i thought the hair shedding was just… PCOS. everyone says hair gets weird with PCOS, so i assumed that was part of it. i was already tracking my cycle obsessively - 32 days, 40 days, sometimes skipped entirely - so the hair thing seemed like just another symptom of the general mess. then i got my androgen panel done. testosterone elevated. DHEA-S high. endocrinologist said ‘that’s what’s doing this.’ not the irregular cycles. the androgens. and that’s when it clicked. i’d been losing hair the whole time thinking it was just PCOS. but it wasn’t random - it was specifically the androgens. when i started spironolactone, the shedding actually stopped around week 8. not overnight, but it stopped. same with acne. jawline breakouts that never made sense - also androgens. not ‘PCOS acne.’ androgens. what nobody told me: elevated androgens make your hair shed. that’s not normal PCOS shedding. that’s a signal your androgen levels need treatment. imo so now i track that too. hair shedding = androgens probably need adjusting. did anyone else not realize their hair and skin stuff was specifically the androgens until they got labs?