Nov 2014 PCOS Support Thread
 

Here is the old Oct 2014 Thread.

Tell us how you're doing:

- How's the PCOS?
- How are you?
- What are you working on now?
- How successful were you for past month?

A.

Tell us how you're doing:

- How's the PCOS?
- How are you?
- What are you working on now?
- How successful were you for past month?

How's the PCOS?
It is okay right now. I have been getting monthly spotting which is so weird because I am normally a no-period gal! My cystic acne has been really bad lately and it is driving me crazy. My face is really dry and I am getting so frustrated with this crazy acne.

How are you?
I'm good! I have had an interesting few weeks. Been working a lot and so that's keeping me very busy, and my grad school classes are coming together. I am reassured over and over that social work is the right avenue for me. I love it. I have been keeping a pretty low profile lately, hanging with my close friends a lot and it's good.

What are you working on right now?
I am working on losing more weight and eating healthier! I feel like all I do is go out to eat with friends and gain weight. I am hoping to be in the 250s by the end of this month.

How successful were you?
Not super successful but I'm getting there.

I'd love to join you guys. Just getting back into MFP.

How's the PCOS?
Nightmarish. I've gained 10lbs since June and Im' pretty sure my birth control is making my insulin resistance worse. I also don't have a regular doctor right now so I'm going to have to go to a walk-in during my Research Week and see if they'll a) prescribe me more metformin and b) let me try a different birth control. I would go off the pill entirely, but my periods are so miserable, I'm not sure I could function without it. That's why I went on it over the summer.

How are you?
I'm stressed. Internship has been good but the days are long and I'm generally exhausted. I'm averaging 4-5 days a week at the gym though, so I'm happy I've been able to keep that up. I'm still figuring out my schedule and what works best for me and just when I do that it'll all be changing again. I am loving my new workouts right now. It's also hard not to feel sad or a little depressed when I can't seem to stop gaining weight.

What are you working on right now?
Eating well, eating lots of veggies, being good to myself.

How successful were you?
It's a process.

I'm new here!!

My PCOS is a nightmare right now.... I had 5 months of regular periods and was losing weight..... Now October I had no period and have gained weight.... Hair all over my face! Hair on my head falling out....Yuck!!

I'm sad.... I feel like a failure as a woman because of this.... I'm afraid I will never be able to have kids. I have zero self esteem right now and can't get control of my eating.

I am working on exercising....not binging...... Eating only when I'm hungry, eating the right kind of food.... And boosting my self esteem.

I'm at rock bottom right now so I am hoping next month will be better


I am normally not negative nelly..... This is just a bad time.... I have pretty much bit rock bottom so I joined this forum to hopefully get some accountability and support.

Hello everyone!

I'm here. I did a lot of travel in October, so I'm hoping November will be a better month and I can drop some of the water weight that I picked up... and hopefully some more pounds after that, so I can get under 160!!!!!

PCOS is good. I'm exercising. I'm also eating better when I travel, I think. I have noticed a pattern that I get ravenous right before my period, which used to never happen... not sure what's changed in me to cause that!

BF is also back on track. I think October was an off-month for him, and he's gained like 3 lbs and is ready to buckle down again.

I'm under a lot of stress at work though. There's a lot going on and I am really stressed out, so I bought the Yoga app for my iPad and I'm desperately trying to get up earlier to do at 30 minutes of it in the morning. I hope that I can build that habit in November... that's my goal.

How's everyone doing? I can't believe November is half done almost!

I quit my birth control on Friday and have cut back on the types of grains and starches I was eating. I feel better already, though it may be psychological at this point.

Gymrat - hope you're feeling better now that you're off the BCP.

How's everyone else?

On Friday, I had another doctor's appointment who has asked me to cut down my calorie intake to break through the plateau. She's happy with my labs, but she (and more importantly, I) think that I can lose another 10 or so. So, she has asked me to lower my calories to 1200 per day for 2 weeks to see what happens.

Obviously, following my diet, which is low-carb.

Let's see what happens...

BCP Update!

Period seems to be here for an extended stay this month (since I'm not starting a new pack). So that was a fun little surprise to wake up to the morning of day 7. It's light, but annoying.

HOWEVER, I weighed myself for the first time in a week. I went from 188.6 to 185. 3.6lbs!!! I never lose 3.6. Ever. I know it was probably mostly fluid but it's just soooo nice to see the scale go down. And I also feel so much more in control of my eating. The binges have more or less stopped and I'm feeling way more in control of my eating patterns right now. I'm going to stay off the scale for rest of the week and weigh in again next Sunday or Monday. We'll see how week 2 goes!

New to all of this
 

So to start out, and a bit late in the month I'll add, I am new to all of this. I pretty much knew I had PCOS but my naturopath confirmed it earlier this year with an ETA scan. No cysts yet. I know I need to drop kick this syndrome if I ever want to lose the weight, get my period back and have kids someday...which hopefully will be someday in the next five years.

- How's the PCOS?
I'm at my biggest in life right now. I started out this week at 271 and am down almost 6 pounds since Monday and determined to keep it going. I haven't had a period in 2014.

- How are you?
I'm great. Feeling good about myself and my efforts and can't wait to see more progress.

- What are you working on now?
I don't take birth control or PCOS drugs so I'm going to be taking a natural approach to getting my health back. Having said that, I'm trying to cut out refined sugars and flours, gluten and so forth. So far it's working but it's only been a week lol.

Y'all, my acne has gotten tons better this month! I am taking my meds without skipping any and it is really helping. I am really thankful!

So I'm interning at a Diabetes Education Centre this month and I just found out that insulin resistance is worse in the morning. I'm constantly learning new things about PCOS (like the pill worsens insulin resistance) 9 years after being diagnosed. I'm going to try moving around my met dose and back off on the carbs at breakfast and see what that does.

MelaA -- how's the diet going? Removing sugar and simple carbs was one of the best things I could do. I will still have some nowadays, but it's awful when I do. I can't eat the quantities that I use to and I've learned that sugar makes me emotional and moody to boot!

Gymrat -Yeah, I learned that a couple of years ago when my doctor asked me to keep track of my BGL throughout the day. I was shocked when mine were high. My regular physical showed that it was high in the morning and she wanted to make sure I wasn't on the track to being a diabetic. I learned a lot about how my body processes different foods and how it reacts to exercise.

So, it's almost the end of the month and I'm not sure I will get to post tomorrow... I am still plateauing as I haven't been able to keep track and focus as much as I wanted. On one hand, work has been crazy prior to Thanksgiving, which many times meant I forgot that I had to eat (leaving my breakfast uneaten) but on weekends, it's been harder to stay on 1200 calories. I have started to eat no-cream based soups on days when I have bigger lunches, at the recommendation of my doctor but again, not sure if it helps...

This long-weekend, since I didn't have to work or shop or cook too much, I've been going to bed kind of early and getting a lot of sleep. I'm hoping that will help too. I know that when I'm stressed, even if I am laying in bed in the dark, I can't sleep if I am thinking of all the things I need to do.

Let's see what December brings around.

Hop over to the December thread!

A. :)