Hello,

I’m kinda curious about 17-OH and what age someone has Late Onset CAH.  I really would like to know if anyone else has experienced any of this.

I’m 36.  I finally got so frustrated with my weight and some unwanted hair growth.  Went to doctor and complained til they agreed to run some tests.   All my hormone levels fell within the normal range EXCEPT 17-OH.  It tested out at 558.  Estrogen, Progesterone (strangely enough came back normal); Testosterone even came back normal.  But 17-OH came back 558.  For the last 16 years any tests of Progesterone during Luteal Phase came back WAY low.  They diagnosed annovulatory and Luteal Phase Defect but never did anyone do anything about it.  Now my Progesterone was showing normal.  BUT 17-OH was too high.

The chart given by the lab shows results at the Luteal Phase in a normal woman should be no higher than 285.  Mid-cycle should be 225.  All other times show it should be lower.  Luteal Phase should be the time of highest levels and like I said before...... normal is 285 for Luteal Phase.

My test came back 558.  She refered me to an endo. whom I did see.  I had blood work done with him and am waiting on the results.   (Waiting is frustrating!)  He thought more along the lines of PCOS but sonogram shows normal sized ovaries, no evidence of cysts and even showed a corpus luteum.   (so I did ovulate.)  Gyn. thinks it’s not PCOS but admits that there is a wide range of things PCOS and sometimes the cysts could be so small that the ovaries would appear normal.  However, we still think it is not PCOS.

I always had excessive hair growth on my arms and legs as a child.  (very embarrasing for a female with a fair complexion to have lots of thick dark hair!)Muscle tone is such that I build muscle fast without much effort. 

But as I’ve gotten older, I’ve noticed that I can’t seem to loose weight but I gain it fast.  I hate the few (or lately....more than a few) dark and course chin hairs that are growing.  More upper lip hair, dark hair on abdomen.  Adult acne....I’m moody, angry and bulking up with muscle again.  Exercise is not helping me loose weight......It’s building more muscle.  Arrrgh!  My legs are huge.  I look like a weight lifter.  Co-workers agree they are excessively muscular!  So now I’m getting bigger.....muscle under layer of fat.   On top of that, I’m loosing scalp hair all the time.  (I have lots of hair to begin with and no one seems concerned that I’m complaining about the loss.  They say it’s natural to loose 50 to 75 hairs per day, but dang....... I’m afraid I won’t have any left.)  Endo. says he’s not ruling it out.....but IF I have it, that I’m older than the usual patient and that it would be a mild case IF I did have it.  Ok..... If this is mild I truly feel for everyone who has a full-blown case of it.

Does anyone else have these symptoms?  Is it LOCAH?  Am I stressing for no reason?  Is this all just part of growing older as a woman?