new diagnosis

[Angie10116]

hello all! Merry Christmas.

I’d like to ask, what symptoms can pcos cause? Other than the typical, female issues. Irregular periods, conception issues, etc.

Can it cause mental health issues? Tiredness, headaches? Etc.

Thank you!

[Lady_Bunnington]

Hi Angie, merry Christmas to you too!

I’ve heard that mild depression and mood swings are commonly associated with PCOS. I’m not sure how much of this is due to the hormonal impact of the condition and how much of it is people feeling down because of the symptoms they’re living with and the lack of effective treatment options available. There may be others on the forum who are better informed than I am and may be able to comment.

Other common symptoms are acne and more facial and bodily hair than ‘normal’ (these have all plagued me since adolescence and I’m now 34!).

[Angie10116 in reply to Lady_Bunnington]

Hi! Thank you so much for your message! I’m sorry you’ve been going through this for so long! I heard that too, however I did check my hormones and they seem fine, I have a gyno app in Jan ❤️

[Afive]

Hi!

Fatigue can have different causes, but the usual culprits are low vitamin D and low iron. If you can convince GP to test for it, great. If not, I would give a try for vitamin D supplements as it's winter now. The most common vitD supplements are 10ug, but I would try something with at least 100ug (4000IU). Note that everyone should take vitD if they spend less than 30min in the sun per day during winter! I'm taking double that (I have had proper vitD deficiency diagnosed before) and you can take even higher doses safely, but is not recommended for extended periods of time. VitaminD can also impact mood, so it can affect mental health.

Please note that most contraceptive pills can cause mood swings and even depression. It's in their list of secondary effects and it's usually ignored, or women are told to deal with it. But if are feeling mental health issues and you are on a pill, I will definitely change the pill or stop it for a while to see if it improves.

If you start taking vitaminD, don't change the pill asap, give it like 2 weeks (if it's only because of low vitD you should see improvements at least in the tiredness levels fast).

Good luck and please reach out to your friends and family if your struggling with mental health!

[Angie10116 in reply to Afive]

Hello Afive! Thank you very much for your kind response. I really appreciate it! Thankfully I’m not on the pill, I have heard it’s horrible!

My D level was 62 I believe. Is that low? Thank you!

[Afive in reply to Angie10116]

Do you know the units? Normal range is something between 50 - 200 nmol/L (the test results should indicate your result and the normal range!).

If you have below 30nmol/L you have vitD deficiency, and levels between 30-50nmol/L are vitD insufficiency. Toxicity is above 500nmol/L

Guidelines I could find mention "optimal" levels are between 75-100 nmol/L

When taking 100ug of vitaminD a day I went from 68nmol/L in July to 109nmol/L in December. Now I'm taking 150ug/day as you need more when trying to get pregnant.

Did they test your ferritin (iron) levels? If you have heavy or long periods this can cause iron levels to drop and that can cause tiredness too. Particularly important if you are vegetarian!