PCOS/Insulin Resistance SupportSupport for us with any of the following: Insulin Resistance, Syndrome X, Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome, or other endocrine disorders.
My doctor wants me to on on BCP. I have an appointment with her on Saturday for hormone level test and all before she prescribes me the pill.
But I've been doing research on BCP and I've found that it causes weight gain and can cause blood clots. And I'm not too keen on having to take a pill everyday.
So is it possible to control PCOS with just diet or exercise?
In my personal experience, no. I undertook lifestyle changes to lose over 125 lbs. I exercise daily and eat a reduced calorie diet with no refined carbs. My PCOS symptoms did not go away permanently. They did go away for a short time, from about 1 month into losing until about a year of maintenance, but then they came back.
I guess it depends on the person, because I found that simple diet changes, increased activity/exercise and taking evening primrose oil greatly improved my PCOS. I went 7 months without a single period but the second I started losing weight, I got them back, and now they're pretty much regular.
I think it depends on the type of PCOS. With mine and Mandalinn's, no. Weightloss did not help. I can only speculate that this has something to do with the hormonal imbalance with our type of pcos.
Those who experience insulin resistance with their PCOS often find the symptoms related to that are reduced with changes in diet and exercise.
I think this goes back to the chicken or the egg approach to PCOS. A lot of women don't experience PCOS until they are overweight, so they lose their symptoms once they lose weight. Others are thought to be born with it. I just don't think we know enough about PCOS to draw a hard conclusion.
I can tell you that it does alleviate a lot of symptoms in many women. While I still have the trademark poly-cystic ovaries and am annovulatory, my facial hair has drastically decreased.
If I wasn't TTC I would have never gone off Nuvaring in a million years. It is the reason I was able to lose weight.
Just my 2 cents
I would at least try it- you are already making a conscious decision to lose weight so if you continue to stick to it the pill shouldn't make you gain too much. And if it does ask for another brand. The pill I'm on now doesn't make me gain weight- I don't remember the brand but if you PM me I can look it up when I get home. I think it's Alese or something.
I know the pill did help me get my periods back BUT they were so light- not until I started eating better and losing weight did the periods return, and now that I've stalled they are getting light again darnit!
And let me add - I am in NO WAY discouraging anyone from losing weight to resolve symptoms. I do know that my sympttoms DID go away temporarily, and I can only imagine where I'd be today, symptom-wise, if I hadn't lost weight. Plus there are a ton of other benefits to weight loss! A TON! It's only that, for some people, it may not control PCOS.
FWIW, Birth control didn't control them for me either. I'm current on BCP, and still don't have regular periods, still have other symptoms including wonky blood sugar shifts, facial hair growth, etc.
Recently I went to the gyno, after not being on the pill for about 3 years, and still getting like 2 cycles per year. I was trying to control PCOS with diet and exercise. She looked me in the eye and said, "WHY were you trying to control this with diet and exercise? You have circulating hormones in your body that can cause cancer. You need some kind of progesterone, whether it be through birth control or progesterone pills, to protect you from cancer."
I had no idea! So now I'm on Ortho Lo, and with my experience in the past it causes the least amount of weight gain compared to other pills.
Now for the exercise part- I've found through experience that normal cardio like cycling, walking, etc. won't do CR@P for PCOS weight loss. What I do is a combination of kettle bells, weights, and circuit training non-stop for 45 minutes. If I push myself I can totally drop 3-4lbs per week. I'm actually going to tackle P90X soon. It's intense exercise like that which really gave me awesome results... just my experience. And getting quick results while having PCOS was so important to me, especially because it's such a struggle in the first place =)
, I think I'll be in denial for a bit longer with regards to BC, but there's a lot here to think on. Wish I could find a doctor who'd actually talk to me about PCOS and test results.
i guess all i can do now is just pray that it can be controlled without BCP. I can barely remember to take medication when I'm sick I don't know how I would manage with having to take a pill every day.
It's true what everyone has said above. It depends which degree of PCOS you have. I think you need to figure out what works best for you. I mean, in my opinion its best to avoid pills as long as that is possible because of the side effects they may bring. When I was diagnosed with PCOS my doctor told me that I need to exercise and change my diet (eat as little sugar as possible). He said that I should try that first and if it didn't help I could go on BCP. What I am saying is that it doesn't hurt for you to try to reduce the symptoms through exercise and diet first..and if that doesn't help you can rethink the situation.
well i went to my appointment on saturday. my doctor gave me a 3 21 days prescription of yasmin. she said try it for 3 months to see how it goes. well i hope it goes well.
i never took any hormone treatment before so i don't know how my body will react.
I just got on to BCP for the first time. I am about to hit my period week so we will see how it goes. My Dr said that the lo version of the pill was intended for smaller women, so he wasn't sure it was a good idea to try on me. I have mixed feelings about my first month on the pill. One thought is, I have a yeast infection (I think)... I am getting some weird thick discharge that I'm thinking is a yeast infection, but it doesn't exactly feel like one. Also have been extra tired this month, whether that is related to the BCP or the fact I am not taking my synthroid (grrr) or low iron I don't know...
I have gone years without any type of treatments for PCOS. And sadly when I went to the dr last fall, my ovaries were riddled with cysts...I had to have surgery to have all of them lasered off. That is what I'm worried about the most. I don't want to have to have another surgery.
I wish I could stay off them...I would love to have the slim chance of getting pregnant on my own, but I doubt that would happen.
Interesting about the circulating hormones that cause cancer? I have never heard that in all my research on PCOS...is there any data to support that claim? Just curious!
Sorry so long...just wanted to help if I could.
Can PCOS be controlled without birth control?
, I think I'll be in denial for a bit longer with regards to BC, but there's a lot here to think on. Wish I could find a doctor who'd actually talk to me about PCOS and test results. 
