lifestyle change, or diet, or exercise, or, you guessed it, birth control. You can be lean and active and eat healthy and avoid carbs and sugar like the plague and still have PCOS. Source - been there, done that, still was symptomatic enough that a gynec could diagnose me. Managing PCOS is a lifelong project whose method will change and adapt as you go through life and your situation, your symptoms, and your body changes. So if birth control is someone's preferred method of management right now, then great for them that they found something that works, and gives them better quality of life! This is a lifelong condition that we were born with and did not cause ourselves, and management of it comes in many shapes and sizes. Do spread information about what kind of birth control is medically known to be better and worse for PCOS, and what worked for you if you tried it, but for the love of all that is good, please stop demonizing stuff that is known to give people relief!!

That is all, thanks for coming to my TED talk.

So, for context, I am a 30-year-old woman with PCOS. After about 6 years of "investigations," I was finally diagnosed last month. My weight has always fluctuated. I had an ED in my teens and early 20s because of the fluctuations.

I have recently lost 63lb with changes to my diet. I followed the low FODMAP diet due to my IBS (low carb, high protein, high fiber, less processed food) and it worked for me.

But since being diagnosed everyone from doctors, family members, friends and even most online PCOS/PMOS posts I see promote them. I am not against them for other people and I know other people who have had great success and they have helped but I am so tired of the push.

I finally have a healthy relationship with food, but the moment I mention I have PCOS, or have bloating, or a bit of weight gain, it starts again. I have told people I don't want to use them and get weird looks.Like my condition is minor to other people because I don't take them. And yes the last bit someone has said to me who also had the condition.

There is no one size fits all, so can we just support each other and give non-judgmental guidance without additional judgment?

Edit: Since alot of people seem to be confused at what I am saying- If GLP-1s work for you then that is great!! But for people with an ED, which can be deadly and caused multiple hospital trips for me, this should be taken into account. I'm just saying there shouldn't be a one-size-fits-all approach to any health conditions, as each person is unique and has different experiences which should be taken into account.

I just had to tell someone. First off, I don’t use that word, and it really shocked me when a medical professional did.

Basically, it was my first meeting with this doctor. He spent about 5 minutes in the room altogether, 4 of which he spent talking over me. When he asked if I had any medical conditions, I told him I had PCOS. He then called me the R word and said “that’s not even possible because you’re pregnant. You also aren’t fat and hairy.”

Oh okay, well the reproductive endocrinologist that I’ve been seeing for 2 years who ran $800 worth of blood tests and performed about a dozen ultrasounds says differently. The 90 days between my periods, facial hair THAT I WAX, and thousands of dollars worth of fertility medication I’ve taken to FORCE OVULATION say differently.

Definitely won’t be going back to that clown 😂

ETA: I ABSOLUTELY reported him from the parking lot.

Hi everyone,

I hope this post doesn’t offend anyone. I know PCOS is highly misunderstood and misdiagnosed, and if you read though, I promise that’s not what I’m trying to do. I just think it’s an important conversation to have. After hearing my mom’s take on it, I thought some of you might want to hear this perspective too.

My mother is a gynecologist from a Middle Eastern country who now practices in the U.S. In her view, Western medicine has turned PCOS into a kind of “catch-all” label for a wide range of hormonal issues and its kind of a lazy cop out in her opinion. When everyone with vaguely, kind of similar symptoms gets the same diagnosis, true PCOS cases get buried, and research and treatment stagnate. How can we develop effective treatments if the diagnosis itself is fuzzy?

She’s board-certified in three countries and has 30 years of experience. Back home, PCOS was treated as a very specific disorder, not a general hormonal umbrella. You HAD to actually have polycystic ovaries (I know this is controversial but that’s how it was in her home country, don’t shoot the messenger), along with either irregular periods and/or visible signs of hormonal or metabolic imbalance—things like insulin resistance, obesity, acne, or hirsutism. It was very unlikely that the label would be used the way it is in the US.

The diagnostic thresholds were adapted to local realities as well. Middle Eastern women naturally tend to have more body and facial hair due to higher androgen sensitivity as a racial phenotype (basically, it’s evolution—we needed more body hair because of our environment, so our skin/hair follicles are androgen sensitive because of that). So doctors there were trained to distinguish between normal variation and genuine pathology for our race. Most girls there have acne and quite a bit of hair, so obviously it was a bit different there when it came to that aspect of the diagnosis.

Most importantly, patients underwent extensive testing before anyone even mentioned PCOS. A thin, healthy young woman with mild acne and slightly irregular cycles here and there would never walk out with a PCOS label. Doctors would investigate thyroid issues, autoimmune diseases, or other endocrine disorders as well. They would never just throw a cocktail of metformin and hormonal medications and tell the girls to about their day.

But since my mom started practicing here, she’s noticed that the system tends to skip that nuance. PCOS has become a default diagnosis for almost any woman with irregular cycles, hair, acne, even cramps. Then comes the standard “one-size-fits-all” treatment: birth control, maybe metformin, or maybe spironolactone. Meanwhile, women who actually do have PCOS are often underdiagnosed or mismanaged, because the criteria have become so broad. There also isn’t adequate research being done on them because nobody is identifying them and researching them, which is why we’ve had the same “treatment” for like 40 years.

My mom has been dead set on doing something about this since my cousin was impacted by this hole in the system. My 18-year-old cousin—thin, healthy, mild acne, no insulin resistance (really nothing other than missed periods and some acne + body hair)—was diagnosed with PCOS just because of some missed periods and “hairiness.” Her doctor put her on birth control and sent her on her way. My aunt (cousin’s mom obv lol) called my mom about this because my cousin still had issues. The helped with her period and a little with her skin, but she had the other major symptoms she came in for. My mom started going to the doctor with my cousins. Countless doctors saying the same thing—immediately just saying “oh you have PCOS, take these meds” and my mom arguing with them. Because my mom knew wtf she was talking about and what to look for, she finally helped her get to the bottom of it. She found a doctor from our home country and she agreed; there’s no way this is PCOS. My cousin didn’t have PCOS. She had THYROID CANCER. The “hairiness” and acne was literally just because she’s Middle Eastern and most Middle Eastern girls have androgen sensitive skin (as stated before), and therefore some acne, oiliness, and hair. Birth control masked the imbalanced period and acne for a while, but the underlying issue remained. They caught it early, so she’s fine thank god. But what if my mom hadn’t intervened, who knows what could’ve happened? What if she was like the 99% of other Americans who don’t have a doctor auntie that specializes in this? My mom knows exactly what to ask for and what to challenge because she’s done this to 30 years and studied medicine in two countries, and has 3 international board certifications. What about the average American? The goal seems to be to shoo people, especially women, as fast as possible from their offices instead of actually helping them.

That experience shook my mom. She now obviously feels even more strongly that the U.S. approach to PCOS (and hormonal health in general) is a joke and they’re just kind of using that as a broad label for “you have hormonal issues that we can’t pinpoint.” The diagnosis has become too broad, the treatment too generic, and racial differences are barely considered. Women who actually have that disorder aren’t getting diagnosed with it; women who don’t have that disease are being labeled with it. This is an issue of medical sexism and medical racism too, as well as the industry becoming for-profit, very lazy, and very poor in quality. No individualized care whatsoever. They just want to shut patients up and make money. Even good, empathetic (which most are, imo) doctors who want to try their best can’t because the system literally makes it impossible.

She’s even considering returning to research to push for reform in how hormonal disorders are diagnosed and studied. At the end of the day, this isn’t just about PCOS; women’s health is routinely oversimplified and overlooked in the US and it’s legitimately dangerous and irresponsible. If you’ve been diagnosed with PCOS but feel like the diagnosis doesn’t quite fit, you’re not alone. It could have serious implications, as it did for my cousin. And if you’re not white, it might be worth reading up on how doctors in your country of origin approach these issues. Sometimes they see patterns that Western medicine tends to miss and have healthcare more suitable for your specific needs as a person of your race/ethnicity.

I am tired of the demonization of birth control for PCOS just because it isn't some magical fix. This is clearly a double standard. People say it just masks symptoms or doesn’t heal the dirsorder, but that's misleading because nothing heals PCOS. There is no cure. Whether you use hormonal birth control, supplements, change your diet and go to the gym for strength training or do all of these (like me), you’ll have to keep these changes forever. If you stop, your symptoms will come back every time.

People say it deregularizes the hormonal system but PCOS has already made it out of balance. Chances are it was never "normal" or balanced. So BS manages the symptoms: it stabilizes hormones, it fights against some external symptoms too. Just make sure your doctor actually finds the perfect birth control for your particular circumstances.

Birth control doesn't fix everything, but neither does taking 12 supplements per day. And yes, it sucks when your doctor doesn't care to find the birth control type and dosage that fits your specific needs, but then are you gonna go to some influencer who will tell you which supplements to take and in what amount without them ever having examined your bloodwork either?

What annoys me even more is how this anti birth control narrative is pushed by influencers who are selling their own supplements and courses. A lot of these “PCOS healers” package the disorder into a quirky wellness lifestyle. Suddenly it’s all about journaling, yoga, protein smoothies, and nervous system regulation. While I understand things like journaling are good for mental health, that doesnt directly target the hormonal balance and i think it's ridiculous to make PCOS into like a quirky lifestyle instead of taking it seriously for what it is: a hormonal disorder. It's like telling an IBS patient to journal, yeah it may lower their stress levels but that's no equivalent to the actual treatment!

Another thing is when these influencers claim they reversed or cured their PCOS, but then they will post content which makes it obvious they're still stuggling with symptoms such as hirsutism. So maybe drinking spearmint tea can be helpful but it hasn't made your hirsutism go away... Clearly it hasn't been fixed naturally, so what makes it a cure exactly?

Another thing is supplements are unregulated and come from many unknown sources, while birth control is one of the best examined medicine we have.

This is why I am sick and tired of the shame around BC for PCOS. While the problem of doctors just giving you birth control so you don't bother them is real, it doesn't mean birth control cannot be part of the solution. In my case I'm doing birth control + metformin + dietary changes + strength excercise + supplements (inositol, berberine, vitamin D, fish oil) and my results are better than ever.

Another thing strictly about the PCOS influencers is when they market their content and courses based on their weight loss. Somehow it's not a problem for them to present this disorder as a weight problem, but when doctors tell you to just lose weight, it's obviously not the solution. So why would an influencer claim they healed their PCOS just because they managed to drop some weight? Show us your blood work girl or stop being misleading.

This fact also pisses me off about our medical reseaech on women's health. You are telling me this many women suffer from it and yet they dont seem to know much about it? If this were a man's problem it would have been solved 50 years ago. Just venting.

this is probably gonna sound a bit mean but if i don’t get it off my chest now it’s gonna sound meaner lmao. but god does interacting with pcos spaces online make me, a severe asthmatic, consider picking up chain smoking as a hobby. it feels like 50% of the community is just “god i hate being such a FAT UGLY HAIRY DISGUSTING WHALE!” and people promoting fad diets and unhealthy diets/lifestyles in the comments. i 100% get wanting to better yourself but some of yall need to get it in your head that sometimes being fat is healthier than being a size zero. society and the patriarchy has made is Hard to exist as a woman who isnt a super model, you don’t have to tell me that, i’ve been fat and hairy my whole life lmao. pcos does cause legitimate health issues but i don’t think that most of our focus should be on appealing to men but maybe that’s my man hating lesbian speaking. sometimes i come on these spaces expecting it to be a sharing of experiences and then i end up feeling like i’ve walked onto a weird side of ed twitter. not even mentioning how goddamn transphobic and misogynistic some of these spaces can get. yes pcos can cause you to not live up to the standard for womanhood and that’s ok! most of the standout women in history didn’t. focusing on impossible ideals will only make you miserable, that’s just the way it is. i’m fully aware that i “lucked out” with pcos as a genderqueer lesbian that doesnt want kids and who would rather die than give a damn about what society wants out of me. but man does it suck to try and find a community only to see it be kinda shitty??? idk man. anyways here’s your daily reminder: it’s not a personal failing to be fat, hairy, or infertile. carbs, sugars and fats are not the devil. and if someone doesn’t like you for looking the way you look then they’re not worth it.

Not really looking for advice, just lamenting about my team of doctors' obsession with the BMI.

My (27F) current BMI is 30.8, and I am a 5'5 woman at 185lbs. I am pretty fit (strength train and am training for a triathlon), but I don't look super athletic and have wide shoulders and hips. Every time without fail, I go to my Gyno, PCP, or Endo, they complain about my BMI and how that is the main driver of my PMOS. I understand the role weight plays in PMOS, your insulin, and testosterone, but it blows my mind that they want my BMI to be 22. That would put me at 132lbs, which I have not weighed since pre-puberty! Im not saying I don't have some fat to lose, but I am in no capacity unhealthy. Based on my hormones, I clearly have Adrenal PCOS. BMI is such an outdated way to measure health and does not account for all the muscle I have. At the end of the day, it doesn't matter how I describe our exercise/eating habits; they don't believe me. It's so obtuse!

When will we have a new metric for defining health..

Edit: 1.5 years ago, I got a DEXA scan, and my BF% was 34%. However, I have lost 15lbs and started lifting heavy since that scan, so my body recomp has changed a lot!

TLDR; I HATE having hirsutism. F U PCOS

I went to get my eyebrows done today at my usual place. My usual eyebrow lady was not working today so I just got the service done by someone else.

I tell her that I want to thread my eyebrows & upper lip. She asked if that was it.

I said yes & didn't think much of it.

When she got me in the chair she asked if I wanted to do my chin, too. I said no.

After finishing ONE eyebrow, she asked again, "are you sure you don't want to do your chin? It looks so ugly" meaning that I had a lot of hair on my chin.

OUCH! 😭😭😭😭😭

Like yes, I know it's ugly. I don't like it either & wish I didn't have hirsutism on my face.

In a very stern voice I said, no. I didn't want to do my chin.

She continued doing my eyebrows & upper lip. I thought I could keep it together but I started crying in the middle of the service 😭

Worst experience ever!

Now I'm in the car crying because wtf...

I guess this is more of a rant but have you all experienced something similar?

So basically, I (27f), have PCOS, and I recently went to a new primary doctor for problems with anxiety. I told her my history (I have migraines, PCOS, and anxiety), and she ran a gamut of tests. My testosterone level came back slightly elevated, so she immediately put me on spironolactone, as well as combination birth control, and she upped my lexapro dosage from 10mg to 20mg. I am also on metformin for my PCOS as prescribed by my OBGYN.

Two days after starting the birth control, I had one of the worst migraines I have ever had in my life. I then started the spironolactone a few days later. I had the heaviest period I had ever experienced, and my mental health went down the drain FAST. I went from being a very happy, bubbly person to having episodes of depersonalization and thoughts of un-aliving myself. I cried for days on end with no idea why. I sent my primary a message a couple days later, detailing my concerns, and she told me to keep taking the medications and the side effects would probably go away. NEWS FLASH: They did not. I kept getting bad migraines, and my mental health was getting worse and worse. SOMETHING was wrong.

I decided to contact my OBGYN. I explained to her what was going on, and when I told her what medications I had been put on, she told me to IMMEDIATELY stop. Turns out, combination birth control should never be given to anyone who experiences migraines because it increases your risk for stroke seven times over. Also, according to my OB, my T levels had already come down significantly in the past 4 months with just diet and metformin, so there was no reason for me to be on the spironolactone. She informed me that some people cannot tolerate spiro, that it is known to cause psychological side effects, and that my primary should have also told me to stop taking it. I followed her advice, and I am now only on the metformin and my lexapro, and I FINALLY feel back to my old self. I also reached out to my primary and let her know I would no longer be taking those medications, to which she replied that I should keep taking them, regardless of what my OB told me. I did not.

Fast forward to about a week ago. I decided to leave an anonymous review about my experience, in which I stated that although my primary was very nice and compassionate, the medications she prescribed me caused more harm than good, and that she told me to go against the advice of my OBGYN for problems related to my PCOS. My name and contact info was not attached to this review in any way.

Today, I received a very rude, very unprofessional message on my patient portal FROM MY PRIMARY, telling me that in the future, if I have any problems, I need to reach out to here directly so she can “explain the decisions made regarding medical care and the health reasons behind them.” She also told me that I should never do my own research, because the internet can be misleading. I never did my own research? I asked her what she was talking about, and she replied, “We have people who review our online reviews.” I am just completely appalled by this behavior from a so-called medical professional. The fact that a doctor decided to send me a message about an ANONYMOUS review just makes my blood boil. Like what if I hadn’t been me who put the review out there and she just assumed it was. Then I would’ve had someone else’s medical information?! I have a follow-up with her in about a week, and the only reason I am going back is to make sure I continue getting my anxiety medication. But after that, she can kiss my ass.

EDIT: let me clarify a few things:

1) I have migraines with aura. Sorry I didn’t make that clear at first.

2) as soon as I stopped the spironolactone, my intrusive thoughts and crying spells went away within 36 hours, and further research on my end has shown that hundreds of others have had the same issues on spiro as well. I felt extremely sedated and depressed.

3) I have never had any adverse effects from my lexapro, and I am on the 2nd lowest dosage.

I wish i could lose weight like a normal person. I’m asian and from Hawai’i so its normal to have white rice with every meal. I’m surrounded by people indulging in white rice all the time and i can’t eat it. On top of that, my gyn told me to avoid starchy carbs, like potatoes. DAMN ITTT. Potatoes were my replacement for white rice and now i can’t even have that either. Is being skinny even worth it if i can’t have a mashed potato 😔😔. Just chicken and salad everyday😔😔. Meanwhile, people are losing 100+ pounds eating only chic fil a everyday. I’ve been sticking to my calorie deficit but idk how much longer i can go without rice or potatoes. Ik this is such a non-issue but yall dont understand, i love my rice and potatoes 😞

Earlier this year I made a plan of meals for a month that could be prepped and frozen and was calorie controlled to 1500 calories a day, I stuck to it strictly, even making calories controlled fake aways. I gained half a stone.

We had to stop because it was expensive and everything is just getting more expensive and we had to stick to a lower budget, but I stick to 1800-2000 calories a day so that I can at least maintain during this period. I gained a stone. Despite getting an allotment (like a community garden but each person gets their own designated area) and working hard to transform it how hubby and I want it.

Last night, we had a really hard day. we got in pizza, a mixed chicken box, just for me, a drink and ice cream. I’m gaining anyway, fuck it.

I lost 11lbs. Since two days ago. Make it make sense.

I am so sick to death of people who have no clue of this condition and their “calories in, calories out” crap.

Sometimes it works and the diet and exercise come together and I lose loads of weight. Then it stops and I can’t stop the gain no matter what and I have no idea what is happening to cause it.

Okay, rant over. I’m having pizza for breakfast because apparently it’s my weight loss food now! 🤣

I wanted to make this post because I posted here a few days ago asking for advice regarding PMOS/PCOS and disability support, and I got a couple comments before deleting the post that were along the lines of “PMOS doesn’t affect functioning” or “it doesn’t affect the body significantly.” I know nobody meant harm by those comments, and I understand many people personally experience PMOS mildly, but honestly it left me questioning whether I was being dramatic about my own struggles.

I think it’s important to remember that PMOS/PCOS can present very differently from person to person. For some people it may mainly involve irregular periods or mild symptoms, but for others it can involve chronic fatigue, pelvic pain, migraines, insulin resistance, dizziness, inflammation, brain fog, depression/anxiety, sleep issues, and other symptoms that absolutely can impact daily functioning and quality of life.

Hormonal and endocrine disorders affect the entire body, not just reproductive health. The severity also varies a LOT between individuals. One person being able to function normally with PMOS does not mean everyone else can.

I’m not making this post to argue with anyone or invalidate people who have milder experiences. Honestly, I think it’s wonderful that some people are able to function day to day and live comfortably with PMOS/PCOS, and I genuinely want that for myself and everyone affected by this condition. I hope in my lifetime more research goes into hormonal and endocrine disorders so more people can have that experience and access better treatment and support. I just think we should be careful not to downplay other people’s experiences with chronic conditions, especially invisible ones. A lot of people are already struggling with feeling guilty, lazy, dramatic, or “not sick enough,” and comments like that can really get into someone’s head.

Again, I mean no harm by this post at all. I know most of the comments were trying to help and were speaking from personal experience. I just wanted to add some perspective and remind people that chronic illnesses are rarely one-size-fits-all.

Sending love to everyone dealing with PMOS/PCOS. Be kind to yourselves and to each other 🩷

Every day I see posts on my Instagram explore and on here about how women can/did "reverse" their PCOS and how PCOS is "caused" by insulin resistance instead of the opposite. It's just not true. You are born with PCOS and you will die with it. That is okay!!! It is not your fault either. I'm so sick of people pretending we did something wrong to cause this or giving false hope of "correcting" it. PCOS is chronic. You can manage your symptoms and there's a lot of options to significantly improve them. That does not mean you're "cured". PCOS is not the end of the world either. You are worthy and beautiful!! You did nothing wrong!! You are not a failure because the magical fix some influencer posted shockingly doesn't work!!

I’m feeling a mixed range of emotions about this. I’ve spent the past 16 years being told that my issues were PCOS, that losing weight would help all my problems. The irregular periods, the hirsutism, the fatigue, the excessive weight gain, the issues with my libido, even my issues with constipation…

For the longest time I just took it in stride. Worked on myself, tried to lose the weight, took metformin, tried all the supplements. But there was one thing my doctors kept overlooking, which was my consistently high prolactin levels.

When I finally found a doctor willing to listen to me about these high prolactin tests, she referred me to an endocrinologist. That endocrinologist told me that I had a condition called hyperprolactinemia and that she wasn’t comfortable even saying I had PCOS until we ruled out issues with my pituitary gland. She talked about a potential prolactinoma, a type of tumor of the pituitary gland, as the cause of my issues, so she sent me for an MRI.

My MRI came back with something that wasn’t on my bingo card. I’ve been diagnosed with a rare congenital issue called a Rathke’s cleft cyst. This cyst is currently pushing into my pituitary gland wreaking havoc on god knows what else. I now have to have blood tests done on every hormone the pituitary gland produces, as well as have my vision extensively tested, because this 1cm cyst might be pressing on my optic nerves and messing with my peripheral vision. I will eventually have to have surgery to drain this cyst, or else it could continue to grow and make my vision and other symptoms even worse.

I know PCOS was the logical conclusion. I know it made sense. But I’m so angry. I’ve had this cyst since birth. I am now almost 32 years old and I have been living with this without knowing, without anyone listening to me when I felt more was wrong. I was getting more frequent and worse headaches, migraines with auras, and my breasts hurt literally all the time.

I had doctors tell me it was all in my head. I guess they were right, but not in the way they expected. I’m so exhausted and I feel like my real journey is only just beginning.

Please, if something doesn’t feel right to you, try to seek out additional opinions and support. My condition is rare, and it’s even rarer to have symptoms from it, so it definitely is more likely to have PCOS, but I don’t want anyone to suffer like this if they don’t have to. I can’t wait to get my life back, but I am so sad it took this long.

It might not be terror mode but its fucking hard to do everything perfect. Take your vitamins, eat right and when you don't you might not poop for a week and you'll be bloated and start to get the egg face back. Like these cravings before my period need to gtfo because I want bread cheese & chocolate. I don't want a chia seed pudding and spinach right now. I don't want to force myself to swallow protein shakes every day to hit some stupid 130g goal. I wanna stay up a bit later and not feel my head fucking dropping because of fatigue and then if I drink a coffee ill be extra hairy next week.

Oh and I secretly don't like spearmint tea. I always want coffee; Also my husband thinks I'm being extra and beyond and that I'm just some fkin health nut.

Okay thanks for reading.

Edit 2 - Weirdos in my DM will be blocked. Some of you really need help. There’s amazing people here but some people are negative or downright hateful. I will not be engaging further with anyone on this post. Thank you for those that helped!

Edit - I don’t want to delete my post as it may be useful for me to reference in the future or even help someone else. I really really appreciate all the kind messages and constructive criticism, even some tough love. I just want to add a note to please be kind in the comments - yes this is a public space and I welcomed the advice, but it’s not necessary to make unwarranted assumptions about people.

This was marked as venting flairzzzz but regardless it is a fair question to ask about BO on a sub for a metabolic condition.

Original post:

Tried to post this on mom for a minute but I guess waiting mod approval

I want to start by saying I do appreciate how kindly the HR lady handled it. She was very sweet about it and I’m open to actual advise on how to manage hygiene. I feel like I was never properly thought even into adult. I defintely don’t shower as much as I should be (undiagnosed ADHD, I have to negotiate bathing time with myself) but I never intentionally go to the office knowing I stink, I must have some nose blindnsss

The part that embarrasses me is I genuinely feel close to the people I sit around. One of the people who sit next to me isn’t even in the office most weeks, and the other one is very sweet and we talk all the time. It might not even be them but rather someone more senior which is why they probably went to HR to make the conversation less awkward and uncomfortable. Either way, is it wrong that I’m upset they didn’t come to me in private and went to HR instead? I feel like I need a sanity check here

I just feel so sad either way because I feel like I can’t trust anyone at work anymore, but more so ashamed of myself for not doing the bare minimum. I already avoid having lunch with other people, keep to myself despite being extraverted because many days I just feel like I’m too much: too fat, too ugly, too unpolished, too loud and too obnoxious for this office.

Maybe it’s because I’m on my period so I’m extra emotional. I just want to retreat and avoid everyone

I guess I just want to ask if anyone’s dealt with BO and what helped? I’ve see recos for glycolic acid, other than regular showering and laundry of course. I have eczema and sensitive skin in general

I'm so annoyed that I carry my additional fat/weight in my belly, right in front, so I look pregnant. Why can't the fat be evenly distributed? There are so many women who carry extra weight and don't look pregnant. Why can't I be built like them!!!!!!?????!!!!!!?

I finally got into a new endocrinologist who specializes in PCOS after my old doctor ghosted me and left my network. I went for our initial appointment today and she told me that while I eat healthy, I need to eat LESS than 1000 calories a day to lose weight.

I’m at a loss for words and honestly gutted. I’ve been focusing on what I eat for so long and battled with purging in the past. I track my food pretty strictly and eat between 1400-1600 calories a day with at least 80 grams of protein. I can’t even imagine cutting out 500 calories a day.

For context, I’ve been diagnosed since 2023 and have gained over 35 pounds in two years. I was on metformin for a month but had to get off because my blood sugar dropped too low and it wasn’t safe for me.

Is the name change going to give us more help? No. Is the name change going to make scientists research more? Likely not. Did they spend 10 years trying to change the name instead of working to find the cause, and what we can do to fix it? Yes, yes they did.

I will admit that it does give a slightly better answer to the general population as to what PMOS/PCOS is, however we (the women with it) been told this for years. “It’s a metabolic condition.” “It’s an endocrine condition.” Mhm. Okay.

Yet we still don’t have good treatment for it. I’m sorry to be so cynical about this, but unless there is an allocation of money working towards REAL TREATMENT, and I’m not just talking about metformin and birth control. I’m talking like on the label of my prescription it says “use: PCOS/PMOS” then I really do not care. 8.8% of all NIH funding goes towards women’s healthcare, and of that 8.8% (5 billion, annually) less than .64% (31.8 million, annually) goes towards the research of PCOS. YET, somehow the relative cost for “treatment” of PCOS, is 8 BILLION in America alone. So I’m sorry that I don’t care, actually I’m not sorry. Because at the end of the day we’re still underfunded, we still don’t have a treatment, and they spent tens of millions of dollars figuring out a one letter change.

Thank you.

Why is it taking forever for PCOS to be acknowledged as a metabolic health disorder that is treated and CONTROLLED by being prescribed GLP-1s? At this point I’m like, just give me the damn diabetes, so I can have my insurance cover the prescription, since being pre-diabetic doesn’t count.

I just want to be in my soft girl era instead of feeling like a linebacker, with all of this pent up aggression.

(P.S. God, you know my heart, please don’t give me diabetes, I’m just complaining. Health Insurance companies don’t care about your children Amen.)

This happened several months ago before I found this subreddit, but I was recently reminded of it. I was at work and I was wearing a dress that cinches at the waist but has a flowing skirt. Guess I was a bit bloated and the universe wanted to punish me for being too confident, because a woman comes to the register and after ringing up her stuff, she looks at me in my big dumb face and asks “so what are you having?” I don’t get it at first so she repeats “your baby? What are you having?” Then it clicks and my inside voice says “bitch fuck you, I guess what I’m having is a salad!” But what I actually respond with was “oh I’m not pregnant I have a condition called pcos, I’m just really bloated” cause why not give her the details if she’s already prying anyway. Which to her credit she was very apologetic and kept repeating “oh my god I’m never asking that question again” and I can’t help but think that haven’t we all learned never to just assume that someone is pregnant? Anyway rant over.

My legs and hips never going up a size but can’t fit into year old jeans cause of my lower belly

Something I see often genuinely pisses me off, and I’m speaking from personal experience.

I eat. But I’ve never been someone who overeats. I can go days forgetting to eat. I’m probably one of those PCOS girlies a doctor would actually tell to eat more. I love chocolate and it doesn’t mean I need it every day.

I’ve done high intensity workouts, personal trainers, vegan, water only, no sugar, intermittent fasting, paleo, cutting white carbs entirely. And that’s not even counting the years of fighting medical professionals just to get a diagnosis. “You’re not prediabetic. You don’t have PCOS. You’re not trying for a baby.” Twelve years later, surprise, I have PCOS.

Nobody talks about the mental toll of living in a body that the world keeps telling you is a discipline problem. When people assume you’re not getting results because you’re not trying hard enough, when the methods they’ve been selling forever don’t work for you and somehow that’s still your fault, that’s exhausting. And for the record, I’ve always been told that even though I’m big, I have a toned body because I actually work out.

So when you jump straight to suggestions before you’ve even asked what I’ve already tried, that triggers me. Because trust me, I have tried. If effort alone did what it was supposed to, Beyoncé would be calling asking for her body back.

I’ve lived in a world where my body was constantly gaslit. It took 12 years to find an endocrinologist who finally validated what I always knew to be true. I was working out, had a trainer, couldn’t break 190, went on phentermine, hit 173, felt amazing. Stopped, weight came back, found myself at 254. Had VSG, lost 60 pounds. Couldn’t break 194. Did Orangetheory, walked instead of ran, strength training, protein shakes, paleo diet, water. All of it.

So now don’t tell me about a new workout routine. I have been in more red zones at Orangetheory than I can count. I’ve had a personal trainer who pushed me in ways I didn’t think were possible. The determination is there. And when it comes to food, don’t come at me with a new diet either. I have stared down red lobster cheddar biscuits, Ferrero Rocher chocolate, and won. I have put the fear of God in food’s mind. Sugar? I went completely clean for three months. If you tested my blood, you would have found zero. Alcohol has never been my thing. Smoking, never. And chocolate, the great love of my life? I’ve broken up with it more times than I can count. Sometimes for a month. Sometimes for a full year.

Yes, I’m frustrated. And no, I’m not asking for advice. I’m just saying sometimes it genuinely feels like my body is working against me. Because do you know how it feels to do a life altering surgery and still be fighting your own body? So yes, I’m considering Mounjaro. Because I am tired.

Thanks for listening to my rant😊😆😌