In honour of #PCOSAwarenessMonth. My story.
At 16 I would get 2-3 periods a year. I had the worst mood swings, acne that responded to nothing over the counter, a little beard, weight gain and worst of all, I rubbed my neck with every and any cream with no relief.

Me? Miserable. Confused and trying to figure out being a teenager + these weird symptoms. Mom took me to a gynae who did an ultrasound + bloods and put me on Yaz but didn't really explain what was going on. The Yaz? Big drama. I bled for days till I drop down & go hospital.

Now here is where patient education comes in & why it's important as a doc to be sensitive and ask what patients understand. I noticed I was bleeding for days but was 16 and honestly thought this was "back periods" for all the ones I missed and didn't tell my mother.

Alright back up and running. Tried a new oral contraceptive but hated the side effects. Took a few years off and when I was 20 and in med school decided to get serious about this pcos.

Visited my current and fav gynae and we got SERIOUS. She did full bloods to rule out other conditions that mimic pcos and ultrasound. I never had cysts on my ovaries. Very important point! With the latest diagnostic criteria you do NOT NEED PHYSICAL CYSTS ON YOUR OVARIES.

She? The best. It's been 5 years of birth control (Mistral) and metformin. The metformin I recently was stopped on due to global withdrawal of the medication. I miss it lol. Without it, weight really sticks on me and I have to avoid heavy carbs like rice. I miss rice lol.

I feel like if I don't gym minimum 3 times a week and rice once a week I balloon up and I resent that. But otherwise my symptoms are well controlled on my birth control. Period every month, face clear, even less mood swings. Neck lightens up with weight loss.