PCOS'er Back on track after baby

lvokins

HI Everyone, what a great site!

I just had my little guy February 1st and decided to give myself 3 monthes to get into our groove (first baby). So May 1st I started tracking my food and one week later I am down 5.2 pounds! I am so happy because I don't feel like i am on a diet. Here is my story....

I have severe PCOS (Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome) which made it very difficult to conceive. I have always been very overweight and really struggled to shed even a few pounds. I even went to University for 4 years to become a Nutritionist to try to figure this out. When I shifted my research from general weight loss to PCOS I discovered alot. First, I had been prescribed birth control pills when I was 14 to help with the symptoms and at 32 I was still on them. I found out the PCOS is actually a disorder of insulin resistance and that birth control did nothing but regulate my periods. So I went off them and my periods went nuts (heavy and LONG) but I was glad to no longer be on them. I then began eating a low carb diet and the weight finally started to slowly decrease.

In 2009, we started trying to get pregnant and nothing. I ended up seeing a doctor who figured out that I wasn't ovulating. So I decided to try progesterone cream and what a miracle. Within a month I was not only ovulating but my periods were normal, light and about 5 days long. I felt amazing but after a year, still no baby. This is when I decided to go a little lower carb and add in metformin. Metformin is commonly used for type 2 diabetes but works very well for PCOS. In May 2011 I was down 93 pounds and we finally got the news that we were expecting. I stayed on metformin through my first trimester (as it decreases chance of miscarriage) and thankfully had a very healthy pregnancy and a perfect little guy.

SO here I am after putting 65 pounds back on. My first goal is to just eat healthy, no extreme diets. Just nourish my body so I have the energy to be the mom I want to be. I want to get over my lifelong struggle with food and dieting once and for all. Tracking my food keeps me honest and makes me take things one day at a time. I have signed up for us to get a weekly box of organic fruits and veggies so that is exciting as I love experimenting with new recipes and foods.
My first weight loss goal is 80 pounds. Losing 80 pounds will get me to a weight I haven't seen since Grade 8! I will still have another 50 or so pounds to go but one step at a time.

Thanks for reading my past story...time for me to write a new one

cramernh

From a medical background myself with PCOS and being a patient afflicted with PCOS - birthcontrol has alot more involvement than just regulating a period to begin with.

Its also meant to help encourage a regular cycle. The effects of insulin on a female patient can greatly hinder several things and not just weight-loss issues.. its a dietary issue. It can greatly affect the liver if untreated. It can greatly affect the hormonal balances of activity from the hypthalamus/thalamus/pituitory glands.

Insulin also greatly affects our testosterone, male-related hair production and/or loss. In turn, insulin detrimentally increases several key hormones in a woman's body all with varying severities on a patient to patient basis.

From a dermatological standpoint, depending on the type of birth control will also greatly help focus on not just the regulating of periods, having a period when pt has been without a period.... Some BCP's offer drospironone and other sex-binding globulins to help not just with the cycle, it can influence blood pressure and how its affected by edema thus reducing edema. BCP's have a wonderful background in helping with moderate to severe acne, dermatitis, and other various skin-related maladies.

With BCP's often the PCOS patient must take this in conjunction with other prescription medications - some commonly prescribed are Metformin (usually high doses regardless of trying to conceive or not), Spironolactone for hair growth and decrease in male-pattern hair growth. Blood pressure medications like Fosinopril are more and more commonly prescribed because Lisinopril-Hydrocholorothiazide actually contributes to male-pattern hair loss in women.

PCOS patients are FINALLY being recognized as patients who should be traditionally following a close-to-a-diabetic intake but often with more restrictions on certain foods due to the hyperinsulinemia. Even with prescriptions helping to control the hormones of the body, a very unique dietary intake is required still.

In my area, PCOS patients are often asked to consider allergy testing to see if there are any inflammatory responses to the common high glycemic foods. I work for/with an Endocrinologist who has built a reputation of successful cases of patients who responded well with a very focused method of approach in conjunction with prescription medications, routine blood work and changes in dietary intake with aggressive exercise. My total cholesterol went from 252 to 117 in under four months! My A1C went from 11.2 down to 5.2....

Not all PCOS patients run into insulin resistance - this can only be properly diagnosed with a 12 hr fast/blood work drawn . Each PCOS patient has a different varying severity from the next patient. Some women will have ovarian cysts, others dont. Some have significant reproductive/hormonal family histories that have contributed while other patients with no aggressive reproductive/hormonal family histories at all....

There is still too much unknown to the medical community but with the right practitioners, the right education under their belts, and female patients who are willing to be very proactive, treatments are successful....

rachelthefinn

Wow, what an amazing story! I love that you have taken this long journey and now gotten to the point where you are focusing on just being healthy and forming good habits. It's true, it's not about weight loss, it's about life-long health. Good for you! Thanks for sharing your story, and feel free to add me as a friend if you like!

alixfowler

I have been taking Metformin for it for nearly 10 years I think and I am not sure if it has affected my weight or not. I am on a couple of other meds for other things and whenever I bring it up my doctor used to almost laugh for being so daft for thinking meds could stop you losing weight. Anyway OP I am really pleased you had a baby, I'm not quite at that stage but hopefully I'll be as lucky when I get there.

Alix

mfinley78

Hello thank you ladies for the posts! I was diagnosed with PCOS after training for an Ironman without losing weight and extreme low calorie diets without losing a pound. I had weight gain,irregular periods, chronic cystic acne, dry eyes and vaginal area, low body temp and slightly hypothyroid. I was the same weight for 12 years then started packing on pounds with no relation to my diet and exercise. I have also tried very high protein (100+ grams/day) with very low carb (40 or less grams per day) with no weight loss. I don't have cystic ovaries and was able to conceive easily, but lost twins before a successful single pregnancy using metformin and progesterone the first trimester. We had a boy March 22 2012. I got gestational diabetes the last trimester and did not gain any weight the last trimester. I gained 35 lbs during the pregnancy (baby was 9 lbs 12 oz) and lost the pregnancy weight in 10 days without trying! That was a relief.

What I experienced during pregnancy is that my metabolism felt NORMAL again! My body temp was normal, and I could eat like I used to. It made me realize that I am never overeating, that is not the problem. My eyes were not dry either. I put my eye drops away and didn't even know where they were. Also, I had the best skin of my lifetime! It was flawless. I would highly recommend pregnancy for PCOS!

Now I am facing the same 35 lbs to lose that I was before the pregnancy. I am hoping that breastfeeding will help in a way that diet,exercise and Metformin could not. The baby has had bad gas so I have been having to eliminate allergens and see if it helps him,and unable to really monitor my diet for weight loss purposes. I am looking forward to exercise and diet while breastfeeding to see if I can lose this weight! I am trying to focus on health instead of weight loss, but it is difficult for me.I want to lose the weight. I know you all can relate!

mfinley78

Cramernh,

Is food allergy testing fairly standardized like regular allergy testing? If not, do you have any tips for what that testing should entail for PCOS? I used to drink 1/2 gallon of milk per week and a lot of cheese and yogurt. I knew to control bread-y carbs and did all whole wheat, not many sweets at all but I wonder if something specific like an allergy was hindering my weight loss. I have cut dairy for two week periods and not seen any results. I have seen many people with PCOS post about cutting dairy, gluten, and various opinions on soy, whey and alternative proteins. Like many people with PCOS, I was a vegeterian at some point and do not eat red meat still. Heavy on chicken and more recently seafood. Anyhow, I know that exercise alone is not going to do it and I have reached dead ends on my diet as well.

I did have a provider recommend the hcg diet for me, but cannot try it until finished breastfeeding. Sometimes I think my problems are really hormonal only, especially when pregnancy undid so many of my symptoms.

Thanks for any thoughts, recommendations, etc.