Those with PCOS...

Do you suffer with bad skin too? And has your GP given you any treatment for it?

Mt GP just keeps prescribing topical antibiotics but on researching further (not sure why i've never thought about this before) they're not actually going to do any good if my spots are caused by PCOS.  I'm going to go back to my GP and ask if there is anything she can give me to address the hormone inbalance and see if this in turn will clear up my skin.  Other thing i've read that can help is following a low GI diet which i'm going to look into further but the reasoning behind it is does seem to make sense - i'm just not very good at following diets!

Has anyone managed to successfully sort out problem skin?

TIA

My skin can get awful at times, but I've never been prescribed anything, mainly because it won't do much!
Avoiding moiturisers and make-up that clog eveything up helps, as does washing in just water. Sounds daft, but making sure you dry your skin thoroughly also helps me loads.

The one thing that really did help more then anything was improved diet. I juat can't diet, not effectively or following a strict plan anyway. I enjoy my food too much![laugh Low GI isn't too hard to implement, its more like just eating sensibly really. Plenty of fruit and veg, be careful with the carbs. Also, avoid sugar as much as possible, and for me, limiting my dairy intake did wonders(although I have intollerance to dairy, so that may have been more to do with that).

The only other thing I know of that can be prescribed to help is going on the pill. That was pointless for me though as we were going to ttc.

Thanks Mazzy, the pill's not really an option for me either as we are hoping to start TTC again in a few months.

Might have to give the GI diet a go, my diet is shocking so might be the kick start I need - does seem pretty easy to follow. All I had to eat the other day was a owl of coco pops, an easter egg and a KFC - shocking! At this rate i'll never be able to have Abigail eating the same food as us

I did read that cutting out dairy could help too but not sure i'd manage that - one thing at a time I think so off to look at the GI diet a bit more, thanks again!

I have PCOS although I wasn't diagnosed with PCOS until I was 35 and suffer with really bad skin as well.  I have been going to my GP since I was 17 and all he kept saying was that it was teenage acne and that I had to get used to it, he did give me topical lotions and antibiotics none of which did any good. 

It was only when I was diagnosed with PCOS and prescribed Metformin that me skin cleared up, don't get me wrong, I still get the odd flare up, but nowhere near as bad as I did.  When I was first diagnosed with PCOS and prescribed Metformin, I joined Weightwatchers as well to lose the weight, which I did and I managed to lose 5 stone, but unfortunately due to a stressful couple of years with suffering from 3 miscarriages and an ectopic pregnancy I have gained 3 stone of that back.

Hi

I don't often get a flare up but when I do it is horrendous, had PCOS for 20+ years now and found after I had my LO my symptoms improved a lot.  3 years on things are pretty bad again, when we weren't ttc I had a mirena coil fitted as I just couldn't get on with the pill and things were good for a while, regular periods.  ttc now for 11months, don't appear to be ovulating every month, cycle all over the shop, as someone said diet is the key thing to help with symptoms.

Good luck

Thanks both. Mrslf, i've been on metformin before but don't think it made much difference to my skin. Might see if I can go back on it anyway to regulate my cycles before TTC again and see what happens. Thinking back actually, my flare ups now are the worst they've been in years so perhaps it did help, I just didn't realise at the time that it was.

PP - yep, think my diet is definitely going to have to change - off to look at what i'm supposed to cut out for the GI diet then

Thanks again everyone