Hi there! I certainly can't answer all your questions, and our esteemed moderator Noodles is recuperating from an eye operation, but I'll tell you my experiences.
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Originally Posted by TRW66
...what happens when you go into menopause and your ovaries slowly start shrinking as you get older. Does your PCOS get better?
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I've had PCOS all my life, but in the past few years the symptoms do seem to have lessened. For example, my periods have become as regular as clockwork, almost pain free (no more mittelschmerz when the ovary tries to "lay an egg") and moderate in flow. When I was younger they were either absent, or many months apart, and then, for no reason at all, I'd get a couple very heavy only 20 days apart. Who knows why. Now that I've gotten into better shape, and solved the hair-loss problem with Spiro, even my hot flashes have disappeared, and sometimes I think my skin is better. But that's just me-- YMMV. I haven't found a lot of data on PCOS and menopause, except for the stickies talking about the heart disease risk.
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I was on Atkins starting last June and went for 7 months on it and only lost 10 pounds. Is that crazy or what? Most people lose that in a week. I am very discouraged and pretty much have tried everything to lose weight. I'm not morbidly obese, but need to lose about 30-40 pounds and that would still be on the high end of the Dr's scales. I've seen 2 dieticians and they push the ADA pyramid diet. WRONG. I lost 1/2 pound in 3 months on that diet.
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I've had success with a moderate carb, fairly low-G.I. diet, that's about 50% carbs, 25% protein, 25% fat. Lately I've been working on lowering the saturated fat content, eating more beans and white fish. Lots and lots of exercise really helped-- I can't possibly emphasize that enough.
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My next step is to go off the b/c pill and stay on the Met and see if that is my miracle to giving me back my periods (I have NO periods when off the pill) and to lose some weight.
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The pill was a complete horror story for me. I refuse to go near any estrogen/progesterone combination of any kind. The Spiro lowers my testosterone, but that's the only med I'm taking. I don't think I have insulin resistance, as I lost the first 30 pounds in the first 2 years with exercise alone, and the next 20-odd pounds since Jan. 1, 2004, eating as outlined above. I recently hit a mild plateau, as I have about 15 pounds of fat to go, but just in the last couple of days the scales have started to move again. A lot of other PCOS women have a much harder time losing than I do, and some swear by Metformin/Glucophage-- I'd read the threads and stickies on that FYI.
Nice to "meet" you, hope this helps!