All cases of acne have their roots in hormone production. In a wry twist of cosmic humor, my teens and I have adopted similar skin care routines for similar reasons. I want to call it "testosterone poisoning" but that isn't completely accurate (albeit, funny). Only, unlike my teens, I get the painful acne cysts that last for weeks, and sometimes looks like someone took a wicked right-hook to my jaw wearing a knuckle ring.
As I mentioned in the Bigfoot, Yetti, and Me post, testosterone does some pretty amazing things. In the binary way of opposites, up and down, left and right, benefits and challenges, lies the beauty and beast of testosterone. The beast in this instance is oil production, nuthin' like greasy hair and skin, eh?
Fortunately, I found a few products that help with minimizing the crazy outbreaks. As I bought similar products for my teens, I'm no longer yelling down the hall "who took my zit zapper!" Hell hath no fury like a hormonal mom. Jus' sayin'.
Like other symptoms, some acne is indicative of an underlying hormonal condition that can cause far more than facial blemishes. Yes, acne is a heartless bitch; but so is all the other inconvenient, embarrassing, and uncomfortable symptoms that make up this lovely syndrome.
I'm probably sounding like a broken record about now. Yet, once again, I'm advocating for all patients to ask their medical professionals to go beyond treating symptoms individually and looking at their patients and their symptomatology as a collective whole.
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Puberty is a remarkable time. Growth in body, maturity, and character are just a tip of the amazing ice berg that is happening in a teens body. I take particular delight in watching the signs that herald the change in my son from boy to man. From his platinum blonde mustache to his deepening voice, the transformation is nothing less than miraculous.
Of course I share and identify with the changes my daughters experience, but I never imagined that I would share in the changes of my son. Particularly in the deepening of my voice.
It now makes perfect sense why I can't reach those high notes that I once hit with alacrity. Yet, for the longest time, I wrote it off as simply a sign of aging, or perhaps not singing as much as I used to.
PCOS is a complicated disease that involves problems with the endocrine system and female reproductive system. It makes a strange kind of sense that the very same androgens responsible for the changes in my son are also the culprit for the changes in me. On the one hand, it's sort of funny, on the other hand, it's a trifle bit humiliating. Once I realized that there is a physiological reason for virilism, it did lessen my embarrassment.
Once again, it's a small symptom that can easily be dismissed. So I went from a high, girly voice to a sultry, sexy voice; is that really such a thing to get all worked up over? I mean, it's just a symptom of aging or peri-menopause, or so I told myself. Ah, but the trick is to take all the seemingly trivial changes and look at them as part of a whole. Which, when I think about it, isn't possible as I'd dismissed them and never thought to bring them up to a doctor.
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It's one thing to have a uni-brow, it's another thing completely to have Frodo feet. Did you catch the connection there? In case you missed it, I'm talking about unwanted hair.
There's this thing about hormones, they do a lot of cool stuff. There's another thing about hormones, they can get whacked and do a lot of stuff that's not so cool.
Take, for example, testosterone. Now there's a mighty hormone for ya! It does all sorts of stalwart things, from growth spurts to bone maturation and density, it's pretty awesome on the cool hormone spectrum. Except for when it isn't.
Let me share with you when testosterone isn't on the cool side. When you're a female and either your ovaries or your adrenal glands go into overdrive. Did I just shock you? Didn't realize that women's bodies produce testosterone? Well, it's true. Here's a quickie biology lesson, ready? The menstrual cycle occurs in three phases: follicular, ovulatory, and luteal. There is a rise in testosterone during the third phase.
What happens when your testosterone launches into orbit? I mean, it's one thing to be at the top of the normal range (15-70 for adult women), but when your lab results come back with levels in the hundreds, it's kinda scary. Mine labs came back with a 133 -- gave a whole new meaning to Mr. Mom for me. (My attempt at humor, is it working?) Hair, lots and lots of hair in places you'd rather not have hair.
What I once wrote off a genetics - hairy feet, navel, inner thighs and quite a patch of fur on the back of my thighs - I now see in a completely different light. Yes, I was born to a tribe of mostly short, round, hairy people, and I accepted depilatories, hot wax, and laser hair removal as just a part of my heritage. But, here's the thing: I wasn't happy about the goatee I began sporting in my 40s. I'm not talking a few hairs sprouting here and there.
While laser treatments did remove a decent crop of facial hair, what the heck was going on with hair sprouting up in new locations? Okay, okay, enough of my hairy rant. You get the picture.
When seen as just a product of genetics, it's embarrassing. When seen as a by-product of a larger system malfunctioning, it's alarming. If anyone can jump at an alarm, it's me. Searching the interwebs for anything and everything I could find on high testosterone levels in women was the first place to which I jumped.
Guess what I found? There's a label for unwanted hair cropping up all over my body: hirsutism. Sadly, labeling the condition didn't make it magically disappear. Yet, it did connect me to other information and I began compiling a more comprehensive list of potentially related symptoms. Which is a good thing, right?
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