I've not been diagnosed with PCOS yet, but I am in the middle of comprehensive testing for all sorts of stuff. I've felt like crap overall most of my life . . . depression, difficulty healing when I get injured or sick, ovarian cysts, hypoglycemic symptoms, all kinds of stuff. I'm sure most of you are familiar with the treat each symptom syndrome most doctors start with. Who knows which came first, anyway? . . . the chicken or the egg . . . or, rather, which problem causes the others?

My theory after researching is that when I start to categorize my symptoms, they all come back to endocrinology in one way or another. All of the hormones affect the levels of the others, so my hypoglycemic reactions may be caused by faulty levels of norepinephrine, epinephrine, or adrenaline. Low levels of seratonin from taking the effexor (a reuptake inhibitor) may cause or exacerbate the "must have sugar" attacks, which in turn cause too much insulin to be released and my blood sugar to dramatically drop; the sum of all of the hormones could be causing the ovarian cysts or the cysts my have begun the process of out of balance chemicals, likewise my suspected immune suppression could be causation itself or a side effect of the others. Who knows??????

My point is that I feel the endocrinologist is best suited to treat my symptoms as a whole. Any advice from those of you who've been around the block with this? I finally feel like I can see light at the end of the tunnel. Something inside is just telling me that I'm on the right track if I can only get my doctor to listen and keep an open mind. I want to feel healthy and energetic again.

When I first started Effexor, I felt better. After a few weeks, my depression and low blood sugar attacks got really bad. The higher my doctor put my dose, the worse it has become. Anyone else have this type of experience? She also has me on Zoloft simultaneously.

Any comments, advice, or "I can relate to that"s will be very appreciated.

Thanks . . .

Teri