Maca & buckwheat & other advice

nectarina · 03-13-2008, 10:41 PM

Hi ladies,

I'm very thankful to have found this community! I've had PCOS for several years (up until recently, my primary symptom was nasty acne on the upper lip and cheeks), and was on birth control for three years, spiro for about a year.

Both of those really cleared up my acne, but I'm kind of a hippie and wanted to heal myself naturally/ without pharmaceuticals. Went I went off of the BCP in October 2007, I began to notice thinning hair. My hair still looks "normal," but I know that it's shedding, and I can see/ feel the difference. Scary! I'm hoping that by catching it now I can arrest further thinning and maybe see some regrowth. I know I could stand to lose about 30 lbs too (I'm 5'7" and 170).

What a journey, this PCOS is.

Has anyone noticed a change in the *texture* of your hair, from PCOS? Mine is normally curly and shiny, and now it feels straighter and more brittle and fluffy.

I have gone back on birth control (Yasmin) and plan to go back on spiro. I may investigate metformin, as well (although I've heard conflicting reports about the effects of met on hair loss).

In the meantime, I'm curious as to whether anyone has used maca -- a South American superfood -- as a PCOS supplement. What are some other herbs/ supplements that you swear by? I'm taking saw palmetto and d-Pinitol.

I also wanted to share that, as I am continually on the quest for low-glycemic breakfast foods, I recently discovered the wonders of buckwheat! http://www.oprah.com/presents/2005/y...uckwheat.jhtml

Buckwheat actually contains d-chiro-inositol, which has been indicated for PCOS! So buckwheat hot cereal is great in the a.m., with some cinnamon & flax & hemp seed oil -- I highly recommend.

Thanks everyone!
Many blessings,
Caitlin

Gabby's mom · 04-14-2008, 04:15 AM

Have you had good results with the d-pinitol? I was wandering if it worked as well as the d-chiro inositol pills. I was wandering if it helped with weight loss. Thank you for all the information.

nectarina · 04-18-2008, 07:50 PM

I haven't seen any weight loss with the herbals, but I just started 1000mg of Metformin yesterday (after 4 days on 500mg) and imagine that it will jump-start the weight loss. At least I hope so!

Bertiebugg · 04-20-2008, 04:07 PM

D-chiro and D-pinitol are suppose to be better than myoinositol... but after 2
weeks of myoinositol 1500mg/day (750 morning and evening) AF showed up. Yeah I take a lot of vitamins daily but after my first few doses of myoinositol I felt like I was O'ing my temps even showed it but then I started getting up later so my temps were all over the place and two weeks after that AF showed up. I really feel that myoinositol is my golden ticket. This is what I take daily... I got the dosages from my acupunturist/naturopath

Vitamin D3 5000 iu
Calcium 1000 mg
Vitamin B6 250 mg ( has other B vitamins but we were looking for B6)
Prenatal mulivitamin
Myoinositol 1500 mg (750 twice a day)
evening primerose oil 250 mg