Any Korean Cysters

[JA]

Any Korean Cysters?

[LizaA]

Yes, moi! Korean and living in Sydney

[Ines]

Hi! Yes, I am a Korean Cyster. I'm new to the board (joined a few weeks ago but this is my first post). I'm in Texas. Please feel free to PM me.

[JA]

Rice is such a staple, I eat it with everything (rice and kimchee). Are you girls cutting down on the rice? Have you changed your diet? I'm having a really hard time losing weight. My hairs thinned and I've got acne at 32. Trying to get pregnant again, but I need to lose 50 lbs before my husband and I try again. It would be nice to be under a 100 lbs (like most korean girls are)...but there's no way that's going to happen. My goal is 140 lbs. Girls...I need your help!!! Any thoughts? What are your experiences? KOREANS EAT RICE WITH EVERYTHING!!!

[Ines]

Ahhh I'm an adopted Korean, so didn't grow up eating rice and kimchee all the time.

However, I did have rice yesterday. It was a long-grain type. And it didn't bother me too much with the Metformin. But I *just* started Metformin, so maybe it takes a while for rice to be bothersome???

I, too, am trying to get down to 100 pounds... I'm under 5', so that's a healthy weight for me. Before I discovered I had PCOS, I wondered why oh why was I gaining weight like crazy and couldn't lose any. Now I know... :/

[JA]

How did you find out that you had PCOS? When you found out, did your doctor put you on Metformin right away? The only thing I'm on is birth control...femcon. I've got really bad acne on on my jawbone line only. What's your favorite korean dishes? Alot of korean food has lots of spices, sugars, soysauce and soybean paste along with...of course...rice WITH EVERYTHING...
Trying to eat more proteins and veggies, but somes its BLAH. Do you have any other symptoms of PCOS?

[Ines]

How did you find out that you had PCOS? When you found out, did your doctor put you on Metformin right away? The only thing I'm on is birth control...femcon. I've got really bad acne on on my jawbone line only.

I found out I had PCOS in August 2005. I had gone to a dermatologist in June 2005 (because of my cystic acne, which I had suffered from since 1998). I had managed to remain thin until 2002 (I quit smoking at the end of 2001, and started gaining weight in 2002, which I thought was merely quitting-smoking weight gain), but had been plagued by acne since 1998. So after several years of the acne not going away, I went to a derm in 2005! The dermatologist asked me about my weight gain, which I said was recent (well, since 2002). She asked me about my periods, and I said they had always been irregular. She suggested I ask my gynaecologist about PCOS.

So, in August, I had all the blood work done to rule out other problems. The gynaecologist concluded I had PCOS. My symptoms are irregular periods (twice, I have gone nearly a whole year without a period), weight gain, and acne. My doctor put me on BCP.

Then recently (last month), a new gynaecologist discovered I have ovarian cysts. So now my symptoms include those. And the new doctor put me on Metformin. So I've been taking that only for a few days now. I came off BCP nearly 2 months ago because I want to get pregnant soon.

[kyung75]

Hello, I am a Korean-American cyster! I'm new to this board. We've been TTC for about 3 years and I've been married for 4. Does anyone else find that even being moderately overweight seems to aggravate their PCOS symptoms?

[JA]

Yes I do think being mod overweight can aggravate PCOS symptoms. I actually started seeing a new doctor: endocrinologist. He seems to know alot more about PCOS than my other doctor.

[kyung75]

Hello - I just reread the old posts from this thread. Just wanted to mention a couple things that seem to be helping for me:

Substituting brown rice for white, cutting back on sugar in Korean foods, creating salads for lunch that I actually look forward to eating everyday, training for a race (nothing crazy, 5K or 4 milers), cutting out diet soda. Eating kimchee and rice, but not too often. It helps that my husband, though he is Fresher Off the Boat than me, is still willing to eat whatever I cook, even if it's not Korean food. It's helped me to lose weight.

Over the past 2-3 years, it seems like my cycles have been getting shorter and somewhat more regular, but I have yet to see a consistent ovulation pattern.

So frustrating losing weight when PCOS is working against us!

[kyung75]

Anyone try hanyak? My MIL has been getting on me to do this again. We tried one round and it helped make me warmer, but I am still not pregnant. Any feedback you have would be wonderful!

[kimsycal]

Hello! wow, we've got a lot in common:
I'm a 29 yo Korean American, married 4 years to a Chinese American, ttc 1 year.
I just got diagnosed with PCOS this month after my second miscarriage. It's upsetting that it took 2 miscarriages for me to get the proper diagnosis and treatment. I've had extra hair, fatty belly, tiredness, acne, etc. for several years now. But now I'm finally getting the help I need and doing the right things.
I just started taking Metformin and although my doctor didn't say it was necessary, I went back on the the South Beach Diet and am starting a program called "Couch to 5K" an app on my Iphone. It's a training program that lasts 9 weeks to take a couch potato like me to be able to run 5k. So far I've lost 3.5-4 lbs in 1 week. I started at 140lbs at 5'3." I'm already feeling far more energetic but I'd love to see more of the belly fat go away and get down to 125 or 130lbs. The South Beach Diet has worked for me before and I think it's reasonable compared to some of those other Low Carb/PCOS/Gluten Free diets that are out there. I eat lots of lean proteins and vegetables. No rice, bread or pasta. I don't even crave it anymore. But what I can't resist is a brownie or piece of cake....yum....
In a month or so I'm going to start temping again to seeing if I'm ovulating regularly. If not then I'm going to ask my doctor for Clomid. Then we'll start trying again. After 2 miscarriages this year which both took a long time to reconcile, I'm not eager to feel tired, emotional, nauseous, and hungry again with pregnancy, but no pain, no gain.