I have PCOS and am not sure when I exactly developed it. I did not have regular blood work until I was 18 which is when it was found. I am curious about other people's experiences. Were you diagnosed with PCOS after the weight gain or before, or was there no weight gain and being overweight has always been an issue?

My OBGYN figures I have always had it. I started to develop at a really young age, always battled weight, never had a regular period, etc.

I also believe I developed it a young age. Although I didn't have weight issues until I hit my teens, and then I wasn't too much over weight just always 5 to 10 pounds up and down. Then when I hit my 20's I kept gaining 5 pounds every year. It used to be a breeze to lose the weight with diet & exercise, then when I hit my 30's, that's it. I couldn't understand why I couldn't lose the weight even though I was doing low fat and killing myself with exercise! I was finally diagnosed with pcos and insulin resistance at age 35 when I was trying to get pregnant. Thank God for low carb and all the info they have now on PCOS.

This was a tricky poll - I've only had weight issues for about 5 years, and I have had PCOS symptoms for about 10 years. I think that my weight is a result of PCOS, but I was not officially diagnosed with PCOS until September of 2006.

I am 32 and was diagnosed with PCOS when I was 14. My math is bad but that makes what...18 years right? Anyway...

I was a small toddler, my mother force fed me carbs at the advice of her doctor. I was the fat kid who turned into the fatter teenager who in turn became the obese adult.

At age 14 I was dx because my mother was paranoid I was pg when I kept missing periods...what an irony since I have NEVER been able to get pg on my own...jeez. (oh and btw my mother is a nut job-there was no way I could have gotten pg at 14 unless you all beleive in immaculate conception)

Gotta love pcos...I was the fattest, hairest, kid on the block. yeah!

I was actually just dx'd with PCOS this year though I am quite certain I have had it for atleast six or seven years. I am just now beginning to have periods again (after starting metformin therapy), for years they were just ABSENT - not even a weird one here or there, just MIA! I am really hoping to be able to control some of the embarassing/annoying symptoms with a combination of diet/exercise and the meds.

I know this sounds wierd but I have found working with other women helps me to have a period regularly even with PCOS. Before I started working I was a stay at home mom and went 3 years without a period. I did not know I had PCOS I just thought it was nice to not have a period and I lost track of time. But once I started working with a bunch of women I have had a much more regular period. Has this helped anyone else?

I have always had problems with my blood sugar, back as far as I can remember. When I was a child, my parents would take me to church on Sunday mornings and then we'd go grocery shopping afterwards. Going so long between breakfast and when we got home always made Sundays horrible days for me - by the time we got home and I could eat lunch, I'd be just miserable - I'd have that "oh my God, I have to eat RIGHT NOW" feeling, and my parents just didn't understand that it was beyond the realm of a normal, kid being hungry thing.

My sister was diagnosed with PCOS when she was 18...she didn't have a period for years before that. My mom dragged her from doctor to doctor before she was finally diagnosed.

I didn't have many issues until I got pregnant (aside from the 2 miscarriages I had before that...which I now wonder if were PCOS related). I gained 70 pounds while I was pregnant. 70!!! I went from 129 to 199 - and then my son was born 6 weeks early and weighed 5 pounds. After he was born, I lost a little weight, but not much. I'd always been athletic and thin, so I hit the gym. The weight would not come off. 3 years later, after being in the gym religiously for hour and a half workouts 5 times a week and no weight loss, I went to see an endocrinologist. In going through my family history, he decided to test me for PCOS just because my sister had it and it runs in families. Aside from the weight gain and some acne, I had no symptoms.

So I got diagnosed and then started low carbing...lost 25 pounds in about a month. Not bad at all. Before low carbing, I would always try to eat low fat and low calorie, and I would wonder why my blood sugar was always wacked out and I just didn't FEEL good.
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My endo says that women usually start to have PCOS symptoms full-on after some kind of hormonal event - most of the time it is puberty, but in my case it was pregnancy.