Pcos

[alleycat]

Are their any alternative medications for Polycystic ovarian syndrome?

[NerfHead]

Hey there,

There are a few things one can do to combat PCOS.

Run a search for "Glycemic Index" and AVOID like the plague all foods that elevate glucose levels in the blood!

1000mcg of Chromium Picolinate is ESSENTIAL!!

"IF" the person with PCOS is overweight, they need to lose weight..yesterday.

If you don't have any success with the above info, there is always metformin.

[csoar2004]

You need an eating plan that balances insulin (low glycemic foods, no sugar or sugar analogs) as well as hormones. Many PCOS folks also suffer from insulin resistance.
First, let me make sure that you understand what insulin resistance IS. The NORMAL insulin process works like this:
When you eat carbohydrates (a pear or carrot, say), glucose is released into the blood stream. This, in turn, triggers an insulin response. Insulin converts some of the glucose into glycogen and hauls it off to the liver and muscle tissue for temporary storage for use when blood sugar falls. Since short term storage capacity is limited, any excess glucose is converted by the insulin into triglycerides (that's fat to you and me ) for long term storage.
Ok...still following?
When blood sugar drops, glucagon is produced and it trots off to the liver and grabs the stored glycogen from short term storage and dumps it back into the bloodstream to be converted back to glucose, thus cranking your blood sugar back up.
This is all well and good, AS LONG AS blood sugar is released slowly <---key term, 'slowly! into the bloodstream which in turn means a controlled release of insulin.
Insulin Resistance comes into play when a diet rich in high-glycemic carbos (and sugar) is eaten. These carbohydrates are converted to glucose nearly instantly which means an equal amount of insulin is triggered. The excess insulin results in sharp drop of blood sugar - which makes you feel tired, therefore craving more fuel (carbohydrates) and voila! you have a vicious cycle with:
> consistently high insulin levels
> insulin working overtime to reduce excess glucose but can't keep up therefore, bang! you gain weight
> cells stop responding to insulin and won't store excess fat
> excess glucose therefore can't be converted to fat and stays in bloodstream where it's veddy veddy bad for your heart, kidneys, eyes, blood vessels, nerves.
Still with me?
You need low glycemic foods and cut out the SUGAR! You need to eat more apples and fewer grapes, for example. Or more celery and fewer carrots. AND you need to cut out refined sugar and it's analogs (no cakes! no cookies! no meal replacement bars, etc). Research shows that the ONLY sweetener which does NOT trigger an insulin response, is Stevia. All the others do. Yes, that means aspartame, sweet n low, and even Splenda. So no soda pop!
In addition, you need a diet rich in GLA and omegas to balance your hormones. What you need, IMHO, is the Fat Flush Plan (FFP) which is designed to restore balance to your daily diet AND to control insulin levels by emphasizing low-glycemic foods and the importance of eating lean protein to help slow absorption (and eating protein burns fat. WAhoooooo!) in addition to balancing hormones.
Several of my friends who suffer from PCOS have done quite well on the FFP and not only that, they FEEL so much better. I highly recommend it.
'Course I'm biased, having lost 58 pounds on the FFP, myself. (Happy dancing, I tell you what!)

best wishes,
charli
highest wt: 233
203/146/146
Lost 50 pounds in first 5 months. Have maintained wt loss for 6+ months and counting.

[Susannah]

I went on the South Beach diet, and it cured my PCOS. My only real symptoms were no periods (at all for 3 years), and cysts on my ovaries. I wasn't overweight, hirsute, and didn't have acne. After 3 months on the diet, my periods came back and were normal for 3 months. Now, I'm pregnant, so they're gone again, but for a good reason this time

I also cleared out the copper from my system, which I think had something to do with the periods coming back. I did this before I went on the diet. My bloodwork showed I had high testosterone, so I did some research, and that can be caused by high copper, and the pill can actually cause your body to store more copper than normal (my periods stopped after the pill and never came back). So, I got a hair mineral analysis done, and my copper sure enough was high. So, I supplemented with molybdenum and the copper levels got lower (molybdenum is a very potent copper chelating agent). And, my reaction that I used to have to garlic, onions, and eggs went away. When I got to thinking about it, I realized that had started happening after I started the pill. I finally researched it and found out that molybdenum is required for your body to metabolize sulfites and sulfates, which garlic, onions, and eggs are rich in. Copper and molybdenum compete in your body, so my high copper meant I had low molybdenum, and this was causing the reaction. Funny how such different things turn out to be related in the end.

One more thing that might help is ground flaxseed. It's been found to bind to excess hormones. Also, I used Evening Primrose Oil (EPO) during the cycle I got pregnant. A lot of the things I found suggest EPO in the first half of the cycle and flaxseed in the second half.

My doc says there's no substitute for a low carb or good carb diet (IR diets are good, too) and exercise for people with PCOS. He was very happy with me that the diet made everything better, even though he had prescribed Metformin and I quit taking it. I thought I was going to get a lecture for stopping my prescribed meds, but instead got praise.