PCOS and Insulin resistance

I would wait to see your doctor. It sounds like you have all of the symptoms and with pcos, it's just a collection of symptoms that make the diagnosis. Keep your sugar to the 45g a day recommended here, stop eating fast burning carbs (aka white carbs).

I had blood work done to confirm PCOS and insulin resistance. For PCOS, they checked my hormone levels. My progesterone is super low, even lower than in men. For insulin resistance, they took my insulin and glucose readings after I'd fasted overnight. Then, they gave me a list of foods to eat and told me to come back no later than two hours after I ate the last bite of food. They took another insulin and glucose sample to compare.

My insulin level 16 hours after fasting was higher than the highest reading for someone who has just eaten. My doctor said that's why I'm so hungry in the morning. My insulin level after I ate was *triple* the highest reading. Basically, I just keep making insulin, constantly, because it's not processing the glucose. My A1C was 5.1, and my post-meal glucose was 90. So, I'm not diabetic, just insulin-resistant. If left untreated, however, insulin resistance can turn into Type 2 diabetes, so please have yourself tested.

He put me on 500mg of Metformin, but it's the extended-release formula and doesn't give me any side effects as long as I take it with a full meal and drink a glass of water with it. The XR pill is meant to be taken after dinner. He said that very few of his patients experience side effects on the XR version, so if your doctor wants you to take it, ask for that.

If you do have insulin resistance, you will need to eat a low-sugar, low-carb diet even if you're taking Metformin. The Metformin is simply there to help your body do its job. If you eat too many carbs and/or too much sugar, it can give you more side effects from the medication, and your body will still struggle to process everything. You don't have to go crazy-low, like Atkins induction or anything. My doctor recommended I eat around 100-120 carbs per day and avoid the white, starchy things like white bread and potatoes.

Metformin can take 3-4 weeks to start working, so you won't feel instant results. Once it does, though, you should have an easier time losing weight. The medicine itself won't make you lose weight, though. It simply processes the glucose properly so that you're storing carbs as energy instead of your liver storing it up and releasing it as fat. It basically gets your body to stop fighting you. You need to keep up your end of it by eating properly.

I had blood work done to confirm PCOS and insulin resistance. For PCOS, they checked my hormone levels. My progesterone is super low, even lower than in men. For insulin resistance, they took my insulin and glucose readings after I'd fasted overnight. Then, they gave me a list of foods to eat and told me to come back no later than two hours after I ate the last bite of food. They took another insulin and glucose sample to compare.

My insulin level 16 hours after fasting was higher than the highest reading for someone who has just eaten. My doctor said that's why I'm so hungry in the morning. My insulin level after I ate was *triple* the highest reading. Basically, I just keep making insulin, constantly, because it's not processing the glucose. My A1C was 5.1, and my post-meal glucose was 90. So, I'm not diabetic, just insulin-resistant. If left untreated, however, insulin resistance can turn into Type 2 diabetes, so please have yourself tested.

He put me on 500mg of Metformin, but it's the extended-release formula and doesn't give me any side effects as long as I take it with a full meal and drink a glass of water with it. The XR pill is meant to be taken after dinner. He said that very few of his patients experience side effects on the XR version, so if your doctor wants you to take it, ask for that.

If you do have insulin resistance, you will need to eat a low-sugar, low-carb diet even if you're taking Metformin. The Metformin is simply there to help your body do its job. If you eat too many carbs and/or too much sugar, it can give you more side effects from the medication, and your body will still struggle to process everything. You don't have to go crazy-low, like Atkins induction or anything. My doctor recommended I eat around 100-120 carbs per day and avoid the white, starchy things like white bread and potatoes.

Metformin can take 3-4 weeks to start working, so you won't feel instant results. Once it does, though, you should have an easier time losing weight. The medicine itself won't make you lose weight, though. It simply processes the glucose properly so that you're storing carbs as energy instead of your liver storing it up and releasing it as fat. It basically gets your body to stop fighting you. You need to keep up your end of it by eating properly.

thanks for this very very complete answer, I've learned a lot of things here.

I had been diagnosed (sort of... just echography) with PCOS (I've never tried to get pregnant so they did not do anything else)
never got any advices from the doctors about diet and food (really guys ?!!!)

Anyway my point is... it's long, it's is a pain.... but it's possible to loose weight even with PCOS. I have been exercising A LOT since the past two years, and started counting my calories (and nutrionnist help) since the beginning of the year. I'm around 22 pounds less since the beginning of the year.
I know some people here do low sugar diet, it seems to work pretty well for them. I still eat in the MFP limitq and it seems to work.

Ofcourse why not getting an endocrinologist apointment if that is possible ?
Good luck and let us know what you decide !

Hi,

I just wanted to say I have PCOS, and have lost weight. I have found the key to it is cutting out sugar and white carbs, and portion control!

I have been doing more exercise to tone up the typical places women with PCOS store fat (the middle-thighs) and thats going quite well.

I have hit a bit of a plateau in recent weeks (though to be fair I have had to break the diet a lot because of summer weddings/ birthday etc) but I think I'm finally breaking through it.

I have lost 25 pounds.

xx

I have pcos/insulin resistance. Aside from being diagnosed there wasn't really a lot my Dr felt he could/should do for me other than try me on metformin (massive fail- it made me feel AWFUL), and advise me to lose weight.
I started my family young so we have managed to have five children (and five miscarriages), despite me only ovulating "properly" once or twice a year.
What has worked for me has been cutting a lot of carbs, sticking to low G.I foods, and avoiding sugar and white flour. (Despite doing that I didn't lose any weight til recently). I used Vitex when I was trying to conceive.
My biggest problems were the cysts and the very painful periods.
Feel free to look in my diary if you like, I still eat fairly low carb, and lean towards the lower GI foods. It's become a habit these days!
I haven't had AF for awhile, not such an issue when not ttc!

I would ask your doctor for blood tests and ultrasound to confirm if you do have PCOS or not (I do have PCOS but am not insulin resistant - I have lost 180+ pounds so you can lose even if you do have PCOS)