PCOS/Insulin Resistance SupportSupport for us with any of the following: Insulin Resistance, Syndrome X, Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome, or other endocrine disorders.
I am new to this site and must say that I really like it so far! I was diagnosed with PCOS and IR about a year ago. I also have a small tumor in my pituitary gland that has caused me to gain about 100 pounds over the last 8 years. Thankfully I am now losing weight due to the medications and weight watchers (30lbs and still losing). It is nice to know that I am not the only one who has had to deal with this.
I just wanted to say *HI* Red & Welcome. I am also new here as well. This site is FANTASTIC. There is so much information, and alot of good sound advise. That much I can tell from reading others responses to threads
I love this place too! And I know exactly how you feel...
I have had this disease for YEARS, but I didn't get an official diagnosis until 1998. I have never used birth control but got pregnant only 2 times in my life. 1st pregnancy was perfect, 2nd one was awful. I was pregnant with twins and mis-carried the 1st one and the 2nd one was a tubal that blew up inside of me and almost killed me. Right after that it seems like the PCOS got worse. I started getting the dry eyes, acne, hair growth (in places I did NOT want it), weight gain, itchy skin, heart arrythmias, missed periods, EXTREMELY tired all the time, feeling bloated, swollen, etc.
My 1st doctor put me on clomid, but that didn't help any cept make me cranky. Then we moved to a colder climate than what we were in before and I started getting REALLY sick. I went to the Drs. and it turned out I had 3 different forms of arthritis! I was on so many different drugs, pills, even chemotherapy for 3 years but I just continued to get sicker and sicker from all of these things so we finally moved in 2001 down to nice dry hot Arizona so my bones could de-frost and I could get somewhat better.
Well, I got better arthritis wise, ( I still take Celebrex but I managed to get off of the chemo) but the PCOS just got worse and worse. I had damaged my liver from the chemo treatments, which in turn screwed up my pancreas/insulin levels along with the PCOS, so I became a borderline diabetic. Well, here I was thinking most of this was arthritis related, but then when I went to my GYN (who actually took the time to take care of me) told me he believes most of my medical problems/symptoms stem from the PCOS wrecking havoc on my chemical systems in my body. He also recommended a hysterectomy due to the fact that I had periods only every 3 months, but when I did, I would bleed so bad I would almost hemmorage and I'd get sick from that too! So this June, I went ahead and had the Hysterectomy and he got a chance to see the ovaries in person and guess what? Totally Polycystic..full of pus, cysts, underdevloped eggs, gunk, etc.. What a mess they were! If he could "repair" the ovaries, he didn't want to take them out because of my age (33 here) so they wound up staying in. He cauterized the ovaries and drained out all of the pus and gunk.
I can tell you that as soon as I had this done, I felt so much better. It is very weird..it is like your body isnt "poisoned" and swollen anymore. Well ok I still am a little swollen from arthritis but I can definitely feel the difference otherwise! I dont get extremely tired like I use too, and I have lost 17 pounds since surgery! I am still not totally fixed though so now I am seeing a very nice woman endocrinologist to start some form of medication for the PCOS, and hopefully with that and the work my Dr. did on my ovaries I will lose the weight a little easier. (In fact, I go to the drs. today! YAY!)
PCOS really sucks...I couldn't lose very much weight, for YEARS, no matter what I did. I tried it all, including diet and exercise... nothing worked..I was in a depression, and in turn got snackier, and of course that didn't help matters any...but now I'm on the right track! I have been sugar free for almost a month now, the cravings are 99% gone, I cut out all fried, junky foods, changed over to healthy foods, fruits, veggies, nuts, etc...trying to exercise 30 minutes daily, stuff like that. The best part is...my chubby hubby joined in and HE has lost weight now!! My 9 months pregnant hubby is now shrinking! He's probably 7 months now. LOL! (I Love to tease him..teeehee)
New to site
& Welcome. I am also new here as well. This site is FANTASTIC. There is so much information, and alot of good sound advise. That much I can tell from reading others responses to threads
And I know exactly how you feel...
