I went to my first appointment... and I still need help.

Emmibabes · 12-20-2006, 10:49 AM

My first appointment was yesterday. They did the vaginal ultrasound and found cysts in my ovaries. I cried. I was really hoping that maybe they wouldn't find any and I was misdiagnosed.

So the doctor lectured me on the importance of losing weight. I told him I have cut down my carbs, do an aerobics tape three times a week along with working 12 hour shifts in the hospital. Nothing is even touching my weight. He told me to try harder basically. This wasn't what I was looking for. He didn't even suggest a good diet plan (low carb, low protein) and if it wasn't for this site I would be lost.

My blood pressure was high yesterday (it normally isn't) and he told me I will have to get on antihypertensives, no matter how old I am, if my blood pressure stays high. I told him it normally isn't. He said losing weight will help lower it. Well duh. Losing weight would also make me feel better in my skin, but I'm doing everything and nothing is working! He told me he would not help me get pregnant if and until I meet all of his requirements. I hate this. Normal women don't have these requirements put on them and that when the time comes, it happens, without a doctors say.

All I got out of this is that I'm fat and need to lose weight. No suggestions or anything. Just that I need to lose weight. I'm hurt and depressed right now. I took the oral glucose test and other blood tests and have another appointment on Tuesday morning to see if I need glucophage and his treatment plan for me. I have a pretty good feeling that he is goign to tell me that I'm fat, and I need to lose weight. That seemed to be his mantra yesterday.

So, what has worked well for anyone in the past to lose weight? I replaced any snacks I had with peanuts, and I try to eat alot more salads. The scale won't budge though.

lachicarubia · 12-20-2006, 11:32 AM

Hi Emmibabes,

Sorry you had a hard time yesterday. Many doctors blame obesity for many health problems, and tell you that if you would just lose weight, then the health problems will go away.

Well, I think that they are WRONG!!! Obesity doesn't cause the health problems, obesity is just another symptom, along with the other health problems, that are all cause by something else. In our cases, obesity is caused by PCOS, IR is caused by PCOS, and all the other symptoms are caused by PCOS.

So, losing weight will NOT cure PCOS. (I have been told that there is NO cure for PCOS, but I don't really believe that.) But we know one thing for sure, even though losing weight will make us feel better, and healthier, it will not cure PCOS. Since PCOS causes obesity, in order to lose the weight, we really need to start treating the PCOS first. Treat the cause and all the sypmptoms, including the extra weight, will start to decrease.

I used alternative treatments to become PG with DS#2. It worked so soon, that I only had the opportunity to lose 25 lbs before the BFP. I weighed 225 when I got the BFP. After DS was born, I took a break from taking the alternatives, and gradually, the weight started coming back on. I started to lose weight by eating healthier but it was going slow, and then in Jan AF arrived on CD35, PCOS was back, despite the weight loss.

I started the alternatives again, and Feb AF arrived CD28, EXACTLY!!! I have continued with the alternatives and EVERY month AF has arrived CD27-CD29. And the weight has started coming off a bit easier.

So whatever you decide to use to treat the PCOS: Met, alternatives, low-carb diet, etc., you will probably be able to start losing the weight after you start treating the PCOS.

Eva37 · 12-20-2006, 11:37 AM

sorry your dr wasnt all that helpful.
eva

Jashobeam · 12-20-2006, 12:09 PM

Doctors who don't understand PCOS will not have good advice. Yes, loosing weight can help symtpoms, but no it's not just will power in some cases. IR can cause weight gain even if you are doing well on your diet and exercise. I would suggest you find another doc, check out the Diet and Exercise board to see which lower carb diet is best for you and get our insulin levels (not just blood sugar levels) checked. Metformin has helped a lot of ladies loose weight and control other symptoms, though it's not a sure thing.

jenpalmer71 · 12-20-2006, 12:41 PM

Met was magic for me. I gained so much weight before being diagnosed. Once they finally figured out what was going on (PCOS) I was put on Met, started eating better and exercising more...the weight fell off of me....65 pounds in less than a year. I thank Met for this mostly....I was lucky and a low dosage worked for me...I never took over more than 1000 mgs. My weight loss kinda tapered off and I think that if I upped the dose it would staty up again but I became pregnant (SURPRISE!!!) so I have to wait on that.
I know it's agravating when a doctor tells you that you need to lose weight and you KNOW that but they are not very understanding to how hard it is for us women with PCOS. Maybe you should consider finding another doctor in your area that is more familiar with PCOS and how to treat it.....countless women here are proof that you can take control of PCOS....you can do it!!! HTH.

Emmibabes · 12-20-2006, 07:08 PM

This doctor is very familiar with PCOS. He is a reproductive endocrinologist who has been researching PCOS for 25 years. Of all people, I figured he would be my answer to everything that's been happening. He even tried to get me involved with a study he's doing on how well a strict diet and exercise regimen affects PCOS. He seems to be a doc that thinks vitamins and exercise will cure everything. And I do believe they will help to an extent... but when I'm sitting there telling him I AM watching what I'm eating and I AM exercising as much as I can, and he tells me to try harder... well. I'm a bit discouraged. Heck, none of the docs I've been to even told me what PCOS is. The only reason I know is between this board and because I am in Nursing school and have easy access to all this medical material.

I wasn't asking for a miracle pill to shed the weight off. I just wanted an idea of what to do next. An idea to help me understand why all this work is not paying off... and I'm actually gaining weight! I certainly did not want to hear about how I need antihypertensives because one time my blood pressure was high.

I know I'm partially venting because really this is the only place that I have to talk about this. I was expecting more to happen yesterday than what did. I went there feeling hopeful and by the time I left I was crying. I don't know what to do.

ChasingRainbows · 12-20-2006, 07:20 PM

It can be so hard, I have a thin OB...who honestly I love but the last time I talked to her I told her I was struggling to lose. She said exercise. I said I do 5 xs per week...she said try 7. Well holy crap...the only people i know who do that are hard core fitness trainers...or people who don't have a life I really don't have time to do it more than that. I sacrific sleep as it is.

I know it is hard, I don't have answers except don't stop looking for the answers to gaining control of your PCOS the best you can. I have had good result from Met and exercise.

Hugs
Elizabeth

Jashobeam · 12-20-2006, 07:48 PM

IR strikes MOST though not all ladies with PCOS. IR can derail any diet/exercise plan if it's bad. It will keep you from using your energy properly, will cause you to store fat rather than burn it and can cause cravings. That is often the reason women are not loosing the weight they want to loose. If he suggests you need Glucophage/met. I suggest you at least research it!

Metformin is a diabetes drug used off label to treat PCOS symptoms, even for cysters who don't have IR. Metformin makes your body able to properly use the sugar you ingest.

More on IR/Met:

Viewpoints on Polycystic Ovary Syndrome - the case for Metformin for all PCOSers

Metformin may reverse PCOS in some girls

PCOS: Effect of Long-Term Treatment with Metformin Added to Hypocaloric Diet on Body

Metformin Can Prevent Girls with Insulin Resistance from Developing PCOS

http://www.soulcysters.net/whats-new...besity-137240/

Should patients with polycystic ovarian syndrome be treated with metformin?

Keeping a food diary can also help. My Mom ingests lots of sugar in a week, though she doesn't realize it. She had no idea what foods contain sugar (including coffee creamer, etc.). Reading labels can help a lot. Recently it seems more and more frozen foods have potatoes, white flour and HFCS added in.

I am 55 pounds lighter than I was when I was dxed in 2002. I lost probably 30 of those pounds before starting Met. Met. helped get me going again after being at a standstill on weightoss for months and months. I avoid HFCS, sugar, white flour, soy, caffeine & rice.

lachicarubia · 12-20-2006, 09:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Emmibabes

This doctor is very familiar with PCOS. He is a reproductive endocrinologist who has been researching PCOS for 25 years. Of all people, I figured he would be my answer to everything that's been happening. He even tried to get me involved with a study he's doing on how well a strict diet and exercise regimen affects PCOS. He seems to be a doc that thinks vitamins and exercise will cure everything. And I do believe they will help to an extent... but when I'm sitting there telling him I AM watching what I'm eating and I AM exercising as much as I can, and he tells me to try harder... well. I'm a bit discouraged.

WOW, 25 years, I didn't know that PCOS had even been discovered that long ago. Well sometimes these docs have a plan in their head, and like to take things 1 step at a time. He probably wants to make sure he has all his bases covered, and all test results in before going ahead with a treatment plan.

In the meantime, he seems to have weight loss on the brain. He probably includes that in his treatment plan with all his patients, no matter what their lab results show, so that is the only thing he is telling you now, before he gets your results.

Sometimes these docs get one thing in their head, and it all they can think about. It can get discouraging when they don't seem to understand that you really are working hard to lose the weight, and it just isn't coming off. You would think that with 25 years of experience that he would know by now that PCOS makes it VERY difficult to lose weight. Weight loss will not cure PCOS, since PCOS caused the weight gain in the first place. That it like giving a pain reliever to "cure" a broken bone. After you start treating the PCOS, the weight should start coming off, especially since you are already eating healthy, and exercising.

It also makes me upset that he said that he will not help you get pregnant if and until you meet all his requirements. WOW, that blew me away. I guess he thinks that he is God.

Some cysters get pregant while on Met, so if you start met you might not need additional help from him to get PG.

Cool that you are in nursing school, GREAT profession. I never learned about PCOS in Nursing School, nobody knew what it was back then. Those other docs that didn't tell you about PCOS must have gone to medical school in the days before PCOS was widely known about, and haven't been educated about it yet.

Hang in there.
Don't be afraid to look into alternatives, they are a whole lot less expensive, and are often just as effective, or sometimes more effective that traditional medicine. And you don't have to meet any requirements before you TTC, except your own.

Emmibabes · 12-20-2006, 10:13 PM

I didn't know it was around that long either, but he supposedly has been researching it for that long. I'd think he'd be a little more understanding, but he just came off as a jerk. I just read your story and about the herbs. I think I'll give them a try, specifically yeast defense

I'm just learning about all of this right now. They haven't covered PCOS in school, but luckily I have access to an online archive of medical journals and started looking all this up.

The comment about not letting me get pregnant until I meet all the requirements was just stupid and kind of ticked off my sweetie who was there with me.

AmericanWoman · 12-21-2006, 01:43 PM

Emmibabes, it took me 5 doctors to get to the endo who prescribed me met. It helped me tremondously. I did have to eat less sugar/carbs though but the drugs really helped me to stop feeling so hungry.

You can not reason with some doctors who are over-worked, stressed out, trying to see a zillion patients and telling you their opinion based on all the data they understand. It is good to just keep moving on until you find a doctor who GETS IT.

I used to not ovaulate but had a 5 month continous period. That was reset with the BCP and then I went OFF THAT...and got on met & avanida. My fertility was restored (TSH & FH good to go now). I am single and all but when you are not ovaluating, bad things happen...you do not feel good. I feel much much better.

I had a rapid heart beat, high blood pressure and went on beta blockers. Sounds a bit like your situation.

serenity1981 · 12-21-2006, 02:06 PM

i am really sorry it wasn't a wrong dignoise, i know how much we really hope that a doctor has sliped up and said it pcos when it really is just something simple.
Your doctor sounds like a peach? I have to be honest i am not sexist in anyway but i really dont see how a man who has never even experienced a normal cycle could ever understand how hard it is to have pcos.
There standed line is "loose weight", hello that is so much easier said then done.
I never understand how they don't think that women who have just been told they have pcos would like to talk about how they feel about it, not just the medical side.
Most people even women with out pcos really don't understand how much this condition can change your life.
I know what you mean about finding this webset ,i have realy found it has help, knowing i am not the only one to be going through this.
Blessed Be