PCOS - Attn Deb

October 7, 2004

Thanks Deb. Are you still ovulating???

The reason they have her on BC to STOP ovulation. When she tries to

ovulate, her body won't fully release the eggs and they form cysts. The

theory is to stop ovulation until such time as she wants to have children.

Otherwise, her ovaries get more and more damaged. At one point a year ago,

she had one the size of a tangerine. After a month or so on BC, the big one

was gone although the little ones remained. Before the BC, she had very

irregular periods from hell and long cycles.

I'm quite sure she is insulin resistant. Her cholesterol was high but

insulin test was normal. I put her on fish oil and policosonal and it

normalized. She's also on Paxil for anxiety. Since going on Paxil and BC,

she's getting fatter and fatter. She's only 23. She sees a fertility/PCOS

specialist. I'm wanting her to go in and talk to them about her weight but

she keeps insisting that she just needs to exercise more. She eats very

healthy. Her thyroid tests are very good so I don't think her weight is

related to thyroid.

Val

I started taking 500mg metformin on up to at one point 2550mg (while I was

on fertility treatments) that is the ONLY thing that made the symptoms ease

up somewhat. BC has always been a miserable failure for me when it was

pushed on me....I hated it and it made everything else worse. Doctors for

years have been giving metformin for PCOS, it is however, an off label use

so not FDA approved to treat. But it works. I still take 1000mg a day now

just to try to keep some things in order. Oh yes, it is a diabetes drug,

that's what it's purpose is. I can tell you more if you want, but if you

want it for your daughter, unless she is trying to conceive a child, it will

be very difficult to get any treatment other than birth control pills. It's

a girlie condition so therefore it isn't seen as truly serious thing by the

screw balls in the medical community. But you bet your buttons that if men

had ovaries and could come down with it, there'd be way more attention paid.

I did have to get in online, you can get it at MedsMex and Myrxforless. Has

your daughter been checked for insulin resistance yet?

October 9, 2004

Deb, I could have written that post. My PCP argued with me that I did NOT have

cysts on my ovaries.... so I went to a GYN, had a transvag ultrasound done

and...... I have them on both ovaries. Birth control pills did help me though.

They didn't stop the pain completely, but helped enough so I was not bedridden

in pain.

Weight gain???? Let's not even go there. Yep, if a doctor says you're cured,

you must be, right? I actually had a nurse practioner say to me one time,

" There are only 2 reasons why people are fat.... gluttony and laziness. " Yes,

she still breathes! However, those words are forever burned into my brain.

Needless to say I changed doctors. I have one know that will actually listen to

my " intuition " . She feels I know my body better than anyone..... still can't get

the thyroid thing through to her yet. She did admit this time to keep and open

mind. She's running a bunch of tests... afraid I might have lupus.

Anyway, I can relate.

Hugs,

Tigger

Re: PCOS - Attn Deb

Hi Val,

I can count on one hand the number of times in my life I ever ovulated. Two

of them are playing in the next room right now. Birth Control pills, for me

anyway, made my problem with cysts much, much worse. They would grow and grow

and grow. I have had a couple rupture and have nice fun trips to the ER as a

result. I do need to find a new gyno though, I haven't been to one since I

fired that last guy who told me that there was nothing wrong with me or my

thryoid and that I was " cured " of PCOS since he had said so. PUHLEEZZ! If I'm

cured then take everything the heck out, I'm done using it anyway. LOL!!!

Also, I got the " you're just lazy and that's why you are gaining weight " speech.

Ohhhhhh, so that's why in just over six months I put on 50 pounds! Heck and I

thought it was from all that salad I was eating.

My periods are irregular, but are becoming more close together. For me a 45

day cycle is a short one but is becoming the norm for me. But I do get MONSTER

pms. And I do mean monster. Bloating to the point where I gain no less than 10

pounds in water weight, cramps beginning sometimes two weeks prior to the deed

and that I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy and migraines from hell. When it

finally does show up, its very heavy. I also have endometriosis which would

contribute to the pain and the heaviness. This is the second go round for me

with endometriosis.....I had it surgically removed once before in 1999. Those

doctors told me that it didn't hurt and to take advil if it did. LIARS!!! I

was literally down for the count for a week and I cried the whole time.

Anyway your daughter gaining weight is related to the PCOS. I had that happen

when I was about her age. 100 pounds came on in about 4 months, yadda, yadda,

yadda and I do not now nor did I ever eat junk food. I did get that under

control but I worked my ass off and only ate about 800 calories a day. I don't

recommend that though.

I know I rambled on and on, I hope I helped some.

Deb :-)

October 13, 2004

The Prometrium is probably the best form. I'm using the natural usp

progesterone cream from Sarati. It's not the only good brand, but any good

brand needs to be usp, i.e., redone in the lab and micronized to match our

own, and able to absorb. My sister had horrible lesions around the

intestines. Some of it they could not get to without destroying some of the

intestine, so it's still there in one place.

Re: PCOS - Attn Deb

>

> Hi ,

>

> Yep, male doctors. Now what would make you think that? LOL!!! But no,

I'm not taking any progesterone, I did take it while I was undergoing

fertility treatments but it didn't do anything but make it worse. It's only

purpose was, at that point, to bring on a period. But then, it's the

synthetic they were giving me (provera) and refused the natural form (I

think I remember it being called prometrium?) so maybe that had something to

do with it.

>

> My endometriosis was, and I believe is again, rampant in my abdominal

cavity. It was attached to the outside of my uterus, my ovaries, my

intestines, my bowels, my bladder and I don't know what all else. It's been

so long ago since I had that done, I was told it was " Stage 3 " but never got

an explanation as to why and haven't had the time since then to investigate

due to work, kids, etc. But I just may start doing that since it seems to

be causing problems again.

>

> I only wish I could find someone to rip everything out of me once and for

all. But because of my age (I'm 32) they think I will still want to have

more kids. Ummmmmm.......Let's give that a resounding HELL NO!!!!!!! I

wouldn't put myself through that again if my life depended on it. The

experience with the docs was hellish on a good day and my second son nearly

killed us both. He was evicted 4 weeks early due to my having

pre-eclampsia. And wouldn't you know it, since it was my second pregnancy

the ONLY reason I got that was because I was doing drugs. I wasn't, not even

close. Right....it wouldn't be that my blood pressure shot way up every

time I was in the doc's office because I hated every second of having to be

there. UGH!!!

>

> Sorry, I'm rambling. Not enough sleep so I don't know when to stop

talking (typing).

>

> Deb :-)

October 13, 2004