So Confused

IrishChik

When we found out I had PCOS a few weeks ago my OB didn't do anything other than put me back on birth control to get me to cycle. She did not really talk to me a whole lot about my nutrition. I *think* this was because she knew I was seeing a dietician and probabley figured I would be consulting her.

Well, I did. But she was not a whole lot of help. She told me to just keep on the plan she had set me up with which was counting carb portions (not net, not carbs). More like a diebetic would follow the USDA Food Guide type thing. I have been on this meal plan for months and the scale is not budging. When I told her it needed to be changed, she said I needed to keep trying.

When I went to see my primary care doctor she was upset that the OB did not give me perscription for Metformin, so she wrote it for me. She told me to keep on the diebetic diet and that the Metformin along with the diet should help with the weight loss.

It has been a month. I have GAINED weight.

I feel like I am the only one who is not trying to conceive. Because of my age and the medical issues my family has, I am at high risk for too many things. So I have decided that I am going to spend time working on getting my body in shape because this extra weight hurts my back (degenerative disk disease) flairs up my osteoarthritis in my hips and has caused my shoulder to drop. I live in a constant state of pain. I want to get my weight down so I can be free from flare up pain and get on with my life. My husband and I are planning to adopt when we are done with school. I am a grad student and hes in his final 2 years of clinical's. I am done in March, so we may start then.

Anyway, I have become extremely confused on whether I am supposed to be counting carbs, net carbs, calories, or glycemic indexes based on stuff I have read regarding PCOS.

I don't think the Metformin is doing anything for me.

I just wish someone would create a meal plan for me and tell me exactly what to eat. I need a Jenny Craig for PCOS! LOL

I am just curious as to what everyone else does and how you handle your PCOS. I just feel incredibly lost , confused and frustrated.

Chrystal

LoyalAngel16

PCOS does make it all confusing. I have been diagnosed with it for 13 years, but I know for a fact that I had it before that just couldn't find a good doctor. I just pretty much tell the doctors what I want and they do it lol. I had one general practitioner that was very understanding and helpful. She said to keep up with what I am doing and that the PCOS just makes it more difficult to lose the weight, but it would come off as long as I work hard for it.

I personally do the South Beach Diet. I had a cardiologist suggest this diet for me. It is more about the glycemic index than anything. With PCOS, we can't eat like anyone else and lose the weight. Our bodies process foods differently. I find as long as I eat a minimum of whole wheat breads and pastas, then I do my best with the weightloss. I have lost 54 pounds in a year. It is a slow loss but better than weighing 315 pounds.

I understand the pain issue because I have Psoriatic arthritis. Most of my doctors haven't been much help either. I was put on Metformin and it didn't do anything except upset my stomach occasionally. I am on BC for the cycle and spironolactone for the hair growth.

I hope this helps.

IrishChik

I am pretty sure I have had PCOS for quite some time. Many years ago when I was married to my 1st husband we TTC and had no luck. I have been on birth control since I was 15 because of painful and irregular periods so no one thought I had PCOS or just never thought to look. They assumed then it was due to my body just needed to regulate on its own since being on BC for so long. My husband and I divorced after a year of trying for unrelated reasons so I never looked into it further.

My dietician told me I did not have to cut out carbs but switch from whites to wheats and whole grains. Is that how South Beach is? I find Atkins very hard to follow. My dietician had a diebetic plan for me and pretty much everything was allowed in moderation I just had to keep track of carb counts.

The thing that bothers me about the Metformin was that everyone just assumes I am insulin resistent. I know i had a ton of blood tests the last couple of months, but how do they know I am IR? Just because I have PCOS and haven't been able to lose the weight?

I used to have a script for the excess hair. But I never filled it. That doc just gave it to me because I complained about the chin and lip hair. I should ask my new doc about something because it has gotten worse these last couple of years.

Metformin did upset my stomach the first couple of days. It does not bother me anymore. But one thing I have noticed that if I eat too much white - whether it be a cupcake (sugar) , potato, cracker, rice, pasta, I get extremely sick. My step daughter and I have a special place we go for homemade cupcakes. This one little cupcake made me feel like I was going into sugar shock. Well, what I am imaginging a dietbetic sugar shock was like. I became dizzy and very ill. It was worse as the night went on. Before Metofmin I could count carb (and even on Weight Watchers count the points of it) and be fine.

I just hate taking medication. I would rather not be on any of it if I don't have to.

I am going see if I can find my old South Beach books and read up on them. I bought the one when it first came out years ago. I also have them for my ipad beause I wanted the recipes.

Maybe if I win the lottery I can just hire a personal chef! LOL

PS - congrats on the 50 plus pound loss!

LoyalAngel16

South Beach diet is very restrictive the first 2 weeks because you cut out all fruit and breads. But that is where the big part of the weight is lost. It helps curb cravings and jumpstart the weightloss. After the first 2 weeks you slowly add the whole grain wheats. I have become a label reader. You don't have to measure and anything with this diet. You start on first plate and if still hungry you can go back for me. I don't ever feel like I am starving and I eat good.

I think everyone with PCOS has IR. There is some blood work that can be done to be sure. I think the IR is what causes PCOS.

The spironalactone is awesome. It doesn't completely get rid of the hair but it does slow it down after about 6 months. It also is a bit of a diuretic which is always a plus. I have major hair problems and have since I was about 15.

I hate taking medication as well, but hoping after all this hard work, then I can be off them.

I own every single South Beach Diet book. If you want, you can add me as a friend and if you have any questions, then I can help.

ejosborne14

My gynae doctor told me that I have PCOS and because of this I am insulin resistance, i have been on Metformin now for 4 nearly 5 months and i have seen it help with my weight loss, he also told me i would have to work twice as hard to loose weight and should replce anything white with brown and to reduce my carbs which is what i am trying to do, i do think it is a case of trying to find out what works best for you and your PCOS. I have decided to up my excercise slowly, reduce my calorific intake to 1200 and assess the situation in a month as I would like to give this a proper shot, then I will work on reducing my carb intake and go from there.

fmonty

Hi, I understand the confusion. When I was first diagnosed 12 years ago it was by an endocrinologist who immediately prescribed metformin. He also recommended a low carb diet. I started to take it and got on a low carb diet. I lost 100 lbs in 10 months. It was still hard work but I did still see results. My gyno btw was absolutely against me being on metformin. Go figure...

minkakross

most OB GYNs even if they can diagnose PCOS are not experts in treatment so I'm not surprised that all you got was birth control. Also the birth control is likely the cause of your gain not the metformin. My PCP diagnosed me but while she was knowledgeable enough to confirm with an ultrasound and get me started on the appropriate meds she made the referrals to both a PCOS training nutritionist and an endocrinologist. The nutritionist wasn't much help, I think I knew more than she did by the time I had gotten that far. I endocrinologist was a different story, best thing I ever did and I highly recommend this. An endocrinologist will not only be able to sort out your insulin resistance and find the right carb balance for you to reach your goals without spiking your blood sugar but can run all the test needed to balance the hormones that are off set by the PCOS too which includes finding the right formula for birth control so you won't gain weight from it or lose sex drive. It's just my opinion but I find the Southbeach diet is a bit extreme and not all that sustainable. I hope you find your balance, so your pain and PCOS symptoms will be under control and not controlling you.

miranda_mom

I tried South Beach again a few weeks ago - oh my god, I thought I was going to die! And I've done it before, no problem. This time - I was so sick! I think it was the combinations of very low carbs (in the first phase) and the Metformin. Ugh! I wish I didn't have those effects but I did.

fmonty

From what I read many years ago. PCOS is really a problem with your endocrine system. Having cysts in your ovaries is just a symptom of PCOS. Your gyno is qualified to treat that one sympton. Mine tried me on the pill and I only felt worse. What needs to be treated is the bigger picture.

decel20c

I was diagnosed with PCOS around 10 years ago and have been put on a number of diets and drugs that seem to help for a while and then tend to stop or cause worse side effects. For example, I had to stop taking metformin because it caused debilitating migraines, so it is definitely not a one-size-fits-all solution.

For me, what finally is working is the real food diet. Basically you cut all processed foods out of your diet and only eat whole grains, fruits, vegetables, and organic meats and cheeses (I am essentially a vegan most days). Strict adherents to the real food diet also cut cane sugar completely out of their diet, but I have found that to be a bit too difficult to do. Ultimately, it seems that PCOS is very much about how your body reacts to food and if your foods have a lot of hormones, your body is going to have to contend with them as well the ones your body produces on its own.

Best of luck!

meadow_lily

I was diagnosed with pcos after getting a new doctor after having my son in January of this year, my other children are 21, 20, 18, my ob/gyn was extremely surprised that I hadn't become pregnant in 17 years before this, even though I was not on b.c. about a year before I had become pregnant I had started atkins type dieting after basically being at the end of my rope with never losing weight with doctors putting me on the regular 2000 calorie diet since I didn't overeat but they give everyone the cookie cutter response assuming that is everyone's problem, I spoke to my new doctor about the hair growth and the weight problem and frustration of other medical professionals assuming I am sitting around downing 6000 calories of junk food we did some blood work and he put me on spironalactone a few months ago and along with low carb I have lost 25 since and 45 since the baby. basically my doctor thinks that since I had undiagnosed pcos and then did low carb it fixed what ever it is that makes it difficult to get pregnant when you have pcos
I am not diabetic but I did have gestational diabetes, I had to go see a diabetes specialist which was really just a dietitian who gave me the regular 2000 calorie diet with a low carb design consisting of 15-30 carbs breakfast, snacks, I think lunch & dinner were like 30-45 I can't remember because as soon as I had the baby I got right off of that!(you do need the carbs while pregnant) it was almost 300 on the high end total but apparently that is "low carb" to them as most obese people or even the average person takes more that in a day! so if you take in more that 300 its a good and easy diet to follow, I'm very surprised the dietitian doesn't have you cutting carbs?!
I am not really sure what is difficult about atkins for you but basically if you do low carb it is the best bet, I do know atkins induction phase starts at like 20 carbs then you basically take in so many more as you go until you get to what ever number carbs keeps you losing weight, then eventually what ever number just keeps you maintaining the weight you lost but I guess thats just too much weighing and keeping track for me, most people I know doing low carb like I am do under 100 carbs, I personally aim for under 50 just because I need to lose a lot of weight its basically atkins without all the extra stuff just set a goal of 100 carbs (for example) & don't eat over that amount of carbs a day
and yes cupcakes have sugar but so does the flour that made them carbs are sugar, so potatoes, rice, pasta, I don't even eat pasta anymore its like 40 carbs for a 2 ounce serving, not worth it to me, but it sounds to me like you are having maybe a reactive hypoglycemic response when eating too much carbs its from bringing your sugar up then your pill/body has to lower it to fix it but it works over time because you took in so much sugar its extremely low, it would happen to me all the time when I was pregnant because of all the carbs I was taking in and then they had me taking gylburide ?sp ...
also regarding the first part of your post most doctors have very little education about nutrition specifically and they do tend to just hand you a 2000 calorie diet plan or send you to a dietitian, as far as the carb portions vs counting carbs my dietitian said they do that because when you are diabetic/IR they want you to spread out your carbs through out the day just as they have recommended eating though out the day, same concept as it keeps your levels balanced out instead of highs & lows, in theory...try just tracking what you would normally eat for a period of time just to see what your normal calorie and carb intake is and just adjust it after you see what your norm is, it may help
advice: DO track carbs, proteins, non starchy veggies are your best bets, anything else look at label for carb content and don't eat it if doesn't fit into your carb amount for the day (if you chose to do that)
I hope everything work out

presleytitus

The best thing that seems to work for me is to eat as close to "whole" (unprocessed) as possible and exercise! exercise! exercise! Recently joined a spin class and have noticed a big difference in belly weight.
I also cut out all red meat and focus on meeting my nutritional needs (vitamins and healthy fats) versus restricting other foods. I find that in trying to reach those goals I don't even think about what I am not eating.
Although I am not on BC, I am more focused on avoiding heart disease and diabetes than TTC at this point so you are definitely not alone here!