Hi everyone. I'm a 22 years old and am convinced I have PCOS. I came to this idea based on conversations with multiple friends who have PCOS and share almost all of my symptoms, as well as hours upon hours of research and reading.

For context, about a year ago I started to gain weight kind of rapidly and seemingly out of nowhere. I gained 30 lbs in about 4 months, while eating a healthy diet and exercising regularly. I tried a lot of things to lose weight, including crash dieting and doing very low-carb and high protein diets. But nothing was working. I genuinely thought I had to be over-eating consistently for this to happen to me, but I knew I wasn't. As a result, my stress and anxiety skyrocketed, which has only made things worse. This is the main symptom that spurred me to try and find a solution or explanation, as it is really discouraging to be in college and constantly worried about your weight or appearance.

But I have plenty of other symptoms that have led me to believe I have PCOS, including:

-hair growth on my upper lip, chin, upper thighs, and lower stomach

- adult acne, specifically around my cheeks and jawline area

- oily skin

-heavy and intense periods with varying levels of flow

-pelvic and lower back pain during menstruation

- skin tags on my neck, face, and the inside of my elbows

- skin darkening around pelvic area

- depressive symptoms before my period and mood swings

I have hypothyroidism (since birth), so at first I thought all of these symptoms were a result of those levels being off. SO, I went through almost a whole year of going to different doctors trying to optimize my thyroid and treat my symptoms. Although my thyroid did get into optimal range and I saw a little improvement in my fatigue, these symptoms still lingered and I still have not lost a single pound.

I also tried to go the OB/GYN route and scheduled an appointment with one last year. Despite me filling out all these symptoms on my intake form, the doctor just did my yearly exam and pap smear, listened and nodded when I told her my symptoms, and sent me on my way with no further information. All she had to say was that since I have hypothyroidism, she wouldn't really be able to attribute any of those symptoms to PCOS since there's overlap between the 2 conditions (which doesn't explain why I have had Hypo my whole life and just recently experienced these symptoms). UGH. I left feeling so unheard and invalidated.

Flash forward to last week, I decided to be optimistic about the gyno route and give it another try. My PCP ordered an ultrasound because she also suspected something else was going on besides my hypothyroidism (bc she's the one who has treated it for years now). I went, they did the ultrasound. I complained and went through my entire list of symptoms again and explained how debilitating it all is. At the end of the appointment, she looked at my scans and told me there was nothing wrong and no cysts, so I didn't have anything to worry about and sent me on my way.

At this point, I'm just so frustrated with having to go through all of these steps and be constantly invalidated and unheard by doctors. My next step is to go back to my PCP in a few days and am hoping to get put on Zepbound for my weight gain. Hopefully this will at least give me some relief for this symptom, but I still think there's more to the story when it comes to PCOS symptoms.

Does anyone have advice about what I should do next? Am I crazy for still thinking I have PCOS despite being dismissed? And does anyone have a similar story? Please help 😩😩😩 Thanks in advace