isulin and hormone ctl

michi · 05-19-2003, 10:34 PM

How can i keep my insulin and hormone control? Is it only thru food intake for insulin and BCP for hormones?

SweetJade · 06-06-2003, 12:36 AM

Hey Michi,
Actually you can control your insulin and hormones entirely through food if you like ;-) You can also use drugs or other alternative treatments such as herbs and vitamin/supplements. It's up to you, which route are you more interested in trying? What symptoms do you have that you would like to eliminate?

SJ

michi · 06-06-2003, 03:39 AM

Hi SJ
thanx for replying my post. I am willing to try both. Thru food and vitamins. I am trying to eat right for my blood type (B+) and also taking vit A, C and E.

My vit A now is in the form of 30mg of ACCUTANE to cure my acne.
I am at wk 13 and its working. I have to be on it for 6 mths so i am half way through only.

I would like to cure the symptoms of acne and irregular periods.
Can u help me? I am really clueless about insulin and hormone control.

Thanks

Michi

SweetJade · 06-15-2003, 06:17 PM

Michi,
Well if you are clueless, hanging out on this board long enough should take care of that problem. ;-) 2 years ago I was dx PCOS, although I'd say I'm more Insulin Resitant because I just don't have the traditional symptoms. That right there is confusing because is IR a symptom of PCOS or is PCOS a symptom of IR. Oh well...

I do hope the accutane gets rid of the bulk of your acne, since it works by reducing insulin resitance (interesting huh?). However your acne may come back and you still have the menstrual irregularites to deal with. Thankfully, there are various herbs and vitamins, and other supplements that can do the SAME job as the medications or diet would do. This is something that I was able to compile, partially thanks to the wonderfully knowledgable women on this board, for an acne board

So these treatments are going to either:

-balance your insulin levels which will balance your androgen levels OR

-they will balance your cortisol levels which will balance your androgen levels OR

-they will reduce your androgen levels, OR

-they are going to inhibit the effects of androgen in your system (sebaceous glands) OR

-they are going to prevent the conversion of testosterone into DHT (super androgen)

The list goes on depending on the disorder, but did you notice the key here is ANDROGEN? Thankfully there's several ways you can go about dealing with this hormone. While, I do not claim that diet will help everyone, what I do know is that it has helped me and others that had tried a great deal of things, natural supplements, medications and I believe that we are really lucky as a result. We might be able to stop something worse from happening (fingers crossed).

Now, from various reputable sources, doctors, and testimonies, like those on this board, I've found that the most popular PRESCRIPTIONS among women are:

Birth Control (regular bc - contains estrogen to balances hormones, lowers testosterone)

Yasmin BC - (see above & has a progestin [synthetic progesterone known as Drospirenone]

Diane BC - (see above & has Cyproterone to block effects of androgen)

Provera - (a progestin, synthetic progesterone)

Prometruim - (oral NATURAL progesterone in peanut oil)

Spironolactone (diuertic for high blood pressure, DHT conversion inhibitor, inhibits the effects of testosterone, anti-androgen)

Flutamide (antiandrogen)

Finestaride (anti-androgen more popular among men)

Prednisone (anti-inflammatory, corticosteriod that improves cortisol balance)

Dexamethasone (anti-inflammatory, corticosteriod that improves cortisol balance)

Metaformin (balances insulin levels)

Avandia (decreases insulin resistance)

The most popular "NATURAL" treatments among women are:

NAC (n-acetyl-cysteine)

D-Chiro Inositol (formed from Lecithin, or inositol)

NPC (natural progesterone cream)

Vitex (chaste berry herb, NPC is made from this)

Saw Palmetto (DHT inhibitor)

ALA (alpha lipoic acid) / Chromium GTF

Digestive Enzymes / Fiber / Probiotics

Low Carbohydrate Dieting (Insulin Resistance Diet, Atkins, Blood Type, Anti-candida diets, Paleo, etc)

So you are definately following in the right track. Accutane and Vitamin A decrease sebum because they act as anti androgens. Since we tend to be defiecient in some enzyme, that woud explain why vit. A alone won't work for all. It needs to be converted into isotretionion utilizing several other vitamins and there's a nice post about that on another board. http://pub106.ezboard.com/fabsolutea...cID=8843.topic and http://pub106.ezboard.com/fabsolutea...cID=8978.topic

I'm a Type O , but I don't follow the blood type diet. However I am aware that type O and B's are more prone to diabetes and insulin resistance due to gluten and lectins in our diet. Hence why Low Carbing or avoiding Gluten Grains or ALL grains have helped a variety of acne sufferers. http://www.krispin.com/lectin.html

Somewhere I have another post talking about my diet, but basically I avoid gluten and take 150mg of Spironolactone, but am working on avoiding all grains. Say, do you have any other symptoms outside of acne and irregular cycles? What treatments above have you tried? How is the blood type diet working for you?

Take care,
SJ

michi · 06-15-2003, 10:29 PM

Dear SJ

Thank you so much for the information. You have summarized it so well . I have been reading up a lot lately on PCOS and well, i guess diff people are taking diff stuff. Right now, i am taking ACCUTANE, VIT E & C, Evening Primrose Oil and Saw Palmetto.
Apart from the oral isotretinioin, every thing else is a natural remedy. I have started Saw Palmetto only 1 wk ago so I cant tell anything from it. I will probably buy some VITEX later this afternoon fr GNC. I wonder if all this combination is ok? My derm says Oral Isotretinion acts well with herbal pdts and not with anti biotics fr tetracycline grp so i guess there sld not be a problem.

Today is my 15th week on accutane and its clearing my skin up so well. except for marks (acne stains) fr previous breakout. i am actually loving the texture of my skin right now. Therefore its worrying that my skin will be bad once i get off accutane so i am very happy u posted that interesting thread on converting VIT A to act like isotretinion. I may consider that approach once i am off accutane. I really do not like the idea of something as toxic as this in my body system but with acne that bad of late. i really have no choice....

My cycles (last 2) were regular after I had an ovarian cyst removed and my gyn did ovarian drilling for me.
i read it cld last up to 1 yr of regular cycles after ovarian drilling.
Apart from irregular cycles and acne, i also have mild hirsutism (legs) which is taken care of by laser 2 yrs ago. I do not have a problem with that now. My weight is not overweight. I guess I am not a thin cyster but weigh normal.

My acne got bad (cystic) only this year. Last 8 yrs, i was fortunate to have clear skin using topicals but topicals failed me this yr . I am 28. Skin got worse as periods got less frequent. From SEPT 2002- Feb FEB 2003, I did not have a period and this was the start of my skin problems growing worse as the mths passed.

Diet wise, I am trying to avoid carbohydrates and gluten and meats too. Taking mainly fish and veggies and water and orange juice. I think i seem to be losing weight from this too. It is also helping my skin. I will keep up with this as long as it reduces my insulin level.

Once again, I thank u for the informative post and am really happy to have found this board.

Michi