I think that next week, along with getting a hormone panel done, I might get tested for this PCOS too.

I am set to start Accutane in about 3 weeks. I have always had really annoying acne, but this year, it went nuts and it's practically all been deep and cystic.

Which screams HORMONES. At the same time as my acne went through the roof, I started shedding a lot of hair, and it is has not stopped. My dermatologist says telogen effluvium, but I don't think so. This has gone on for about 9 months. My hairline is receding at the temples. My hair's not terribly thin, but I used to have extremely thick hair.

That the hair thinning and the bad acne all started AT THE SAME TIME has to be indicative of something. I'm also greasier than I've ever been in my life. I've had more scalp buildup, and I actually have some scabs on my scalp now.

I can't go on like this, I am miserable, so I am doing Accutane - which I never ever wanted to do.

And since I think I may have something going on with my androgens, I'm not sure Accutane will fix it forever. Granted, I have to determine definitively that my hormones are out of whack. But I know they are....!

Anyway, my periods are regular, and since irregular menstrual cycles are a hallmark of PCOS, who knows if I have it. But I might as well get tested I figure.

Hi everyone! I just typed a detailed description of my struggles with PCOS and acne, but I accidentally refreshed the page. Anyway, ask me if you have any questions or want more details about my current and past regiments. This is my first post. I usually just read the posts for advice (so grateful for the forum!!!), but I felt inclined to contribute something to this thread because it affects me personally. Hopefully others will benefit from my trials and errors! In the past couple of years I have been avoiding birth control pills, and trying out natural and homeopathic remedies, with some positive results.

Here are the things that worked for me in the past with minor side effects:

• agnus castus (chaste berry/ vitex in the US) & Evening primrose combination [but I took agnus castus for longer than recommended and when I eventually stopped my acne returned]. I also experienced increased facial hair growth, not sure if it was a side effect of the agnus castus/ primrose. Has anyone had increased facial hair as a side effect of any regiments??? I also had some hair LOSS on my head. So, basically, I grew hair in places I didn't need to!

   

• AVOID products with sodium laureth sulfate! Most of my redness was gone after changing my toothpaste, mouthwash, and shampoos to products that didn't have SLS...it's hard to avoid, though! Many facial washes have it. Also, some hair products have SLS byproducts, and many shampoos that don't just make my skull flaky because they do not have the foaming agent provided by SLS.

   

• Earth source multivitamins & acai berry supplements

   

• I have recently replaced acai with goji berry - anyone had success with that?

   

• Recently, I started washing my face with deionized water instead of tap water. Actually, someone who works for the water company recommended this, and said that it is a better alternative to harsh tap water. It's too early to tell, but my face does feel better when I use bottled water (no spring water, though! ).

   

• Avoid stress as much as you can! Easier said than done.

   

• Avoid smoking, especially if you have PCOS. I thought smoking would help me lose weight, but my metabolism actually sped up once I quit smoking.

   

• Drink tea instead of coffee if you can, and try to use almond milk. I switched to almond milk from soy milk because I had some hair loss (on my head) and increased hair on my face. Not sure what is causing that, but the hair on my head seems thicker now that I cut down on soy products.

   

• Try acupuncture - it will help you relax and will help balance you out.

   

I'm not sure what else I can do to get clearer skin...right now I have some blemishes on my face, and some bumps/ millet acne under the surface. Most of my spots look hormonal. Considering that I have hormones against me, my acne is under control. Hopefully these tips will help others deal with PCOS like they helped me.

Do you have any other herbal or natural remedies I could try (or nutritional supplements etc)?

Also, does anyone else have excess facial hair, and have you had any success with herbal remedies?

WOW!

I had taken a break from acne.org for a while to persue other online project, travel around europe, graduate university, and get my first real professional career.

I am so suprised and pleases that so many women responded to this post! It took a long while to gather replies, and I am very happy to see that beginning an open forum on PCOS issues seems to have helped some people.

A couple of years post accutane, I am more than convinced PCOS is the true root cause of my acne. All i have to do is look at the women in my family and i see PCOS written all over them. I fortunately, , and I have "dodged" some of the worse symptoms thus far because I am very proactive and preventative with my own healthcare, wehreas the women in my family tend to allow themselves to become victims of circumstance and do not care for their own health or bodies. ALL of the women in my family are obese, have/had cystic acne, have "reproductive" issues, have mood-swings/PMDD, Diabetes and Heart problems. MY mom, and aunt both have extreme hairloss for women. My mom started shedding around 30. I remember as a child, seeing big chunks of hair in the drain, and my my CRYING from losing her hair.

To treat my PCOS, I have been on and off YAZ, and have been mitigating the diabetes/weight gain with nutrition and lots of exercise. My weight still fluctuates up to 15lbs month to month. My periods are still irregular, with pain in my lower back and teeth, very strong mood swings leading to depression, I can feel my ovulation, and my breasts are almost constanly tender. When I am on BCP, the estrogen makes my breasts tender to touch to where it is painful to wear a bra.

I have currently been on a break from YAZ for abour 8 months. When I got off the BCP, my hair started shedding. I now have a very noticable bald spot on the top left of my hairline. It is shiny, and looks like a man's bald spot, although not completly bald, i notce it even if i comb over my bangs. It makes me want to cry. The right side of my hair has almost no hair loss. i find this strange.

My body hair is always coarse. I can no longer shave any part of my body, because the hair will grow back like a man's stubble, and will break me out in terrible painful rashes. The patches of what i would term "pubic" hair are getting larger and run down about 1/2 of my thigh. Currently, I only use an epilator on my legs, underarms, feet. and depillitary cream on my bikini area and inner thighs, I thread my facial hair and use an REM spring on my moustache.

My periods are bizarre. Chunky, clotty blood. I am unhappy with them. I wish to go to an accupuncturist because i have exhausted Western medicine's resources, which are not that deep concerning PCOS.

My acne has pretty much subsided. Skin is not perfect, but acceptible for me at this stage in my life. I feel that accutane was very helpful, as are the topicals i still use from time to time. Instead of chasing cures for symptoms, Id like to do something about my PCOS to relieve it. The acne comes in cycles or "flare ups" which seem to follow my muenstral cycle pattern. Bad cramps and heavy bleeding= cyctic acne. Light cramps and light bleeding=no acne.

I am sick of using hormonal BCP, I am looking into getting a permanant tubal ligation and maybe chryogenically freezing my eggs. This may seem extreme to some people, but what else should I do? Let my eggs rot inside me while my uterus becomes more and more hostile environment?

I still remain undiagnosed for PCOS. I feel that my doctors have all failed me in this regard. Not one has taken my concerns seriously, because none of them will view me as a whole person, and make the connection between symptoms. The best shot I had to getting an MDs attention is when that cyst busted back in 2009, and i bled through my jeans, underwear, pad, and tampon. When my matureal period lasted 2 months, I knew it was cycst. I could feel them with ovulation. The breast pain also, is the type of symptom that should not be ignored. Breast pain is not normal. Every year, i bring all of these thing up to my OBGYN, and every year, she prescribes me the birthcontrol pill d'jure. Im pretty sick of this.

I believe my next step is to visit some natural healers, Accupuncturists, massage therapists, witch doctors, whoever will listen and help.

If any other people out there have any thoughts, concerns, support, ideas, or tips please post here

Thank you for all of your posts and conversations. I read each and every one of your posts, and am very glad to see that we are able to bring PCOS issues to light.

REPLY to: WISH CLEAN 28

For facial hair: REM Spring Sprong and/or threading. Reasoning: Threading only removes hair from the root, and unlike waxing, does not cause mircrotrauma to the surface of the skin, the results are less irritation/acne post hair removal. It does hurt, feels like an indian burn, but the pain is from the hair follicule and not from the skin. Results last much longer than depillitory creams. Hair grows back finer, lighter

For Body Hair: Buy a good epillator. Braun Silk Eppelle was my first and is a good model, you can work your way up from there. For 60 bucks, an epilator will last for years, and provide you with lasting hair removal (like waxing) unlike waxing, you can remove hair that is MUCH SHORTER, and it is less irritating than waxing or shaving. Downside: pain. But you can get used to it. And you can do a much more detailed job than any waxer. Results can last up to 3 weeks, hair grows back very fine and light. Not recommended for Bikini area. Underarms are very painful, but I do it and now I never shave underarms, because the baby hairs are so fine, they actually dont bother me enogh to bother. I do them every 2 months, and legs 1x month.

Bikini: find a good-sensitive skin gel formula depillatary cream. Ok heres the deal, all depillatary creams are unpleasant and irritating, but I find them much better formulas now than 10 years ago. Much less irritating than ever before. There are probably even some fancier more expensive creams i have not tried, but cream is available all over the world, is inexpensive, and works for me. I put it all over my bikini area, like a brazillian or "bald eagel" and I let it set for 10mins. I take a luke warm damp wash cloth and gently exfoliate it off, along with the hair. Then i RINSE with COPIOUS amounts of COOL running water. It is the "cleanest" and "least painful" way I have found to manage my "lady scape" I allow the hair to grow back for 1-2 months, as i love my hair down there because it makes me feel like a woman. Note: this is not recommended use on the packaging! it is just what works for my skin, and it has taken me about 5 years to perfect the timing and application to avoid irritation. To me, this method is preferable to waxing. I dont have to set an appointment, I can do it at my leasure in the privacy of my home, and it is inexpensive. I would suggest doing a spot section of your skin before going pro. Find a fomula that works very gently for your sensitive area, and I am sure there are specialty products for bikini area that are pH balanced for your ya-hoo.

Hey dudettes.

I'm 19, and I was diagnosed with PCOS at 18 - almost two years ago now. I've always been slim except for when I was around 11/12, although I think that may have been because I've always been hugely tall (5"11 now) and I tended to store weight just before a growth spurt. I put on muscle mass easily and when I first joined a gym the personal trainer was insistant that it couldn't be my first time in a gym.

I do however have rapid hair growth - every where were hair can grow, and have since I was about 10. I've never experienced hair loss. However, I had absolutley flawless skin until a few months before my 19th birthday, when my face gradually began to erupt in acne on my cheeks.

My periods have always been extremely painful and irregular. I was put on the combined pill for this at 16, and it stopped all the pain. Unfortunatley it gave me a paralyzing migraine and my doctor took me off it at 18, saying that I was at a high risk of having a stroke. The single pills (progestorne only, etc) all made me bleed constantly, so my natural hormones were allowed to take over. Every now and again I have large testosterone spikes.

I never had a hard time being diagnosed because my mum had PCOS and endometriosis, and I saw the same doctors as she went too. They recognized the signs and gave me a laporoscopy, which thankfully resulted in the doctor confirming that I had PCOS but not endomitriosis and also stating that he doesn't think I'll have too much trouble conceiving in the future.

I recently had a cyst rupture and I had to be taken into hospital and given morphine for it. The doctor that I saw was less than helpful and pointed at my acne, said 'it's obviously just PCOS pain', insisted that I was just trying to take up a hospital bed despite the fact that I didn't WANT to stay in hospital and I had *never* had to take morphine for my periods before and sent me home without a scan, with the advice of 'stop shaving, it's making your body hair worse.'

I did eventually have a scan through my GP and she said that it was likely to be a ruptured cyst, as I had no cysts on my ovaries during the scan and I usually only get a couple anyway. After that my periods were entirely regular for a while, although this month I've skipped one and my acne is through the roof. My mum says that she had acne like mine at my age and that it went away by 23, but I've only ever seen pictures of her with great skin at my age - she says that it's just because she only let pictures be taken when she was clear, but I don't even have a week of being clear nowadays.

I take an aresenal of supplements now to help with the horrific mood swings that I get if I don't take them. They lovingly get refered to as my 'happy pills'. They are : agnus castus (vitex), evening primrose oil, omega 3 fish oil (I don't eat fish), DIM plus, zinc, a multi vitamin, vitamin C and a vitamin B complex and I drink green tea. When I'm taking them I'm a happy, laid back, friendly person. When I don't I'm a crying screaming mess.

Sadly only the zinc seems to have made a difference in my acne, and that's only by increasing the healing time of my lesions. I'm quite grateful that I only get white and black heads on my cheeks and next to my eyebrows and not cysts (I've only had two small ones, and they were caused by picking) but it's still annoying to have so many tiny ones all congregated in one area. My friends constantly say that I have other wise nice skin (pale but rosy and no large scars) but all I can see are those annoying inflamed lesions.

Sorry for the essay. It's nice to hear from people in the same boat.

Hello, I haven't checked this thread since I first posted. Nice to hear everyone's input, and thanks for the hair removing tips sunnicali. I went with laser hair removal on a few stubborn areas (lower legs, bikini, under chin) with good results so far, so you may want to consider that as long as you find someone who knows what they are doing.

How is everyone managing their PCOS besides taking hormonal pills/ BCPs?

I have PCOS And have suffered with moderate acne for almost 10 yrs now. Sigh. I have taken Metformin off & on for several yrs. I never noticed much differeence in my face. Overall it is somewhat better than it used to be. But it plays mind games with me. It'll get tolerable for a couple months, then kinda take steps back. I refuse to take the pill ever again (I blame the pill for starting this hormonal roller coaster in the first place).