PCOS/Insulin Resistance Support - PCOS Chat For July 2004

Hi All!! :wave:

Time to start a new chat thread!! :smug:

I got CONTACTS!! YAY!! Eye Surgery post-op is complete and I'm all healed, and I got to CAN the glasses. After wearing glasses almost my whole life, it feels weird. I feel like I need to keep adjusting them, but they aren't there! I now want a pair of Ray Bans. :cool: Gotta protect the eyes from the Arizona sun. :sunny:

So...what's everyone got planned for the weekend?? I haven't decided what we're doing yet. This is my FAVORITE holiday of the year so I want to make it good!! We'll see...the hub has to work most of it so that might put a damper on things but we'll still find something to do. Lottsa fireworks and stuff around these parts.

I have some major life changes coming up in my life...Talk about everything happening at once!! So many things are happening that my head is spinning...:stars: (no I'm not drinking! :lol: )

Looks like we're going to be making another big move, which means selling the house, etc. What a pain!! :headache: It seems like yesterday we moved here to Arizona and now it's been almost 3 years!! Time flies too fast sometimes... :shrug:

Have a good day all!! :grouphug:

Hey there! DH and I will be down at the Portland Waterfront Blues Festival as volunteers, helping the musicians set up their gear, tear it down, driving them around, acting as bouncers and keeping them out of trouble. It's a lot of fun, as long as I don't have to bail them out of jail!

I'm dispatching for the local Red Cross chapter. And I have no idea at all which of my other volunteers are available, and since its a holiday, we're going to hope its a nice QUIET weekend. The other dispatcher had plans with his family, and our coordinator didn't get the schedule out till 6/25, so it was too late for him to change.
I originally had other plans, but something happened, and I was left mostly free. I do plan to swim on Saturday/Sunday and Monday. I also have 3 papers and a final project to complete for grad school. Summer grad classes are over July 14. My students come back Tuesday...

:mouse:

Julie - replying from the June thread - I am not taking b/c pills anymore. I'm actually not on anything right now for hormones. I don't know what this really does to the PCOS. Does it make me more in balance? Terribly off balance? I need to look that up.

I'm not doing much of anything this weekend. We might watch fireworks from Suzanne's neighborhood, might grill out here at the house, but no parties!

Mouse - thanks for the info on the peeling skin. She said it wasn't infected anymore, that it looked like irritated skin now, so that is good. I bet the peeling could have come from either one. I didn't think about it until now, but I have excema (really mild) and maybe that had something to do with it? The peeling is gone, and so is the blueishness. Very strange!

The doctor did say I was healing well. I'm allowed to go back on my eating plan, which starts tomorrow, and I can also walk, but still no weights. I'm happy with 2/3! I can't go back to work until at least next Sat. I will get another recheck on Friday and will be released then...hopefully!

I'm so glad that its not infected anymore, Jennifer! And that I might have been of some assistance. :)

And walking is good... eating plan is good... I want to try weights, but I need to wait until I'm released from the orthopedist and physical therapy. I am getting muscle from swimming, though.

:mouse:

Wow your exercise minutes are great! I get to walk tomorrow! Yiippeee!

A friend of mine at the gym is a private instructor/life-guard and occasional pool manager. I do want to be honest and point out that sometimes the minutes are higher but the miles don't increase, but that is because I did a water aerobics class instead of swimming laps. I've been trying to do both.
My friend set a goal for me of 60 laps by the end of July, but I was there before July 1, so now the goal is to see how many laps I can do in an hour. She does let me stop between each 1/4 mile for a few minutes (I have to tread water), because I mostly use my arms. It hurts my ankle to kick, and if I swim too long I can't walk afterward, so we figured that 1/4 of a mile without a break was about my limit.
We don't count the 2-3 minute breaks (though I admit to a 5 minute break before that last 1/4 of a mile!) as swim time, either... so I'm doing 72 laps in about 1 hour, 15 minutes.
Another teacher at work who swims wants me to try the Chesapeake Bay Swim next year. They have a version that is 1 mile. But I'm not sure I can do that, because 1 mile in the bay (1/2 mile out, 1/2 mile back) would be very different: much colder, for one, and I wouldn't be able to stand up (against the rules). The gym is doing a 'swim around manhattan' right now, where you try to swim the 28 miles that it takes to go around the Island in the pool... I keep saying i'm going to register, then I leave and forget to do it. I don't know if I can do it, because you only have 60 days...

:mouse:

Hi all,
I'm Karen, 22, diagnosed with PCOS a few years ago. a month ago I was put on metformin (glucaphoge) by my docotor. So far, i've lost 10lbs. just with the medicine taking it twice a day 500mg. My sister is an RN and had done some reaserch on PCOS for me and said that the south beach diet would be good for me to get on. i was 224 lbs at the end of May when I went to the doctor. My goal is around 165, since i'm 5'8''. Anyone have any tips? I"ve started walking a few miles a couple times a week. What exercises are you guys doing?
thanks!
Karen ;)

Hi, Karen.
Congrats on the weight loss. :) That's really impressive. I can't offer you too many tips on glucophage or diet while on it, since my system couldn't handle it. As far as exercise goes, I swim laps and do water aerobics. One thing that has made swimming laps easier was getting a waterproof kit for my mp3 player/CD player. The CD player was a bit too wide and died when the bag leaked, but the mp3 player does really well. I'm contemplating joining an audio-book club so I can listen to books while I swim too, but I haven't decided which plan I want to go with.
I swim a minimum of 5 days a week, for at least an hour each time. I'm in grad school also, and during the summer we have classes 2 nights a week. I can't get to the gym on those days, because class isn't over till 10.
I'm afraid I also can't give too many tips on the PCOS itself: my symptoms are similar, but I also have several other hormones that don't work appropriately, so my treatment is a bit different. Noodles, though, should be along soon, and there are lots of articles here with information.

:mouse:

Hi Karen! The best tip I can give you to lose weight with PCOS is exercise, exercise, exercise! If you are insulin resistant, which you most likely are since you're on Met, then exercise is vital to weight loss - moreso than to the person without IR.

South Beach is a good plan. You could also do WW if you have GOOD carbs and no refined carbs like corn, white flour and sugar. Sugar Busters is also a good plan, very similar to South Beach, and in my opinion, easier to understand. Low carb is also very successful for PCOS'ers if you are interested in that. My endo had told me good carbs or low carbs were both acceptable (with him, anyway). My insulin resistance is much less now that I have lost some weight. I was just borderline last time I was checked. Still, I lose weight slowly.

So in a nutshell, good carbs and lots of regular exercise!

Nice to have you here - hope to see you back!

Hi all,
I'm Karen, 22, diagnosed with PCOS a few years ago. ...i was 224 lbs at the end of May when I went to the doctor. My goal is around 165, since i'm 5'8''. Anyone have any tips? I"ve started walking a few miles a couple times a week. What exercises are you guys doing?
thanks!
Karen ;)

Hi Girls!! :wave:

So what did everyone do yesterday?? Whatcha doing today??

We had a nice BBQ with family yesterday. I ate a bit too much though, but hey it's a holiday weekend and so what!! :cool: I'll burn it off somehow...Today I don't know what we're doing...I'd like to go somewhere with just hub and I...maybe up to the mountains or to Tombstone. I'll take pics of course!!

Happy 4th, Americans!! Happy 4th too, Canadians!! Even if you don't celebrate it, you still have a 4th of July. ;)

http://www.ushistory.org/betsy/images/f_1960.gif

WELCOME TO THE GROUP, KAREN!! :wave:

Glad to see you here!! :yes:

You are on the same dosage of met as I was!! Too funny!! I have weaned myself down to 500 mgs a day if needed, but that was after I dropped 50 pounds. A major eating habit change and exercise is how I have been doing it. I play tennis, skate, bowl, swim, walk, garden, etc...basically I try to stay busy. I notice that when I don't stay busy, I fall into a slump and gain weight and I feel like total crap. :( I don't want to EVER go back to weighing 225 so it is a must for me now to exercise and eat right.

Keep us posted and feel free to blab in here as much as you'd like!! :smug:

Let's see... I went swimming and read books... and took a nap. ;) And actually ATE FOOD! :grin: Okay, it was total junk food, which is bad, but I just decided that if I was going to get sick from everything I ate (toast made me sick in the morning!) that I was going to eat what I wanted and the heck with it... But I kept it all down. It was nice.
I'm going to go swimming today (in about an hour or so). The gym is going to close early for July 4th.

:mouse:

I'd like to thank all of you ladies for replying to my posted comments. I read above and saw the talk about Birth control pills. I've been on the pill for about three years now, i pretty much have to be on it to have a period. I went 11 months without one when i was 18 and my mom freaked out and made me go to the doctor and that's when i was diagnosed with PCOS. just out of curiosity has anyone had a fertility test? i'm still in college and haven't tried to have a child by anymeans, but i would love to have children one day and this is one of the main issues with me besides the added weight that i've gained over the past few years. let me know!
Karen :coffee:

Hi Karen! Yes, infertility is one of the symptoms of PCOS. But like the other symptoms, some people have it and some don't. I never had a problem conceiving. I was on b/c pills for several years and when I went off of them I got pregnant somewhere between 4-6 months later. Losing weight does help with the fertility issues in some women.

That part sounds like me, Karen, but despite my mom's freaking out over it, everybody told her it was perfectly normally for a 17-year-old to have an irregular cycle. I heard that song and dance for the next several years, and then just gave up asking anything at all when I was about 25. By that point, I hadn't anything resembling a menstrual cycle since my sophomore year of college. It wasn't until I was 28 that a primary care doctor put the symptoms together and sent me off to find an endocrinologist. Of course, by that point, I'd gained 180 pounds in a little under 2 years. It took another 6 months before I found an endocrinologist who didn't tell me to go join Jenny Craig or Weight Watchers (all of which I'd already tried!). I'm also taking contraceptives, but even with them I don't have a cycle. I had one cycle when my endocrinologist put me on Provera, but it took two full doses (nearly a month) before the pills actually worked. And haven't another one since then, and that was 3 years ago this August. :shrug:
My testosterone level is much more balanced now thanks to the spironolactone I'm on, and I've lost a considerable amount of weight. I'm within 3 points of not being considered insulin resistant... but I still don't ever have a cycle. Oh well. Frankly, at this point, I'm not entirely sure what I would do if I actually had one! :?: Although, I have to admit that right now, the last thing I need is an additional reason to have nausea or other stomach issues!!!! :dizzy:

:mouse:

Hey mouse glad to know someone else is out there! Well, birthcontrol is a pain to me since I'm not sexually active, it's just a pain to remember. but I do have regular periods when I take them, if I don't it could be 3 or 4 months or longer till I have another. When I was placed on them when i was 18, when i went to the doctor that first time (first gyno visit cringe.....ewwwwww don't remind me) she put me on straight progesterone tabs for a week (since i hadn't had one in so long she did that to make me start), then i stared and didn't stop till i had severe pains one morning and went to the emergency room (about 20 days into the never-ending period), which ER doctors had no idea what was wrong with me so they gave me a shot for pain and sent me on my merry way. i went back to my doctor that same day and she put me on the BCP's to stop the bleeding. I've been on them ever since. :mad: it can be severely frustrating. I'm just glad I haven't been through that exact experience again.

When I did the Provera (progesterone, likely the same stuff you were on!), I had the same problem. I didn't have any extensive pain though. I kept teaching right on through it, and fortunately it was summer school and I was team-teaching or I'd've been in real trouble. I was leaking through everything! I finally called my doctor's office and her nurse had her first 'fit' at me (though she was very nice about it), and informed me that I was to go straight home, do not pass go, do not collect $200. They put me on Advil, 800 mg every 4 hours until the bleeding stopped... and I had to lay on something with my feet up. It was insane, because I was trying to get ready to move too and close on a house. Plus I was due to go intern at a summer camp for kids with disabilities in less than a week! Fortuantely, the Advil worked, I moved, closed on the house, did my internship... Woah!
I had my first gynocological visit around 17 or 18 also; the doctor wouldn't talk to ME. She would only talk to my mother and had a discussion with her about my lack of a cycle and how she felt I was sexually active behind my back. I, uh, listened at the doorway. I told my mom I did, and she wasn't too upset, realizing that I was nearly 18 and it was my life. But I felt very bad because I wasn't sexually active, and I'm still not. And she had no solution for the fact that I didn't have my cycle except to say that if I didn't have one at least 2 times per year, she'd recommend I be hospitalized for a D&C and testing. Maybe if she'd talked to me herself and explained things, I wouldn't have waited another 10 years (though I did have two GYN exams in that time) before I finally started asking questions. I don't know to be honest.
But the way medical professionals treat you at times... well, let's just say that is why I drive all the way to Reston, VA to see my endocrinologist/gyncologist. Its worth the drive because she talks to me and listens to what I have to say. She won't force a treatment on me unless she thinks its the absolute only thing that can be done. And its probably not really forcing, but more convincing because I need that convincing. Recently I have had issues with not being able to eat, and it took me 4 weeks before I admitted to a doctor that I was having serious issues... My endocrinologist wasn't really happy about my waiting so long. Its mostly because I've been treated so unprofessionally by such a large number of physicians.
As for taking the pills: I just take all of the medications at night before I go to bed. I keep them on the table near my bed, so they are all right there. That way, I don't forget. I had trouble remembering to take the spironolactone because I was supposed to take it in the morning; but I didn't like the way it made me feel so I avoided it. We switched it to an evening dose, and now I just take it with everything else.

:mouse:

Hello everyone! Welcome Karen! I am trying to get pregnant, I'm happy to answer any questions.

Jennifer-Glad to see you're able to walk and the incision is healing well.

Anonymouse, when are you having your surgery? I love the swimming pool graphic!

Hi Noodles! Yay on the contacts!

I've been uber-busy and tired. I really don't like the Metformin. I finally reached my breaking point today and went to the doctor b/c I'm now having spasms in my calves and my muscles ache, not to mention up in the middle of the night with the runs. The doc didn't seem too concerned which I don't know if I buy it or not, but I did get the referral to a fertility specialist and she is cutting me back to 1 1/2 pills. I think she was disappointed that I didn't lose weight and I told her I have had such problems with diarrhea and fatigue that I haven't been up to doing what I normally do. And my eating is all screwed up b/c of timing the pill. I was never much of a dinner eater and now I have to have something to go wtih the stupid pill--I'm all out of whack.

So in two weeks I have the first appointment.

I'm trying to analyze my bloodwork, which she gave me a copy of for the fertility specialist and it looks like I'm normal across the board except I'm slightly low on a few values that have to do with the shape of my blood cells.

My blood sugar was 89, nice and normal. Everything was just normal, normal, normal. I even have decent levels of the hormones needed to conceive, although why I'm not ovulating, I don't know.

If I didn't have so many of the symptoms of PCOS, I would argue with the diagnosis.

Well, that's it for me!

Violet

Violet: You may be like me in regards to the metformin/glucophage. I never ever adjusted to it, although in my case it also didn't do anything for my sugar level. And your doctor should be VERY concerned if you're having leg and calf pain! That can be a serious thing... in many drugs it is an indicator of something wrong!
For the bloodwork, I found this website: http://www.fertilityplus.org/faq/hormonelevels.html#female and it was a pretty good primer for me on blood levels.

I am not having the plastic surgery anytime soon. In fact, I just got off the phone with her office AGAIN because I requested copies of my records 2 weeks ago and they haven't sent them yet. And today's excuse was that they are so busy maybe they just didn't get them in the mail that same day so I haven't received them yet. I live in the same city as the hospital, so there is no way it takes 2 weeks! If I don't have them by next Friday, I'm going to call the patient complaint line. :( I hate having to be a :censored:! :mad: Its not my style at all! And this will be the second Hopkins physician that I've reported to their patient complaint line, too. :mad: :P:
Well... After I finished posting this, my endocrinologist called me. She's found a surgeon that is willing to do the pannus removal, but he's not on my insurance. :?: I was talking with my mother about that, and she is due to retire in September. Her contract was bought out, so she's get almost a year's pay as a lump sum, plus her retirement. And she's decided she's going to loan me the money to pay for the surgery. I have to call the new surgeon's office on Monday or Tuesday (I have grad school Monday, so I may not be able to call then). My mom wants me to have it done in August like I'd originally planned. I'm SO CONFUSED now! I don't know what to think or do or anything!


I don't know when or if I'm having the gall bladder surgery, now, because the surgeon doesn't want to do it. Part of it is my weight, he's afraid of the risks involved. But he didn't tell me what he risks were himself, I had to go ask a friend who is was a medical student. If the surgeon had told me, I would have told him I swim a mile almost every day (only did half a mile today because I haven't eaten very much in the last 48 hours and I'm really tired). So that despite my weighty appearance, I'm in much better shape than some (many?) skinny people! That has to count for something, doesn't it? Please tell me it does.
The other part of the issue is what I've said before. I don't have any pain with the issues I'm having, just nausea and throwing up. And to the surgeon, that indicates another issue and not gall bladder because I don't have gas, I have minimal if any diarrhea, I don't have pain, and there was no reason for the gall bladder to not function properly. He did say that in cases where there is no other cause, its not unusual for the hormone that controls the gall bladder (CCK) to stop working. So, given that none of the other hormones in my body work right, its not a far jump to this one. So the surgeon wants to wait on the endoscopy and maybe try medication to control the nausea and throwing up before surgery. :shrug: This whole thing is really driving me nuts.

:mouse:

What is it with the doctors in your area and I thought I was a psycho magnet! So no gallbladder surgery? Well, let's hope they can do something for you.

Good news on the plastic surgery and your mom loaning you the money.

I found something similar to the link you provided and while all my levels are normal the ratio between LH and FSH is off which indicates PCOS.

Violet

Gosh Mouse, what decisions! In my opinion, I don't think weight would matter so much for surgical risks as the conditions that is caused by obesity. You apparently have a healthy heart to do the exercise you do, and lungs, liver and kidneys are really the only other things I personally could think of that would be an issue.

Good news on the pannus surgery! Can he take out your gallbladder while they do that surgery?

Violet - I was always sick on Met. Are you on straight Met or Glucophage XR? I did much better on the XR. I could hardly tolerate the regular met. I still had problems on the XR and I quit taking it because my quality of life was so terrible, and I decided to do it on my own since I didn't have a sugar problem. I'm sorry you are having problems conceiving. :( I had heard by many PCOS'ers that low carb helped them lose weight, and now there is a new study (we've got it on the main page of 3FC) saying that low carb reduced chances of getting pregnant in a recent study.

Violet: I'm not entirely sure what it is with the doctor's in my area. Its really only been the two physicians at Hopkins. I don't know that I received the best care from my first primary care doctor, but she wasn't nasty or rude to me. I think she was just young. She's not much older than I am, because the first time I met her, she was kind of excited by my being from Pennsylvania. She's from there also, and told me she graduated from high school (and which one...turns out I went there for a year) in 1987. So, at best, she's 4 years older than I am, so she couldn't have been a doctor in practice for more than 2 years. Its not like she could do her MD while she worked, the way I did my master's degree while I taught!
I'm not quite sure what the issue is with Hopkins, because some of their physicians are obviously fantastic since people come from all over the world to go to their medical school and get treated at their hospital. :shrug: Maybe I just picked two snots? I don't know. Maybe they're great doctors and have a horrible bedside manner, and that doesn't matter to most people? It matters to me, because I have to know what is going on or I won't allow it to be done. That means the doctor needs to talk to me and give me time to research and think about it. And it seems as if the doctors at Hopkins (the ones I've seen) don't want to do that, and don't have any qualms about adding things or changing things that aren't necessarily true.
I don't have any real problems with the surgeon I saw on Thursday, to be honest. I know my weight is an issue, but I would have appreciated him telling me what he saw as the issues. I did ask, but he just mentioned an issue with finding the part they want to remove because of my weight. That seemed rather odd to me, but maybe it is an issue. He didn't say anything about heart-related things.

Jennifer: I am very confused right now. I was never entirely sure I wanted to have the operation to remove the pannus in the first place; and now to have it done... and have it done in Virginia, no less... Not only that, because I'd given up having it done in August, I had told the school that I'd likely be there in September now. I'm not sure what to think. My endocrinologist said that he's done the surgery before, on others, and that one of the patients, a man, who had similar endocrine abnormalities lost 100 pounds after the surgery.

But I have to admit that I'm just really scared: I think I know that, deep down, my issue isn't really eating and food... but that if I have this removed, what's to stop it from coming back? I definitely eat more than the skinny people (well, some of them), most of the time, but not enough to weigh what I do now. My mother is obviously very supportive of this, but my father is very much against it. He is extremely overweight himself, and doesn't believe my words. He's eaten out with me, though, and he knows he eats more than I do. I kept asking him last night when he called me where he thought the weight had come from if he agreed that it didn't come from food, and he kept saying "You never ran around the track when you were little." And I said, no... but I rode my bike over to friend's houses who were 5 miles away, and walked to the school to play all the time. I just didn't do it with YOU. And while I was never, ever skinny or thin, I only wore a size 16-18-20 before I gained this weight. And I don't think that is bad for 5'7" tall with a large build. Maybe its not Gap, or 5-7-9 or petite, but it wasn't the way I am now.
And I admit that there were times when I'd eat more than I should... who doesn't... but it was more like a stromboli, and then not eat anything else all day ... or sometimes 3-4 slices of pizza. Or a sub from subway... with baked chips and a drink...
I can't even eat a 6" half a sub from subway anymore. Does this make sense? I'm rambling now, and I'm not sure.

:mouse:

Mouse, eating and exercise might not be an issue for you now, but was it in the past? I ate excessively to gain weight, and then once I gained it there wasn't an easy or even reasonable way to get it off. Maybe this surgery will kickstart your metabolism and get things moving for you so your body will match your eating habits.
Have you researched the statistics? I had never heard of this until you mentioned it.

Good Morning Folks!! :sunny:

Man...my feet are so sore!!! I had one of those days yesterday where you go and go and go until you can't go anymore.

I got up at 7 am, got on the PC, and the frigging cable modem died!! Well of course this is a tragic thing in my household so I went and woke hubby up to fix it all. Well he grumbled at me for not letting him sleep in so I promised him I'd go to breakfast with him.
Well we decided to do some running around. The running around turned into an all day thing...in 105° HUMID heat!! :o We went to eat, then a bath store place to get a shower caddy, to a beer place to get some sodas, to Big Lots to get some cheap mouse pads, to an office store to get me a new chair (mine was falling apart), to McDs for an ice cream cone, to Lowes to return my dead plants, then to Home Depot to return another dead plant,to Petsmart to get some rat and dog treats, then back home to drop it all off, then back out again to a home cooked italian dinner, then to Wally World. Phew!! I shoulda just rode my bike around the block instead. ;)

Petsmart...ugh. I shouldn't go in there!! Especially on adoption days. I had to go visit the doggies and kitties up for adoption and of course I wanted to take home a kitten. This one kept licking me...purring...etc. We promised the daughter she could pick one out when she gets home from vacation, so I didn't take him home. :( Anyhow, I get to thinking about all of these adoptable animals that have no home, how I wish I had a giant farm, etc.. and I lose it. Right there...started bawling my eyes out... :cry:. I had to go hide down a deserted isle. Hubby comes after me going "What's wrong??" DUH!! It just rips me up inside...I need to practice better self-control I suppose. But it's hard to NOT walk by the animals. :shrug:

Maybe today I'll get the house clean. Since hubby dragged me everywhere I didn't have a chance. :lol:

Hope everyone's O.K.! :grouphug: Post Lurkers post!! We wanna hear from ya!!! :yes:

Type more later!! :wave:

Jennifer: I think exercise might have been an issue. I never did as much of it as I should, but I did swim during the summers, and I walked. Plus, I chased special ed kids all over the place. :) I probably walked at least a mile everyday. That was after I started driving. Before that, I walked everywhere. I would take the bus to my job, but I had to walk to the bus stop, then walk from one bus to catch another, plus I worked at the mall so I walked around there or stood a lot. I walked all over Greenvale, NY when I was in college there,because I didn't have a car. I also didn't have the school meal plan, so I would take the bus to the grocery store and haul all the foods back. Lots of canned stuff because dorm refrigerators are tiny.
My friends tell me that eating wasn't a real issue for me then, but I'm not entirely sure I believe them. I know that I frequently skipped meals, and was never much of a breakfast eater. I'm sure that some of my food choices weren't great (the university used to have this sub shop, and they would do roast beef with muenster cheese, so we'd get those sometimes with Arizona iced tea), especially on a college student budget. Ramen noodles are cheaper than fresh fruit and veggies. But I don't think I was bad enough to cause anything like this.
It is hard for me to evaluate because my grandmother is one of those people who is skinny almost effortlessly. My mom still tells the story of how she wasn't allowed to eat anything but hardboiled eggs and grapefruit, and had to wear a rubber girdle in Texas when she gained weight as a teenager. My grandmother nagged me mercilessly about my weight when I was growing up. I wasn't ever allowed to have chips or candy or cake, and if I went out with friends, I was quizzed extensively on what we did, what we ate, etc. She has even pulled my friends aside when I've been out of the room and quizzed them or begged them to get me to stop eating. It was extremely humiliating for me. And while I think she did it because she loved me, it didn't make me love her.
In terms of it being endocrine related: I never had a normal menstrual cycle. I started when I was 14 or 15, but it never came regularly. It would show up whenever and I'd never have any idea it was coming. I never had cramps or any kind of warning. And around my junior year of high school, it stopped except for once a year or so, and by my sophomore year of college had stopped completely. And I did have the hair in places I wasn't supposed to have it. I think that the walking I did and chasing kids before I hurt my ankle the first time in 1999 is what kept most of it at bay. When I wasn't able to do that because of the cast, crutches, leg brace... then I gained the 180 pounds in two years. But I also wasn't eating then. I couldn't grocery shop and I couldn't cook, so I was eating diet frozen dinners.

:mouse:

Noodles: My mom absolutely won't get a kitten from PetSmart because they spay and neuter them too young. Our vet won't spay or neuter until the animal is at least 5 months old, and weighing 5 pounds. The agency that PetSmart uses for the adoption days has these kittens, who are definitely under 5 months old, spayed or neutered already when you go to get them!!! My mom was going to get her kitten from there, until I got her Wiccan, but when she talked to our vet, she decided against it. We've been using the same vet since our first kitten in 1978, so we know them pretty well. In fact, despite my living an hour away, my cat goes to the vet there too. They have late hours on Friday evenings, so I always go up then.
I didn't do much of anything yesterday except laundry, cat stuff, and grad school papers.

:mouse:

Hi everyone :)

Well I'm not sure if this is the right place for me to be posting as I just joined 3FC today! Already it seems like an amazing place...

In my longwinded introduction in the "Buddy" section I touched on my fears that I have PCOS. I have always had irregular periods but they went from monthly to every 3 months and now, I honestly cannot remember my last one. Possibly 6 or 7 or monthes ago.

Overall, I feel really lame and ridiculous for not having this checked out. Why I fear going to the doctor I'm not sure. Well actually, I am kind of terrified that something is really wrong with me and perhaps iggnorance is bliss? Just typing that I realize now ridiculous I sound!

I have really enjoyed hearing everyones insights about PCOS and the articles that have been posted. Researching it all on the internet has made me even more freaked out but hopefully it gives me a jolt of reality! My mother has hypothyroidism so I am even thinking that is a possiblity. Or maybe I am just so heavy that my periods have ended all together? I don't know and I have to realize that going to the doctor should be my first step!

Argghh...

Well sorry everyone for blabbering diary-like posting...I am just finding day one of my new 'plan' to be empowering yet very very worrisome. :(

bye for now! hope your weekends were great
K

:balloons: WELCOME, KALEI!!! :balloons:

We're glad to have you here!! Feel free to vent anytime you feel like it. Thats what this thread is all about. It's our "Blab" thread. :smug:

Sounds like symptoms of PCOS to me...Find a nice Gyn or Endocrinologst and see what they have to say. If you don't feel comfortable with the first doctor you visit, try another. It took me a few docs before I found the right one.

Come back soon!! Thanks for posting too!! :cheer:

thanks for the warm welcome!

it's nice to know that even though I am scared to figure everything out, if I do have PCOS, I have a great place to come where there is support and knowledge!

I guess I will be back here when I know more..... thanks again! :o

Hi Everyone again! :coffee2:

I have another question regarding PCOS - I'm still finding my way in the 3FC Community so I am not sure where to place this question but here it goes.

I was wondering, when one is diagnosed with PCOS, what any medication that follows does in terms of weightloss. In other words, if one finally figured out they had it and got put on the medication but didn't change their diet or exercise, would they lose weight anyways because what was not functioning properly finally was?

Any info/experiences anyone could tell me in regards to this would be greatly, greatly appreciated!

Have a great day!

Humm... you might lose a little weight but not all of it. I went on metformin and lost about 10 pounds without changing my diet and exercise but that's where it stopped. After I started exercising and eating right is when the rest of the weight slowly peeled away.

Hope this helps!! Glad to see you here!! :D

I think that it probably varies by person. I didn't lose any weight on metformin despite being so sick. In fact, I gained weight while I was on it. But getting the correct hormone balance for some of the unbalanced ones helped stop the impressive weight gain. I gained 180 pounds in 2 years because of whateveritis (I think that is going to be the official name of my dysfunction: whateveritis). When I started on contraceptives, the weight gain slowed, then stopped completely. I didn't lose any weight though despite exercising. Of course, I didn't exercise the way they recommended... I had trouble fitting it into my schedule, so I'd exercise for 4-5 hours on one day per week. I'm more regular about it now, and have been for a year, but I didn't lose any significant weight until they added the spironolactone to my regimen. That caused the testosterone to drop, and I think in turn, allowed some of the weight to drop as well.
But I admit that I'm rather unique and not at all normal. :)

:mouse:

Hi all!! :wave:

Where are all of ya?? Come out come out wherever you are!! And post of course. ;)

Oh I am so sore...my feet are killing me. Hub and I decided to go on a house cleaning spree. Well we cleaned EVERYTHING from 12 Noon until about 10:00 PM Yesterday. Everything sparkles and is dust-free. It's so nice to have a clean house but man...my feet. :o Surprised they haven't fallen off yet. :p

I'll be gone later next week for a week. It's time for our family vacation!!! Actually we're just going to see the hubby's grandmas. We were going to go to the Grand Canyon, but we decided that the Canyon will be around alot longer than the grandmas. One is going to be 80 in September and the other just turned 86 in March. Both lovely ladies. I always tell him he doesn't know how lucky he is to even HAVE 2 grandmas still alive, and that he needs to go visit more often. He just looks at me funny. :dz: Ahh well...

Well, hope everyones doing good!! Post and lets blab!! :comp:

http://www.harrythecat.com/Smiley/a87.gif Type at ya later!!!

I'm here! I've been working on a project that is sucking up all of my free time. I started back to work last Monday, which sucked. I had to quit exercising because the activity at work was a bit more than I've been used to and I started bleeding quite a bit again on the incision. I am off today, so I'll do the treadmill and see how the gauze looks tonight.

Not much going on here but allergies and headaches. I'm on Allegra D round the clock but still have problems. I hope I'm not allergic to our puppy. My bet is that I'm allergic to dust and mold at work. We are on a busy corner and the air vents haven't been cleaned out in 25 years or so. I really need a new job!

Jennifer:

Sounds familiar. My husband has severe allergies. He is on Allegra 180, shots, nasal spray, etc..., and he still has problems. We cleaned the house yesterday from top to bottom and today he has the sniffles/sneezes. Poor guy. :( I feel sorry for anyone with allergies. I am lucky I don't have those kinds of allergies. Just Tide detergent and honey and bees.

Take care of yourself girl!! Your job should understand you have a boo-boo and need extra special TLC. :D What if they want to re-stitch that boo-boo up??? Yeck!! They tried that with me after I had my daughter. I was too active and I ripped out the stitches. They said "we need to re-stitch you up." I said "like ****!!" :lol:

Where is everyone else? Mousie, Violet?? Anyone out there?? I know you guys lurk...so post! :hyper:

I'm here, I'm here. We finished up grad school last Wednesday, so that is over till fall. I'm still feeling out the 47 new students, but I think they're going to do okay. Some of them have no confidence in themselves, but with luck, they'll get some!
I finally received the notes from Dr. McNasty, the plastic surgeon. I posted a journal entry about it, too, but basically half the report was wrong, including my age, the spelling of my last name, the blood work (particularly the testosterone level which she told me insurance company was NORMAL!). Oh, boy, I sure do know how to pick 'em, don't I???? :sigh:
I swam 1.25 miles today, and wanted to keep going, but last time I did that I couldn't walk at all when I got out of the pool. A friend had to help me out of the water! So, I wanted to stay, but I left instead to go to Trader Joes.

:mouse:

Just dropping a quick note: the endoscopy went well, it was negative. :shrug: So, there is still no clear cause for the nausea and throwing up.
The good news is that it WAS negative and they didn't find anything seriously amiss!
And my gastroenterologist is fantastic: she prepped the nurses in the admit area so they knew all about the endocrine dysfunction. The one thing I absolutely hate about going to new medical places is that I inevitably get a comment about my weight and then they ask the question,"So, when was your last period?" To which I reply, truthfully, August 2001 or more recently, "I don't have one." And then I get other comments, looks, and "Are you sure?" Yes, I am sure. But they already knew, and so there were no looks, no comments, nothing. It was very, very nice!
She also asked me if I'd been swimming recently, since she is a member of the same gym I am and I have seen her there before ( and she said she's seen me there), so I told her about the 1.25 miles from yesterday... and that caused the anesthesiologist and the technician in the room with me to be much nicer. They were already very nice, but I really am oversensitive to those comments about weight.
I keep getting people telling me that they couldn't swim that much, but I'm not sure I understand it. Is swimming a mile that much tougher than riding a bike, doing treadmill, walking, etc, a mile?? :???:

:mouse:

Hello everyone!

As for me, not much new other than very busy.

I stopped taking the Metformin due to side effects, it was hitting my muscles and the drug manufacturer says to stop if it does. I reported the side effect to my doc and she said keep taking it to "prevent diabtees". Umm, hellO??? NOT diabetic. Trying to have a KID here!

I tried, I really did to take it thinking I would ask the RE for a 2nd opinion, but when my pectoralis major started spasming and I had the most painful charley horse through (yes, I said through) my knee joint, both unusual locations, I said that's it.

So 2 weeks and counting until my RE visit.

My mom turns 50 this week and we're flying out to Providence to celebrate. I saved my pennies and bought her a diamond solitaire pendant in a platinum setting--I hope she likes it. She'd better for how hard I worked at saving for it.

Lucky me, I get to make 5 kinds of cookies and transport them by plane to Providence b/c that's what my mom wants. SO it will be a busy week for me, plus I'm trying to finish up my presentation on massage therapy.

I might, maybe, but probably not be going to Switzerland and Amsterdam for a week or so this August. Mom says she's going and wants to take me, said she'll pay when I advised of my lack of funds and the fact my insurance will not cover anything with the RE beyond the consultation. So we'll see, I hope I get to go. I think I need something like this to distract me from ttc.

Take care
Violet

Hi Mouseie & Violet & Jennifer & Lurkers!! :D

I have been slowly weaning myself off the met too. I don't need it as much as I use too. I noticed when I didnt take it for a bit then took some my leg muscle started to twitch. Now it wont stop!! I kept thinking, "Ok...what did I do to it??" Now I might have the answer. :chin:

I will be gone for a week. Time for family vacation!! We're going to visit the grandmas. I'll post when I can but I'll have limited access to a computer. That is unless hub can find a wireless connection somewhere. ;)

Well, I have been busy again today...I did 4 more loads of wash, dishes, and shaved and bathed the dog. Poor dog looks like I butchered her. :o But she's cooler now and happy. We had bad thunderstorms today and my trees decided to up-root again...sigh...so we staked them..again. Damn trees are a pain in the BUTT!!

Ok, I will shut up for now. Bath time!! Night Night everybody!! *hugs*

Noodles asked me to post here after I met with the new plastic surgeon so she could see what happened while she's on vacation. :)

I met the surgeon today, and he was rather nice. He spent at least an hour with me examining and answering questions. That is far more time than the other surgeon spent with me.
Good news first: He thinks I'd only be out of work 2-3 weeks. The other surgeon said a minimum of 4-6 weeks, and that she'd probably not allow me to teach even after the 6 weeks. He uses dissovable stitches, so he said that once the drains were removed, I'd be able to walk in the water and/or do very light water aerobics. No swimming, though, for 4 weeks. But walking will suffice.
I asked him point blank if he thought I had personal hygiene or odor issues, and showed him the notes from the other surgeon. He said he wouldn't say that, and he couldn't speak to why she'd write that but thinks that she may have done it just to get insurance approval.

Bad news: The surgery would be $12,200. Payable in advance. Its mostly his fee, to be honest. And he doesnt accept my insurance. Neither do most of the other plastic surgeons I called. My insurance company has a real reputation for not being easy to deal with when it comes to plastic surgery. In fact, the surgeon told me that he tried to accept my insurance, but was told they already had 2 plastic surgeons in the area and wouldn't accept anymore.
I need to decide if I'm going to have the surgery. I have little doubt I could get the money, but $12,200 is more than any car I've ever owned, more than my master's degree from Hopkins (with books), and a little less than half of what I paid for room, board, tuition and books after scholarships at my undergrad university. And I had a SINGLE in one of the newer/nicer dormitories! Its a whole lot of money, but then I wonder if its worth it since it would probably improve my health situation.

:mouse:

Mouse, I'm glad things went well with the endoscopy. I'm sorry that they didn't find an answer, though. I know you have a hard decision with the surgery. Can you see your endo and get her advice again? I guess before I plunked down that much money I'd want to see on paper what benefits exactly I'd get from it. You might want more plastic surgery after the weight loss is complete, so that might be a consideration in overall dollars. My sister has lost about 120 pounds and she needs a lower body lift. Her stomach chafes and it hurts to sit because her butt is so bony. It was estimated at $13,000 for the lower body lift. That includes hospital, etc for a surgery with no complications. Insurance might pay for the tummy tuck alone, but doubtful that it will pay anything else.

Noodles, I didn't know you were still on met. I had the muscle pains also. But I don't think it was anything major - probably just my imagination from fear of lactic acidosis - which is very rare in people with good kidneys. Still though, hard to forget that it is a side effect!

I was released from my surgeon today. No more gauze packing. I forgot to ask about lifting weights, so I guess I'll just start slow and see how it goes myself.

I'm glad you were let go from your surgeon, Jennifer. Could you call and ask his office about weight lifting? Or do you want to start right away? I've been released from the physical therapist, but since I can't walk up and down stairs adequately yet, the orthopedist wants to see me again in 6 months.
I actually don't think I'd want other plastic surgery after losing the rest of the weight: most of my weight is concentrated in the pannus. I have excess weight in other places, but the majority of it is there. I look really silly, actually, because my arms and legs are fairly muscular and have very little fat (except the upper arms have the skin tags). Since I've lost weight, I've lost it everywhere but there. I did forget to ask the surgeon how much weight he'd expect me to lose.
There are loan programs that I could qualify for, but if I do, it'll be 5-7 years before I can buy a house. I could also probably take a lot of this off my taxes since it is a medical expense and my insurance has declined to pay for it despite two doctors (the gastroenterologist and my endocrinologist) thinking that it is a medical necessity.
The fee he quoted me included everything, but the majority of the fee was HIS surgical fee. And he said if I felt well enough I didn't have to stay in the hospital for 3 nights, and that would lower the fee. He said that I appear to be in fairly good shape, so I might not need 3 nights.
I don't know. I couldn't reach my mom last night, and though my grandmother told me to call her at work today, I don't want to talk to her about this while she is at work. I'll wait until she gets home tonight and then call.
But now, I'm going swimming. I didn't go to sleep till after midnight last night and slept through my alarm, so I missed the water aerobics class. I'm probably not going to get a lane for lap swimming either since its ALWAYS crowded on Saturday mornigs. But I'm going anyway.
Maybe I'll bring extra clothes to throw over my suit, and if its really crowded I'll go lift some before I swim. Hmmmm...

:mouse:

Okay...
I think I might have good news on the surgery and insurance front. I'm not positive because I'm playing phone tag with the insurance company supervisor. I told her that the first surgeon submitted poor and incorrect information the first time (mostly about the fact that this was for weight loss and the fact that I don't exercise). I didn't go into the hygiene and odor issues. That doesn't effect the insurance approval.
I told her that I had a new surgeon, and that he wasn't on the insurance so I was requesting that they pay for the hospital stay and the anesthesia... which isn't even half the cost of the procedure. She requested that I have my endocrinologist and the new surgeon both write letters to them, and said I could submit anything I wanted to in terms of correcting the misinformation from the first surgeon.
I plan to submit copies of my gym records and a letter from one of the swim/water aerobics instructors who sees me there everyday... But I'm wondering if there are any research articles about PCOS or similar endocrine disorders that CAUSE weight gain, and people who can't take the medication so must go another route since losing weight is difficult to impossible.
I mean, really, I swim every day (I have a lot of school work to do tonight so I only did half a mile tonight), and normally for 1 hour or more. I eat under 1000 calories on most days, and DEFINITELY under 1500 on 95% of the days for the last 12-14 weeks. Even prior to that, I didn't eat over 2000 calories, most times I was under 1800. Why don't I lose any weight?????

thanks.
:mouse:

Hi All!!! I'm Backkkkkkkkkk!!! :wave:

Gosh, I feel like I've been gone for ages!! IT was only 9 days but being away that long, eating out every day, sleeping in different beds, etc...really gets to you after a while. I'm so glad to be home!

We left Thursday and headed to So. California. We stayed at this awful gang/hoodlum infested Motel 6. Never staying there again!! I visited with some friends and did a bit of shopping. I also picked up 2 handicapped rats to come live with us here at the handicapped rat house. :mouse:

We left there Sat. morning and headed too Vegas. It was about 110°-113° + humidity in Vegas. Awful!! I live in the desert but we don't usually get THAT hot & humid down here!! I'm not use to heat over 100°. :lol:

Vegas was nice otherwise...it was nice to see grandma. She is 85 and still hanging in there, but she's slowing down. She was telling me about how she had her funeral all planned out and what she wanted read there, and I told her stop talking like that!! You MUST live to 100 at least!! She just giggled at me. I dread the day she passes on. Sucha sweet lady she is. She made us 5 jars of homemade jam and her famous rolls. Yum!!

I did some thrift store shopping and found some good stuff! I then hit a 99 cent store and found some nice sunglasses. They sure don't look like they cost 99 cents!! :cool: I bought 3 pairs.

We left Vegas on Wed. and stopped in Mesa for 2 days. We had a nice hotel room for cheap so figured we'd just hang around and enjoy it. We went to the movies and the mall and met some friends for dinner. We got home Friday about Noonish. I immediately un-packed and put everything away cause if I didn't, I wouldn't of done it for weeks!! The procrastinator in me. :o Then of course we needed to go get the dog, pay bills, get groceries, etc...so we were off and running yet again. Today I am staying HOME!! :p

Hope everyone is doing OK!! Type at you soon!! :grouphug: