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Low carb and PCOS?

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Replies

  • Expatmommy79
    Expatmommy79 Posts: 940 Member
    I had pcos in 2004/5?

    My Dr told me to go on a diet. Start exercising M and lose 15% of my body weight.

    I was put on BCP and Glucophage.

    I did as was told. Cysts gone.

    Put on weight but stayed asymptomatic.

    Got pregnant easily 3x but had GD in all my pregnancies. Had to take insulin.

    I have now lost 32 pounds since I started MFP in November. 10-15 pounds left to goal.

    I eat everything. Around 100g carbs per day. Not by restriction, that's just my natural place where I land up without trying.

    I don't think you have to be "keto" to manage symptoms. There are many ways to be mindful of carbs. Low GI, or Paleo, or less than 150g, 100g, 50g. Only eating carbs around exercise. Carb cycling.

    Op, eat naturally. Don't go balls to the wall keto if it feels like you won't be able to stick with it.

    In terms of priority for PCOS? I would go:

    1) regular exercise
    2) calorie deficit - lose some weight
    3) track your carbs and see if it makes sense to decrease them or make less processed choices.

    Don't worry about 3 until 1&2 feel natural.
  • Expatmommy79
    Expatmommy79 Posts: 940 Member
    Oh! And I've not been on glucophage eversince I lost weight initially in 2005.

    And the weight I'm currently carrying is from the 3 babies I had between 2012-2015.
  • Qskim
    Qskim Posts: 1,145 Member
    edited April 2016
    zurac35 wrote: »
    rabbitjb wrote: »
    aggelikik wrote: »
    aggelikik wrote: »
    PCOS is not caused by an infection. Maybe you are confusing ovarian cysts with PCOS.

    There are many different underlying causes that lead to a diagnosis of pcos. Not everyone has the same symtoms and there are heaps of women that have it without having insulin resitance.

    As far as I know, there are many different symptoms, not many different causes. And there is no cure. Has an endocrinologist told you otherwise? If yes, this is very interesting, so could you please share? It is something I most certainly would want to discuss with my dr at my next appointment.

    PCOS =/= cystic ovaries

    Absolutely agree with @aggelikik - I would be fascinated to find out how a hormonal imbalance can be caused by an infection - please source this

    Current thinking regarding PCOS causes, as far as I am aware, is a hormonal imbalance: testosterone, luteinising hormone, binding globulin and prolactin (in some)

    Pregnancy may help reverse hormonal imbalances .. certainly did for me
    It certainly did not reverse it for me!lol
    The infection my doctor said likely caused nutritional deficits and led to overeating. The precence of the infection he said causes inflammation as there waste is toxic so that explained the inflamation of my ovaries and they cysts themselves vanished after treatment.

    Hormones were normal, periods went back to 30 days. I was lucky to find an endocrinologist with a understanding of what these infections can do. So like I said befire I am lucky that I realised this sooner rather than later.

    So what kind of infection did you have?

    Edit: If you are saying that pinworm/roundworm/etc gave you PCOS like symptoms - that is perhaps possible. However, you didn't have PCOS.

    However parasite testing is also a field full of quackery.


    Listen.
    I had PCOS. I didn't suspect it or self diagnose. Also those are not the only kind of infections that can distrupt the endocrine system.

    Well, then you are

    a) a modern medical miracle because you were diagnosed with a disease that isn't caused by parasites and cured of it when it is generally considered incurable. All while using a treatment for pinworm and teas.

    or

    b) you were misdiagnosed.

    There seems to be a deliberate judgement that no one has ever gotten treated successfully and beaten pcos. My good mates wife succsessfully beat it.

    I am not here saying she had it maybe she did maybe she didn't (probably not) but attacking someone for sharing what helped them is undermining others that may have the same issues alongside their pcos to getting answers.

    My gut feeling is that you are a reincarnation.
  • lithezebra
    lithezebra Posts: 3,670 Member
    rabbitjb wrote: »
    aggelikik wrote: »
    aggelikik wrote: »
    PCOS is not caused by an infection. Maybe you are confusing ovarian cysts with PCOS.

    There are many different underlying causes that lead to a diagnosis of pcos. Not everyone has the same symtoms and there are heaps of women that have it without having insulin resitance.

    As far as I know, there are many different symptoms, not many different causes. And there is no cure. Has an endocrinologist told you otherwise? If yes, this is very interesting, so could you please share? It is something I most certainly would want to discuss with my dr at my next appointment.

    PCOS =/= cystic ovaries

    Absolutely agree with @aggelikik - I would be fascinated to find out how a hormonal imbalance can be caused by an infection - please source this

    Current thinking regarding PCOS causes, as far as I am aware, is a hormonal imbalance: testosterone, luteinising hormone, binding globulin and prolactin (in some)

    Pregnancy may help reverse hormonal imbalances .. certainly did for me

    There's a section entitled "PCOS: inflammation and infection" in this paper.
    http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2265.2010.03956.x/full
  • niamibunni
    niamibunni Posts: 110 Member
    I've had PCOS and various symptoms since 1985 and once I ended up with a desk job I was up to 316 pounds in 2000.

    Low Carb High Fat + Calorie deficit + Strength Training = Lessening of symptoms for me and weight loss

    I'm not sure where people get this 'cure' thing, there isn't one for PCOS. If you address the symptoms and work hard and eat right, the symptoms will lessen. If you restart the old bad habits, the symptoms will reappear. Kind of like 'beating type II diabetes' and then going off your fitness and food plan, gaining weight and having a carb fest will increase your blood sugar levels and yep, diabetes is still there.

    I was consuming 120g carbs a day, but am now around 50g and find I'm less hungry. I'm on Metformin, but not bcp because of the whole 'you're over the hill and can't use oral bcp anymore' thing.

    It's a frustrating disease to have. We have to work 3x harder to get results compared to those without it.
  • lithezebra
    lithezebra Posts: 3,670 Member
    edited April 2016
    niamibunni wrote: »
    I'm on Metformin, but not bcp because of the whole 'you're over the hill and can't use oral bcp anymore' thing.

    Unless you have a health reason not to use bcp, I would get a 2nd opinion. I used them up to a year after I had a hysterectomy at 45, and my sister is still using them at 49.