PCOS diet?

[Anonymous]

Anyone out there with PCOS had success controlling symptoms through diet? I'm 30 and recently stopped the pill and when my period never returned, I was diagnosed with PCOS. Lack of period is really my only symptom. I am not overweight. I would like to see what I can do to get my body ovulating naturally without intervention (we are hoping to start a family in the next few years). Anyone have any success stories? TIA!

[Anonymous]

bumping this and would like to know about any vitamins or supplements that can be taken....

[Anonymous]

I'm in the same spot! My OBGYN just told me I'd have trouble getting pregnant. Wouldn't diagnose me as PCOS because my blood sugar was normal (I'm not overweight either, but have many PCOS symptoms).

[Anonymous]

I had a lot of success with cutting dairy and most sugars. It wasn't fun but I felt so much better. I also added fish oil and a methyl b complex vitamin. Not diet, but acupuncture also helped.

[Anonymous]

PP you should see a reproductive endocrinologist (bascially a fertility dr). its been my experience that reg OBs really don't know enough to diagnose PCOS or fertility issues.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Thanks all. I just made an appointment with an RE. I did get the sense that this isn't exactly my OB's area of expertise. She did say there is no definitive diagnosis for PCOS but that she got to the diagnosis by ruling out other things. I'll be interested to hear what the RE has to say. My blood sugar is normal, too.

[Anonymous]

PP here. How do you get to see an RE? My gyno said my blood work all seemed normal. I have 55+ days between periods (that only last two days), increased facial hair, etc, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP here. How do you get to see an RE? My gyno said my blood work all seemed normal. I have 55+ days between periods (that only last two days), increased facial hair, etc, etc.

She referred me when I told her we wanted to get pregnant.

[Anonymous]

If you have polycystic ovaries and another symptom like facial hair, scarce periods, overweight, acne, dark patches of skin, or evidence of a hormonal abnormality like high testosterone or LH PCOS is a definitive diagnosis.

The catch is you don't have to have polycystic ovaries to have PCOS. It is no longer standard to do an ultrasound to look for the polycysts in order to arrive at the diagnosis. You will, however,have some combination of the symptoms--some doctors will say two are sufficient to diagnose, particularly if one is few periods. You certainly don't need high blood glucose to be diagnosed with PCOS, although it is often thought of as a pre-diabetic condition, particularly if you are overweight.

For the PP who said that her bloodwork was normal--did that include a full hormonal panel or was it just the normal CBC? Full hormonal panels take a while to get back. But, again, many doctors will diagnose without such a panel based on symptoms alone. The hormonal panel is usually done, though, to make sure something more sinister is not going on like a tumor.

My daughter went to the OB with amenorrhea and acne and the doctor dx'ed PCOS on the spot. She is thin and has no other PCOS symptoms. Then we got back the hormonal panel and found her testosterone was very high. At that point, an ultrasound was done to rule out a testosterone secreting tumor. These are mostly benign, but we were grateful she didn't have one. The ultrasound found no evidence of polycysts.

At this point, I thought PCOS was a kind of dustbin diagnosis that was not very exact. In my daughter's case saying she had excess testosterone seemed more appropriate. Then she had an MRI of the pelvis for other reasons and an incidental finding was 30 or so cysts on each ovary. I guess they were too small to show up on the ultrasound, but there we had it--definitive proof she has polycystic ovaries and PCOS.

[Anonymous]

If your looking for a Endo I highly recommend Shannon Sullivan. I found her after searching for pcos endos. She's great & at washington hospital

Regarding diet, I've found the greatest success with lower carb eating and when I did eat carbs to be with a protein.

I have had pcos for several years and found I only got pregnant with medicine (not metformin but I can't remember the name of the drugs. It forces ovulation). If I remember I will post the name.

[Anonymous]

Also be prepared that Pcos girls generally have very low breast milk output. Don't let that discourage you just be aware that it's also a side effect of pcos (that most don't know about).

[Anonymous]

Studies show a connection between PCOS and low vitamin D levels. I have some pcos symptoms and saw them improve when I started vit D supplements. And I got pregnant.

[Anonymous]

I have PCOS and controlled it by being on BCP and a low card diet. When trying to get pregnant 1500 mg of metformin forced my body to ovulate and worked. However with both my kids I was unable to successfully bf them -
Just never had the supply and it's interesting to hear that it might be due to PCOS.

[Anonymous]

Go over to SoulCysters and their message boards.

For me and many on the boards, low carb diets helped immensely. They now think PCOS should be considered "diabetes type 3", in that your insulin levels are good, but your body doesn't know what to do with carbs, so it puts them right to fat. The fat stores the excess hormones, raising your overall hormone levels even further.

I did extreme low carbing for several years. I lost over 100 pounds in a year and began menstruating again. I got pregnant naturally with zero interventions at age 39.

[Anonymous]

Pp that's so interesting bc my insulin levels were normal
But if I didn't eat low carb I gained weight