PCOS and depression
 

I have PCOS, I am depressed, possibly have a blood clot, have tightness in my lungs and sometimes my heart hurts ... I know I need to lose weight but I can't. I can't apply myself. Everytime I try, I gain more weight than when I started. I need support and I don't know where else to go. I've tried it all - I can't get healthy. And now I'm scared. I'm only 21. Sometimes the pain is so bad, I can't take it. I feel limited and weak. I'm scared I'll never be strong enough to lose the weight.

:hug::dust:

How about, instead of focusing on losing weight, you just do stuff that will make you healthy?

Depression is not good health... have you thought about going to a therapist or a psychiatrist (if you need medication)?

On this site and others, there is tons of information on what is healthy for PCOS patients. We need to eat a healthy diet and cut the crap. We need to do a little bit of exercise every day. And there is a bunch of vitamins and supplements we need to take in order to stay healthy.

Why don't you try one thing at a time? Pick something you want to do like add more vegetables to your diet, for example. Do that for a little while. Then start drinking more water. Keep doing those two things for a few weeks. Then maybe stop drinking soda. And just take those baby steps.

If you have PCOS you might also have IR. Get tested. If you have IR, I can almost guarantee that part of your depression could be attributed to eating too much sugar in your diet. But you can't know that until you get the right tests. Do you have an endo you can go to?

I totally agree with Rana, just pick one thing to start with. It can seem so overwhelming at the beginning when there a 100 things you feel like you should be doing differently and if you focus on that or try to change them all at once you probably won't succeed. But if you work on changing one thing, even if it seems small, and focus only on that its a lot more manageable. Looking at the big picture was too much for me when I started, but I could focus on tracking all of my foods.

I would also suggest start with a positive change. Like, "I will do 15min of excersize, even just walking 4 times a week", or "I will eat 5 servings of fruit and veggies everyday" instead of something negative "I will not eat x, y, and z". I think it can be hard to stay mentally and emotionally positive about what you are trying to do if you are always thinking about it in grammatically negative terms.

Ditto. It was hard for me to change, forever I didnt want to then one day BAM it hit me and I did it. then I fell off the wagon and never realyl got back on till now. The whole time though I was picking little thigns to stick to to stay healthy or as healthy as I could be the way I was living. picking those small steps will slowly bring you in to where you want to be. Things become too overwhelming when done in one fail swoop, ease in to it.

I take metformin for my PCOS and I noticed that if I don't also take a B-complex vitamin I get REALLY depressed. It sounds crazy, but maybe vitamins will help. I've suffered with depression my whole life and a little bit of exercise and vitamin B do wonders for me.

Runic -- that's a good point.

I also suffered through some depression and maybe it was PCOS related. I know that exercise, Vitamin D supplements (after being tested), the super B complex and a whole bunch of other vitamins, I think also helped.

Honestly, I exercise to keep the depression at bay, I don't do it to lose weight because the calories you burn with exercise are so few! They don't offset a slice of cake!

I also have PCOS and Endometriosis really bad. Right now Im having to take Lupron shots to try and get rid of the Endo and I take Metformin for the PCOS. Lupron shot is kind of like Chemo Therapy and takes a huge toll on your body. I now deal with depression so bad that one day I will sit and cry all day long and the next I want to claw my face off and most of the time it has to do with my weight. I started last month taking Lexapro for the depression but here I am fixing to go in for my 3rd shot and the Lexapro isnt working so well. The symptoms are getting worse and Im getting fatter right along with it. Im trying so hard to keep away from gaining. I dont know what to do anymore. I feel so alone in this world and never have anyone to talk to about any of this. My family is smaller than I am and no one has been through what Im going through with my health issues. I want to have a baby and this is my only option to hopefully get pregnant. I have 4 months left of the shot and I have to try and get off as much weight as possible before then. I was told I have to workout for 20 minutes a day everyday no matter what. Guess what Im slacking on that. As of today Im going to start that.