Hey girls,
I decided to tailor a thread for us Irish girls, mainly because the medical system here isnt the best. There arent many places that understand PCOS, so I thought Id make a list of places that have, or are recommended to be good for PCOS.
Here goes!
:Hair:
For me, I started losing my hair at around 14/15, I was diagnosed at 17 and at 21, I went to a hair specialist, the ones that use laser treatment.
http://thehairclinichlcc.com/[/URL] Thats the one I went to in Ireland.
He did a scan of my hair and said "Yeah, you've lost about 2/3 of your hair follicles, the treatment now will stop your hair from falling out and losing more, and there is a chance it will grow back. The laser treatment was a stimulus to reopen my follices, what he said was that over time my follicles began closing in (because of PCOS) so with each new hair growth it got thinner and thinner until it stopped growing. I did half hour of laser once a week for 6 months, took vitamins, special shampoo etc and my hair made a dramatic return!!
After my 6months I was to continue with the meds and stuff, but it was extra money. I was happy to do this but I fell pregnant and couldnt take them.
He did tell me what shampoo to use though. He said the thing killing my hair was Sodium Laurel Sulfate (SLS), its even used in progaine, the rogaine shampoo for girls.
So, I went to my health shop and found this shampoo. I couldnt go 1 day without washing my hair because of needing to restyle it to avoid my bald patch. Now I can go like 4 days without the desperate need to shampoo!!
This is a great blog about SLS:
http://killerstrands.blogspot.com/2008/01/sulfate-free-shampoo-list.html[/URL]
There is a list there for US users of shampoo without SLS. Hope this helps!
So, like I said, I started losing it at 15 and didnt treat until 21.
Me before treatment: (Sorry for sad face!lol) that was April 2006
http://http://i16.photobucket.com/al.../Mybday004.jpg
Me in November this year, didnt finish my treatment until Dec:
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b3...DSC00455-1.jpg
The Shampoo I use is
http://www.weleda.co.uk/Citrus-Produ...ml/invt/103012 , I buy it for €10 in my nearest Health Shop and dont use conditioner, if I need to use it, I use it on my tips.
Hope this helps! I think just changing my shampoo helped a lot with my hair, and if anyone has tips on vitamins etc, feel free to share
:Acne:
I have never suffered thankfully from Acne, I have had breakouts etc, and I have realised that if I use anything with perfume etc in it, I break out. So, I went to the Health Shop and bought
https://www.yourhealthfoodstore.co.u...calendula.html
I would be lost without this cream if Im honest! It works great under my make up and it leaves my skin really shoft and the calendula in it brings down the redness in my spots.
:Hair Growth:
I have really dark colouring and so I suffer from a hairy lip, side burns, under my chin. These arent just whispy hair, they are thick black ones and long. So, I used to go to the beauticians every month (my local uses an aloe vera based wax that stops me breaking out). But, I gave it up. It was costing almost €30 a go! So, I went to the chemist and bought a pack of dimples wax strips that I use. Granted, it doesnt do my chin as well as Id like, but it works wonders everywhere else. I dont have to wait for a fair bit of growth to get my money worth at the beauticians anymore, I just wax when I feel like it and my growth has thankfully slowed down
Has anyone tried laser treatment to stunt the growth? If so, did you find it any good?
:Acupuncture:
This is a treatment that I have no experience in, but I have heard good things about it. Id like to get it done in the future. This is one place I came across for PCOS:
http://www.karencostin.ie/
This lady specialises in
Fertility Acupuncture including PCOS.
Other acupuncturists usually treat symptoms of PMS, Mood Swings, Anxiety etc so I think no matter if they specifically treat PCOS, they will treat a symptom of it
:IVF:
Personally, I havent needed IVF but I researched it all before I got pregnant. And during my research I stumbled upon a treatment called IVM. Now, they dont do it in Ireland but they do in England.
IVM. In-vitro maturation (IVM) of oocytes is an exciting new fertility treatment for women with polycystic ovaries. It should be noted that c.30% of women in fertility clinics have polycystic ovaries on ultrasound even though the majority have regular ovulatory cycles. I spent two years researching IVM in Montreal, Canada. In Oxford we have the UK's only IVM programme, performing 1-2 cycles per week. No ovarian stimulation is used and immature eggs are retrieved from the ovaries under ultrasound guidance. The eggs are then matured in the laboratory, fertilised with ICSI, and 1-2 embryos replaced to the uterus 3-4 days later. There are no risks of OHSS and no need to buy FSH drugs. IVM is available for women <36 years who have PCO on ultrasound scan and have <3 failed fresh IVF cycles. Women outside of these groups will do much better with IVF. Our IVM clinical pregnancy rate (heart beat on scan at 6-8 weeks) is around 25-30% per cycle.
You can do more research into this if you'd like, but I havent come across any more in Ireland.
Ok, I think thats everything for me! Please share your tips girls and together, we'll compile a guide of tips for other Irish Cysters
PCOS Friendly/Alternatives Ireland 
