Last week, Flair's article on Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS), generated the following responses.

Weight gain

I was diagnosed with PCOS last year. Looking back I now realised that all the symptoms were there all along but I didn't pay it any mind. As a teenager, I thought it was a blessing that I did not see my period for months (it came with too much pain).

Reality hit

Reality hit me when one September my period came for about five weeks. I cried because I did not understand. I didn't tell anyone because I wasn't sure what they would think.

My gynaecologist prescribed Metphormin and an oral contraceptive. I am now 22 years old and married. My husband knows everything and I made sure that he understood the possibility of us not having any children together.

My only problem now is the weight gain. I think I have gained at least 30 or more pounds since last year and nothing I do is helping to reduce it.

Difficult to conceive

I've been there, I grew up with PCOS not knowing that I had it. I was told by a gynaecologist at age 14 that my irregular cycle would normalise as I mature. I waited and waited but my cycle was always six months and even nine months late, and as the article mentioned when it came, it would flow as if it was making up for lost time.

Something was wrong

I always knew something was wrong but I was never properly diagnosed until age 27. By this time, I was married for two years and ready to have a child, only to be told I may not be able to. The doctor however, told me about many options of taking the hormone tablets, surgery, in vitro fertilisation and adoption.

I was depressed because my husband loves children and when he played with one, I could see a look on his face about the fun times he dreams of having with his own (he never pressured me, however).

Trying to conceive

We started trying to conceive by using the hormone tablets which assisted with regularising my cycle and exercising to keep any excess weight off. However, after a year on the tablets, I still did not conceive - scared of surgery and with many persons praying, we decided to try with the hormones a little longer.

Six months later, we still did not conceive and the doctor suggested that my husband should do a sperm count because all my tests indicated that all should be fine. He did the test and he was OK but we still did not conceive. The doctor then wondered if I had blocked tubes so I was sent to do a dye test.

This test proved that one of my tubes was blocked - armed with this information we kept on trying and within a month of the dye test I was pregnant - I had a normal pregnancy and gave birth to a healthy baby boy. However, I am now finding it difficult to lose the excess weight around my waist - but I am going to work on it.

I think people are mean when they insult persons by calling them 'mules' and I hope that knowledge about conditions such as PCOS will stop some of it.

Next week Dr. Daley responds to losing the excess weight.