I was recently diagnosed with PCOS. I live in China. I am an English teacher there, but I am an American citizen. When I was in China, all of a sudden I gained alot of weight. I went from a size six to a six 12 within four months. I was under a lot of stress, and I didn't have my period for four months. Then on the fourth month I had my period and it was just a little. It lasted a few days, not normal. My next period was last and it was very heavy and lasted longer than normal. I was depressed and emotional. My hair also started falling out. My Chinese room mate started complaining that my hair was falling out and getting over everything. And they knew it was my hair because I was the only one with blonde hair! I also became really over tired all the time. I had no idea what was going on.
My mom had endrometrosis and she had a hysterectomy when she was fairly young. My grandmother had also had thyroid problems and then thyroid cancer four times. The fourth time it spread to her voice box and she had it have it removed. I was scared that it was one of these problems.
I had problems with facial hair since puberty and struggled with weight. I was so excited when I went to China and got down to a size six. It was the first time since I was 14. (I'm 20 now)
My boss finally sent me back to America to get my TESOL certificate. While I was home, my father became really sick. So my health issues were put on the back burner because I was to concerned about him. He was diagnosed with pre-diabetes and put on Glucophage. But he was having major memory loss and personality changes. He went to a neurologists and she asked him to draw a clock and he couldn't. He was also asked to repeat five simple words and he tried five times. He ended up having sleep apnea and his air flow was down to 63.
A few months later I went to get my health problems taken care of. The first thing my doctor said was that I had thyroid problems, PCOS, or endrometriosis. Which I had figured it might be two, but I had never heard of PCOS. I had a lot of blood tests done and was sent for an ultra-sound.
I decided to go to an OB-GYN because I thought she would be able to diagnose me better. She also diagnosed me with PCOS. I had only one cyst on my ovaries. And I wasn't insulin resistant.
My doctor put me on glucophage and birthcontrol. She also told me to change my diet and loose weight or I couldn't go back to China. So I started the South Beach Diet. I was so sick. I vomited several times after taking the medicine the first few days. I was so sick and I couldn't eat anything. I stopped vomitting. And I started to force myself to eat because it helped with being sick. But I was sooo exhausted and larthgetic. A couple times I thought I was going to pass out. I started taking my blood sugar levels and they were becoming really low. After eating breakfast it could be as low as 67 to 84. Even after eating or drinking fruit.
I went off the glucophage and I feel great. I'm still a bit emotional. I think it might be from the birth control. I've been on the medication for over a month now. I was suppose to start my period on the 21st but I started having spotting on the 18th and it continued to get heavier and heavier until today when it's very heavy and I'm having a hard time with cramps. It's horrible.
I have been on the South Beach Diet for over a week now. I restarted it, because when my sugar level got too low I had to take something to get it back up. I have been following it perfectly for nearly one week. And I have been exercising every morning. I do 10 minutes of stretching, 10 minutes of weight lifting, 10 minutes of cardio, 10 minutes of toning my muscles specifically around my stomach with sit up, push ups and so forth.
I have also started taking vitamins. I am taking folic acid, Calcium with V. D, multi-vitamin, fish oil, Chromium piculate, and a B-complex vitamin. I also take my birth control at night with melatomin to help me sleep.
I sometimes still feel tired and have a hard time with having the energy to do things. My facial hair seems to be slowing down and I've lost maybe five pounds. Sometimes I've over emotional and want to cry, but my doctor said it might take two months for my birth control to work correctly because I didn't know when to start the medication because it had been so long since I had a period. So she said my hormones are all messed up because of that. She said when my hormones balance out i won't be so emotional and I will have more energy. But of course she also said that the glucophage wouldn't lower my sugar levels and that I just needed to eat more nuts! Not really sure what to believe. I am trying to research everything as best as possible and do what I can. I want to go back to China soon, but I have to get a little better before my boss will let me go back!
Sorry it's so long... I just had to vent. I had never heard of PCOS before a month ago. And I don't know anyone who has ever had it. This site has been very informative!
I do have a question though. Is energy a problem with PCOS? I really struggle with having enough energy and the meds are only making it worse!
Energy sure is a problem with PCOS! For one, the problem is in the pituitary gland with PCOS, not just the ovaries. And with that...your body has a lot of problems with a lot of different things. Processing sugar is one of them. So in some cases...we have the same kind of issues that relate to that...lethargy can result from too many complex sugars being put through the body. It's why most women with PCOS gain weight around their core...or midsection and have that "apple" shape. It means your body is having a hard time with sugars...and it's a ***** to lose but it can be done! Eating right is always a plus. I haven't done much dietary work on specific diets, so I'm not familiar with the South Beach...but a low GI or Glucose Index diet is good for anyone really and it's hardly a diet. Basics of it...lots of nuts with the exception of cashews. Fruits are touchy...like watermelon is absolutely horrible for the type of sugars it has...but cherries are great! You can look up GI listing of fruits and find plenty of lists. And basically...low you can eat often enough...medium is now and then...and high is just rarely. That goes with other foods as well. Also as a general rule, eat more fish and chicken and less red meat and avoid pork a whole lot. Don't worry about going to extremes. That right there will help with your energy levels! If your body has a complex sugar...a lot of times if your having trouble digesting the sugar it will spit out a lot of insulin to compensate, which makes you feel "off" or tired because there's way too much insulin in your system. Think of the balance of a seesaw with sugar and insulin, if you eat say..nuts...it's like having to balanced kids on there. But if you eat a half loaf of bread (going to extremes here ) it's like a 200lb kid comes over and jumps on one end and to get the other side down...a 300lb kid comes over...then one more 150lb kid comes to the other end to help it balance out. That's not the way your body is supposed to work if your normal...but a flawed pituitary can cause it to work that way. So a balance of diet rather than a strict one can be very helpful.
As for the crying...well...finding out about a traumatic medical thing always makes you upset...but other than that. Your pituitary also controls a lot of hormones for emotions. So your seritonin is probably off as well as estrogen and testosterone and others. This will have an effect and cause a depression. There's herbal things you can take for it that are very mild. St. Johns Wort, HTP-5 (which is good for natural weight loss and depression and headaches and insomnia), SAMe (for natural weight loss and estrogen acceptance by the body), and those just for depression. But making sure you stick to your exercise is one hell of a help in the long run and in the short run. Try just to throw some added sit-ups and some jack-knives in there to help with the weight loss...it can do wonders sometimes.
I've never taken glucophage, but I've taken birth control and it's done one hell of a number on me so I refuse to take it anymore and have resorted solely to homeopathic meds...but they're worked amazingly so far...and I'm only looking up from here. The problem with birth control is that it helps to regulate your estrogen level...and that's all well and good for someone who's normal...but with PCOS your body is fighting with the birth control because it really thinks that the pill is throwing it out of wack. Your body produces what it thinks is normal (due to the pituitary gland). The pill makes more estrogen, so your body pumps out more testosterone to try and balance it out...which may work with you for a while...but it doesn't REALLY fix much and often times causes more problems than what it's worth. The main thing is to try and kick start that part of your body to work naturally...but that's just my opinion. It takes longer this way, but I've had less complications.
As for the cramps, I know that red raspberry leaf tea helps a lot if you make it strong and take about 3 cups a day. Put heat on them...the rest depends on where they are and how strong and exactly what they feel like and if you have anything that comes with it like passing blood clots with your period. Sometimes, there's not much you can do...but often times there is...you just have to find the right person to let you know.
Hope I helped at least a little bit
__________________ Humans learn best when they're face down on concrete...
Even Gods find it hard to love and be wise at the same time.
When life gives you lemons...make grape juice and let them all wonder
I've struggled with my energy levels my entire life! And now just finding out there is a reason for it, is kinda nice. I've had people make horrible comments to me about being lazy because I just didn't have any energy!
I will def try the herbs that you mentioned. I'll pick one and try and see if it works. I've spent the last few days reading through all the posts, every spare moment I get. I noticed a lot of people take different types of vitamins, herbs, and supplements. I want to try them all to see if they work for me. But I know that it will take time to see how each thing effects.
I've also read the new studies that say vitamins don't work. That people depend on them too much. I don't really know what to believe in that area and want to try it for myself.
When I came home from China, I visited my parents, because my dad was sick. And my mom owns a bakery. Worse thing ever. And I had no idea how much it effected me until this month. The South Beach Diet is a lot of protein. The first two weeks you can't eat any fruit, no carbs, no grains and no sugars. Mostly just meat and veggies. I don't like Pork very much, so I've always tried fairly hard to stay away from it. So I stick mostly to chicken and fish. I eat alot of nuts. I love pistachios. I'm not drinking any milk. We can eat cheese.
But if I can find something that is better for me, more fitted for PCOS those are the foods I will stick to. I'm just learning. I've been researching. My father is pre-diabetic also. So I have been cooking for my family and he is off his meds because of the way I have been cooking. So I know I must be doing something right.
I've always been a really happy person until everything went really screwy. So it was just so odd to struggle like that. Does stress usually effect PCOS worse? I'm guessing stress might effect the pituitary gland. I'm studying all these new things... didn't really pay attention well in my health classes in high school. lol
I noticed that there were alot of things that effected me in China. Because China's diet is so different from American's it really worked for me. But I could also tell what made me sick.
When I gained most of my weight, it was during this past summer. It was so hot and we were given all the fruit we could possibly eat. Some days me and my friends would get a watermelon and a spoon and eat it.... and that would be our meal.... an entire watermelon. As well as, other fruit. My doctor blamed me and told me that I must have been over eating when I was in China. But I swore up and down I wasn't. In fact, I was eating veggies, fruit, and rice. Nothing changed except that I started eating more fruit and more rice because it make you feel cooler in the summer. But my doctor kept telling me no no.... I must have been emotionally eating and not realizing it.
Thank you for replying. I will try the tea too for the cramps. I found this time that I am passing a lot of clots. Which is different from the periods I've had before. My mom said she used to pass a lot of clots during her periods and she said it's most likely because I haven't had a period for so long. My last period was over four months ago. And the last period I had was lite.... I never thought maybe that was the reason I was cramping. When the cramping gets the worse, I took some meds for it. But if tea will work then I would rather do that. i've been drinking alot of water because I heard that helps as well, but hasn't worked for me so far.
Thanks again for the info! It's been a fairly stressful month. My doctor was suprised when she first diagnosed me with PCOS. She said, most women cry when they are diagnosed. I didn't. I think I was in shock. The shock has worn off and I'm just trying to learn what the best kind of lifestyle is for me and know it in detail. Because I'll have to make adjustments to it once I move back to China and it's not going to be easy but that is my ultimate goal... that and taking myself enough naturally so I can get off the bc. But right now I would rather not go off it, I really want to be able to have children and if this is the easy fix until I can learn to control it on my own, I'll take it. If it means it will help even a tiny bit.
As far as the studies about the vitamins, due to the way that they're processed, when people take a multi-vitamin or the like the body really doesn't digest it like it would if you get it out of food. So they're taking these pills, and either it's sitting in their stomach and causing issues or passing right through. Vitamins are great, but even better if you can get it right out of the food source. As for the herbal supplements, try the 5-HTP first off. It's very gentle and doesn't really interact with much except SSRI's. It'll take about a month for you to notice a difference, but it really does help. There's a site called smartbomb has it cheap PLUS it's mixed with the vitamin in order to activate your body with the weight loss. Just type in hydroxytryptophan (which is the long name for it) and then organize it by price. The cheapest one is the one you want...little white bottle from Nature's Way.
The diet for your father would be WONDERFUL for you! The South Beach doesn't sound too bad, but a low GI diet (which is usually what they recommend for diabetics) is a really good option. Mainly because most women with PCOS do get diabetes later in their years...it would be good to "pamper" your system before it even thinks about it! The watermelons weren't particularly good for you, but just because you weren't shown as being insulin resistant...doesn't mean your body isn't having a hard time with it anyway. There's still loads they don't understand about PCOS and how it works and why...but it's always getting better.
And stress sure does effect PCOS. Stress will effect a NORMAL women's cycle...here we are with hormones than don't know up from down to begin with Birthcontrol can also make you moody and depressed...so keep that in mind too. But keeping up with a good diet and making sure you get out there and stretch your muscles can help an amazing amount! If your cramps are off to one side (as in where your ovaries are) those are pretty normal cramps and it's kind of like your ovaries are throwing a temper tantrum. But if your having cramps with your clots, there is a chance that your body is having a hard time passing the clots, so your uterus contracts to help get rid of it. These cramps are usually towards the center of the hips rather than to one side, a friend of mine described it as almost feeling like there's a knife shoved up your rear end and it's aimed at your uterus. If that's the case...treat them like contractions...it's one of the many "benefits" of have PCOS.
If you like the herbal remedies more...a mixture of a few different herbs can do the same thing but without the promise of no pregnancy. Chasteberry (or Vitex) helps the body go back on a normal schedule for your cycles and helps with PMS. Black Cohosh is usually used for menopause, but those of us blessed with PCOS have problems out to Wazoo and Black Cohosh helps us too. And Red Clover tea taken three times a day on the pattern take three weeks, skip a week, take three weeks, skip a week...trying to get it along with the skipping week to be on your cycle helps with loads of things, especially cramping. I was told Wild Yam applied to the skin (you can find in health stores) will kick start progesterone so you'll start your period but I've never personally used that one.
There's tons of herbal stuff to take...because I don't react well to most medications...I've been stuck researching it as much as I can and being my own personal guinea pig...so if I can ever help in that area please don't hesitate to ask!. The most important herbs you can take for PCOS as far as I've experianced are Chasteberry and 5-HTP, next in line is the Black Cohosh and the Red Clover.
And I'm just glad that I can help. I know how much of a pain it is researching, so I also know how nice it can be to have a friendly ear out there talking back.
__________________ Humans learn best when they're face down on concrete...
Even Gods find it hard to love and be wise at the same time.
When life gives you lemons...make grape juice and let them all wonder
Thanks so much for all the advice! It means alot. I've been doing really well on my diet and I'm trying to stick the Insulin resistance diet. I'm still exercising every day, which has helped alot with the feeling crappy and wanting to cry.
I am moving to Tennessee on Wednesday, and I will start the new vitamins when I get there. I need to get the address of where I will be staying first. I feel better than i have for a while, and I hope it only continues to get better!
recently diagnosed 
) it's like a 200lb kid comes over and jumps on one end and to get the other side down...a 300lb kid comes over...then one more 150lb kid comes to the other end to help it balance out. That's not the way your body is supposed to work if your normal...but a flawed pituitary can cause it to work that way. So a balance of diet rather than a strict one can be very helpful.
Birthcontrol can also make you moody and depressed...so keep that in mind too. But keeping up with a good diet and making sure you get out there and stretch your muscles can help an amazing amount! If your cramps are off to one side (as in where your ovaries are) those are pretty normal cramps and it's kind of like your ovaries are throwing a temper tantrum. But if your having cramps with your clots, there is a chance that your body is having a hard time passing the clots, so your uterus contracts to help get rid of it. These cramps are usually towards the center of the hips rather than to one side, a friend of mine described it as almost feeling like there's a knife shoved up your rear end and it's aimed at your uterus. If that's the case...treat them like contractions...it's one of the many "benefits" of have PCOS. 
