Things about PCOS You Wish Others Understood/Are Tired of Explaining - Ongoing List!
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21. Lecturing me about losing weight at every single doctor's appt (related or not) is NOT helpful and comes across as highly condescending. I roll my eyes at you, Doc, because I have a mirror, I'm aware I'm overweight, and no I don't like it anymore than you do. Yes, I have put in DECADES of weight loss effort with no lasting success. Telling me to "just cut out carbs" is not helpful. Do you REALLY think I haven't tried that?!
Not to discourage anyone, but I literally spent 6 weeks working my butt off prepping meals, cooking, measuring, weighing, logging, exercising every day - to lose less than 2 lbs... Then TOM went MIA, and BAM! I gained it all back in a matter of 2 or 3 days. Back to square one. I'm turning 39 years old in a couple months and have been living this PCOS nightmare since I was 15 years old... Last November I went to my doctor and asked for a referral to a bariatric surgeon for WLS. Some may call it "giving up"... whatever... I'm weary and I need a break from this hamster wheel.0 -
I don't think mine are separate items but add ons to what others have said:
Weight loss doesn't work the same for everybody, even within women with PCOS, some have CICO work, some can do LCHF and have it work, some of us have to struggle and fight for every ounce, I've tried everything, unless I do a very low calorie (ie very not healthy at 500 cals or less, and I'm not doing it) diet I have to fight to lose every ounce, it took me about 14 months of eating a reasonable (1700 cal) food plan and exercising 5-6 days a week to lose 10 lbs, then something went screwy and I gained it back in a month. (On new meds and once my life settles down a little, I hope to get back to my normal workout schedule, so I can start getting it off again.)
If you do your research and wonder if you have PCOS and at your appoinment, without discussion, your doc says you don't have it, get a new doc. I probably could have been diagnosed several years ago, really back when this became a more recognized illness, my gyn said no,when I asked because according to my research I had a majority of the signs and symptoms, when my sister was diagnosed, I asked about it again, she said no I didn't have it, when I went to an endo two (almost three) years ago and was diagnosed by her as hypothyroid/insulin resistant/PCOS and went back to my gyn as she recommended, she still said I didn't have it... I just went to a new gyn this year, she said: you have it, you have all the classic signs and symptoms, I can't believe she wouldn't even discuss it especially after the endo said it.
Interesting point that my new gyn pointed out, that I didn't think of and was probably part of the problem with diagnosis and treatment: just because your numbers are "normal" (ie within normal range) doesn't mean they are normal for you (I don't know how many times I've told this to my friends when they've asked me about their lab results, but did I think about it for me? noooooo.... until the doc said it, then it was like "duh!")0 -
LlWarriorCupcakeBlydnsr wrote: »I don't think mine are separate items but add ons to what others have said:
it took me about 14 months of eating a reasonable (1700 cal) food plan and exercising 5-6 days a week to lose 10 lbs, then something went screwy and I gained it back in a month.
Ugh this. I started tracking November 2013 because my gyno wanted me to lose 20ish pounds I guess (never gave me a number but on Mon told me to lose a little more) and I've lost 14ish pounds. It has taken so damn long. So many stalls along the way... I lost 10 pounds and then was diagnosed with fibromyalgia over the summer. I was given B12 which just made me ravenous and I gained five pounds back.
It's so frustrating. My friend had twins and lost her 15 pounds of baby weight doing the 21 day fix. I weigh and measure my food, do yoga pretty regularly, and have a super active job so it's not like I'm sedentary but it still takes me almost a month to lost half a pound. I know I shouldn't compare myself to others but it's hard not to sometimes.0 -
jaimekbee1219 wrote: »LlWarriorCupcakeBlydnsr wrote: »I don't think mine are separate items but add ons to what others have said:
it took me about 14 months of eating a reasonable (1700 cal) food plan and exercising 5-6 days a week to lose 10 lbs, then something went screwy and I gained it back in a month.
Ugh this. I started tracking November 2013 because my gyno wanted me to lose 20ish pounds I guess (never gave me a number but on Mon told me to lose a little more) and I've lost 14ish pounds. It has taken so damn long. So many stalls along the way... I lost 10 pounds and then was diagnosed with fibromyalgia over the summer. I was given B12 which just made me ravenous and I gained five pounds back.
It's so frustrating. My friend had twins and lost her 15 pounds of baby weight doing the 21 day fix. I weigh and measure my food, do yoga pretty regularly, and have a super active job so it's not like I'm sedentary but it still takes me almost a month to lost half a pound. I know I shouldn't compare myself to others but it's hard not to sometimes.
That's actually basically how I got my diagnosis -- I had a friend that started going to Curves about the same time I started trying to lose weight. Without changing anything else, she started losing weight and had lost about 10lb in two months. In that same amount of time, I lost...nothing.
Unfortunately, other than Metformin (which the same doctor that diagnosed me refused to put me back on after I had stopped when I was pregnant), my doctor's only suggestion for the weight was "join Weight Watchers" (never mind the fact that I'd been an MFP veteran the second and third time she suggested it).
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Dragonwolf wrote: »jaimekbee1219 wrote: »LlWarriorCupcakeBlydnsr wrote: »I don't think mine are separate items but add ons to what others have said:
it took me about 14 months of eating a reasonable (1700 cal) food plan and exercising 5-6 days a week to lose 10 lbs, then something went screwy and I gained it back in a month.
Ugh this. I started tracking November 2013 because my gyno wanted me to lose 20ish pounds I guess (never gave me a number but on Mon told me to lose a little more) and I've lost 14ish pounds. It has taken so damn long. So many stalls along the way... I lost 10 pounds and then was diagnosed with fibromyalgia over the summer. I was given B12 which just made me ravenous and I gained five pounds back.
It's so frustrating. My friend had twins and lost her 15 pounds of baby weight doing the 21 day fix. I weigh and measure my food, do yoga pretty regularly, and have a super active job so it's not like I'm sedentary but it still takes me almost a month to lost half a pound. I know I shouldn't compare myself to others but it's hard not to sometimes.
That's actually basically how I got my diagnosis -- I had a friend that started going to Curves about the same time I started trying to lose weight. Without changing anything else, she started losing weight and had lost about 10lb in two months. In that same amount of time, I lost...nothing.
Unfortunately, other than Metformin (which the same doctor that diagnosed me refused to put me back on after I had stopped when I was pregnant), my doctor's only suggestion for the weight was "join Weight Watchers" (never mind the fact that I'd been an MFP veteran the second and third time she suggested it).
Did the yo-yo dieting, spent a lot of money, the last one was the HCG, lost 30 lbs on that one, when they upped me from 500 cals to 800 cals my weight loss stalled out, when they bumped me up to 1000 cals, I started gaining, they knocked me down to 800 and put me on appetite suppressants and I stalled out again, they wanted me to do another round of HCG and I said no, went to WW and gained 10 lbs in about 2 months, quit them and joined a gym started working out 6 days a week (good mix of cardio and weights) and continued to gain, went to a registered dietician (one that works with a hospital bariatric surgery program) and she put me on the food plan, continued to gain after a year of gaining a total of 40 lbs in spite of all of this (and the continual "normal" lab work) I went to an endo when the diagnosis started, even with the metformin and the thyroid meds it was still a battle to lose the 10 lbs I lost, still working out and still sticking to the food plan (I checked with her after the diagnosis, she said she would normally have me go down to 1200 cals but because of how much I work out that would be too little food, so to stick with the 1700). Until I started having screwy periods last year and old gyn wasn't helping, she kept telling me to wait it out, and I started gaining again, and gained it all back. I went to a new one earlier this month and she changed my bc pills and things are starting to calm down so hopefully I can start losing again.
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22. (Is that what number we're on?)
"You don't look like you have PCOS..."
This was said to me by the ultrasound tech who was checking me out as I was experiencing my second miscarriage in a year.
I didn't have the energy to explain to her that PCOS looks different in different people.0 -
22. (Is that what number we're on?)
"You don't look like you have PCOS..."
This was said to me by the ultrasound tech who was checking me out as I was experiencing my second miscarriage in a year.
I didn't have the energy to explain to her that PCOS looks different in different people.
@mhulgan WTF? What does someone with PCOS "look" like? We could all post pictures here, and I bet we'd look like a diversity ad. Maybe, and I'll give him/her some credit here, maybe in saying that s/he was referring to your ovaries. Not everyone has ovarian cysts... ARGH. The stupidity and lack of general knowledge abounds, particularly in the medical field. Honestly, I think I would file a complaint on this one, because for someone not as strong as you are mentally, apparently, this could have been the straw that broke her...
And superstronghugs. Miscarriage, no matter how early/late, no matter any circumstance, is heartbreaking. Just want to send you hugs, hugs, and hugs!0 -
Thank you ladies for all the posts. I'm glad I'm not the only one with PCOS that worked out and watched every bite and didn't lose weight. I kind of gave up this winter and ended up gaining 30 lbs. I'm at my heaviest and hate the way I feel. I'm back to watching my carbs and getting back into my work out routine. This time, I'm not getting on the scale. I'm going to judge my success on how I feel. I hate the way I feel now, but loved the way I felt when working out. I can't let the scale derail my health. -I'm not on Metformin or BCP; I have recently started taking Myo-inositol and folic acid. I'm hoping this will help to regulate my levels and my triglycerides.
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I also want to pass on hugs and sympathies to those of you that have had miscarriages or are trying to have a baby. ❤️0
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Thank you ladies for all the posts. I'm glad I'm not the only one with PCOS that worked out and watched every bite and didn't lose weight. I kind of gave up this winter and ended up gaining 30 lbs. I'm at my heaviest and hate the way I feel. I'm back to watching my carbs and getting back into my work out routine. This time, I'm not getting on the scale. I'm going to judge my success on how I feel. I hate the way I feel now, but loved the way I felt when working out. I can't let the scale derail my health. -I'm not on Metformin or BCP; I have recently started taking Myo-inositol and folic acid. I'm hoping this will help to regulate my levels and my triglycerides.
If your trigs are up, be sure your doc does comprehensive thyroid tests, too! It's a major indicator. And just because you're in "normal" range does not equal normal for you...
www.stopthethyroidmadness.com0 -
I also want to pass on hugs and sympathies to those of you that have had miscarriages or are trying to have a baby. ❤️
Agreed so much. There is nothing quite like the hell and torture of miscarrying, being unable to conceive, in a high risk situation, or struggling just to get to a point where trying is safe. And that is whether secondary infertility (sometimes even more frustrating, because if it worked before, what did we do so wrong that now we're broken?!?!), primary infertility, multiple miscarriages, inability to feel any sort of progress, being at huge risks to lose a baby we've fought to have a chance at, but we're all in this misery together, so I wanna lift up anyone in any one in any part of this struggle. Know that even from a stranger from a million miles away is sending you healing, positive, and loving thoughts.
HUGS to all y'all.0 -
I've been pregnant once, and was fortunate enough to carry my daughter almost to term, and she's a beautiful healthy seven year old now
What has taken me by surprise is I had given up hope as to having a second child due to all my PCOS symptoms and the risk of carrying a baby to term again. However as I've gotten healthy, and I'm cycling regularly again, it's like my biological clock has hit in full force again. I'm 37 single and not in any position to be considering a baby, yet I seem to think about it ALL THE TIME.
This disease seems to get you coming and going! Even when you think you've got things sorted, it gets you from another whole new angle.0
