Too Many Changes - Advice?

KnitOrMiss

I am not sure where to start.

My bloodwork didn't show insulin resistance, but my symptoms did. Doctor put me on Metformin to "try." It really seemed to help some. I finally got my head around switching my way of eating, which at first minimized the worse side effects of M. But then, I switched fully to LCHF WOE, then to Keto, and I simple wasn't feeling full in the mornings without cheese added to whatever other loved food I could add.

I take my M at about 7-8 am. Having any kind of dairy before noon (sometimes before dinner) resulted in a day of loose bowels, complete with straight bile dumping, resulting if a very blistered bum on too regular a basis for me to deal with.

Fast forward a bit, and I realized in one week, I'd apparently forgotten to take my M two separate days. No detrimental side effects. So this got me thinking about getting off the medicine, changing other things up, and figuring out a better balance that didn't have me crying at the thought of going to the bathroom by the end of the day. Not only that, but it was severely impacting my "love life."

So, I began an experiment. About a week ago, I stopped taking M as a trial. I also stopped my daily "energy shot," fully endorsed and embraced by my endocrinologist, since I was starting the coffee. My breakfasts were blissful, but I also was curious about changing to bulletproof coffee/tea to help my Keto further, better balance my way of eating. Yesterday and today where "coffee" and the day before that was tea. It is working better each day.

So, fast forward the week. I'm on maintenance birth control, and have no PMS mood swings (for the most part), no female "shark week" etc., for personal and medical reasons. Out of nowhere yesterday, I did the lightest spotting. Today, I'm feeling crampy...like period crampy. I didn't miss any pills, or mess up the timing, or anything. And yes, I've had some stress, but not enough to trigger something I haven't has a problem in the last six months, and my life has been hell during that time.

The coffee is making things flow as far as bathroom time, and I'm tolerating the flavor and loving the benefits. Intermittently, I've started having my food passing out effect again, but only after lunch. No other changes that I've noticed.

I do understand that I've changed a number of factors, but I'm literally all but in tears at the thought of getting back on the M again. I can't mentally do it, but it is starting to feel like I can't not do it. I want to up my inositol, but I can't afford to buy the powder right now, and taking as much as I need in pills seems very counter-productive. Could the coffee be causing a period? Could Keto be? This is such misery, beyond the normal periods on PCOS suck-tail way... I'm so overwhelmed right now. Anyone have any thoughts?

Dragonwolf

Do you know where you're at in your cycle? Although you're on BC and have PCOS, the underlying cycle is usually still there (it just might not be enough to trigger certain things).

Cycle changes are fairly common on keto in women in general. It seems to usually improve for women like us. Likewise, the Inositol improves FSH and other hormones.

It's possible that you've reached a tipping point where your hormones have fluctuated such that things are trying to work "normally." The only way to really know is to get tested again by your doctor, though.

In the meantime, you could do a trial run with the Met. Don't change anything else, but try taking the Met for a week or two and see what (if anything) changes.

I've had a similar experience with the Inositol/LCHF combination. One of the doctors I saw was actually surprised that I was getting a period with the Mirena (apparently, it's more common for the period to stop entirely than it is to just "change").

Talk to your doctor. He might be able to help, too.

KnitOrMiss

No, I haven't had a cycle in 6 months or so, so I've no idea where at all in my cycle I am. Usually I can tell when the normal PMS point passes me by, because I still get a little of the edgy emotional stuff, but not much anymore...

My hormones were FINALLY pretty level before I started LCHF/Keto, so perhaps they have swung out of balance and are just working their way back to a level field. I don't have another endo appointment until April, so without more severe concerns, additional testing is a little over the top. I was emotionally off center earlier.

One thing I've noticed, with the BP breakfast (coffee or tea) that I get a bit out of kilter about 2 hours afterward, but once I have buillion broth, I'm level pretty quick after that. Maybe my sodium balance is more sensitive than I knew? (I also dump my D3 drops in the dregs of the broth, and that helps within a few minutes, too...)

I think I'm going to hit up a local health store and see if I can get some inositol powder. They carry a lot of the NOW products, so I'm going to cross my fingers and try taking it tonight... I postponed another bill, because my sanity can't take this chaos on top of my roller coaster of a financial situation right now...

If I'm still miserable on Monday, I'll contact the doctor. Until then, I think it was just a stress/freakout this morning because I'm not supposed to have a cycle and having the beginnings of one unsettled me greatly! I'm feeling pretty decent now, except for the cramping... (oh, and I took some pamprin type med for the escalating cramps, and the caffeine settled me down much clearer than any day since I had my energy shot. Apparently the caffeine in the coffee or tea, even though about the same amount by mg was missing something with supplementation I normally consumed at the same time...

Most days I just have to sit back and SMDH because my body's odd reactions stress me out like this all the time... *le sigh*

Alliwan

I have no advice for you except to be patient. The change in met or the change in woe or both can affect your cycle and it takes time to adjust itself.

Patience is not always easy tho, so I'll also add big HUGS and say hang in there.

KnitOrMiss

Today is much better. I've upped my Vitamin D3, and gone back to using the liquid drops I had forgotten I had. It's amazing how quickly that effect hits me. I've also discovered something I find really weird... My body seems to accept caffeine from pills/supplements better than coffee/tea. I gave in and took some Pamprin this morning with my BPC coffee, and the difference between the rest of this week and this morning as far as "normal energy and focus" is amazing. So my body is more sensitive to extracted caffeine, even in similar doses. And works WELL when caffeinated.

Bought some new teas to try with the BP Tea this weekend, so excited. Still spotting and such, but I'll take it as a sign of keto progress. *le sigh*

Oh, and one of the health stores closed - the other can order the powdered stuff for me (I have cash but no card atm), 8 oz for $40. Seemed high compared to what y'all posted...but I can't remember.

Alliwan

yeah that is high, we get 8oz for $15 on amazon. Can you go to walgreens or cvs and get an amazon gift card? For the much cheaper price, it might be worth the extra step and buy it off amazon. Saves you $25.

KnitOrMiss

I couldn't remember how much y'all had paid, so yeah, totally going to do this when I can get my act together. LOL

Alliwan

I looked it up for you, walmart isnt listed as a place to get the gift cards but Walgreens and cvs are, in $5 incriments. So even go get a $25 gift card and you are covered and much cheaper than the health food store.

DivyaManaktola

I have been on Metformin, off and on for quite some time. It had nauseating effects on me initially - disrupting my concentration at work. Also, my doc had asked me to start with one tab and after one month increase to 2 tabs a day. So to get rid of the nausea I improvised on the doctor's suggestion and started with 1/4th of the pill for the first week or so, increased it to 1/2 later and gradually to 1 whole and then to two. Now, even while I was off the pill for long, when I started back, I didn't feel much side effects.

Another thing to try is Metformin SR (for sustained release), it was prescribed to my mom for reasons unrelated to PCOS, but still, she did not complain of any side effects other than not feeling very hungry.. which to me sounded as a good thing!

So, If you decide to go back on metformin - you could see if this works for you. But be aware, this is just me tweaking things and I don't know what doctors would say about this!

DivyaManaktola

Also there is one more bit of info, nothing specific to your current situation, but on a generic note. Being in India, I am surrounded by Ayurvedic and Homeopathic solutions to almost every physical problem and for my PCOS I've tried some of those as well and they worked beautifully for me where general medicines didn't.

When I was diagnosed with PCOS first, I went on Contraceptives (diane 35) and Meformin. I was miserable and it backfired completely - after the first month of diane 35, I had periods for almost 1.5 months and it had to be stopped with some other pills. Too scared with this, I decided I won't do it again! After a few months my cycle stopped again, so I decided to go for Homeopathic treatment.
I don't know what I was given but it surely worked... and all became hail and hearty and parallely I started working on my weight. Thinking that since I lost some weight and felt better, probably I don't need the medicine, I left it...
It was still all good, and in retrospect I believe it was because I was practicing yoga postures religiously - specially the 'suryanamaskar' and 'pranayam' (breathing exercises)... and also Tulsi/Holi Basil/ Ocimum sanctum, which my mom asked me to have. This went on for a year, until I had a back problem, which took a long time to be detected and I gained back all the weight and couldn't work out...
So, in some time, I lost my cycles and my motivation. But I am back on track now and my suggestions are:

1. Try 'Tulsi' or 'Holi Basil/ Ocimum sanctum'. You'd need to get the plant from probably a nursery or its seeds from an Indian store (not expensive at all). In Indian tradition its considered sacred because of its multiple medicinal properties. It's a weed, an outdoor plant and would grow in any weather ( except I don't know about snow/hail). 7-10 leaves daily in the morning - wash and eat them and add some to your tea/ hot water as well. Now, these are slow processes, so I can't say when and how.. but it will for sure start to resolve some problems. I eat it almost daily.

2. Yoga - please for just one month try the 'pranayam' exercises. They are 5-7 breathing and stomach rotation exercises that one can perform in 5-10 minutes daily while sitting. Look up some you tube videos for this. There are some other excellent Yoga exercises for PCOS, but those I won't recommend without initial supervision. However, the breathing ones - 'pranayam'- its something great, specially the two exercises -'alom vilom' and 'kapal bharti' - they will promote wholesome health. I've done these off and on for very long, presently I am not and can't think of a reason other than being too lazy - but since I've written this today, I starting again tomorrow.

3. Homeopathy - only if you find a good doctor... even then, while it worked for me, since I don't understand the science behind it, I wont recommend it on a public forum. For someone who is willing to experiment, it may help!

Sorry for such a long post, I am sure most of you are aware of these things already. They work for me (mostly, when I am sincere)... and I hope they do for you too.

WarriorCupcakeBlydnsr

I was on metformin extended release for a while (until I started passing it whole within an hour after I took it) and my doc switched me to regular metformin, I was still having tummy issues from taking it, then one day I accidentally/on purpose didn't take it when I ate out (I take it at breakfast and supper and didn't want any "run to the bathroom RIGHT NOW" issues when I was at a restaurant with my friends, so I took it about an hour after I ate... no tummy trouble! So the next day I started testing it and found that if I wait for at least 20 minutes after I finish eating to take it, I don't have any problems. It can be a pain to have to wait, but it's worth it. So if you have to go back on it, maybe try waiting for 20 minutes or so after you eat to take it, it may make a difference (the nurse at my endo's office said a lot of patients that take it do that and have less tummy trouble)

Dragonwolf

Alliwan wrote: »

I looked it up for you, walmart isnt listed as a place to get the gift cards but Walgreens and cvs are, in $5 incriments. So even go get a $25 gift card and you are covered and much cheaper than the health food store.

If you have a Kroger anywhere around you, they should sell them. Giant Eagle does, too, I think. I know my local Krogers have the "pick your value" Amazon cards, which are much nicer than the fixed value ones.

DivyaManaktola wrote: »

Also there is one more bit of info, nothing specific to your current situation, but on a generic note. Being in India, I am surrounded by Ayurvedic and Homeopathic solutions to almost every physical problem and for my PCOS I've tried some of those as well and they worked beautifully for me where general medicines didn't.

When I was diagnosed with PCOS first, I went on Contraceptives (diane 35) and Meformin. I was miserable and it backfired completely - after the first month of diane 35, I had periods for almost 1.5 months and it had to be stopped with some other pills. Too scared with this, I decided I won't do it again! After a few months my cycle stopped again, so I decided to go for Homeopathic treatment.
I don't know what I was given but it surely worked... and all became hail and hearty and parallely I started working on my weight. Thinking that since I lost some weight and felt better, probably I don't need the medicine, I left it...
It was still all good, and in retrospect I believe it was because I was practicing yoga postures religiously - specially the 'suryanamaskar' and 'pranayam' (breathing exercises)... and also Tulsi/Holi Basil/ Ocimum sanctum, which my mom asked me to have. This went on for a year, until I had a back problem, which took a long time to be detected and I gained back all the weight and couldn't work out...
So, in some time, I lost my cycles and my motivation. But I am back on track now and my suggestions are:

1. Try 'Tulsi' or 'Holi Basil/ Ocimum sanctum'. You'd need to get the plant from probably a nursery or its seeds from an Indian store (not expensive at all). In Indian tradition its considered sacred because of its multiple medicinal properties. It's a weed, an outdoor plant and would grow in any weather ( except I don't know about snow/hail). 7-10 leaves daily in the morning - wash and eat them and add some to your tea/ hot water as well. Now, these are slow processes, so I can't say when and how.. but it will for sure start to resolve some problems. I eat it almost daily.

2. Yoga - please for just one month try the 'pranayam' exercises. They are 5-7 breathing and stomach rotation exercises that one can perform in 5-10 minutes daily while sitting. Look up some you tube videos for this. There are some other excellent Yoga exercises for PCOS, but those I won't recommend without initial supervision. However, the breathing ones - 'pranayam'- its something great, specially the two exercises -'alom vilom' and 'kapal bharti' - they will promote wholesome health. I've done these off and on for very long, presently I am not and can't think of a reason other than being too lazy - but since I've written this today, I starting again tomorrow.

3. Homeopathy - only if you find a good doctor... even then, while it worked for me, since I don't understand the science behind it, I wont recommend it on a public forum. For someone who is willing to experiment, it may help!

Sorry for such a long post, I am sure most of you are aware of these things already. They work for me (mostly, when I am sincere)... and I hope they do for you too.

I love this! Here in the States, anything that isn't conventional medicine is generally considered "quackery." It's a shame, too, because a lot of the non-conventional things do often help, even if it's not for reasons people would generally expect. In my opinion, judging a potential tool is simple -- does it work?

I second the Yoga stuff. Strength training in general helps balance hormones, and Yoga's a great option for that. The meditative aspect most likely keeps cortisol levels in check, which in turn helps the other hormones stay balanced. (My semi-scientific theory for why Yoga works so well, not that it really matters, because the fact that it works matters most!)