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PCOS Support Thread


lauraska

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How are you all doing? Any noticeable changes? I'm on day 25, and sad to say I'm still tired and a little broken out. Also still waiting on my cycle, but not sure when that'll happen since I stopped breastfeeding about 3 wks ago...probably a lot of shifting hormones in my body right now!

I'm still low on energy, and reluctant to eat starchy carbs very often b/c I'm afraid it'll stall any weight loss that might be occurring. Any lessons learned or tips to share? Hope you are all doing great!

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I staggered during my last week because I was on vacation with my very difficult father-in-law, so I'm back on the wagon today for Whole9's official Whole30 for the month of August. I'm too type A to let this go without having a perfect 30 days!

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Total progress is obviously gonna take some time (for me anyway). Although I finished my Whole 30 a week and a half ago, I haven't reintroduced anything other than wine (love my wine, haha). I basically want to keep going through a full cycle to see what happens. Well, my period, which is irregular of course due to the PCOS has never been this late...I'm on like day 51, which is long for me (normally somewhere between 40 and 46 days (and I'm not pregnant). I had cramps a few days ago but nothing seemed to materialize so who the heck knows. I feel like everyday is an adventure with PCOS, lol :P However, I did lose some body fat during my whole 30 so I think maybe that is having an impact? We'll see............

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Hey Ali!

Are you eating enough healthy fats? And eating enough at meals? And sleeping at least 8 hours a night? That could be affecting your energy levels.

In July I noticed when I didn't eat as much my energy would tank and the one night I stayed up super late I was lethargic and cranky a couple of days after.

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Michele, I really do think I'm getting enough fat...I really sometimes wonder if I'm overeating, but I do feel hunger (sounds stupid, but I used to eat meals on a schedule, not necessarily because I was hungry...). And I do sleep about eight hours a night...my 3.5 month old is a great sleeper, though I do wake several times through the night to check him and once to visit the bathroom.

After reading some posts on the Paleo for Women blog (thanks for referring it, Shannon) I think I may need to back off fruit a little and maybe allocate those carb calories to more starchy veg. Going to try that and see how I feel. If I have real adrenal fatigue, which I have suspected, it seems reasonable it may take a little longer to feel better.

Oh, and I almost blew it last night. Cooked pasta for my husband to eat under melissa joulwan's chocolate chili recipe (so good), and started to test the pasta for doneness. It touched my tongue before I realized "I can't eat this!" Close call!

Shannon, I hope your cycle starts soon...that's a good idea to keep on Whole30 til it starts.

Laura, nothing like family to push your buttons, huh? Glad you're not letting it stop you from 30 good days! My dad arrives in a week, so I'm going to start planning our meals so I can make those reintroduction days work best for me - that's the plan anyway!

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Hi there. I hope you all don't mind if I join in. I am starting my Whole30 tomorrow (missed the August 1 bandwagon) and I also have PCOS. My PCOS road is long and winding, but the gist is that I had fertility issues that were resolved by Metformin (which restored my non-existent cycles) and bromocriptine (because apparently I had high prolactin). After I stopped breastfeeding my first daughter, my cycles returned without any drugs. My second daughter just turned 1 and I still nurse her at night, but I'm expecting my cycle to (hopefully) return sometime soon. Aside from the general health benefits of the Whole30 way of eating, I hope to alleviate the hormonal imbalances associated with PCOS. (I've been breaking out lately and shedding more hair in addition to waiting for my cycle to return.) I quit eating gluten and dairy before I got pregnant with daughter number two, which helped me lose a bit of weight. Now I want to finally get off the sugar as well. Even though I have normal A1c and my glucose challenge tests are always normal, my understanding is that people with PCOS are thougt to have some underlying degree of insulin resistance. Since my mom is teetering on the brink of being diabetic, I want to do what I can now to avoid that fate for myself.

It sounds like you ladies are well on your way. I'm excited to get started!

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Annie, glad to have you join us! I'm on day 30 today, but plan to be around here for awhile because I feel good about eating this way...regardless of what the scale says tomorrow. I'm still waiting on my first cycle after having my almost four month old,but my skin has improved over the past month. Hope this works well for you, too!

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Well, day 1 went pretty well. I had a little trouble with cravings though. I have been in the habit of having some sort of chocolate dessert after dinner as well as a late afternoon candy snack. During those times of day, I had a difficult time diverting my focus to get through the craving...

Alijac, how was it for you getting through the whole 30 days? Did you find it difficult to begin with? Also, if you don't mind my asking, did you notice a change in your body composition?

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Annie, I should have mentioned that it was definitely challenging at the beginning - I felt kind of foggy and headachy. You are definitely in the normal range of experience - not sure if that makes you feel better, but for what it's worth. I did lean a little heavier on fruit, getting two largish servings each day, to start in order to help the sugar withdrawal.

I didn't measure my body comp. I did take measurements, and didn't notice a real change, but I think my 5.2 lbs lost came from the area between my waist measurement (at the navel) and my bust - which is probably more my natural waist, and a healthy place to start losing from.

Keep up the good work - it DOES get easier!

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Glad to see this topic already has plenty of action! I was diagnosed with PCOS at age 17 (am now 32) and was on birth control for ten years before trying to get pregnant. With all the infertility issues associated with PCOS, I have been unable to get pregnant. I've seen several specialists and tried clomid and ... the process goes on.

But! One of the things that my specialists have stressed is that "low-carb" diets (into which category the Whole30 nominally fits because it removes so much refined sugar, even though it doesn't specifically focus on cutting carbs) work really well for women with PCOS who want to lose weight. That was me -- I was 190 pounds at my heaviest and even with Crossfit and a moderately-paleo diet I hovered around 175 for several years which kept me firmly in the "overweight" category of BMI charts. No matter what I tried I couldn't seem to lose weight and it frustrated me to try diets (like Atkins) with my husband, only to find at the end of a month that he would lose fifteen pounds while I tried to be happy with my 2-pound weight loss. Last October, I decided to do a Whole30 -- we were already bread-less and didn't have any dairy in the house so I think the transition was easier than it could have been. I had a goal of losing five pounds for the month, which seemed almost an unreasonable goal to me given my past experiences. At the end of the Whole30 I was shocked to find that I had lost TEN pounds that month, and since continuing to eat better in the past year, my weight has stabilized around 155 pounds -- twenty pounds lighter than I was last year, and finally at a weight that all the charts agree is "normal" rather than "overweight" for my frame.

I am in the middle of my second Whole30 right now, and am still trying to get pregnant. Here's hoping that this lower body weight will make the drugs more effective and help get my body to do what it is supposed to be doing. My doctor just put me on Metformin at a low dose, so I am interested to see what effects that will have during the Whole30 since I'm not consuming a ton of sugars to begin with. Has anyone else had experience taking Metformin while doing their Whole30?

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Hi everyone...just thought I'd check in and say hello and see how you all were doing. I just got back from a week's vacation (camping). For the most part I am quite proud of myself for staying on track although I finished my Whole30 a couple weeks ago. I continue to eat paleo (no dairy, grains, etc.) although I did have corn on the cob once (with coconut butter) and also consumed a fair bit of wine...I was on vacation after all, haha. Other than that, it was pretty easy and I didn't find myself swayed by my family's (non-Whole30-ish) snacking and whatnot. Overall, I am still feeling sooooooo much better but had some random digestive issues the past couple days so not sure what's up with that...maybe the vacation catching up to me? I have some food allergies too and am super strict but it's also possible I ate something contaminated. Still waiting on my next cycle to start and I haven't had one since before starting Whole30...day 62 going strong, grrrrrrrr.

Alijac, how is your post-30 days going? Have you reintroduced anything yet?

Annie & Kit, welcome to the forum!

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Lauraska, in your original post you used words and phrases like "fight tooth and nail" and "combat." I just wanted to say that it really helps me to stay open to healing by fully embracing the process of changing my lifestyle for good. Rather than bracing yourself for the fight of your life, you might try thinking of it as a rite of passage or a journey.

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Ummm...Suzy? I guess I appreciate what you are saying but found it to be pretty condescending. I don't think there was anything about my post that indicated I was resistant to changing my life at all. In fact, I think the very fact that I am currently on my SECOND Whole30 indicates that I've accepted this change whole-heartedly. If seeing my PCOS as a battle to be won is what motivates me, here, I don't really think that a complete stranger has any right to tell me that my approach is wrong. Plus, if you'd truly read what I was saying, you would have seen that with the exception of my comment about getting medication to combat insulin resistence, I was speaking about what my struggles had been in the past. Because it really HAS felt like a war between me and my body up until now. Honestly, though, I don't really feel like I should have to justify that.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaanyway, it's been a while since I posted and I've been meaning to say how flat-out happy I am that so many people have written to share their stories. I'm doing great on day 13 of my second round with this and I think this is going to just be the way I eat from here on out, with the occasional option to go "off plan" once this Whole30 is done. (A girl's gotta have an ice cream every ONCE in a while!)

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I can sympathize with you Lauraska - there are definitely times I feel like I am battling and at war with my body because it's not "working" the way it "should". Some days I am just flat out angry. Most days I try (and mostly successfully) to think of it more as a journey towards healing. I do really believe this is a journey to better health...however, I think for the most part I have done a lot of things "right" in my life in terms of trying to live a healthy lifestyle and it makes me resentful that there are certainly others who have not and do not have PCOS, infertility, food allergies, digestive complaints, etc like me. Anyway, what I'm saying is, I think most of us can relate to what you're saying. We just gotta stay the course and do the best we can, right? :)

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Oh yeah, on another note........have any of you ladies taken Provera (progesterone) to induce a period? Since mine is going on past 2 months without one (which might not be that long for PCOS but definitely not normal), my endo gave me a prescription to take it for 10 days and it should kick-start my body and give me a period. I am supposed to start taking it tomorrow.

Anyone taken it? Any weird side-effects (I know everyone is different)? Also, I am trying to figure out if it is gluten-free and egg-free (intolerances)...the pharmacist was less than helpful and had no idea. I can't find any info on the internet. I will call the pharmacy tomorrow (and hopefully speak to a different pharmacist) otherwise call my doctor before taking it.

I just hope it doesn't mess up my digestion since it's been a lot better since the Whole30.

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Shantess, we are totally on the same page. :)

I have taken Provera to induce a period, but in my case it was because I had to have a period before I could start clomid - which is how I conceived my 16-month old son. I didn't have problems with the provera other than sore boobs, but since going on metformin I have learned that sore boobs are actually a normal part of having a period and I just didn't know that since I'd NEVER had a normal menstrual cycle. (When you go through that for more than half your life, I think you earn the right to sometimes call it a "battle.") I did experience some yucky side effects of the clomid but I don't remember anything bad about the Provera.

Good luck!

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Thanks Lauraska!

Just wanted to link to this article, which was on the Whole30 facebook page. http://www.newswise.com/articles/white-blood-cells-mediate-insulin-resistance

It talks about the growing information on how systemic inflammation is linked to metabolic disturbance and insulin resistance (which, as I'm sure we know, is linked to PCOS). I found this kind of timely because I've been thinking about this a fair bit since doing the Whole30 as the link between insulin resistance and PCOS never completely made sense to me (since not all women with PCOS are insulin resistant, while on the other hand many are). The more I learn, the more I started to wonder if PCOS might be tied more directly to systemic inflammation (or autoimmunity even) than insulin resistance (which could be argued is caused by systemic inflammation and autoimmunity). Anyway, I'm starting to ramble but I'm kind of a geek that way and love all this science-y stuff, lol....thought I'd share for anyone else who might be ;)

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Shantess, I don't test as insulin resistant, so the inflammation link seems very possible to me. As for reintroduction, I did well to start...had a dairy day on day 32, and didn't feel bad. Still, I am going to avoid it routinely since the hormonal aspect is something I don't need. Coconut milk works really well as a sub in so many things I never would've thought. Oh, and the dairy seemed to cause the first heartburn I'd had since starting...hm. After my dairy day, my dad came to visit...and it went a bit downhill from there. I did eat over half of my meals in compliance with Whole30, but we did eat out several times at favorite places and I definitely indulged a bit much. The night before last I realized I was looking forward to getting back to "normal," which I officially did today. I'm not going to beat myself up tho, this is a learning process and I have a lifetime to master it. Of course, I want to lose weight, darn it! So I'm probably going to limit fruit to not more than once a day for now.

Oh, and I have used provera to induce my cycle in the past, and currently have an rx for the same, but am reluctant to use it just yet. I just really want to know what my body might do on its own, tho I will probably use it in a month or so if still nothing's happening.

Laura, sounds to me like you're doing great! Glad I'll have company on round 2 :)

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  • 2 weeks later...

I just want to say hello and join this thread! I haven't had time to read all the previous posts, but I will!

I am 29 with PCOS. I was annovulatory and period-less after quitting birth control three years ago. Ultrasound showed lots and lots of lovely cysts. It took us 16 months to get pregnant with our miracle Clomid baby. We want to have another soon and are really hoping to do it naturally. We are starting our first Whole 30 on Sept 1st after experimenting with Paleo and liking the results.

Anyway, I look forward to "meeting" you all!

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Welcome, (m)eat! How long have you been experimenting with paleo?

It's been quiet here, but I wanted to bounce a question off you gals...I quit pumping breast milk 6 weeks ago, and haven't had a period yet. That was around the time I started my Whole30 and I've been keeping up with it at about 95% since. My ob/gyn gave me an Rx for promethium to induce a period and said to use every four months if I hadn't had a period. I'm wondering if I should give my new eating style more time to help the hormones and hopefully have a natural cycle, or if I should go ahead and induce it. I'm leaning toward the latter, thinking maybe it will help get things going faster and maybe my body will catch on by itself next time. ?????

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alijac - We tried Paleo in June and I lost the rest of my pregnancy weight, stayed about 80% Paleo in July, but completely went off-plan in August (vacations, birthdays, temptations around every corner!)

Hmm, if it were me, I would go ahead and take one dose of the prometrium and then see if that gave your body a jumpstart. Let us know what you decide!

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I take vitamin D, also - closer to 5,000 IU a day (which I know is more than the typical recommendation, but I've been doing fine on it).

I decided to wait another week or two on the prometrium - I have a feeling things might be working on their own, so I wanted to wait and see. If nothing by 10/1, I'm going to take it anyway and see if it's the kick start my body needs.

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HI ladies! I'm 32 and diagnosed with PCOS when I was about 29 or so. I never thought I had issues with anything, I went on BC before I got married and when my ex husband and I decided to try to get pregnant it was pretty instant. I have been overweight since I hit puberty, always had pretty normal cycles and only missed if I was super stressed. Anyways, after getting pregnant and having my daughter, I noticed a bunch of things; excess hair, skin growths and not being able to lose weight. I had always had issues trying to lose but never really thought anything of it. I had done weight watchers, multiple times actually, atkins, southbeach etc etc etc. I went to go see my doc about weight loss pills and she wanted to make sure everything was okay hormone wise before she prescribed anything. After a lot of blood work we found out I had PCOS. Still very difficult to lose weight .. lost about 50 on an unconvential way, gained 20 back and now here I am :) Trying to do this the healthy and right way and see where it goes ... hopefully 60lbs down :)

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