Just officially diagnosed with PCOS, and since my cycles are screwy, the RE proscribed 10 days of progestin to trigger a period, and then bcps. My big concerns are ttc about 2 years from now (when I'm 30), AND avoiding endometrial and ovarian cancer (mom, who is otherwise healthy, was just diagnosed with endometrial cancer, stage 4).
My partner (dp) insists hormones like bcps are horrible for my body and that I should jump right into acupuncture and other alternative remedies. My problem is, I'm very skeptical naturally, and while I have no unwavering faith in traditional western medicine, I do understand their process of research and drug studies and the basics about why they prescribe hormones.
I DON'T get how poking needles around my body will have any impact on a hormonal imbalance. The reading I've done has yet to reassure me. I'd be curious to hear people's thought on how to find a balance in treatment approaches...THANKS!
__________________ - me 28, DP 40
- diagnosed PCOS April 2003
- mom diagnosed w/ stage 4 endometrial cancer February 2003
(recovering well after chemo & rads)
- "Chocolate" cyst removed from left ovary 1996, recently found a new one (possible endometriosis)
- Plan to ttc in 2005 (at age 30)
I think the best thing I can do is give you my story.
I had no signs of PCOS, a 28 day cycle, rare zits (maybe 2 a year), gorgeous thick hair, etc until I went on depo provera (birth control) at 21 when I got married. Well, those well researched hormones screwed me up big time. Within a month I had stopped getting AF and started putting on weight, within a year I had begun to have problems on a large scale and a few months later I was diagnosed with PCOS. I was given a choice of bcps or clomid. Well, I took the bcps for a while, but really had little to no improvement, so stopped.
I then ignored the whole thing for a few years, until someone convinced me to try traditional Chinese medicine. I had some improvement fairly quickly (a few weeks), but admittedly not a whole lot. As we were short on money, I didn't go regularly and frequently stopped taking the herbs for long periods.
In January, I began using acupuncture (for the first time) and started TCM herbs again when my practitioner thinks they are necessary. After years of highly irregular AF and only O'ing once in five years (the only time I took the herbs steadily for 4 months), I O'd last month and had a nice 14 day luteal phase as well. My face has cleared up and my hair is growing back in.
I can't tell you for certain how or why it works, but at least for me it does.
However, I am very impatient and desperately ttc, so I am planning to use both TCM and western medicine if I do not get pregnant this cycle. I do believe my chances for long term management of PCOS to lie in TCM rather than western medicine, based on what I have personally experienced so far.
I'm so sorry to hear about your mom. Stage 4 is scary. I hope she's OK.
I had a holistic MD growing up, and have always thought herbs and diet are good complements to medicine. As I grew older, moved to a series of small towns, and developed more nagging medical problems (which I now know are pretty much all related to PCOS), I found more and more that my doctors had no answers for me. I've been to naturopaths and homeopaths, and I personally love the focus on a) me as a whole, interconnected person; and b) CURING the disease, rather than just treating the symptoms. Also, the number one suggestion I've always gotten from doctors is to take Prozac, just to pacify me, I think!!!!
Bottom line: You have to do what makes you feel comfortable. Definitely do not go see an alternative practitioner just 'coz your partner thinks you should. You need to believe in what you're doing. I would suggest checking out what resources are available in your town, and reading up on them. As I said to someone else, go to your local health food store, and see if they have a newsletter - get some referrals from people in your area who are familiar with different alternative treatments.
Chances are, if you read some case studies of people who've used alternative medicine, they'll convince you that it really works!! But, you have to find that out for yourself.
Advice for the Alt Rem Skeptic... 
