fat because of PCOS? or PCOS because I'm fat?

[Amity79]

Hi new here!!

I am 28, married 1 year....live in Houston.

Okay...a little background:

I was a very athletic child and teen but always a little larger than my peers. I am tall and curvy and just built bigger so I always carried it well. I was captain of the volleyball team in HS. Once I started college I was no longer in athletics and gained the typical Freshman 15. Finances and a non-supporting family caused me to quit going to college full-time and work full-time, school part-time. I met my now husband and moved in together (pretty stupid looking back on it but it did work out for the best). We did have a pregnancy scare when a condom broke...so I went and took the morning after pill(s), which is apparently a super dose of BCP. Within weeks of taking them I was steadily gaining weight. My job was sedantary so I attributed the gain to that. I didn't realize just how much I was gaining until I tipped the scale at about 250 (up from 170-180) I tried to lose it...working out, watch what I ate....It just felt like I was spinning my wheels...I would kill myself for the most meager of results...and it never lasted....I still inched up a good 10-15 pounds a year. My family gave me a very hard time over my weight.

A year ago I met someone who has PCOS and she told me about it and suggest I go see an endo about it. I had never heard of it before that but fit the bill perfectly: I had the weight issue, absentee menses, facial hair, adult acne, skin tags, brain fog. I started to cry because I felt like I finally knew what was wrong and that I wasn't crazy.
I went to one I found in my insurance plans network and was made to feel that it was my fault. I didn't excersize enough and ate too much(gizelle or walks for 30-45 minutes 4x week, and average 1500 calories). When I asked about PCOS she said "Oh yeah, I'm willing to bet you have it." But, felt that the PCOS was caused by the weight, therfore..lose weight and the PCOS will fix itself. Then she tried to prescribe antidepressants which pissed me off so I never went back for the lab results. (Bad, I know)

I did try to control it with diet and excersize....but after months and little to no result, I was worn out and ANGRY. I just gave up.

Now, I feel so run down and tired in addition to other problems getting worse...so now I am ready to try to find a different doctor. (did I mention my extreme fear of doctors? Yeah, I think it stems from something in my childhood.)

SO...my question is:

What was your docs opinion on the issue with weight and PCOS.....does the PCOS attribute to the weight gain....or did the weight cause the PCOS? Sorta chicken or the egg situation.


I have no problem doing my part....but if another one tells me the same...I don't think I will recover.

[Eva37]

welcome to sc hmm, good question......... like you said it's chicken and egg.
eva

[JessFrisco]

I JUST got diagnosed and know VERY little about PCOS (trying very hard to learn).... So my thoughts are purely speculation

I would think that weight COULD cause PCOS... however, in my situation, I have always been very thin and, like you, very athletic. I am very, very health concious and eat extremely healthy. I DO NOT diet and have a very balanced 'lifestyle' of fats, carbs, and protiens and have practiced that for most of my life. However, over the last few months I have gained 80lbs (mostly in the abdomen). I DEFINITELY think PCOS caused my weight gain... definitely.

[lovemychris]

Since diabetes runs in my family and I was always really thin and active growing up, I have a tendency to think it's the PCOS making us fat. Look how many cysters dieted for years only to lose tons of weight when they started Metformin.

[luvtlc]

I firmly believe we are fat because of the PCOS. I had Dr's who said the same thing lose weight and it will get better even though I was nearly anorexic and I was bulemic and I still weighed close to 300lbs. I finally found a Dr. who knew what the hell she was doing as she has PCOS as well. She put me on Metformin and I immediately started losing weight even without a diet change then as I am obsessed with nutrition and exercise. I stopped eating foods labeled low-fat(they usually replace the fat with sugars/carbs) but focused on lowering my carb intake the weight started melting off even faster. Then I started a daily exercise routine and all-together I lost 100lbs.

Then after 6yrs of trying to concieve we had success(alot more to it than that check out my fertility friend ticker if you are interested). I stayed on the Met the entire pregnancy, everything went beautifully other than the 50lbs I gained because I was afraid to restrict my carbs to much for babies sake(but only really good carbs). I have lost 30lbs of the pregnancy weight. It is hard but I actually see progress and I can keep the weight off now which I never could before. If I lost weight it would come back plus some, not to mention once I started on the met the general crappiness feeling that I always had went away so I felt much more motivated to get out and exercise.

If your Dr is telling you that PCOS can be treated with just diet and exercise they aren't worth the money your paying them, find someone who specializes in PCOS treatment. Oh and if they suggest BCP, RUN! They can seriously mess up us PCOSers.

Good Luck and PM me if you have any questions.

Laura

[sheepiegirl]

I'd just like to say that birth control pills were great for me and while they might not be good for everyone, it isn't a 'PCOS thing' that you should automatically avoid them.

PCOS has many symptoms and issues and it isn't the same for everyone. So what works for some, might not work for others. Diet and exercise CAN work for people with PCOS. It's when it doesn't that you have to make sure your doctor is willing to help you find what does work.

Met doesn't work for all PCOSers, but it helps a lot of them. It hasn't done anything for me as far as I can tell (didn't regulate period or anything) but it works instantly for lots of people.

You just have to be willing to try new things. I don't believe that having PCOS is a sentence to being fat. I think it can make it harder for people to lose weight, but it shouldn't be treated as an excuse and therefore an 'out.'

[JessFrisco]

Since I am so new I cannot send PMS.

Laura... BCP are bad? I just got diagnosed and my dr told me to get on the nuva ring birth control. I am so new to this... any info will help

Thanks!

[Kaianne28]

Hi Amity79,

I have been to many different doctors and they have all said "loose the weight and your PCOS will be better" but I truely beleive that I gained the weight due to PCOS. I was pretty thin and athletic like you were and I have gained close to 50 pounds in the last 3 years and it is primarily in my abdomen. I live in Kansas City and have struggled to find a doctor to give me a straight answer about what to do for the weight. Let me know if you ever have any questions or just want to talk!

Kaianne28

[heidi1979]

Diabetes, Heart disease, and strokes all run in my family... I wonder if this all helped me develop PCOS. Since childhood I started struggling with my weight. I started my period at 11, it was normal for the 1st year than I didn't have one again until I went to the doctor and was put on bcp at 14. I was on bcp until 26 when I wanted to find out what was wrong and we started TTC..

I am a self proclaimed carbotarian.. I can live on potatoes, pasta, bread, and sweets.. But the constant carb cravings I have read could be a side effect of the PCOS... I wish my doctor would check to see if I am insulin resistant or not, but she won't...

I guess it's an everyday battle.

[Amity79]

Thank you, ladies.

I have the carb cravings too. I did atkins for 3 months and did well....but it was SOOOO HARD to stick to. I have read that low carb is good for those with IR, but it is just that much harder for them to stick to.... ARRH!

[luvtlc]

Re: BCP yes they can help some with PCOS, usually temporarily, but with most it causes hormone issues in the long run. I will say there are some it helps but unless they have done a complete blood screening of your endocrine system and know for sure you are the type of PCOSer it would benefit, I would sure think twice about it.

I am a Massage Therapist/Pre-Med Student w/4 years of college anat. but I can only tell you what I know from my own experience with PCOS as well as those I used in my report/study for my Repro/Endo class.

If you have never truly battled your weight and I am talking dedicated exercise and diet just to keep gaining weight and having your Dr. talk to you like you are a pig who must eat all day and limit there exercise to walking to the refridg than you really cannot say that PCOS is not an excuse or an "out". Because for some of us there is no weight management unless we are treating the core problem which is PCOS caused by Ins. Res.

There are different kinds of PCOS but I am not referring to them I am only speaking of the form that I am afflicted with and I think Amity79 may be afflicted with as she pretty much described my situation a few years ago, before I found a Dr. who wasn't an idiot!

PS: It is much easier to eat low carb when your body processes the carbs you eat correctly when it doesn't we do crave more because our body doesn't think it is getting enough, that is where Gkucose management comes in ie:Metformin or Fortamet -there are other Glucophages available but Met is the cheapest available at this time, but the treatment of PCOS with Met is relatively new and because there has been such a success with it there is more research going on as well as more Glucophages coming out that are working even better specifically for PCOSers.

[Sarrah]

I think at this stage the doctors do not yet know if being overweight causes PCOS or you get more overweight because of PCOS..

I think they think its more - we gain and keep the weight on BECAUSE OF PCOS because when you look up PCOS anywhere they always say there is a good chance it is "genetically inherited" ie often mother and all sisters have it.

Also I am fairly tall 5 foot 8ish and have always been slim ie around 135 pounds and started the chin hair even at that weight but didn't have the scalp hair loss or missed periods at that stage. When I got up to 175 pounds that is when the hair loss started, the missed period, the facial hair got worse...so weight definately makes PCOS worse as the fat on your tummy makes insulin resistnace worse and there fore raises Free Testosterone levels and lowes SHBG levels..

I am taking Metformin and have seen in the space of a 2 weeks or so.. my waist suddenly form.. so my body now taking metformin doesnt want the fat to go straight onto waist. I felt awful before...very apple shaped... I feel If I keep going with metformin and do exercise. I will get my nice figure back.

[Sarrah]

BCP make insulin resistance worse so My endo said at the moment she would like me to get on Metformin and see if my cycles come back naturally.

[heidi1979]

I think the BCP kept most of my symptoms at bay. Since my RE took me off of them, I have gained 25 pounds, my face has become hairy and oily, and my hair started falling out....

[deblynnc]

I've always thought of it as a vicious cycle - PCOS makes it easier to put on the pounds; the extra fat cells increase estrogen and worsen insulin resistance which - makes it easier to put on more pounds. But, it's definitely not a simple thing, since not all us cysters have weight problems.

I have all of my life. I was a chubby child, an overweight teenager and became a morbidly obese adult. I have finally started to get a good handle on my weight for the first time in my life, and I confess that for many years I used PCOS as an excuse for not giving myself over 100% to becoming healthy. My DNA may be stacked against me ever measuring up to society's standards of a beautiful figure, but it can't stop me from being a strong, healthy woman.

As for BCP's, you'll just have to do your research and listen to your own body about that. I personally never had any trouble with them. I was diagnosed at 19 and put on BCP's. It regulated my symptoms for a number of years. I went off them to TTC, and symptoms flared up again and continued to worsen. But I was young and naive then and knew nothing about PCOS other than the little the doctor told me. I'll never know if I could have controlled my symptoms without the BCP's.