Hirsutism HELP

iVillage Member
Registered: 01-18-2004
Hirsutism HELP
13
Sun, 01-18-2004 - 4:56pm


I believe I have hirsutism. I am an 18 year old Indian female and have had the symptoms of hirsutism ever since the age of 10- excessive facial hair and this is very depressing. Ive gone thru alot of treatments such as electrolysis, waxing, and laser. Laser really messed up or seemed to worsen my facial hair. Electrolysis worked on my upper lip and took about 5 years to finsih. I tried it on my chin and it did not work. Laser was appealing but worsened the condition. As a result, I have ogne to an endocronologist and i have an abnormal level of male hormones and he suggests I take OCPs but im kind of scared and dont know what it could potentially do and if i have to take them for the rest of my life. If anyone has gone thru the process please help me. Please give ur input on ur experiences. Thank you.

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iVillage Member
Registered: 05-14-2003
Mon, 01-19-2004 - 11:29am

Welcome!


I'm sure all the women here can sympathize with what you're going through.

 


 


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iVillage Member
Registered: 07-21-2003
Tue, 01-20-2004 - 11:16am
Same problem! My endocrinologist is still in the process of diagnosing me though, so no medicine yet for me :(

However I have heard of a drug called spironolactone. It is basically a water pill that they discovered binds with testosterone, in effect lowering it. From what I have heard from people on another message board, it works wonders with next to no side effects. You can't get pregnant while you are on it though. The main side effect is a possibly more frequent period, so some women choose to go on the pill for that reason, but others have no problem.

I'm with you on being afraid of the pill. Not only that, it just isn't an option for me once I get married for religious reasons. However, I have been on it while I'm single. 2 different brands. One of them, Desogen, I had no side effects with. The other, Yasmin (which my gyn thought would lower testosterone more) gave me constant nausea. The side effects and warnings are scary, but my gyn is an NFP-only doctor, so I felt like if he felt it was worth it for me to take it when he hardly ever prescribes it, it would be ok.

My dermatologist told me that testosterone starts to go down when you are in your 30s. Not sure if that is true or not.

Out of curiosity, would your endocrinologist prescribe the pill to you? Mine wouldn't--he says it isn't his specialty. Which I think is kind of funny since they are hormone doctors :)

Good luck!
iVillage Member
Registered: 01-18-2004
Wed, 01-21-2004 - 11:27pm
thanks for all of ur responses...i appreciate them. Feel free to post more. I need all the feedback i can get. I mean as a young female i someitmes envy the rest of the people who have nice clear hairfree faces and know that something must be done about it bc in 6 years ill probably get married and its so embarassing to walk around with hair growing on ur face. There is only so much you can do, like waxing and threading so much that there are ingrown hairs:( plus ur skin gets looser or soemthign and there is acne and irritaiton.

Iposh, about yasmin, my gyn wants to try that with me. Of course i do not know whihc is better so that is why i am worried anyhow. Do u think yasmin actually gets rid of the hai and what happens once you stop the pill..supposedly the hair comes back?? Like this is a neverending problem, so it seems. All i know is, we all want to be hairfree especially our faces only because that is the most obvious part that everyone sees.
iVillage Member
Registered: 07-21-2003
Fri, 01-23-2004 - 11:34am
Well, my gyn told me that it would take at least 5 months for it to help the hair. I didn't notice any difference in the 3 months I was on it, but I definitely saw signs my testosterone was being lowered--less acne, less sex drive (which ironically was great for a virgin :))

But yasmin basically has the equivalent of 25 mg of spironolactone. That isn't much at all. You could try it, it might help. But depending on how high your testosterone is it would probably be a lot more effective to just go on spiro. I think some people go up to 200 mgs a day for hirsutism. Might be wrong about the numbers.

Please keep me updated on what you decide and whether it helps! I won't be going on anything until march. Here is my e-mail--suchalittlefish@hotmail.com
iVillage Member
Registered: 07-21-2003
Fri, 01-23-2004 - 11:39am
I just wanted to add...

I have had a heck of a time finding a good gyn and a good endocrinologist to treat me for my hormonal elevations. I've really had to educate myself!

Have they tested you for CAH or PCOS? Getting some sort of diagnosis is important in how they treat you. They should try to find out whether the excess testosterone is coming from your ovaries or adrenals. If it is coming from your adrenals, putting you on the pill will only help a tiny bit.
iVillage Member
Registered: 10-15-2003
Sat, 01-24-2004 - 5:22pm
I have to agree about finding a good Gynecologist or Endocrinologist. I would suggest finding a good Endo, because many hormone imbalances can cause other health problems. I was undiagnosed for years, even misdiagnosed with PCOS once, when it turned out I had a pituitary tumor that secreted prolactin....which can also cause elevated testosterone and hirsutism, which is only a cosmetic complaint in the greater scheme of things. But elevated prolactin, left untreated can also cause infertility, recurring pregnancy loss, obesity and diabetes, osteoporosis, heart ischemia, and possibly breast cancer. And the extra estrogen in birth control pills can actually be dangerous for SOME women with large prolactinomas. NOt that that is what your problem is, but if you DO have a hormone imbalance, its worth following up and finding out why.

If you haven't had a full work up, it would be worth following up and finding the cause of the elevated testosterone.

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iVillage Member
Registered: 07-21-2003
Sat, 01-24-2004 - 9:07pm
I have elevated prolactin too! But the 2 endocrinologists I have seen disagree on whether my MRI shows a prolactinoma. They also disagree on whether or not I have CAH. So I'm having still more tests :)

Are you on drugs to lower your prolactin? My new endocrinologist is planning on putting me on some as soon as I have a firm diagnosis. I've read it causes lots of side effects. Has that been your experience?

Didn't know that about the pill and prolactin either... That is good to know!
iVillage Member
Registered: 10-15-2003
Sun, 01-25-2004 - 12:30am
Sorry, got dinged for "spamming" for posting links and was asked to delete.


Edited 2/9/2004 9:29:13 PM ET by biores
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iVillage Member
Registered: 07-21-2003
Mon, 01-26-2004 - 9:18am
My prolactin is consistently in the mid 40s. My other doctors had given me the impression that it was fine, but my new endocrinologist must have asked me about five times whether they had me on medicine for it, and then gave me a look like he couldn't believe they did such a bad job :)

The strange thing is I don't have any of the typical symptoms. No lactation, and my periods are regular but last 12 or 13 days.

Thanks for the link to the message boards. I will definitely check it out!
iVillage Member
Registered: 01-18-2004
Mon, 01-26-2004 - 8:09pm
yea about hirsutism, i dont have PCOS tho i think my cousin does. she actually has alot of hair too and has undergone spiro. treatment. After 6 months she stopped it and now is in the process of having laser hair removal. Im not too sure if laser hair removal is helping. My endo says i have a hormone imbalance and that i should go on yasmin. I dunno. I rememebr when i was about 11 i did electrolysis for abotu 4 years and it compltetely eliminated the hair from my upper lip. I'm wondering if that could help in the rest of my faacial hair..it may be a lengthy process and when i tried it a few months ago it didnt seem to help so i dunno....i mean just bc u do electro and the hair may disappear isnt there still a possibiltiy that u have the "hair gene" and that u can get "hairy" on the face again and pass it on to offspring??

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