Hi, new here!

aatlchavens

Hello, all! My name is Amanda. I'm a 30 yr old student, mom of three, and military wife. Oh yeah, and I have PCOS. I was diagnosed in 2010 by a new ob/gyn who actually took the time at my appointment to discuss my medical history with me and said more than "hey, fatty, just work out and watch your portions!" She was someone who understood I was struggling and after talking with me, ran blood tests, and informed me I had PCOS. I'd never even heard of it before that day, but this knowledge changed my life. Suddenly I knew what I was battling and my dr and my own research gave me the tools to fight it. Two years later and I've slowly but surely lost 55 lbs and am about 15 from my goal weight. I'm looking forward to getting to know you all!

I do have one question: does anyone else have blood pressure problems? At my last two appointments my dr noticed that my blood pressure was quite a bit higher than it was normally (135/75-ish both times) and she informed me that we need to watch it and I have to go back in 6 months, meanwhile monitoring it at those machines they have at walmart, etc. She said hypertension can be a symptom of PCOS, and sure enough, when I came home and researched it, it is. I guess I always focused on the blood sugar issue in my previous research since the concept of insulin resistance was so new to me.

sylmcguigan

Hi Amanda,
Feel free to add me. I'm new to learning about insulin resistance too. I was informally diagnosed by a fertility specialist in June, and I've had blood work done that I haven't been told about yet, so we'll see what the results are in November when I go back to see her.
Hope you find all the support and motivation you need here!

Chainie

This issue is related to the insulin resistance. It occurs because of the adrenalin being pumped into your blood stream. PCOS and IR (insulin resistance) often go hand in hand. You are already aware of that since you said you are watching your blood glucose. What happens is the cell receptors are desensitized to blood glucose, so the blood glucose doesn't get into the cells properly. So there is lots of blood glucose in your blood, but your cells aren't getting the energy. When you exercise, or some other stress, and sometimes just because the hormone imbalance triggers it anyway, your body reacts to this lack of cell energy by using hormones (adrenalin) to make your body superquickly make more blood glucose for 'flight or fight' response to cope with the exercise or stress. (or hormone imbalance trigger). It can lead to adrenal fatigue. This extra blood glucose gets dumped into the blood stream along with all the other blood glucose. Then another stress related hormone, cortisol, comes along and stores it all as fat. It's a viscious cycle. Between the excess blood glucose and fat being stored in every corner and all that extra adrenalin pumping your heart even though you don't necessarily have a corresponding fright to actually use all that adrenalin/energy... High blood pressure/hypertension. Meanwhile, it is very tiring for your pancreas, liver, kidneys, heart.... Well pretty much every organ involved in hormone delivery or metabolism. :-)