Hi everyone!  I've browsed through some of the posts here and am finding tons of valuable info, and I am thrilled about it.  So heres what I am wondering, I believe I have PCOS.  I was told I had ovarian cysts, but have lots of the symptoms of PCOS.  THe dark skin patches, I have one on the back of my neck, and I never knew why.  The skin tags, acne, hairy arms, not too bad on the facial hair, but I feel like I have more than most women.  Then the weight issues, painful cramping, and all of a sudden at 34 years old I am on to my second irregular period.  Last month I had spotting during ovulation, then I had my period for 3 days which is normal for me, then 2 days later it came back for another 3 days.  Now I have my period this month with no signs of ovulation and the period came a week or so early.  

SOooo, is PCOS the same thing as ovarian cysts?  

I havent had any testing for it other than internal and external ultrasounds years ago after complaining of crippling pain.  Thats when they said I had large cysts on both ovaries.  Thats it, no other info, all I was given was a script for birth control to help with the cramping and help with the cysts.  I had no idea that all these other signs and symptoms I was experiencing had to do with PCOS.

Thanking you in advance for your input and advice.  I did read one of the ladies suggests seeing an endocrinologist, something I will look into.  Thanks again.

There is now a product called Riomet (liquid metformin)..it is formulated for patients who cannot take ER metformin or the regular, especialy with the poblems it causes gastric by pass patients.  I start mine tomorrow..I'll let you know how I do.
Kim in Fontana

Dr. Capella does not perform the DS. My guess is that he is now doing the Realize Band and he is going to try and talk all of his patients into it. Please clink the links in my siggy to find an actual DS surgeon who is close. Your health is too important to allow a bait-and-don't-switch doctor decide your future.

Please feel free to PM if you have any questions.

I have PCOS, my son is a clomid baby.  I did not menstrate, grow eggs or ovulate.  Anyways, I had rny and soon after my surgery I began to have regular periods.  I do not have any signs of PCOS anymore, which is good.  I also ovulate now, but no more babies for me:(  I did get darker hair on my lip, but it is not so dark anymore.  I am a brunette and I have shaved it before, so I think I will always have it.  But I wax it off every two months.  My bmi was at 40 when I had the surgery and I got to my goal weight in less than a year.  I thought it was going to be harder for me to shed the weight because all my previous diet attempts were flops, the more I exercised, the more my body held onto that weight. 

Hey everybody. =) I had my surgeon's appointment today and I guess it went okay. Apparently the surgeon I went to(Dr.Nusbaum) has had 2 dozen patients revised from Dr. Capella's surgery. So he has experience with the way Dr. Capella operated, He said that Dr. Capella definetly has a special way of doing the VBG and that it is almost a 50% failure rate. So he said he has to see what the EGD Scope comes back as. But he said he'd like to be able to revise it into a RNY but doen't know if that's possible being the way Dr. Capella operated, He said the best option was the Realize Band. Has anyone ever had a revision to this? If so please let me know more about it. I have spent all my time researching the DS. Any as my surgeon said today I am not eligible for the DS. He said it would be a disaster, and it wasn't a good idea. Nutritonally speaking.  I'm just kind of confused. If anybody could help me or shine some light on the BAND, I'd really appreciate it. Thanks.