Overwhelmed by PCOS

aggelikik wrote: »

RebeccaMaunder wrote: »

Thank you everyone for your responses. I know that my choices with food have been mine alone. I do not blame carbs or anything else for that. I chose to put food on my mouth. My point I was making with the original post was admitting that I've used pcos as an excuse because of what a doc said. I want to change it. I was really looking for helpful ideas for that. I get the cico thing and measuring your food... Which I do sometimes... I need to be consistent but I guess I wanted to know what types of things people are eating what are you doing to combat what you are dealing with.

Thank you all

Calories in calories out. If you are insulin resistant, space your carbs throughout the day. No low carb, just not eating more than 40-60 grams per meal. And exercise. Not just to burn more calories, being physically active on its own helps with PCOS. Nothing dramatic, just half an hour a day or trying to walk a bit more than usual etc.

Would it also be helpful for her, if she is IR, to be mindful of combining her carbs with either fat or protein? I've heard some other people with the condition to find that strategy to be helpful as well.

CarrC83 wrote: »

Yes, she has put on about 30 lbs and is always fatigued was looking for insight as to what things We could try to help get her energy back and help take the weight off. Sometimes it's more effective to ask the question rather than be blunt and turn people away. I apologize for not explaining my intentions right off hand.

Is she being monitored by an endocrinologist? I would honestly start there first especially if she's already on meds because that means they might need to be adjusted. PCOS is not a one solution fits most or even many type situations, and thyroid conditions only further complicate matters.

RebeccaMaunder wrote: »

When I was told I had it the doctor told me that I could eat salads every day and still door overweight of malnutrition.

I'm not sure what you mean by this. Could you restate it?

PCOS by itself is very manageable and really should not cause suffering per se. I was diagnosed more than 20 years ago. I was always able to maintain a healthy weight until I started dealing with some additional, more serious, metabolic issues.

If you are not seeing an endocrinologist, you really should. It sounds like your current doctor might not be giving you the best treatment. Are you taking Metformin?

What about swimming as a way to begin to be more active again? It doesn't put stress on your joints, you don't have to sweat or worry about feeling overheated and it is a good activity because you can easily see your progress.

CarrC83 wrote: »

Yes, she has put on about 30 lbs and is always fatigued was looking for insight as to what things We could try to help get her energy back and help take the weight off. Sometimes it's more effective to ask the question rather than be blunt and turn people away. I apologize for not explaining my intentions right off hand.

That does sound like it could be her thyroid. I would suggest finding a better endo, firstly.

Thyroid issues can be horribly treated by some doctors, especially if they rely on treating patients by the numbers, rather than going by their symptoms to judge the effectiveness of their current treatment.

Use that information to screen when looking for a new doctor. It's really your only hope, because it's sadly the bottom line. If you're wife is still feeling symptoms of hypothyroidism, she's not being properly medicated for it yet. You can test within normal range, but not be within what's optimal for you.

@blankiefinder has a chart she posts with some general guidelines on optimum vs. lab ranges, and to be honest, the optimum numbers listed on her chart are on the high side for my own personal levels. Your wife will need to find a new doctor to find her own number, but the chart will give her a starting reference point to shoot for.

PeachyCarol wrote: »

CarrC83 wrote: »

Yes, she has put on about 30 lbs and is always fatigued was looking for insight as to what things We could try to help get her energy back and help take the weight off. Sometimes it's more effective to ask the question rather than be blunt and turn people away. I apologize for not explaining my intentions right off hand.

That does sound like it could be her thyroid. I would suggest finding a better endo, firstly.

Thyroid issues can be horribly treated by some doctors, especially if they rely on treating patients by the numbers, rather than going by their symptoms to judge the effectiveness of their current treatment.

Use that information to screen when looking for a new doctor. It's really your only hope, because it's sadly the bottom line. If you're wife is still feeling symptoms of hypothyroidism, she's not being properly medicated for it yet. You can test within normal range, but not be within what's optimal for you.

@blankiefinder has a chart she posts with some general guidelines on optimum vs. lab ranges, and to be honest, the optimum numbers listed on her chart are on the high side for my own personal levels. Your wife will need to find a new doctor to find her own number, but the chart will give her a starting reference point to shoot for.

Here it is. Unfortunately, most dr's only care if your numbers are in the abnormal range. I would consider the optimal range to be a good starting point, and then see how she feels.

yarwell wrote: »

SLLRunner wrote: »

We have power over food, food does not have power over us.

and yet I see people with half a million excess calories around their middle lining up to buy donuts and soda, so somethings going on there.

The only power food has over you is the power you give it.

There's a lot of hate going on in this thread and it's pretty sad. Bottom line is no one here is a certified doctor experienced with PCOS. Everyone's body is different, it's not going to be the same as yours.

The OP is clearly struggling and realizes something needs to change. Offering her suggestions like foods that keep you feeling fuller would be a better idea, especially compared to telling her she's overeating and it's her your fault. If you knew so much about PCOS you'd know that depression is usually hot on the trail.

Overeating is usually the issue, but there's a reason. We eat because we're hungry. We're hungry because we have a disease that wants us to eat. It's difficult to deal with, especially when you're depressed.

I'm ashamed to see the lack of support and outright disgusting behaviours by some. The OP was reaching out in desperation for support and all you can say is "you're fat and it's your fault"?

CarrC83 wrote: »

Yes her endo is a *kitten* head, she needs to up the meds but there has to be things we can do now. She gets extremely fatigued after cardio or weights and I've read that yoga is a good option

Re the endo: many of them are useless. (Sorry about that.) Yoga and walking are good.
Be careful doing yoga without a teacher. Breathing yoga techniques on YouTube are great.

KatherineNadeau wrote: »

There's a lot of hate going on in this thread and it's pretty sad. Bottom line is no one here is a certified doctor experienced with PCOS. Everyone's body is different, it's not going to be the same as yours.

The OP is clearly struggling and realizes something needs to change. Offering her suggestions like foods that keep you feeling fuller would be a better idea, especially compared to telling her she's overeating and it's her your fault. If you knew so much about PCOS you'd know that depression is usually hot on the trail.

Overeating is usually the issue, but there's a reason. We eat because we're hungry. We're hungry because we have a disease that wants us to eat. It's difficult to deal with, especially when you're depressed.

I'm ashamed to see the lack of support and outright disgusting behaviours by some. The OP was reaching out in desperation for support and all you can say is "you're fat and it's your fault"?

There are two separate issues here.

Different foods make different people feel fuller, and hunger is a complicated thing and very individual thing, made even more complicated by the issues of PCOS. Each person needs to find a way to do with that individually.

Some people are volume eaters. They find low fat, high volume foods like heaps of spaghetti squash with lashings of pepper and a squirt of lemon juice, or a big bowl of mixed greens and cucumber with some vinegar and a spritz of olive oil to be just the thing. For others? Give them some protein. Yet others? A spoon of peanut butter. Still others? It's a mix of the the two. Pick another person? That peanut butter needs to be on a piece of bread, or give them a baked potato with some yogurt or cottage cheese.

The bottom line all of us really do have to face at some point though? HUNGER IS NOT AN IMPERATIVE. We have control over what we put in our mouths. We make the choice to eat. Some of us face more challenges, and for a while, we may have done a lot of things on autopilot, AND THAT'S OKAY. It's time to acknowledge we're not operating from lack of not understanding how the whole deal works anymore and move forward into a period of life operating with a better understanding of ourselves and how this whole process works.

All of what was said in this thread was said to help the OP understand that.

I think there were a few harsh statements in this thread, namely that being overweight causes PCOS, this just is not true and kind of blaming her for her condition. Weight is at fault for worsening symptoms, but not the cause of the root issues.

I think it is helpful to share that calories in and calories out help, low carb/low GI for me tends to help with regulating my cycle more than just cico. I lost 40 lbs just controlling calories and not carbs but didn't get my hormones under control just doing that.

I think some of us could have been kinder in our explanations, not sure tough love is always required. I am also not sure some of these were intended to be as harsh as maybe they seem without facial expressions or tone of voice. Folks tend to get a bit excited when we see false or misleading information coming from a medical professional of all people.