I am a 25 y/o female and have been taking 25mg spiro for an exactly a month for lean PCOS (meaning I don’t have insulin resistance and have always been a normal weight). I never see anyone mention their free testosterone levels, my was 44 (normal-high, 45 is considered high, 44 is just before that) and my symptoms are excess hair growth on face, severe water retention, severe mood swings, history of high cholesterol in childhood despite normal weight, and cystic acne.
In the first 2 weeks my skin was noticeably clearer but now at the start of my period I am seeing an acne flare up, I just want to know if this is to be expected with low-dose spiro. Also I am TERRIFIED to up my dosage because there are an alarming amount of horror stories with permanent fat distribution on Reddit (people saying it RUINED their body). I’m wondering if that’s because they never had high testosterone so I’d love if anyone who has similar or slightly higher testosterone levels can share their experience.
I’m honestly okay being at 25mg indefinitely, but really need to make sense of what I’m in for. I’m also on Skyla IUD birth control and have been on IUD birth control for years.
NOTE: I was rejected for spiro twice and had to basically hassle my PCP to listen to my symptoms. I feel like people have been hearing about it online and get a prescription without being mindful of their hormone levels and it ends up disrupting A LOT of normal things in their bodies (per the horror stories), as far as I know Spiro is best used as an off-label med for androgen-blocking of high testosterone (which causes all the symptoms I listed). And if you don’t have high testosterone spiro DROPS your normal testosterone and you become over-estrogen (leading to noticeable feminization #FatDistribution). But I really want to hear from others.