For this episode, we wanted to answer another reader question.  We love answering reader and listener questions. Also, we understand that you might not be getting answers from your docs and feel frustrated. Honestly, we really try to go into depth on answering these reader/listener questions as we want to be as thorough as possible on conditions, symptoms, dosing, and options.  

With that said, this is meant to be educational only and not meant for medical advice (there, my attorney will be very happy to have said that!).  But as mentioned above, we want to be as thorough as possible in all aspects. This question is from Nickie. We love this question and really think others can relate to Nickie's situation.  She has been told she has Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome and has been prescribed oral progesterone.

She has concerns with taking progesterone, its side effects and the topical cream versus the oral.  Nickie also has concerns with her symptoms such as trouble losing weight and thinning hair. So we are going to do our best to answer Nickie's questions as well as go into depth on forms, dosing, testing and options for PCOS.

Nickie’s Question: 
Hi, I was prescribed 200mg of Prometrium a couple of weeks ago to take on day 20-30 of my 32-day cycle. I ovulate around day 16. Day 20 was the night before our vacation, and after reading some potential side effects, I decided to wait until this next cycle to take them for the ten days.

They think I have PCOS, so I'm hoping it'll make it easier to lose weight. My main concern are the potential side effects of the pills. Do you think using the cream is significantly better/less side effects than taking the two pills at night? I'll also have a few drinks on the weekend and didn't know how that would interact with the medicine as well. I have about two weeks to decide which I want to do, so I'm looking for advice.  

Also a history I have many symptoms of low progesterone. Anxiety, thinning hair, inability to lose weight no matter what I do, and after having a miscarriage at 12 weeks last year, I had to take oral progesterone to stop the bleeding. Thank you!

Dr. Davidson’s Response: 
First, we want to explain what PCOS is.  PCOS stands for Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome.  Which is exactly as it is described, being there are multiple cysts on the ovaries.  In many cases of PCOS, the ovaries are likened to a string of pearls. Because there are so many cysts in the ovaries that it looks like pearls.  However, there is so much more to it than just multiple cysts in the ovaries.

Typically there are very high androgens, being testosterone