[AllisonR]

Hi everyone,

I wanted to introduce myself. My name is Allison. I've been a member here for a year or two, but was only recently diagnosed with PCOS after I skipped 2 periods and could not have been pregnant. My periods have never been regular. My cycles would be 35-50 days, but never 28.

I was on Yasmin for 18months which seemed to regulate my periods. But then from June 2011, I had a bad bout with migraines and started taking nortripytline and nadolol. From then on, I gained about 20lbs.

I now stand at 5'4" and 150lbs, but at my lowest I was 115lbs. Since I'm a short girl, this is a huge deal to me. I also am VERY active. I do P90X 5-6x per week, and on the days where I'm really tired, I substitute with Jillian Michael's Level 2/3 with Ab Ripper X. I eat well, and don't overeat.

So this huge weight gain was a massive blow to my self-esteem, as not only was I not losing, I was gaining not matter what I did. Finally, because of the missed periods, my doctor suggested that I get my blood work done and do an ultrasound. My blood work came back fine, but my ultrasound showed symptoms of PCOS.

Now I've been prescribed metaformin and hope it can help with the weight gain?

Has there been any success stories? How long before you saw results?



Thank you!

[Rana]

Welcome to the group!

There are success stories, but Metformin won't necessarily help you lose weight. What it will do is stabilize your blood glucose levels, which, if you have insulin resistance, is probably a source of the weight gain.

Personally, the best thing you can do is make sure your diet is healthy and you're sticking to plan and that you keep up the exercising.

I gain weight or stop losing when my diet is high on carbohydrates -- and it doesn't matter what I do to exercise, I don't lose it. I spent a month exercising morning and night and I didn't lose a single pound that month, even though I was creating a huge calorie deficit.

Good luck and welcome again!

[astrophe]

Me? I am a syndrome X type person. We come in at least 5 types. Check the poll!

I also have hypothyroid.

My metformin successes?

Got my irregular menses regular enough to 60ish day cycles. Conceived my kid after one year of trying on day 53! (I was also charting to help pinpoint ovulation with www.tcoyf.com) I was about to add Clomid and turns out I didn't need to.

Helps chill my IR out and stop weight creeping UP. I am very grateful for this. I don't need MORE piling on. Doesn't do anything about the weight loss that is already tacked on-- that I have to work off myself.

And if my other meds are not right (ex: levoxyl for hypothyroid) nothing I do will budge it.

Meds have to be on board.
Food log has to be on board
Exercise has to be on board.

THEN I can lose. And I do.

I see my endoc every 3 mos for labs. I can usually guess which one is off if something is off.

I know it's more challenging as a PCOS patient, and it can feel like you have to put in extra OOMPH & diligence because of it. But everyone, even a nonPCOS person has to pony up their oomph. Weight loss isn't a free ride for anyone. On the self esteem -- don't feed the bad dog!

You can do this! Hang in there!


HTH!
A.

[AllisonR]

I'm non-traditional PCOS --anovulatory, normal androgens, obese, insulin resistant or type 2 diabetes.

My blood work shows that I have normal levels of androgens, but I've missed two periods, and seemed to have missed another one this month. The ultrasounds show I have multiple follicles.

Well, I'm not sure, but I've been put on Metaformin today to see if I'm insulin resistant. My endocrinologist said he wants to see some blood work after fasting, but that my glucose levels don't have to be abnormal for the meds to work.

So I hope my exercise is sufficient, as I've kept up with P90X over 6 months. And I'll attempt to decrease carbs and increase vegs/fruits in my diet, but I keep my caloric intake under 1500-1700. I should also say that I've been seeing a dietician, and she agrees that with the amount of work that I put into my body and my diet, I should be much smaller than I am. We shall see ...

[Rana]

Originally Posted by AllisonR

So I hope my exercise is sufficient, as I've kept up with P90X over 6 months. And I'll attempt to decrease carbs and increase vegs/fruits in my diet, but I keep my caloric intake under 1500-1700. I should also say that I've been seeing a dietician, and she agrees that with the amount of work that I put into my body and my diet, I should be much smaller than I am. We shall see ...

Yeah, mine too.

She asked me to talk to the local university's wellness center, because they do body fat percentage testing, metabolism testing, and VO2 testing, to see where I really am in terms of burning calories per day. The whole calories in/calories out isn't working for me.

I exercise 6 days a week, spinning, pilates, and road cycling. And I'm still fluctuating between 163 and 165.