A Case of Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS)

Diane was 33 when we started working together. She was diagnosed with PCOS a couple years before when she was trying to conceive. She had 43 cysts on one ovary and 45 on the other. Before coming to see me, she had taken eight rounds of hormones in a year and a half and had four inseminations.

Interestingly, she had most of the secondary symptoms to PCOS since puberty. Since the start of puberty her acne was “out of control.” They were cystic along her jaw line and chin. She also has profuse scarring. Her skin was incredibly oily and she felt as though she had to constantly wash her face. Around the time she should have been ovulating or bleeding, her acne would heighten.

She was internally very hot and would sweat on least exertion. She was not hot in bed, but only during the day. The perspiration would stain her clothes yellow. She always slept with her feet out of the covers (3).

She perspired under her arms, chest and back, but not her head.  She would get a headache instantly in humidity.  Diane experienced headaches often. They were around the vertex and worse with light. They were always on the left side.

Since Diane was 18, she always had very painful menstrual cramps. She always had a couple of cysts yet she was never diagnosed. As an adult she would always be able to feel them. Around the time she was supposed to bleed, she would get radiating back pain predominately on the left side.

When we started working together she would have to urinate every 20 minutes (Irritable bladder is common in PCOS).  Diane gets black facial hair on her chin and upper lip. Hirsutism common feature of PCOS.  She constantly had abdominal distention and was flatulent (she did cut out dairy which helped).

She was exhausted after eating.  From the age of 2-13 she was on antibiotics fairly consistently. She was getting regular high fevers, which  contributed to having a small bladder.

No clinical research (that I’ve found), has been conducted in the correlation between PCOS and small bladders, but it is a common thread of discussion with PCOS women. Many do seem to have small bladders.

Diane always struggled with intense anxiety. She identified as just being “anxious by nature.” She also had three massive panic attacks as an adult. They were all in confined places like the subway. When they first started she thought she was going to die. She puts a lot of pressure on herself.

During a panic attack, she will start to spasm. The first one came on when she was 12 at a family event. She says “there is a lot of weird stuff in my family.” She expresses that she is very sensitive to tension around her.

She says she grew up with the notion of don’t fight, and with “complete denial of anger. If there was a problem, nothing was dealt with and everyone had to be calm and happy.” When the tension got to be too overwhelming she would experience panic;  “ I push my feelings into my stomach, I’m not good at communicating.”

She continues to express that conflict is her biggest challenge and that it “makes me physically sick.”

She is worse in the morning and wakes up unrefreshed; she is also worse in the early afternoon from 1-3pm.

Her periods are erratic (when not on hormones). If she does bleed it is quite scanty and mostly comes out in clots.

Diane said that she never had a high libido and experienced vaginal dryness.

She also has a history of reoccurring hay fever and sinusitis.

She also had a history of vertigo. It was not present when we had our first initial consultation.

The first prescription was one dose of Lachesis 200ch. We met 3 weeks later.

(Lachesis sweats on least exertion. They tend to be quite thirsty and gulp their water. They are internally warm. Lachesis also has an affinity for left sided ovarian cysts.)

She initially talked about old symptoms which came up on the remedy. Her scalp became quite itchy and she said she used to experience this all the time 2 years ago.

A few days after taking the remedy, she had a bout of vertigo which came on intermittently for one day.

She had more acne which came out on her chin and jaw line. It got worse, then subsided 4 days later..

There was a 60% reduction of her internal heat and she was not sleeping with her feet out of the covers as much.

She says with “the amount of stress I was under, I thought I would have perspired more, but I didn’t.

She experienced no headaches and no lower back pain.

Abdominal distention subsided and “ I still get a bit tired after eating, but I don’t feel like I need to sleep anymore.”

No more white floaters in the eyes.

She had more sadness than anxiety. She expresses that, “I’ve been letting myself go a little bit and people are not used to it. I am trying to communicate my emotions with my husband.”

No vaginal dryness and an increase in libido. The first day after taking the remedy, “ I had a huge dip in my self-esteem which lasted a day, since then I’ve been feeling really good about myself and able to put things in perspective.” She is also better in the morning from 8-10am.

I kept Diane on Lachesis 200ch and we didn’t see each other for almost two months. She had two 28 day cycles, which was a first for her.

She ovulated. No period pain, but had difficult PMS. Some of her secondary symptoms heightened again. I put her on Sulphur 30ch. The Sulphur reduced her perspiration. Her digestion became a lot more manageable.

The sulphur

After working together for a year on and off, she had a regular cycle and her secondary symptoms had reduced at least by 80%.