Hi All!!

Time to start a new chat thread!!

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. Gotta protect the eyes from the Arizona sun.

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... (no I'm not drinking! )

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

Have a good day all!!

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...

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.

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...

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.

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 Girls!!

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!! 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.

WELCOME TO THE GROUP, KAREN!!

Glad to see you here!!

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!!

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.

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

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.