Posted by My OB said WHAT?!?.
Oct
18
Posted by My OB said WHAT?!?.
“Well, You Don’t Look Like You Have PCOS.”
“Well, you don’t look like you have PCOS.”- Gyn to woman who was seeking help for infertility, irregular periods and had stated that PCOS runs in her family.
There are 29 comments to this post.
Jessica had this to say,
Oct 18, 2011 @ 10:11 am (Quote)
There are physical signs that sometimes appear with PCOS but an actual examination couldn’t hurt. Which is the whole reason for going to the doctor. That said, I didn’t meet the physical characteristics that accompany gall bladder disease. Had that been the only means of diagnosis I would have been in serious trouble!
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I actually got told a similar thing by my GP when we were trying to figure out years ago what my own issues might stem from. However, that was after going through an internal exam and running over the list of symptoms and as part of him not entirely ruling it out because it manifests differently in different people, but “you also don’t look like you have it, except maybe the weight gain.” (This was not a jerky comment, btw; my weight has been a long and honest discussion regarding hormones for years.) Anyway, so I can see where this comment may be coming from, but by no means should it be the main part of the discussion or dismissive. While I give props for using your basic senses to aid in diagnosis, anyone who gets a medical degree SHOULD know that looks can be deceiving and “You don’t look sick” is a foolish thing to say to a patient. They’re there for a reason.
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This is a rough one for me. I was told the same thing when I was in college. Apparently I had my weight “too under control” for it to be an issue. Being an image centered college girl I had taken to eating every other day and exercising daily to maintain my weight (that’s right ZERO food). And yes I openly reported that fact. He said I was making that up and was looking for some excuse to explain my problems. And of course, the ONLY tests they would run were for STDs. YEARS later as I continued to destroy my body, all the while suffering horribly painful and irregular periods, someone finally ran an ultrasound and found too many cysts on both ovaries to count. I had to have two surgically removed because they were huge and not draining. I tested off the chart with my testosterone level. They also found endometriosis around a number of my organs during the laparoscopy. All in all it took 7 years to get treatment from the moment the first signs of endo and 3 years from the first signs of PCOS. It’s been 12 years since I first got treatment and all of those years I lost to insensitive, uncompassionate jerks still haunt me.
To the OP- I hope you found someone that actually did their job and listed to you!
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Carrie C Reply:
October 18th, 2011 at 9:03 pm (Quote)
Wow, Bess. That’s a lot of freaking willpower to eat every other day. Sorry the medical “professionals” didn’t believe you. I wonder what they supposed your motivation for “lying” was. You wish you could have more invasive tests and treatments?
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Robyn Reply:
October 19th, 2011 at 6:56 am (Quote)
After eating a certain way for awhile, it just doesn’t become an issue. My mom said that when my sister and I were babies she had a rule; eat when she’s hungry or she would make herself eat every 3 days. She said that it was more often than not that she was forcing herself to eat once every 3 days. Otherwise, she just wasn’t hungry.
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This is exactly what my doctor said to me 12 years ago as a teenager when I thought something might be wrong! Fast forward 12 years to today when I’m suffering heartbreaking infertility, pre-diabetes, have gained a lot of weight, my hair is falling out and I still have teenage acne! Getting the right diagnosis 12 years ago would have made a huge difference in my quality of life and would have made it possible for me to keep my symptoms under control rather than letting them get totally out of control and then trying to manage them!
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Holly Reply:
October 24th, 2011 at 6:11 pm (Quote)
Suffered many years before finding out what was wrong over here. My midwife left the practice and I *had* to see another doctor. Was SHOCKED when the dr looked at me and said “Has Jackie discussed PCOS with you?” HUH!?!?!?! Umm NO!! She gave me a handout, went home and researched it and wow! Answered all of my frantic questions!!
Went in for pregnancy with baby #5 and was told I was “misdiagnosed” because I had kids. Forget every single other symptom.. and the fact that the kids took a long time to conceive (#5 took three years, #6 was a chlomid baby).
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“Well, you don’t look like you have PCOS, but I’ll run some blood tests to rule it out.” <— There, I fixed it for you.
BTW, does this doctor also diagnose pregnancy by looking at the woman? How about high blood pressure? Breast cancer?
In "How Doctors Think," Jerome Groopman talks about prejudice in the medical profession and tells a story about how he sent a young man home from the ER even though the guy had classic heart attack symptoms because it never occurred to him that a young man sitting in front of him could be experiencing a heart attack at that very moment. It's a hard thing to combat, but when they say it aloud, you're one step closer to getting them to examine their own prejudices.
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JC Reply:
October 18th, 2011 at 11:48 am (Quote)
I always love reading your responses! :] Perfect!
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Jewels Reply:
October 18th, 2011 at 9:25 pm (Quote)
As usual, Jane is exactly right! My (fit, healthy, slim, young, *model*) sister has PCOS – it was discovered after she had a great many tests to figure out what was causing her migranes & one of them showed that she had PCOS. Her doctor’s response? “Well, you don’t have any of the symptoms of polycystic ovarian syndrome… but your ovaries are polycystic! I can’t explain it, but sometimes weird things just happen. Let’s try XYZ treatment for it & see if that’s what’s causing your migranes.”. Much better way to handle it!
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Oh dear lord I hear this with EVERY new doctor/midwife that I see. I was diagnosed early in my infertility journey because someone bothered to run blood tests and do an ultrasound but since I am skinny and display no physical characteristics such as acne or facial hair every single person that I tell I have PCOS they have to tell me that I don’t look like I have it. Get’s old and clearly by now the dr.’s and midwives should realize not all PCOSers are overweight with acne!
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sara r had this to say,
Oct 18, 2011 @ 4:43 pm (Quote)
I got the opposite of this from my jerk doctor. I went because I was frustrated that I couldn’t lose weight and thought the problem might be my thyroid ( it most likely was). I had no symptoms of PCOS but was told that “he knew because he was the doctor and where would I like to pick up my prescription? ” i struggled with my weight but had an hourglass figure, so nothing really pointed to PCOS. No excess hair growth, etc, and my cycles were 33-35 days, but fertile. I ignored him and guess what, tests came back negative. And 2 weeks later I got pregnant while intentionally trying to avoid it…and you bet I let hotmail know about it. Then I never went back.
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I think this is mine, but I haven’t gotten an email about it, so if this belongs to someone else, I’m sorry.
I had gone into a female OB/GYN for infertility issues. My hubby and I had been trying for nearly two years, had two miscarriages (I’ve had three total), and heavy, painful periods ranging from 28 days to 45 days. I have a history of ovarian cysts, I had a test of my LH/FSH that was *nearly* the correct ratio for PCOS, and my mother and sister have PCOS. Although I am average sized I tend to gain weight easily and in my stomach. I’m not super hairy, but I have more hair than most women.
The doctor told me that because I had periods roughly every month that I was not irregular, that those with PCOS had periods every 6 months or so. She told me I wasn’t hairy enough. She told me that I wasn’t fat enough. She told me that having infertility for 2 years was no biggie. She told me the LH/FSH test didn’t mean anything.
She proceeded to tell me that all our fertility problems were my hubby’s fault because he had Type I diabetes. I told her that Type I can cause fertility issues because it causes blood flow problems causing erections problems, and we were having tons of sex, thankyouverymuch. She refused to test me for PCOS until we got my hubby’s sperm tested.’
Luckily after this appointment I discovered I was pregnant and this time it was a sticky baby. I called the office back to tell them I was pregnant, but experiencing very mild cramping. The office freaked out on me and made me come in for suspected miscarriage. The same OB/GYN performed a transvaginal ultrasound to confirm the pregnancy (you know, not a blood or urine test) and told me everything was fine. I found out later that the cramping is completely normal and it’s the uterus stretching out.
Happily because of the treatment from this office I started researching midwives in my area and I’ve delivered both my children with the same birth clinic and the same midwife. So I guess it was a blessing!
I still haven’t been tested for PCOS. I’m afraid that I won’t be believed.
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About to update about it.
The Well-Rounded Mama had this to say,
Oct 19, 2011 @ 12:02 pm (Quote)
Funny this comment came up now, while I’m doing a major series on PCOS. One of the themes has been how hard it can be to get a diagnosis. Most women with PCOS have struggled to get it taken seriously and have a number of misdiagnoses.
The original poster doesn’t say if she’s average-sized, but it’s something thinner women sometimes get because PCOS is perceived to be a condition only of fat women. Although most with PCOS are heavier, not all are, such as actress Emma Thompson.
In case anyone reading this doesn’t know what PCOS is, here are links to the first two posts in my blog’s series on PCOS, describing its symptoms and the heterogenaity of its presentation:
http://wellroundedmama.blogspot.com/2011/09/pcos-condition-every-person-of-size.html
http://wellroundedmama.blogspot.com/2011/09/pcos-how-does-pcos-affect-women.html
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Krista Reply:
October 20th, 2011 at 12:32 am (Quote)
I did say I was average sized, but I’m sure it was lost in the great novel I posted. I forgot to add that my mother that has PCOS was average sized until after having a few kids, I can barely fit into her wedding dress although we’re within an inch of each other.
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Sarah Dorrance-Minch had this to say,
Oct 20, 2011 @ 7:52 am (Quote)
You can diagnose gynecological problems just by giving someone a quick visual scan? Forget obstetrics and gynecology. You should work for the TSA.
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This one is actually mine. I had a child already, which happened to be only because I had JUST gotten off of BCPs when I conceived (the OB I was seeing at that point said that was most likely the case, as it can help ‘trick’ women with PCOS into ovulating).
Fast forward to a few years later, DH and I had been trying for another for a year and a half. I had not had my period in 12 weeks, but all preg. tests showed up negative. We were in a new state so I took my chances with a doctor with good reviews on Google.
He was reluctant to do a blood draw to check for pregnancy, even though I know that my mother didn’t know she was pregnant until 5 months with my sister bc all urine tests were negative… and when we talked about why I hadn’t been able to conceieve, why my periods were SO irregular (I could go 2 weeks, then 12 weeks, then 4, etc.) I was telling him my family history- both my mother and sister have it, and he broke in saying, “Well, you don’t look like you have PCOS.” I sputtered for a moment and asked exactly what a PCOS patient ‘looks’ like (knowing that some symptoms can correlate)… and he said ‘overweight and hairy’. Um, my mother has a few chin hairs and is slightly overweight, but did not develop those symptoms until much later in life, after the diagnosis. I have none of those symptoms… but guess what happened when we moved again and I saw a new OB who actually did an u/s and bloodwork? Yep, PCOS… and progesterone was all it took to get me pregnant, it seems.
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You don’t sound like you went to med school.
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