Active members please introduce yourself...
IslandSneezerooo
Posts: 268 Member
Hi there,
This is a massive group, so I thought it would be fun to start an intro thread so we can get to know each other. Here's some questions to get us started:
Stats? I'm 38 yo, happily married, have an 11 yo son. I live on the west coast of Canada on a rural gulf island. From my front door it's a 20 min walk to the beach. SW: 295 lbs, CW: 288.1 lbs, GW: 170 lbs
What do you do for a living? I'm a freelance graphic designer and co-own a hair salon with my hubs (he's been a stylist for over 20 years and I do all the business/admin stuff).
What do you do for fun? I'm very introverted so I enjoy alone time, I've really gotten into working out this year, started doing yoga, I love to menu plan and cook meals. Family time is my favourite time. I am very close to one of my aunties and we do a lot of stuff together. We like doing family meals, music jams, camping, beach combing, kayaking, trail hikes...
Are you following any particular dietary plan? If so, what? I'm using the MFP guidelines and aiming to exceed the protein and stay well under the carbs. For the past 5 weeks I've been slowly adding more exercise everyday... Not losing much weight, but feeling a tiny bit more fit.
How old were you when you first started having symptoms? 15 years old
How did you first find out you had PCOS? When were you officially dx'd? I had a cyst burst (holy freakin' pain!!) when I was 15 yo and again when I was 19. My family doctor told me it was ovarian cysts that had burst. At the time (early 90's) there was no known treatment other than putting you on BCP, and my super conservative religious parents would have no part in that! LOL I wasn't officially diagnosed till I was in my 30's, by a fertility specialist.
What PCOS treatments have you done? Results? BCP for 2 years. Could NOT get my cycles restarted when I went off, spent a number of years using progesterone to induce TOM to start. Metformin for 1 year. Made me very ill (stomach pain and digestive issues), gained 50 lbs very quickly, didn't get pregnant. TCMD put me on strict candida/anti-inflammatory regime/dietary plan, got pregnant after 5 months on plan, also balanced blood sugar, no more intense cravings or blood sugar crashes, also identified a wheat and soy allergy... Multiple attempts to do low carb diets, very little weight loss, loads of cravings... Vegetarian whole foods diet for a few years, became very anemic. Did the highly controversial HCG protocol for almost a year in 2011. Lost 45 lbs quite easily, cycles regulated and stayed regular (35-37 days apart), but regained weight as soon as I went off the VLCD phase.
If you have a child/children, did you get pregnant with our without fertility treatments? Despite only have 3 cycles that year, and my doctor saying I couldn't get pregnant because I wasn't ovulating, I miraculously got pregnant before starting any treatments. I was actually at my doc's office to get a referral to a fertility specialist, they did a routine pregnancy test, and turned out I was 7 weeks pregnant already! Had a healthy normal pregnancy and had a healthy 8 lb 8 oz baby boy at term.
When I was in my early 30's I got remarried, and we wanted to have a baby together, but weren't having any luck TTC so started seeing a fertility specialist together. Turned out the hubs had infertility issues too, had surgery to correct one issue, but nothing worked... That's when I did metformin for a year, and we were discussing other options, but because I had so many cysts, the doctor told me my chances of having a high order multiple birth were super high, so we decided to forego other drugs. A TCMD put our whole family on a candida/anti-inflammatory diet/cleanse. I got pregnant after 5 months, but unfortunately I had a pretty traumatic miscarriage (hemorrhaging, middle of the night transport to emerg via speedboat, emerg D&C surgery) and decided to have a tubal ligation a few months later.
Are you done building your family or still TTC? We're done. We looked into foster care and adoption, but we own a tiny house and aren't eligible due to lack of space.
This is a massive group, so I thought it would be fun to start an intro thread so we can get to know each other. Here's some questions to get us started:
Stats? I'm 38 yo, happily married, have an 11 yo son. I live on the west coast of Canada on a rural gulf island. From my front door it's a 20 min walk to the beach. SW: 295 lbs, CW: 288.1 lbs, GW: 170 lbs
What do you do for a living? I'm a freelance graphic designer and co-own a hair salon with my hubs (he's been a stylist for over 20 years and I do all the business/admin stuff).
What do you do for fun? I'm very introverted so I enjoy alone time, I've really gotten into working out this year, started doing yoga, I love to menu plan and cook meals. Family time is my favourite time. I am very close to one of my aunties and we do a lot of stuff together. We like doing family meals, music jams, camping, beach combing, kayaking, trail hikes...
Are you following any particular dietary plan? If so, what? I'm using the MFP guidelines and aiming to exceed the protein and stay well under the carbs. For the past 5 weeks I've been slowly adding more exercise everyday... Not losing much weight, but feeling a tiny bit more fit.
How old were you when you first started having symptoms? 15 years old
How did you first find out you had PCOS? When were you officially dx'd? I had a cyst burst (holy freakin' pain!!) when I was 15 yo and again when I was 19. My family doctor told me it was ovarian cysts that had burst. At the time (early 90's) there was no known treatment other than putting you on BCP, and my super conservative religious parents would have no part in that! LOL I wasn't officially diagnosed till I was in my 30's, by a fertility specialist.
What PCOS treatments have you done? Results? BCP for 2 years. Could NOT get my cycles restarted when I went off, spent a number of years using progesterone to induce TOM to start. Metformin for 1 year. Made me very ill (stomach pain and digestive issues), gained 50 lbs very quickly, didn't get pregnant. TCMD put me on strict candida/anti-inflammatory regime/dietary plan, got pregnant after 5 months on plan, also balanced blood sugar, no more intense cravings or blood sugar crashes, also identified a wheat and soy allergy... Multiple attempts to do low carb diets, very little weight loss, loads of cravings... Vegetarian whole foods diet for a few years, became very anemic. Did the highly controversial HCG protocol for almost a year in 2011. Lost 45 lbs quite easily, cycles regulated and stayed regular (35-37 days apart), but regained weight as soon as I went off the VLCD phase.
If you have a child/children, did you get pregnant with our without fertility treatments? Despite only have 3 cycles that year, and my doctor saying I couldn't get pregnant because I wasn't ovulating, I miraculously got pregnant before starting any treatments. I was actually at my doc's office to get a referral to a fertility specialist, they did a routine pregnancy test, and turned out I was 7 weeks pregnant already! Had a healthy normal pregnancy and had a healthy 8 lb 8 oz baby boy at term.
When I was in my early 30's I got remarried, and we wanted to have a baby together, but weren't having any luck TTC so started seeing a fertility specialist together. Turned out the hubs had infertility issues too, had surgery to correct one issue, but nothing worked... That's when I did metformin for a year, and we were discussing other options, but because I had so many cysts, the doctor told me my chances of having a high order multiple birth were super high, so we decided to forego other drugs. A TCMD put our whole family on a candida/anti-inflammatory diet/cleanse. I got pregnant after 5 months, but unfortunately I had a pretty traumatic miscarriage (hemorrhaging, middle of the night transport to emerg via speedboat, emerg D&C surgery) and decided to have a tubal ligation a few months later.
Are you done building your family or still TTC? We're done. We looked into foster care and adoption, but we own a tiny house and aren't eligible due to lack of space.
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Replies
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Stats:
36, SW 222, CW 180 (ish) GW 170 (is) TBD
What do you do for fun?
I'm an introvert too so hang out at home spend time with my daughter and BF.
Are you following any particular dietary plan? If so, what?
Paleo, Low Carb (not keto) and to make things more complicated I've a list of food intolerances an arm's length long.
How old were you when you first started having symptoms?
Puberty...my cycle was never normal, I starved myself to maintain an almost normal weight, plus by the time I was a later teen I had obvious male pattern hair growth
How did you first find out you had PCOS? When were you officially dx'd?
I was diagnosed in my 20's when I was researching on causes of hirsutism.
What PCOS treatments have you done? Results?
I've never had a MD willing to treat me with much more than BC pills. However I've been seeing a ND (Naturopathic Doctor) since September 2014 with very positive results. Currently on Vitex and Inositol.
If you have a child/children, did you get pregnant with our without fertility treatments?
I did have one child after about 6 years of not trying to prevent pregnancy. I had a lot of anxiety issues at the time and didn't want to compound things by adding pressure to get pregnant. I didn't have a healthy pregnancy and ended up on bed rest due to preeclampsia, and almost delivered at full term (36 weeks).
Are you done building your family or still TTC?
I'm pretty sure I'm done...certainly not TTC, but I wouldn't be opposed to a second child
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Stats? I'm almost 27 (on the 14th!), married since 2010, and I have a 19 month old. He's the light of my life. My first major goal is losing 73 more lbs (from today) but I know I'll want to lose more from there.
What do you do for a living? I'm mostly a SAHM, but I work PT from home in the evenings - M-R. I work for a company that helps higher ed institutions with their fundraising - specifically I coach college students who do their phonathons.
What do you do for fun? I don't have time to have fun now. I like to read. I wish I had time to workout - looking forward to the spring so I can use our jogging stroller. I enjoy music, crafts, sewing, and traveling/exploring but a lot of that has to be put on hold until my son is older.
Are you following any particular dietary plan? If so, what? "Everything in moderation." I try to stay within my MFP goals and make healthier choices but I do indulge.
How old were you when you first started having symptoms? Puberty... but was not dx until 19. Prior to that I didn't care that I wasn't getting periods.
How did you first find out you had PCOS? When were you officially dx'd? I always knew something wasn't right because my periods were never regular... however I didn't really care about pursuing it and didn't really know about PCOS until I was in college. I was dx at 19 when I wanted to get on BCP.
What PCOS treatments have you done? Results? BCP and spiro until I decided it was time for TTC. I had just turned 22 and quit the BCP - gained 80 lbs in 10 months (my best friend passed away a month after I quit BCP and I do believe the stress/trauma of finding her contributed to my problems). I saw an endo who was useless. She wanted me to go on BCP and lose weight - which I had already done, and had no plan on how to prevent the massive weight gain when coming off of it. I will never use hormonal birth control again because I honestly believe it worsens my condition and it's a band-aid instead of addressing the issue. I used provera to induce my period once but provera made me go insane so I opted for prometrium. I only had to use it twice.
If you have a child/children, did you get pregnant with our without fertility treatments? It took me nearly 2 years to get a regular cycle without having to induce periods. I was on metformin for a very long time with no success - it was not until I added vitex and licorice root that I started to see success. After about 6 months of things getting more and more regular, something finally "clicked," I lost 20 lbs and got pregnant right away. I had a very healthy pregnancy, no problems at all, loved being pregnant... everything finally worked the way it should. I went into labor the day of my original due date and had my son the next morning. I was also successfully able to breast feed, which can be a problem for women with PCOS, and I'm proud to report that nursing relationship is still going strong. (This and cloth diapers are the only things that make me slightly crunchy. I am not sorry.)
Are you done building your family or still TTC? We are definitely not done - we want 3 more, God willing - but we are not TTC at this time. We are planning on starting to try for baby #2 in a year.
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Stats?
33 yrs old, married in 2005, 2 kids (5 yrs and 16 mos), SW: 197, CW: 177 (was down to 168, then I stopped breastfeeding!), GW: 165 (I'm also 5'11")
What do you do for a living?
Stay at home mom! I volunteer with church and civic organizations. My career background is social work
What do you do for fun?
Cook/bake, relax with the family, try to be crafty
Are you following any particular dietary plan? If so, what?
Basically I have cut out added sugar. The first couple of days were awful, but I feel so much better now.
How old were you when you first started having symptoms?
Puberty too! I never had regular periods. My first burst cyst was at 17 yrs old.
How did you first find out you had PCOS? When were you officially dx'd?
Not officially diagnosed until age 30. My dr in high school basically said, "you might have PCOS, but we won't know until you try to have kids. So here, take birth control pills in the meantime." I'm hopeful that teen girls are actually having their insulin levels tested now instead of being told to wait like I was.
What PCOS treatments have you done? Results?
BCP from age 17 until 27 when I tried to get pregnant. After 1st child, went back on BCP pills until 29 when we tried for another. After a miscarriage and then 6 months without ovulating I was tested, diagnosed, and put on Metformin (1500 mg/day). It was a miracle for me! I lost 25 lbs in about four months, it regulated my cycle for the first time in my life, and we finally had baby 2
If you have a child/children, did you get pregnant with our without fertility treatments?
No fertility treatments. Got pg with #1 very easily, only took 3 months off of BCP. Had two miscarriages while trying for #2, but we were able to get pg after 2 years of trying. If the Metformin had not worked, my dr was going to try Clomid, but we never got to that point.
Are you done building your family or still TTC?
Done with being pregnant - after two miscarriages and two c-sections, I had four uterine surgeries in four years. That's enough for my body! We hope to adopt one day.0 -
Stats?
43, Married 24 years this December, 3 Children (8,13,21) 1 Grandchild (10 months)
SW 200 CW 186 (was 164 but backslid to the 'old ways') GW 145
What I do for a living
I worked customer service for 20 years. Currently I work daycare I my home
What do I do for fun
Anything that involves my family and children. I love to scrapbook and photography.
Dietary Plan
Reducing carb and eliminating sugars. Stay away from processed foods as much as possible.
How old when DX
Officially DX in my late 20's by OBGYN after ultrasound. Brought up symptoms dismissed by reg doc when I was younger. Always knew something was not right. Never had regular cycles when mentioned to doctors was just told I was young and my body needs time to adjust. Only regulated with BCP.
Treatments
BCP @ 17 regulated cycles. After DX by OBGYN began Metformin, reg cycles again (was no longer on BCP) only took about a year. Currently on Spir all but stopped dark hair growth on arms and toes. Slowed down growth of facial hair.
If you have a child/children, did you get pregnant with our without fertility treatments?
First child, no treatment got preg first cycle coming off BCP.
Second Child, 4 years trying with minimal medical intervention. Few rounds of Clomid. When unsuccessful sent to fertility specialist. Shot, Ultrasounds, and other procedures. Discontinued visits after a year and then became preg.
Third Child, Post PCOS DX had begun Metformin. After everything we tried for our second we did not think it was possible to have a third. Was not trying was not preventing and was blessed with our surprise child.
Are you done building your family or still TTC?
We are finished. The pregnancy and delivery of our last child was complicated ending in an emergency delivery and post instructions to 'lets not do that again.'
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