PCOS Ladies

Metformin will make you feel like crap for a good month, but honestly I might not be here if I hadn't gone on it.
I think it depends on the severity of your PCOS, weather or not you're diabetic or insulin resistant, ect.

It's not a fun drug.
It really does work for me though.

why like crap??? I started it on Monday and so far just some minor stomach issues.

It very well could have been that my diet was THAT bad. If you eat foods with a high fat content, metformin will let you know. Even though my doctor told me this repeatedly I didn't listen. Maybe you'll be one of the lucky ones with no side effects

I've been taking it since April, my dosage was doubled in July (from 500 mg twice a day to 1000 mg twice a day). The difference I was in April was my hair stopped falling out, which was a huge, huge thing for me. Very vain about my hair!
Once it was doubled, I had another major benefit which is that my cycle started again. Seriously - I was having no cycle before and now my last one was only 39 days, still long but almost normal!
As for the side effects, they've gotten better over time. I don't think I automatically lost weight on it - I think most of that was from my own hard work.

I have PCOS, but it tends on the mild side. Other then the wildly irregular periods if I drop the birth control and the difficulty losing weight, I don't have blood sugar issues (I've had this tested so many times it's ridiculous, but I've spent a fairly large portion of my life on Atkin's, or at least trying very hard to minimize my sugar intake as diabetes runs in my family too). I've had the hormone assays done, and they aren't HORRIBLY out of whack. I don't have many of the other side effects either, like bad acne, tons of hair in random places and stuff like that.

As such, my doctor has pretty much refused to put me on Metformin due to my lack of blood sugar issues and the side effects associated with it. I've done a lot of reading on PCOS, and the one thing that stuck out to me the most was the book I read that said that while PCOS women do have the problem with sugar and stuff, that a lot of times the extreme low carb diets don't work that well for them either. Which I found, as Atkin's just refused to work for me anymore. So now I'm trying something fairly moderate, I think I'm set at 40/30/30 carbs/fat/protein. I also try for whole grains, veggies and fruits to get my carbs from, and try hard to avoid heavily processed foods and things high in sugar and the 'white foods'.

Best of luck to you.

I was just diagnosed myself simply becuase I have a cyst that's been checked ONCE. My periods have been all over the place and have started to come more regularly in the past 3 months. I am not taking anything as I'm keeping my fingers crossed my body starts to act 'normally' because I'm so healthy.

I'm very VERY stubborn and haven't started taking anything to 'help' fix this issue. I am probably going to start seeing a friend of mine who does natural healing called the Matrix to fix this. I don't want anymore chemicals in my body. So far, due to terrible eating, i gained about 5lbs in a month and a half.

Can someone explain to me what MFP is? I think I may have a prescription for it.

I was diagnosed with PCOS about 12 years ago. I have never taken anything for it. I tend to eat lower carb (under 100 carbs a day typically) and have lost all my weight that way.

After I had lost about 40 pounds my symptoms started to reduce. Now I have a regular cycle again that is typically pain free.

Hi Ladies!

I have PCOS/Insulin resistance. Definitely looking for friends going through the same thing. I have lost and gained back quickly. So sad. I cannot seem to lose no mater how active I am (at least 4 times a week). I would love to know what you all who have had success are doing/eating. I knew I was getting desperate again when my ears perked up during a diet pill/fat burner commercial :-/ I know I don't want to go down that road again. Made myself very ill at one point taking every diet pill on the market. And Metformin wasn't a good match for me, have tried it on 2 separate occasions

Hi,

I also have PCOS and take Metformin. Once I got over the initial feeling rubbish I found it really helped. I try and restrict my diet to only low GI foods (anything wholemeal or brown coloured) and that seems to be when I loose the most weight. I am absolutely determined to loose the weight this time. I just want to be normal and not always feel like an outsider!

Good luck! You are not alone in this!

I was diagnosed with PCOS too and the only medication my doctor gave me was an anti-androgen pill. My period has been back since but I still have the side effects - obesity, depression, unwanted hair etc. I haven't been back to my doctor for over a year. I'm planning to go back to check if I still have PCOS despite having regular period.

To be honest, I wish I had gone to the doctor as soon as my monthly period stopped coming when I was in college. It could have been treated much sooner and I didn't have to experience depression.

I have PCOS and am not overweight....that seems to be relatively unusual, and I know that it's a blessing, but in a way I feel like I fall through the cracks a bit because of it and I feel isolated. I'm 5'6" 110-115lbs.

My PCOS symptoms are pretty severe: headaches every day, bad acne since I was 12 (I'm 25 now and it's still going strong), I'm losing a LOT of my hair, no recognizable periods but constant spotting (so annoying), one miscarriage- not trying to get pregnant again right now...the list goes on and on!

Despite all these symptoms, I feel like my doctors are marginalizing my concerns because I don't have weight to lose. I'm trying to change my diet a lot (to be lower glycemic) and I drink spearmint tea every day for its anti-androgen effects, but I've had minimal success. So far no prescription meds.

It's comforting to find you ladies. Best of luck in your weight loss goals, and I hope we all have success stories to tell soon.

I was diagnosed a few years ago. I am on the extended release formula of metformin, which has been much easier on my system than the regular version that they tried me on a couple of years ago when I first started. I didn't actually stick with it too long the first time around because it was so miserable. it's hard to really report what has been going on with my cycle though because I've been on and off of different fertility meds for about four years. Without fertility meds like clomid or femara, I've only had three natural cycles in the past seven years. Each time I had one was when I was really in much better shape though, exercising regularly and eating clean. Over this past summer we were finally able to get pregnant for the first time, but I miscarried at 11 weeks. They say that the baby lived through about 9 /12 weeks, which was coincidentally (or maybe not) just one week after they took me off of metformin.

I have PCOS and have dealt with it since I was 16. My biggest obstacle was infertility and hormonal imbalance.

The biggest thing I am going to stress to you, is if you are thinking of taking Metformin as a way to help your body regulate itself, make sure your blood glucose will tolerate it. I was trying to get on it, but was told my sugars done with lab work were too low to initate that kind of treatment. It would not be pleasant for you deal with hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) because then people will be pumping you full of high calorie/high sugar foods/snacks.

Also, my doctor had me change up my diet configuration eating substaintually more protein (30% of daily intake) and significantly less carbs (I want to say 40%?). Exact diet adjustments might be better determined by an endocrinoligist as it is part of their specialty or from there they might refer you to a nutritionist that will help you define a eating plan specific to you and your metabolism. And when eating carbs only sticking to the whole grains or those found in naturally in foods.

Good luch with everything.