PCOS- What works?

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  • zaellany
    zaellany Posts: 57 Member
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    Here is what I need help with if anyone can...
    1. I am most worried about my hair loss. I know. This isn't life ending. But it seriously depresses me. And I don't want it to get worse. The OB/GYN said it should help. But after reading stuff on the internet I am terrified that it is going to make it worse. Any body have a good experience with this? Like birth control helping with the hair loss? The OB/GYN said my androgen was slightly elevated which apparently causes the male pattern baldness symptoms. I am currently using Rogaine which was pretty effective although the OB/GYN prescribed Provera to kick start the period and it caused major hair shedding.
    2. The second would be this....is it even necessary for me to treat this? I don't mind not having a period. I am not going to have kids. The only detriment would be the worry about cancer. But I cant seem to find any definite studies or sources about the cancer risk?

    Spirono will arrest your hair loss and then eventually your hair will grow back; I say this because this happened to me. I was losing hair in fistfuls when I started spirono and now my hair is so thick they have to texturize/thin it, when I go to get it cut. You may need to print out articles on spirono and take them to your OB/GYN so they understand what you're talking about. Spirono is a blood-pressure drug that has anti-androgen effects and it was traditionally prescribed to older men.

    The big cancer risk with PCOS is endometrial cancer, especially if you aren't having periods. The association is not ironclad, but this article gives a good overview: http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/763153
    Breast cancer - everything I have read and what my docs have told me is that we actually have a LOWER rate of breast cancer (that doesn't mean NO risk, so do your self-exams). Ovarian cancer is a tossup. I think there's been one study about liver cancer that concluded the risk was more related to nonalcoholic fatty liver disease than PCOS. There are other reasons to treat your PCOS, that are outlined in this article: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2683463/
    One thing a lot of people don't know: there is a 4x-10x increased risk (depending on the study) of heart disease and sudden cardiac death in PCOSers that REMAINS CONSTANT REGARDLESS OF BODY MASS, meaning even thin PCOSers have a higher risk. (http://atvb.ahajournals.org/content/15/7/821.abstract, http://www.karger.com/ProdukteDB/Katalogteile/isbn3_318/_022/_38/fhore40_03.pdf) The cardiac risk comes from elevated androgen levels, not necessarily body mass, insulin resistance or blood lipids. This is one reason why "just lose weight" is not an adequate treatment for PCOS. Even thin cysters should consider antiandrogenic treatment to mitigate heart disease risk, but convincing doctors that you need it is apparently pretty difficult.

    HTH
  • s_yeatts
    s_yeatts Posts: 753
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    So low carb is the best way to go?? I've been counting calories and the weight isn't budging...
  • fatninja111
    fatninja111 Posts: 24 Member
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    Thank you ellamay77 for your information. One further question? Would the spirono regulate periods if it would lower the androgens? Or is that something that only the BC pill will do?
  • zaellany
    zaellany Posts: 57 Member
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    Thank you ellamay77 for your information. One further question? Would the spirono regulate periods if it would lower the androgens? Or is that something that only the BC pill will do?

    I honestly don't have a clue...this would be something to research. I do know that my reproductive endo told me that regulating periods without progesterone (even with Metformin, Spirono) etc. was really hard.

    Two things you might consider to mitigate your endometrial cancer risk: getting either an IUD, or doing endometrial ablation (the latter is permanent, forever birth control). I've seen a couple of articles on how IUDs are recommended for PCOSers specifically for uterine health reasons - I don't have time to search a link at the moment, but if you Google, you should be able to find them. Endometrial ablation would have the same, much more permanent, effect.
  • mzbek24
    mzbek24 Posts: 436 Member
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    I had it, diagnosed in July 2012. I actually 'knew' well guessed it based on the symptoms. My periods would stop and start and I was moody as hell at those times( I mean a lot more than usual PMS) my body seemed to be developing more hair in weird places, I had acne worse than I ever had.

    Basically, I had a the cysts on my ovaries, which they took an ultrasound for, and only a slight hormone imbalance revealed from my blood tests, where I had too much testosterone.

    I saw a specialist referred from my doctor and all he basically told me was "Get down to 65kg" :|

    I still haven't got anywhere near that low, but I'm 76kg.
    I asked to be put on the pill to help the hormones, and I took on a low GI diet which resembled sort of a diabetes type fo diet (I got a bunch of recipe books)

    And basically just from those two things I managed to show no signs of PCOS by November of 2012. (I went to hospital with pains in my stomach and they did an ultrasound to see if a cyst had burst) I also joined a gym and got some personal training in that time, but it wasn't very consistent and lasted maybe about 2 months.

    My best friend has it as well, but worse than I had. She has now lost 30kg...and she got a personal trainer, joined a gym, and joined some team sport. That helped her stay accountable.
  • Dragonwolf
    Dragonwolf Posts: 5,600 Member
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    So low carb is the best way to go?? I've been counting calories and the weight isn't budging...

    As evidenced by this thread, "best" is debatable, but it is one of the most consistently successful methods, yes. I also recommend going the whole foods route (which can happen by default with very low carb, but not always, and a lot of people include artificial sweeteners), which cuts out a large amount of the non-insulin-related crap that is in processed foods.

    Make sure to include strength training in your workouts, too. Not only does it help bone health, but also appears to help the endocrine hormones regulate.
    Two things you might consider to mitigate your endometrial cancer risk: getting either an IUD, or doing endometrial ablation (the latter is permanent, forever birth control). I've seen a couple of articles on how IUDs are recommended for PCOSers specifically for uterine health reasons - I don't have time to search a link at the moment, but if you Google, you should be able to find them. Endometrial ablation would have the same, much more permanent, effect.

    I didn't know this about IUDs! I have one simply because I'm horrible about exact timing for pills and the other alternatives did a number on my system in more ways than one. I also like that it has a lower dose of hormones (or none at all if you get the copper one). It's cool to see it has other benefits.
  • candidcamster
    candidcamster Posts: 44 Member
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    I have this condition, symptom-wise it is under control (TOM is pretty regular every month, sometimes off by a few days, but it always shows up) and recently my cramps even went away *woohoo*. lol Anyhow I read seaweed is good for this condition (I eat Trader Joe's Roasted seaweed or Annie Chun's roasted seaweed snacks) because of the high vitamin & mineral content, especially iodine which many of us are deficient in and don't even realize it (this can give your thyroid a much needed boost depending on the person, it helped me). I also recommend looking into Chasteberry/Vitex (I get mine from Puritan's Pride in liquid dropper form) to help regulate your TOM and help alleviate symptoms of PCOS. I am not on medication, and the only meds I've taken for this condition is birth control which I had a bad reaction to (years ago).
    HTH

    By the way you're doing a fantastic job, maintaining is not gaining, if what you're doing isn't working try switching it up, I'd check out low-calorie plans (1500 calories a day, something like that).
  • Bethie_J
    Bethie_J Posts: 43 Member
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    bump to read later.
  • HappyStack
    HappyStack Posts: 802 Member
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    So low carb is the best way to go?? I've been counting calories and the weight isn't budging...

    Your calories are way too low most days if your diary is logged accurately. If it isn't, you haven't been counting calories. A fully logged day here and there isn't going to do it. Also, a lot of your fully logged days show very high amounts of "calories earned" from exercise. If you're not totally sure that's accurate, it probably isn't, and you're probably overeating even though you think you aren't if you "eat calories back". Most people will aim to eat 50% of them back, at most, but others - to be more accurate - will use a TDEE calculator (search for it), focus on attaining those calories and not log exercise.

    It would be best if your macros (protein, fat and carbs) were protein-driven, too. So a higher-protein diet, which will help prevent muscle-mass wastage while you lose weight.

    Log at least 3-4 weeks with no loss of 0.5-1lb (up to 2lbs if you're very overweight) a week before deciding counting calories "doesn't work" for you.

    I would also reiterate what Dragonwolf says about whole foods and strength training, and what mzbek said about joining some sort of gym class/team sport to keep you accountable and make sure you exercise.
  • uchube
    uchube Posts: 44
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    As I understand it, one of the primary culprits behind weight loss difficulties for PCOS women is the underlying insulin resistance. That's not unique to PCOS. What works for "not normal" PCOS women works for just about all "normal" overweight people.
    What you may not understand is the level of insulin-resistance with PCOS is very similar to that of a type II diabetic. Not all "normal" overweight people are diagnosed diabetics. Many don't even get diagnosed with pre-diabetes or even metabolic-syndrome... (even though, yes, they may have some insulin-resistance ... just not as much as someone with PCOS.)

    As such the dietary restrictions for healthy PCOS lifestyle and weight-loss are different than for "normal" overweight individuals.


    Thank you for saying this in the manner you did................I was not going to come off as nice saying the same thing.

    Some people fail to realize the amount of damage that PCOS does causing Metabolic damage. A lot of people are merely overweight and that is why they can eat the same way as they did, just smaller portions and lose weight just fine.

    The rest of us that are damaged in the way of hormonal imbalances from IR / T2 Diabetes, Thyroid issues and then the female hormone issues from PCOS are a totally different story.


    agreed

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