PCOS research in Weight Loss Surgery

So I’ve def figured out that you can have PCOS symptoms while not having out of whack ovary cysts/follicles. But it doesn’t mean that couldn’t develop for me, it’s just not something I have now.

I say I don’t have it cause my periods are regular. By regular I mean my eggs are being released monthly so I don’t imagine I have infertility issues even though you know me and Will aren’t trying for kids.

The other thing I learned is that you can be born with it, and it’s usually passed genetically but symptoms don’t usually show up when you’re young, like before puberty.

What I will say about myself is that I’ve always been hairy and had a slight mustache (that I bleach) as well as (I feel) longer than normal sideburns that I don’t do anything about. I’ve also always been overweight.

My sister didn’t have any of these issues when she was younger but she did have infertility and still does have a lot of reproductive issues like endometriosis.

My mom claims to have had a unibrow when she was younger but I dunno if she’s exaggerating cause her eyebrows are fine now and she also claims to be chubby when she was younger but she was never anywhere near my status from the pictures I’ve seen.

I will say that my biological father’s sister was very overweight and did have a mustache so if it was passed to me genetically it’s prob from my father’s side. I didn’t get PCOS cause I’m fat but probably part of the reason I’m fat is due to PCOS. It’s a side effect and I’ve been yoyo dieting like a mofo since my pre teen era to fix it and it’s only gotten worse probably due to the PCOS hormonal issues.

A big PCOS symptom is PRIMAL cravings! And denying yourself only seems to increase the cravings making them irresistible. They used word “primal” because it’s not just hmm, I’m in the mood for something sweet - it’s a cellular level screaming for food (usually carbs and sugar). They liken it to someone who’s been drowning and gets that first gasp of air when they eat, it’s that intense. And it’s unfair to just assume someone is weak because they can’t resist it - especially someone who doesn’t have PCOS and has never felt it.

Why carbs and sugar? Cause muscles need it.
BUT muscles need protein too and getting enough protein could lessen muscles crying out for carbs.

I’m a vegetarian so this is hard, but not impossible. I just have to surround myself with enough variety of protein to be satisfied. That costs money and planning and sometimes I do well with this and sometimes I don’t.

Another PCOS symptom is inflammation which can lead to fatigue of the mind and body. I think my dandruff or psoriasis or excema (I don’t know which I have) is an inflammation issue - also something that came on later in life. I didn’t always have flakey eyebrows and a red hairline due to flaking skin. I also do feel tired a lot of the time. Not so much that I’m taking naps cause I hate naps LOL it’s just like, after I’m done with work I don’t want to do ANYTHING. I DO things anyway but I veg a lot too and I just contributed it to being fat and I thought once I get weight loss surgery and I’m not so weighed down by my fat I’ll have energy to DO things after work.

ANYWAY what I seem to have going on NOW is a growing level of male hormones. That is what’s creating this latest symptom of the facial hair - which has been happening before the diabetes diagnosis. I’ll say again, the facial hair is not super bad but it is annoying and making me even more insecure and less confident about my beauty than I ever was AND because hairs are growing where they never have before it’s creating ingrown hairs and bumps that are painful and that I can’t leave alone and so by messing with them I eventually get the hair out to pluck but there’s also scarring and discoloration like when you’ve messed too much with a pimple.

I just don’t want one more physical imperfection you know?!

Yes there is a connection with diabetes and PCOS but I don’t believe the metformin drug does anything directly for the PCOS but it levels out your sugars which is good because sugar spikes and drops are bad for PCOS.

Following a glycemic / diabetic diet is good because it’s created to prevent sugar spikes and drops which have something to do with insulin resistance.

Many PCOS women with weight issues have fucked up metabolisms and eating disorders from starvation dieting. Sugar drops from starvation are just as bad as sugar spikes from binging after starvation because they both are imbalances. The point is to keep everything level.

I full on admit I used to binge and purge. I could never full on be anorexic, I was just too hungry but for a long while through college and after I would binge and purge. I think the last time it was really bad was 2013. After that I really tried to stop and while years ago I may have had off days, I haven’t done it in a really long time. Sometimes parts of me wants to because when you’re throwing up everything you’re obviously losing weight. But it was a really hard habit for me to maintain and I always gained the weight back, plus some, extremely quickly plus it messed up my front teeth - so now I don’t do it plus I know it doesn’t work.

It kinda sucks that when the doc diagnosed me as diabetic she didn’t give me a blood tester so I can actually track my spikes and drops but I wasn’t majorly diabetic and she knows I was getting the surgery and I guess though I wouldn’t need the blood tester in a few months.

Also the fact that I was again diagnosed with low vitamin D which is also a symptom of PCOS. I don’t feel a difference when taking the gummies and I don’t see any different in the facial hair from when I was taking the viamins but why didn’t the doctor just come out and say I had PCOS. The more I research the more I see that this is me but no doc ever told me so…

BUT I hardly go to the doctor so they don’t really have a detailed read on me. BUT the reason I hardly go to the doctor is cause my weight it always mentioned and it makes me feel bad because I KNOW my body is “bad” and I don’t want it to be that way and I’ve tried many many different things and I feel like a failure and I don’t need to pay for have someone point it out yearly.

A diabetic diet doesn’t mean no carbs but there are certain carbs where the sugar is released slower, preventing spikes, keeping everything more under control hormonally I guess. And those good cards are the brown breads, the brown rice, the sweet potatoes - you guys probably already know this stuff. And you probably know that you can over do it on “good carbs” as well so just because you’re eating brown things doesn’t mean that should be the majority of your diet.

I know white sugar in all it’s forms are bad for me but I’m addicted. It seems to be the only logical reason why I keep putting bad things into my body. I’m addicted BUT I do think that it’s an addiction I can get over.

I’ve never been really serious about it before because while I was fat I was still relatively healthy eating whatever I wanted. 2020 seems to be the year of my health going downhill but it’s almost to 2021 where I really plan to regain my health.

So I do think I’ll start actually taking the metformin and trying to follow a more diabetic type diet - since I AM diabetic - and hopefully stop this from turning to a full beard.

I was actually looking into those 21 day diet tupperwares where you basically have a small tupperware for carbs and a larger one for veggies and you basically plan your meals around those portions so you get to eat Everything, fruits, carbs, etc. but in limited amounts. No real weighing or measuring out, you just fill up the designated tupperware and you should be ok.

It’s just a lot of meal planning that I don’t really look forward to.

There’s also some research about probiotics helping though I don’t know if they just mean in yogurt. I’m not a big yogurt fan and I don’t specifically look for probiotic ones either but maybe I should. I need groceries so bad anyway.

Weight loss is always recommended for reducing PCOS symptoms (specifically belly fat) because lowering belly fat = lower insulin resistance = naturally leveling out sugar levels = leveling out other hormones, like the masculine ones.

Weight loss doesn’t always mean food. EXERCISE is important for everyone. Many people don’t like exercise and see it as torture when it shouldn’t be. If you can figure out for your own self what kind of movement you LIKE to do then exercise won’t be torture. Do you like to hike? Do you like to swim? Dance? Figure it out and do that.

Personally I LOVE to swim. I could swim, especially in an ocean or lake, for HOURS and it never feels like exercise - but where I live it isn’t hot all year round and I can’t afford the membership to the nearest gym that has a pool. I do feel if I had access to water year round I’d be so much stronger because of all the swimming I’d do but that’s not possible right now.

I do exercise but I dread it and only do it cause I have an online trainer who forces me to.

I recently found a park I like but after work I rarely have the motivation to go and the night is coming faster and faster until there will be a point where it will be dark before I get out of work and walking in the park won’t be possible till spring.

I used to love a kick boxing class I signed up for but the last time I did it I was 50 lbs lighter and even then I would still hurt my knee from time to time with all the jumping around. Even if I had the opportunity to do it, I wouldn’t at this weight.

And yes I could do things alone at home but when I can, I don’t. I veg instead.

Excuses? Maybe but I’m just telling you things I like.

Besides diet they’re saying Inositol tablets are good for leveling out those male hormones. I’ve never heard that word / vitamin before. I just don’t know if I want to try it. I’m always wishing there was just normal natural ways to balance out. Like if someone said an orange a day stops facial hair I would do that over taking a pill everyday.

Acetyl-L-carnitine was also mentioned but I don’t know if this is something you can get without a doctor. I had a hard time looking it up. They said it might replace metformin in the future…

They also talk about STRESS throwing everything out of whack and a big way to reduce stress is through getting enough sleep. Usually I do but these past 2 or 3 days I haven’t wanted to sleep till like midnight but that’s not my norm. I’m usually in bed by 9 or 10 but every once in a while I get a late night kind of phase. I don’t know if it’s the moon or my mind or what - it comes and goes but not routinely.

Acupuncture is a known stress reliever but I’ve don’t think I have enough stress to need to do that.

Another stress reliever is actually loving your body. Which many women don’t. I’ve heard that if you can’t “love” your body you can at least respect it, listen to it, and not mistreat it. Don’t put it through harsh diet and exercise routines. Don’t beat it up and blame it for everything wrong in your life. Don’t play the victim in your life because of your body shape.

Be compassionate and kind to your body that happens to have a chronic condition and give it what it needs to do the best it can for you.

There’s also talk about BPA’s making PCOS worse, BPA’s are mostly found in plastic and plastic is bad for the environment anyway so I guess try to avoid it but EVERYTHING is made with plastic so I don’t feel like I’ll ever get away from it.

I don’t know that anyone has successfully gotten rid of this hormonal imbalance. If it’s something you’re born with it doesn’t really seem reversible. And if I had kept myself healthier I may not have ever developed the symptoms I now have but maybe I can lessen the symptoms (like facial hair) without actually ever fully getting rid of the PCOS.

I also looked into laser hair removal but it’s expensive and not 100% garuntee that you’ll never have facial hair again. I’m not interested in dropping hundreds and maybe still ending up with facial hair so I don’t think I’m ever gonna pursue that. Plucking on a regular basis is kinda keeping everything at bay for now.

I don’t make a lot of my entries public but I’ve started making the PCOS one’s public because I want to hear opinions and experiences with people who have been battling this for longer than me. While I may have had this forever, I am just now recognizing it and attempting to battle it. And The internet is FULL of info that may be flat out wrong and I don’t really know what’s true or not so if you find something that I wrote about is glaring wrong you can point it out - I’m no doctor.

Last updated December 20, 2020