January 2011 PCOS Support Thread

astrophe · 12-31-2010, 10:20 PM

Happy New Year!

Welcome to the monthly thread! The old December 2010 Support thread is here.

This is the new support thread for Jan 2011. (The related January 2011 Exercise Thread is here.)

Tell us about you!

Who's here this month?
How are you?

What are you working on?
How was last month? How's your PCOS management going?

Welcome aboard!

A.

astrophe · 01-01-2011, 01:27 PM

Who's here this month?

I'm here!

How are you?

Would you believe still with this cold/cough thing? It's better, but boy... it's taking forever to go away completely.

What are you working on?

Cleaning the house post holidays, cleaning kitchen working on menus for next week, etc. I'm not ready to plan out further than that. This cold took it out of me.

How was last month? How's your PCOS management going?

Ok for maintaining. I'll take it!

I have labs in later January. We'll see how I'm doing then.

Here's to a new month!

A.

drummergrrrl · 01-01-2011, 05:39 PM

Who's here this month?

Me! I'm new to this forum!

How are you?

Feeling great! Recent diet changes and a few pounds lost in the past couple days have given me more energy and optimism about this month.

What are you working on?

Getting ready for school to start again in late January, preparing for a cruise next week (yay, vacation!).

How was last month? How's your PCOS management going?

Last month was a little rough because of the holidays, but I'm managing OK. I plateaued for a couple weeks because I wasn't eating appropriately around finals time (excusable), but I feel like the PCOS management is going well. I'm going to see a dermo on Wednesday for help with this acne (lost 10% of body weight, but no change in acne or hirsutism ... ugghhh), so I'm pumped about maybe getting rid of these ginormous blemishes. As always, trying to learn new tricks to keeping the PCOS in check.

Rana · 01-01-2011, 07:52 PM

Who's here this month?

I am! Still here... it's the only support I have right now!

How are you?

I'm okay. I'm trying to start off the year well. I failed at the scheduled exercise part, but I'm planning on making it up tomorrow.

What are you working on?

Well, it's 2011 and I started off with my weight at 173 lbs. I was down to 172.2 yesterday, so obviously I'm capable of being less than I am today.

With that in mind, I now have three weeks (while family is away) to focus on my diet and exercise again.

For the last couple of weeks, I've been maintaining as best as possible but now I need to get back down.

One thing I did notice was even though I increased my calories for the last couple of weeks, I didn't gain weight. That is a miracle in itself!

How was last month? How's your PCOS management going?

Last month could have always been better. But it comes once a year and I have to remember to keep it in perspective. I wasn't going to lose 20 lbs in one month anyway (or even 10 or 5) so, the real focus is on making better choices and learning to handle the holidays. This is my second year through this season with my commitment intact and while there were moments where I indulged, I didn't give up on my plan and I went back to my healthy habits.

My PCOS is still being managed by diet, exercise and supplements. I think now that I've been taking the chromium for a while, it's really helping balance my glucose/insulin levels.

I'm really looking forward to 2011. I can't wait to reach my goal weight!

babble · 01-01-2011, 10:39 PM

Who's here this month?
I am here
How are you?

I'm doing pretty good. The bronchitis junk is hanging around, but I am improving.

What are you working on?

Just recovering really and trying to get back into a routine post holidays.

How was last month? How's your PCOS management going?

Last month was pretty good. I have settled into my new medicine and stayed constant in my new lifestyle (except for less exercise from being sick). My BP is better and I am not as scared about that. PCOS management is going well. I'm still seeing improvement of my symptoms since changing my lifestyle.

Happy New Year to you all.

Rana · 01-02-2011, 09:53 AM

Exercise this morning aborted by circumstances beyond my control. My mother thinks I should stay in and rest because I'm still sick. It's a sign from the universe. :O

Nadelle · 01-04-2011, 05:15 AM

Who's here this month?

I'm new here but I thought I'd raise my hand for attendance this month.

How are you?

I'm as stressed as is humanly possible and an emotional roller coster. Birth Control plus my fiance having a stroke on christmas makes for a great time.

What are you working on?

I'm working on fixing my diet. Emotional eating is a killer. I'm also doing the gym thing five days a week, with a friend! Yay for accountability in numbers.

How was last month? How's your PCOS management going?

Last month started out really great and ended with pure suck. I'm having lots of issues with emotions from the meds but the doc and I are working on it. And my PCOS is showing progress so that's great. Yay!

babble · 01-04-2011, 02:32 PM

Nadelle I am so sorry to hear about your fiance.

Nadelle · 01-04-2011, 03:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by babble

Nadelle I am so sorry to hear about your fiance.

He is doing so much better

Only a little double vision left and the hiccups that just won't go away. We're looking into meds for that. We were very lucky and he is in SOOO much trouble with me. He stopped taking BP meds without talking to his doctor because he thought he was healthy enough. I think he's definitely learned his lesson

Even if his health levels make me sick with jealousy it's just not enough to disobey a doc. lol Thanks for the thoughts though

astrophe · 01-05-2011, 01:33 AM

drummergrrrl -- Ooh, have fun on vacation! Fun!

Babble: Glad things are improving with PCOS management! Hope the bronchitis clears up. I've got a tiny bit of congestion but I'm at the good enough place now. Mine took a long time to clear up too.

Rana: Hang in there!

Nadelle: Glad he's better but wow! So scary!

My Check In:

I'm still in prep mode. I joined Planet Fitness as planned on Monday. Today I got the new fridge stocked up with healthy food, coping with laundry, and setting up my gym bag again.

Next is to clean the kitchen cupboards and get rid of any holiday junk lingering about and get rid of clutter. Then sit with some books and plan out some meals and cook them. I still need to get new headphones for iPod too -- the old ones broke.

And eventually look up a 5K schedule to follow. Sometimes I actually sign up for the 5ks and sometimes I just follow the training schedules just to have a program going. I have to figure that out next after I get the food bit settled.

So either tomorrow nite or the next morning is my first workout at the gym. I promised myself it doesn't have to be more than 30 min and it doesn't have to rock my world as best workout ever... it just has to be this week! I'm ok doing a basic 30 min walk while I'm still getting myself organized.

I have to confess that I'm jittery. New place and all. I'll get over it, I have before in the past when back at a gym. And honestly it will be nice to belong to a gym again -- I've missed the structure. But argh... I never love being the newbie somewhere. YKWIM?

I'm also a tiny bit worried about making this all work. This is NOT my strength -- the exercise bit to PCOS management. I keep trying different things and trying to improve my stick-to-it-iveness.

I guess we all have challenges, tho.

hugs
A.

chouchoubou · 01-05-2011, 05:28 AM

Who's here this month?

I've been gone...done some good, done some wrong...but I'm back! hello!

How are you? What are you working on?
Ok basically.... just bummed i fell off the wagon and have all these excuses in my head why. up about 10 lbs since summer ended. Trying to lose the 10 this month. Thinking of joining a gym for a few months to have a dedicated place to work out no matter how the weather is outdoors. Idk still on the fence. Oh yes and I'm looking for work.

How was last month? How's your PCOS management going?

My TOMs have come every month like clockwork since I started losing weight back in April without the assistance of any meds. I was worried about December b/c it was delayed but fortunately the worry was for nothing

I have wondered if the increase in weight is directly the reason for that delay.

Glad to see you Astrophe! You're in good spirits!

drummergrrrl · 01-05-2011, 10:25 AM

@apostrophe
I struggle with the exercise portion of the PCOS management, too ... I am recovered from an eating disorder, and I am still working on some serious hangups when it comes to gym time (i.e., why I shouldn't spend 2 hours a day there, and why I shouldn't hate myself for not spending 2 hours a day there). I hate having to go to the gym/exercise, because I'm afraid it's going to lure me in, dominate my life all over again, and those horrid ED voices are going to reappear. It's a very "toe-in-the-water" kind of approach.

At any rate, I sympathize with the unpleasantness of the exercise situation. I try to shoot for a 30 or 45-minute limit each day so things don't get out of hand. Those seem to be magic numbers!

Good luck with your new workout plan! Being a newbie at the gym is kind of rough because you don't know your way around, but before you know it, you'll be old hat.

Rana · 01-05-2011, 10:57 AM

Hi ladies!

I'm almost at 100% health again. I did ride on Monday, which was great because I love it, but bad because I was still sick, so I was not breathing right, which led to a bad incident half way through the ride. I was able to make it back, but it did make me agree with the universe that I wasn't ready on Sunday and possibly not even on Monday!

I did go to my spinning class night and it was a great ride, so that's why I'm almost at 100% back in health. The boyfriend is sick, however, I gave him whatever I had and he's now miserable in bed.

Waiting for my period to start. The last time it was a perfect 30 days. Now we're on day 32.

jennyplain · 01-05-2011, 12:33 PM

Hi everyone,

I'm checking in here. I definitely fell off the wagon a little bit in December, and as a result my TOM was about a week later than usual...it's funny how easy it is to see the correlation when things go wrong, especially after doing them "right" for so long.

Either way, I'm back OP now. I'm doing a big grocery shop this weekend so I can get the house stocked up with lots of healthy things, and I'm kicking the stupid, evil Christmas treats to the curb!

babble · 01-05-2011, 01:22 PM

It's encouraging to see all of you getting regular AF when you are losing and I hope it continues for me also. I worry though when I get to my long term goal (which is a long ways off) that my body will adjust at that weight and I may have irregular cycles again. Are there PCOS ladies in maintenance that have had this happen and if so did you have to go back to Provera or something similar?