SweetJade1

Hey =)
There's several ways you can tackle this problem. The first thing you need to know is whether your PCOS is caused by a Progesterone Defficiency or Insulin Resistance. I think both can be cured the same way, but if you don't want to change your diet, then you might want to figure that out.

Prometheus and I, were both dx as PCOS, although I claim Insulin Resistant because I don't have any of the typical "symptoms". I'm underwieght and with regular cycles. My only hormonal problems were TERRIBLE menstrual cramps, mild hirsutism, hairloss/retention, and of course....Acne (anywhere you can imagine). If you read around this board you will see that both of us, as well as others, used diet to get rid of most of hormonal problems, including greatly reducing or eliminating our acne!

Dietary changes was THE most effective thing I ever did for myself and I've been on everything but accutane! I tried Birth Control - Sprionolactone for 3 years and Avandia- Spironolactone for a little over a year. I've actually been on Spiro for nearly 6 years, but finally dropped it about 2 months ago. Now the only thing I am using to treat myself is my diet.

Aside from the prescriptions I mentioned above, women with PCOS are sometimes misdiagnosed and actually have NCCAH (Non-classical congential adrenal hyperplasia). The symptoms are very similar, but under hormonal tests they will find that you are lacking an enzyme neccessary to make cortisol. This of course would throw your hormones off and increase your testosterone, because your body would keep trying to produce cortisol, which keeps increasing your other hormones. The treatment for this is a glucocorticoid, such as Dexamethasone.


Otherwise, if you have PCOS due to a progesterone defficiency, you would just take progesterone to balance things out. If this is what you need, you tell them you want micronized progesterone (forget the name), no SYNTHETIC crap ;-) Or you can use Natural Progesterone Cream (NPC) to fix things. If that makes you uncomfortable you can take Vitex (chaste tree berry), which apparently balances things out, buy telling your brain to increase progesterone production =)

Now, some people breakout from progesterone cream or vitex and it's probably because they don't need it. Progesterone is anti-androgenic and also has the ability to convert itself into one of the Estrogens or Androgens (don't want more male hormones). Yet, one poster realized that she was PCOS and reduced her copper levels and used NPC to get clear and regulate her menstrual cycles.

There's lots of Insulin balancing supplements, such as NAC, ALA, Fish Oils, Milk Thistle, etc. Plus, as others mentioned, there's also the thought of taking Saw Palmetto, Nettle, or Beta sito-sterol as anti-androgens. Unfortunately for me, I've taken 1800mg of Saw Palmetto for months, while on Avandia-Spiro, and it didn't improve my acne at all. LOL, and that's interesting because most people, male and female, report improvements in the 200 - 600mg range. So my guess is that since I was already taking spiro and it's the herbal equivalent, it wasn't going to do anymore for me, than Spiro did. ;-)

That brings up a good point, that if you are Insulin Resistant (most people are), medication nor supplements, can fully replace what a proper hormonally balanced healthy diet can. It's like taking cholesterol lowering drugs, but you are still eating foods that increase your cholesterol levels....it's counter productive. Well, at least thats how my story was and it appears to run this way for a few others.

Yet, whatever you decide to do, know that they all have the potential and have achieved such results as eliminating acne, regulating menstrual cycles, eliminating menstrual pain, reducing hirsutism, lowering weight, shrinking ovarian cysts, and I think the most wonderful of all for those that had problems, given women the ability to concieve.
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