Pcos

Hello Ladies...

I just had an appointment with an endocrinologist today at the 5th best hospital in the United States for hormonal disorders (University of Virginia). I am not 100% as my test results are still out, but my doctor feels quite sure I have at the very least PCOS, quite possibly hypothyroid and insulin resistence as well. He isn't saying for sure which or which combination but he feels most sure of PCOS.

I so desperately want to lose weight. I eat so healthy, I'm near vegan. I don't eat refined flour or refined anything honestly. I try to avoid sugar, nearly to the point of never eating it. I drink lots and lots of water (44 oz.'s is the minimum I drink), and the only sodas I occasionally drink are diet, and that's rare.

I try to excercise. I do yoga, I jump rope and I lift those small weights.. dumbells? I'm not sure their name. I hike and walk when possible. My job is similar to waitressing. I'm a barista in a coffeeshop but I also wait tables, clean and am basically always on my feet and moving around. Anyways I do have muscle which I know weighs more than fat, but that said I AM fat. Not hugely fat admittedly, but not normal by any means. I would be considered obese, but with my frame I look just chubby. Almost all my weight is centered on my stomach.. lower stomach though. My middle stomach to my belly button is pretty much flat, or a thin layer of fat over muscle... but from my belly button down is not good. I also have purple stretch marks that my endocronologist says I get from having PCOS. It just sucks. Other than that I would be chubby, not fat.

I know low carb dieting seems to work best with PCOS and I did lose weight on a "fish fast" once. However I now don't eat fish and can't imagine eating another one after that, anyways. I don't want to fall into a fad either, and I am afraid that the low carb craze has just sort of made it seem like the cureall to all diet problems and it actually won't work for me. Plus, how does one be veggie and low carb and not live on soy burgers, hold the bun please.

In a huge way though, I am just so fucking glad I am finally being heard. I have a feeling my problem has ALWAYS been hormonal and I was put on antidepressants for nothing, which caused me to lose a year of my life in insanity. I am tired of being tired, and I'm tired of being sick and worn out, and I'm tired of being fat. I have been on birth control pills for two years now, so I have had some improvement but not much.

Mostly I want to know what treatments.. conventional or alternative you girls have had with hormonal disorders either thyroid or PCOS.

Thankees

 

um, well, I don't know what Pcos is, but if you're looking to lose weight I would strongly recommend doing more cardiovascular workouts rather than adjusting your diet. Exercise is better... it makes you use the energy from the food you consume, so you can still eat delicious things!

Also, try to be less worried about being fat. I'm pudgy (fat by other people's description) and I don't give a fuck. I'm more worried about my cardiovascular health and my endurance than how big my stomach happens to be. Honestly, the people who care about you will like you no matter what pant size you happen to have.

 

Well.. PCOS makes it REALLY hard to lose weight.. sort of like hypothyroid makes it really hard. What it takes for a healthy person to lose weight won't work for me, I'll have to do more. I realize that.

I'm not looking to change my diet, because my diet IS about as healthy as it's going to get. Even my endocronologist says that there is no use in me seeing a nutritionist.

I know I should excercise more, but it's hard because I already do a lot. I would like to join a gym as well, and think I probably will. But what if I do nothing but excercise and still don't lose weight because of my metabolism? What if I'm stuck this way.

I wish I could love myself as I am, but it's not that easy. My health problems stem far beyond how I look, and if people didn't know I have a disease they'd assume I must eat really bad and never excercise because I have high blood pressure and other problems as well. I feel like a thin person in a fat body. I do not weigh what I should, for my lifestyle. Not even.

I have nothing against fat people as I am one hehe. I love chubby girls, they're so sexy and feminine. But I dont' feel feminine as is, and I don't feel attractive and people are unnattracted to me because I feel unnattractive. It's not a pretty cycle and it's hard to feel pretty when you're frustrated at yourself and physically feel like crap to boot.

So yeah, people who do know what PCOS is what helps you guys? What sort of excercise showed the best results, what sort of supplements do you take and what is your general overall regime as far as taking care of yourself as to how PCOS/hormonal embalance effects your life

 

I'm right there with you sister, I was diagnosed with PCOS about a year and a half or so ago. The thing that's made the biggest differance all around for me is taking metformin. That evens out your hormones and insulin, not only do I feel about a million times better, but I'm steadily losing wieght. I went from between a size 18 or 20 to a 14 now, and still losing.

A big thing is getting enough protien, since sugar is what's gonna really hurt you with PCOS, protien is incredibly important. Also, sleep is so important. Getting enough sleep, but also getting to bed early, so so important. And other than that, being active and working out, walking, hiking, things like that are super important, and I see you said you already do that.

Just lead the healthiest life style you can, and as much as I hate prescription drugs, taking metformin or something like is really the big differance.

If you have any questions at all, or just want to chat I'd love to hear from you, PM me anytime at all

good luck, and don't worry about a thing, figuring out what you've got is the hardest part. I can't tell you how many doctors I went to with the "I'm always tired and I can't lose wieght no matter what, if I do it comes right back" just for them to say nothing is wrong. I was so happy when my mom's doctor finnally diagnosed me and I started to get better.

stay healthy sister blessings and love to you

 

Hey all.

I also have PCOS (Poly Cystic Ovarian Syndrome). I am also on metformin & get regular blood tests. I have a very high level of insulin resistance. I'm on 2,000 mg a day. What are you gals on? (dosage,out of curiosity) I also am on the pill that helps alot wih the metformin. Metformin helps minimally with the weight losing ordeal. I' m a size 8-10 now, but was a size 14 when I was diagnosed in April 2003. I joined a gym shortly after finding out. I have lost around 30 lbs in that period of time. I would like to lose more though. I do the elliptical trainer, weights, step aerobics, running on the treadmill, yoga & stripper aerobics. I feel great but still have plenty of room for improvement. Well, good luck & don't worry. You just got to be patient. Pm me sometime also if you'd like any of you.

 

I'm on 1,000 mg every day, and my hormone levels and insulin are all almost level now, I'm hoping to get them stable and then maybe switch to a natural herbal routine, does anyone know anything about any?

I gotta say, I'm so glad to see hear from/about other women out there with PCOS, makes me feel alot less alone and abnormal

 

One of the best and most effective meds for PCOS is Glucophage. It helps you use your own insulin properly (which, with PCOS, you aren't doing, which is causing the weight gain as well as other problems.) GLucophage is an oral medication which lowers blood sugar, and helps you use your own insulin. Womyn who have PCOS have enough insulin, but are "immune" to it, so they have diabetic like symtoms. I have even had mothers with PCOS put on Glucophage to help them make milk for their babies, as the insulin resistance can actually cause some womyn to have milk supply problems. Talk to your doctor about this. As a endocrinologist, I am sure he will know about it.

Metformin is also used, but some doctors prefer Glucophage.

Good luck.

 

my doctor acctually told me that metformin is generic for glucophage, but that's something worth looking into, thanks maggie

 

I found this really interesting. my mum (whos a hypocondriac) always said she had both over and under active thyroids... which was just her way of getting attention, and was always going to the doctor about something.

Personally i dont have a problem with loosing weight, mines opposite, i am very thin, and i appear to loose more weight very easily, and i dont notice. Others tell me ive lost weight and get all worried that ive stopped eating again. However its just that i have a fast metabolism i think. I eat and get quick rushes of energy (even if its not a high sugar food) and i suffer from severe highs of energy and hyperactivness to the suddenly feeling really owrn out, depressed and self concious (because of me being stupidly hyper ) Ive kinda learnt to live with it. i dont hang out in big groups anymore.. that helps prevent the hyperactive moments.

i dont have any advice for you really, except its good to see that you are sticking to your vegan morrels. What i was thinking though is if a low carb diet is going to help couldn't you become a vegecarian (this is if you consider eating meat to be natural but the treatment of the animals wrong) Then you can eat food containing elements from specially farmed and treated well animals. round here there is a place called Hen heaven which olet the hens live freely on the farm and lay eggs where they want, these some of these eggs are taken and once the hens are too old to lay they just keep living their life out as if they would naturally. But that all depends on your vegan morals. i know some vegans just dont think its natural to eat any animal products.

Good luck.

 

Yep, you're right. I flaked for a minute. The docs I work with always use the Brandname and I don't know if that is habit, or what.

They are the same. This drug is a good treatment for insulin resistance due to PCOS.

I am not a fan of low carb diets, but I know it is one of the things which is really helpful for a LOT of people who have problems with insulin resistance or insulin manufacture (Type I Diabetes). A normal health person should probably never go on a low carb diet, but if you have PCOS and insulin resistance, your body works differently than others. You can actually damage yourself,your circulatory system, your reproductive organs, your kidneys, your retina, your milk producing ducts, your liver ect by not treating the problems. We can have all the predetermined "Rules" for our lives, based on Utopian Ideals and some unattainable idea of perfect health, but when you LIFE is in danger (or the quality of it is) you have to make decisions which may change decisions you made in a different form. Morals are really variable when it is your life on the line.

The goal here is YOUR health, not some idea that is probably unattainable for people with very different metabolism disorders than the average population.

I have treated a lot of ladies with PCOS, and it only gets worse with age. I would treat it ANY WAY possible (if that means metfomin and a low carb, meat containing diet, then so be it) so YOU can live a healthy productive life. YOUR quality of life is the thing, here.

If I had PCOS (I don't) I'd eat low carb, which is basically impossible to do vegetarian, and impossible to do vegan. It is probably the ONLY condition that I would do so.

 

it is entirely possible to be a vegetarian and to eat low carb. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/155874682X/104-3289358-2596726?v=glance
start with that book, and if you get the chance to, read everything you can get your hands on that schwarzbein has written. she's an endocrinologist who has pcos.

there's also a vegetarian low carb plan in the south beach diet book.

i am very anti-pHarmaceuticals for pcos. i believe that pcos is caused by eating the wrong things. meds are only going to give a temporary bandaid to a lifelong problem. proper nutrition will lead to a lifetime of health and will allow your body to heal itself. our bodies WANT to be in balance, all we have to do is provide the correct tools.

http://www.soulcysters.net/showthread.php?threadid=39425
this woman (Emmanuelle) is very wise, read thru her posts over on the pcos message board...she shares a lot of excellent information.

 

I agree that you can eat veg and go low carb (with a lot of effort,) but NOT vegan. Maybe I am wrong, but the nutritionists I work with say no, it can't be done as a vegan, not without some animal products, and still have a rounded diet with all you need to survive. I said "nearly impossible" perhaps I should have said "very difficult" to eat low carb vegetarian.

There is more than one way to treat a condition. But, PCOS can be so debilitating. Glucophage can CORRECT an error in metabolism. I don't think PCOS is all just due to something the patient is doing wrong (now, I come from a medical background, so I have opinions on this... ) some people are BORN with, or develop insulin resisitance and it isnt ALL due to their own doing, or even ANY of their own doing.

I know womyn who have had almost complete remission of this illness with the drugs and the low carb diet. As I said before, there are few people I would recomend a low carb diet for (I'd never go on one) but some people don't have a choice.......if they want to have children, or make milk......or live a good life. I'm a big fan of quality of life.

 

Yeah, I'd have to say that it's not all lifestyle at all. It can be genetically passed down. My mother & grandmother had many of the symptoms but were never diagnosed. My grandmother now has diabetes. My mother has insulin resistance. I read that certain symptoms I don't even have (like skin tags, for ex.) can make it likely you will develop pcos or a family history of diabetes. Both of them didn't see an endocrinologist until after they hade hysterectomies so, couldn't help them much. I'm not trying to get pregnant or anything anyway, but that will help me to when I'm ready. Metformin reduces other symptoms over time & I am willing to take medication to quicken this process. I've done plenty on my part -working out,eating good, etc.- so, I'm willing to take this long term to help me along.

 

metformin has so many side effects.

yes, for sure, pcos has genetic roots. we pcos'ers are genetically predisposed towards insulin resistance if we dont eat the right foods. If we do eat the right foods (whole, organic, unprocessed, range proteins, quality fats, unstarchy veggies, and sparingly of the starchy veg's and fruits, etc, etc, etc), then our bodies DONT become resistant to insulin, and the rest of our hormones will stay in balance and we DONT develop all of the nasty things that go along with pcos. ...for life, without side effects. i know that my insulin resistance never would have happened if i had been eating a traditional diet since birth. i was formula fed from the age of 6 weeks old, and raised on kraft dinner and campbell soup. that's a recipe for destruction right there. i can say with certainty that a lifetime of high carb diet/low nutrients/damaged fats caused my health problems. i was a pesco-vegetarian for years in my 20's and lived mostly off of rice and pasta. i was genetically predisposed to IR/syndrome X/PCOS, but my diet did me in.

i've been dealing with my pcos for over 2 years now (that's when i was diagnosed and started researching, and when i almost lost the vision in one of my eyes). my cysts only come back when i eat the wrong kinds of foods. same with my acne. my arcanthosis nigricans fades away to almost nothing when i'm eating right. i feel good! when i eat right. i lost weight, easily (really! 2 years ago, i was a size 18, now i'm a size 10). i dont get the moody, shakey, weak, dizzy hypoglycemic reactions that i used to get all the time before i knew that i had pcos. oh, and my hair is thicker now too. i refuse to go on pHARMaceuticals...my health is too important to me. i have achieved health thru correct nutrition. and i know that i will grow to be a very old woman, and that i'm not going to get endometrial cancer or diabetes, or ovarian cancer, or any of the other diseases associated with pcos or the diseases of degeneration that are caused by the standard american diet.

i also make use of my herbal allies (milk thistle, nettle, vitex, fenugreek) and a couple of nutritional supplements (magnesium, b-vites, cod liver oil, evening primrose oil, vite c, natural vite e), but not routinely. i have found that i only ever experience side benefits from my herbal allies and supplements.

we each walk our own path, and i dont want to take away from any successes that you may have experienced from following a more allopathic path, but i do want you to know that there is another way.

 

My symptoms are gradually decreasing-like hair loss and growth, weight loss, etc. I have frequent & worse periods as time goes on though. I just recently had my pill switched due to this. I barely used to get my period before the pill & metformin. Thanks for the herbal info.