Quote:
Originally Posted by siamlovex2  Good articles, Kat. However, I'm having a hard time understanding if
1) having an eating disorder (which would surely create some metabolic and hormonal imbalances in the body) creates PCOS in an individual?
or
2) if having PCOS (and all of the self-esteem and body image issues associated with it) creates a "breeding ground" for eating diorders in women who may already be somewhat susceptible to it? |
It's EXTREMELY chicken or the egg.
In a nutshell - I come from a fat family with IR issues galore. I was a fat kid when at age 8 my pediatrician told my mom to put me on a diet. I was 80 pounds, he wanted me to lose 20. Well there's nothing like having your mom tell all your friends' moms not to feed you when you come over to make you view food as forbidden... So I never lost those 20 pounds, instead started on a life of sneaking food - if my parents left me home alone I'd play "how many twinkies and cookies can I shove in my mouth?" I'd just eat and eat! By 7th grade I was 180 pounds and decided enough was enough, became anorexic, then bulimic... which lasted for years and years and years. I was bulimic through my 1st pregnancy, through my fertility treatments... I'd have better periods and worse periods but it was like it was always THERE, I knew it would be back. It's really only the past year (I am now 31) that I can say "I am not bulimic."
Anyway - I was in treatment a few times as a teenager and back then they'd keep you for MONTHS. Months of very controlled eating a la the diabetic diet - they taught us "exchanges" to help us learn to eat normally. It wasn't low carb, it wasn't anything fancy, it was very balanced and very controlled. Both times I was in treatments 2-3 months, I began having periods again. Then I'd get out and start binge/purge again and they'd stop.
So without the history of IR I doubt I'd have gone down the path of ED... but since better eating brought my periods back... I definately think the ED made the IR/PCOS worse...