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Auntlee · 03-22-2004, 12:21 PM

Unexpected success story,

When we were TTC, the doctor put me on four cycles of chlomid, which didn't work, so I researched what complementary medicines might accomplish the same thing and found out that mega-doses of folic acid can have an estrogen-like effect on the body, along with the mineral boron, that the body needs PABA to synthesize folic acid, and that acidolphilus will help the body create its own folic acid.

I wasn't even thinking of the hirsutism; my main idea was to get pregnant, but after just a couple of weeks on this regimen, I noticed a definite difference in facial hair, which I've had large amounts of since I was 15, 30 years ago. 30 years of getting up early to pluck for an hour before I could start getting ready for the day.

Since it was working, I was scared to make any changes, so I decided to keep it exactly the same for three months and then up some of the dosages to see what would happen. I wish now I had upped the dosages immediately, since it seems to work better every time I up something.

But gradually over the past four months, the hairs started losing the black color, getting weaker & thinner, growing more slowly, and some areas look absolutely "normal". I very seldom nowadays have a coarse black hair with a real root. My skin is very soft, nowhere near as oily as it was, and there's fewer pimples -- actually, today, CD 27, there's no pimples at all, which is a first. I used to shave my legs every day because there was always stubble, and I don't have to anymore.

If I were starting over again with this regimen, this is what I'd do:

Folic Acid (B9) - 40 - 60 mg -- 20 800 mcg pills three to four times a day;
PABA - 1 mg time release pill twice a day;
Boron - 6 1 mg three times a day;
Acidolphus - as directed on bottle;
OptiVite PMS vitamins
B-Complex - as directed
Occasional extra B-12 and B6

It sounds ridiculous taking large numbers of the B9 pills, but here's the reason -- long ago, the FDA imposed a rule that limits the amount of folic in any one pill to 800 mcg. The reason is that if you're *already* suffering from a B12 deficiency, the B9 will cure some of the most visible symptoms but not other symptoms, so that that a serious B12 deficiency will be "masked".

Anyone who may be anemic should check with a doctor and get that fixed, anyway. My doctor said that I could take the high doses of B9 as long as I also take extra B12, just in case -- B vitamins are water-soluble, and the body disposes of what it doesn't need.

The complementary medicine book we use also recommends mega-folic acid to treat IBS problems and depression, two of the most other frequently reported maladies here on the PCOS board. Women are reporting here that they're getting good results with hair loss by taking Biotin, another B vitamin.

All this, I think further supports my theory that at least some of PCOS can be traced to a B vitamin deficiency, or a difficulty in processing B vitamins correctly.

My hope is that the disappearance of the facial hair and pimples means that my body is healing itself of whatever has always been wrong -- and that I might be able to hope for a full-term pregnancy.