rangarajan.ramya

Hello people

I'm new to the forum. I'm 27 years old, married for about a year now and Not TTC for another 2 years. I've been diagnosed with PCOS ever since I entered

puberty (only on the basis of irregular periods and ovarian cysts visible on ultrasound) - yes, I 've also been pushed around by doctors and stuffed with birth control pills!

Im from India and moved to the Madison, USA only last year and after moving - I find that I 've also developed mild Hypothyroidism and gained some extra pounds (I'm about 5"4 1/2 -and I went from 138 pounds to 159 pounds in about 6 months. But recently with all my new found knowledge - thanks to this forum and several other great websites - I decided to bring about a huge change in my lifestyle and am totally amazed at the results. I'd like to share this with all my fellow cysters:

(A) My past

I have to say my life was a mess!!! I was in and out of relationships (thankfully no premarital sex! Thats a big NO NO in the Indian society) - not knowing why I entered into any one those in the first place. I could just never say NO to anyone. And to make matters worse, I was working my ass out in a big tax consultancy firm that didn't care about my health - on a average I used to work 7 days a week from 8 am to 2 am - with little sleep and little time to think.

My food habits were erratic - I was eating all sinful foods out there (thank god I'm vegetarian thought) - starting with white rice, potatoes, chips, cheese, fried food, chocolates, alcohol, lots of caffeine etc. Yup, these were the only inputs - I had an aversion to veggies and anything that wasn't carb! Of course with no time on hand, my attempts to exercise were successful once in 180 days!!! I joined the gym 3 times, only to skip the sessions! Not surprisingly, my periods never came - and I didn't care! Now and then my mom would get worried and take me to a doc who'll give me a dose of BCP.

With my wedding six months away, I quit my job and thought I could get some discipline in my life. All in vain! I used the time in hand to get some sleep and more sleep and more....Yes I slept all day - and my folks at home would only sympathize with me!

(2) Post- marriage - Im in the US with no job and lots of time to study for CFA & GMAT. But suddenly I realized I couldn't concentrate, I couldn't focus on anything beyond 10 minutes. Leave alone books, even conversations were getting difficult to focus. My husband used to get irritated that I never listen to him. I was gaining more weight and eat unhealthier food each day. And I had to study - I failed the CFA exam twice! I went to take GMAT - came out of the exam centre half-way through!

(3) The change - Last August I had a month long and very heavy period (which stopped only after taking Provera) after a gap of 4-5 months. And after that I didn't get my period. I went to the doc in January for a knee pain and incidentally took some tests - to find my TSH levels were mildly higher than normal at 6.36! So, now

I not only had PCOS, I also have a thyroid problem. The doctor prescribed Levothroid for me and was ready to prescribe drugs for PCOS. I said NO, thanks and asked for some time till I can naturally bring my hormones under control! In february, I decided to take control of things and did the following:

(a) No caffeine - I was addicted to coffee with 3 - 4cups a day. I just stopped it, one fine day! Naturally, I had a lot of withdrawal symptoms - headaches, fatigue, feverish, etc etc for atleast a week. I lived with it.
(b) The same day, I cut sugar! It was horrible!
(c) I brought in some exercise regimen - I must admit I wasn't regular at it. But I learn Indian classical dance twice a week.
(d) I switched to Brown rice instead of white rice. To my surprize, I didn't overeat once I switched to brown rice.
(e) I ate breakfast for a change - Oats, Quinoa, Nuts & seeds (pumpkin seeds, walnuts, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, ground flax seeds) with a glass of milk without sugar.
(f) I ate fruits everyday - apple, oranges, grapes, blueberries, pomegranate, papaya, cantaloupe, raspberries
(g) I cut chips and fried foods out of my diet (except rarely). We did eat out (read unhealthy food and even sugar) once a week - but that was it!
(h) I started with cod liver oil capsules everyday - to get omega 3 fatty acids in my system.
(i) I maintained a food and activity diary of every little thing I ate and monitored my activity levels for a few days. That put me on my routine. I no longer use the diary, cos the food and activity are now a part of my life.
(j) After some research, I found that I might need zinc, magnesium & calcium supplements - I bought the Zn-Mg-Ca supplement, Whole foods Womens' multi-vitamin, mineral & herbal supplement.
(k) From March 2nd - I started Vitex & Evening Primrose Oil - one tablet each a day

And I got my periods on March 12th. I do hope I can maintain this lifestyle and it regularizes my cycle.

-Ramya