Hi. I’m 24 yr old women. I have pcos. It causes me great sadness sometimes.Constant bad skin,acne,large pores oily etc. It also has created unwanted hair. My partner has a low sperm count,but he does have at least 12% very good sperm also, we are trying to conceive but now this will be very difficult. We are looking to help/heal ourselves with natural remedies etc. So any helpful info etc would be great. We are changing are diets at the moment, eg:my partner is quitting smoking, I’m trying to give up chocolate an exercise more. I will keep everyone posted on how we go.
Jun 19th, 2008 at 3:55 am
Sharon, this month Karen McElroy is giving away a consultation to one luck subscriber.
click here to enter.
There are also a couple of bloggers recovering from pcos in our community so I’m sure you’ll get lots of support from them.
Good Luck and stick around, you get more than healing here. We don’t lie when we say there’s Wisdom to Thrive By.
Jun 19th, 2008 at 6:20 am
Hi Sharon
I am working on a post about healing from PCOS using diet and herbs and my experiences based on my clinical experience and research over several years. I hope it will be up and ready to read and respond to soon….but in the mean time here’s a few suggestions to get you started.
PCOS has nothing to do with cysts on your ovaries, many women with PCOS don’t even have ovarian cysts. PCOS is due to a condition called Insulin Resistance (it doesn’t go away after menopause when your ovaries stop working, instead it’s called metabolic syndrome or syndrome X). Having PCOS means that your genes can’t handle our modern diet high in grains and low in fat, it causes them to overproduce insulin. While herbs can help with many of the symptoms of PCOS (such as acne, hair growth, hair loss etc), diet is the most important part and if you don’t get that right the herbs won’t help. You’ve got to cut out all the refined white carbs and all grains from your diet and increase fat and protein (trust me it works, you won’t gain any weight by doing this). It’s the grains, sugars, honey etc that cause your body to over produce insulin.
Start off by replacing your breakfast with Tiger’s Milk (sorry, I don’t know how to insert a link but if you search the site you’ll find it). This is the easiest way to ensure you’re getting sufficient fat and protein at breakfast time. Supermarket breakfast cereals are nothing short of poison for anyone with PCOS. Ample fat and protein at breaky will also go a long way to controlling cravings. Also start drinking a combination of fennel and fenugreek tea.
Although I generally try to use foods in place of supplements, sometimes you need to supplement in the short term: Chromium 200mcg/micrograms 3 x daily can help to quickly eliminate any sugar cravings and help to make your body cells more sensitive to insulin (therefore reducing the amount of insulin your body produces).
If you make the breakfast change and start the chromium you’ll notice a big improvement in how you feel in a few weeks - you’ll have more energy and less food cravings making it easier to exercise and make further diet changes (hopefully by then, I’ll have my Treating PCOS Naturally post up and ready).
Jun 19th, 2008 at 6:29 am
To help improve your hubby’s sperm count he must give up smoking and drinking alcohol. Sperm are VERY sensitive to toxins and free radical damage. He should also follow a good detox program and at a very minimum take the amino acid Carnitine 3000mg per day, zinc 20-30mg per day and vitamin C 1000mg 3 x daily. I have seen sperm counts improve significantly following a healthy diet and taking these supplements but it will take a minimum of 3-4 months and as long as 12-18 months. But don’t despair. Think of the extra time that you’ll spend getting healthy as a gift to your future child - it takes a healthy sperm, a healthy egg and a healthy mother to produce a healthy baby. If your hubby is exposed to any chemicals, solvents, paints etc at work then you’ll also need to address this too.
Jun 20th, 2008 at 12:29 am
Hi Sharon,
I’ve seen a lot of material showing a stronger and stronger correlation between insulin resistance and PCOS. Google “Syndrome X” and you should come up with a lot of good information about it. Eating a Weston-Price style diet should help you tremendously - with a strong focus on cutting out the sugar and white carbs etc. Best of luck to you.
- P
Jun 25th, 2008 at 12:50 am
Hey Sharon… did you see this article: http://www.westonaprice.org/askdoctor/pcos.html?
Jun 28th, 2008 at 5:29 pm
Have been trying to leave a comment for you, Sharron, but haven’t been able to get through. I tested on another article and it worked. Maybe my past was too long. Am trying this out as a test.
Jun 28th, 2008 at 6:10 pm
Yep. Musta been too long. (To the moderators: I am sorry for the multiple comments.)
Sharon, I’m very sorry to hear you have PCOS. I have hormonal imbalances as well, severe PMS and Dysmenorrhoea, so I can relate to your sadness. The Nourishing Traditions way of eating has helped me a ton (I’ve been eating this way for about a year now), so congratulations on making those diet changes! But, while food if one’s foundation, I believe, when the body has been in a state of imbalance for some time (due to poor nutrition earlier in life, and in the lives of our parents and grandparents), illness cannot always be cured by food alone. So, I’ve had to resort to some natural remedies. Haha. Since you are also hopping to use some, I did a little research for you, and came up with this article on the use of Natural Progesterone Cream for PCOS:
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2008/01/02/pcos.aspx
Under the guidance of a Nurse Practitioner, I’ve started Natural Progesterone Cream. They say it takes about three months to kick in, and I’m just beginning month two. I’ll let you know how it goes, if you’re interested.
I hope you find the information of Progesterone helpful, and that you are able to heal your body soon!
Aug 14th, 2008 at 1:31 am
hi sarah thankyou so much helpful comments. i eat pretty well these days. i use to hammer my body as a teenager but i now im very helathy .my diet at the mo consists of usually cereal in the morning,full cream milk{i no thats a big no no with you guys} :-} im trying to convert.. also usually have eggs on toast or something similar for lunch free range eggs always. then i usuallyhave cheese an crackers for a snack or lunch if i misss lunch an some 100% juice. drink loads of water and go for big walks most days,
so how does that sound? im happy to try anything if it will help me concieve and my pcos. il try tigers milk if i can find it,and il get taking chromium .. perth is hopeless for hese things. sorry its taken ages for my response i kept loosing my password etc and my wedding is in 3 wks very hectic life
thanks again sarah
Aug 14th, 2008 at 1:42 am
hi sarah. nelson doesnt drink much at all a few on the weekend maybe an after our wedding he has promiesed to give up..
we dont mind waiting for a child id we would love to be pregnant by this time nexy year but we no we will find it hard, he is also going to start taking hte supplements reccommended an then he will get his sperm count checked again by a naturopath to see if there is any improval. he also eats pretty well we use only organic skin/bath products and are slowly cutting out most processed foods and sugars etc. the only sugar i eat is honey its one thing i donth think i can give up. i dont have any sugar so its my only treat.
Aug 14th, 2008 at 1:43 am
hi p..
ive been looking into this syndrome x.. and i shall be reading more its interesting.. il let you no my progress on this
thanks for your input
Aug 14th, 2008 at 1:53 am
hi louise what a great article thankyou. do you no were i could find the things he mentions here below??
\The final therapy that I use for PCOS is a 50/50 mixture of the herbal extracts of Peony lactiflora and Glycyrrhiza uralensis (commonly known as licorice).\ ?
i no obviously were to buy licorice but i assume he doesnt mean the supermarket kind?
thanks again
Aug 14th, 2008 at 2:00 am
Hi Sharon
I have a naturopath colleague in Perth called Anna Sangster (08 9285 0998) - if you get in contact with her she’ll be able to help you out with the paoeny and licorice plus other supplements to heal your metabolism and hormonal systems.
Aug 14th, 2008 at 2:16 am
hi kaitlin another great article thankyou.
im also sorry ot hear of your condition.,
were can i buy this cream? and id love to hear how it works for you,
thanks
Aug 14th, 2008 at 2:17 am
hi sarah i shall call her after my wedding thanks. just a little to hectic now to do anything else i cant wait to get started on the healing.
Nov 1st, 2008 at 7:01 pm
Hi Sharron,
You’re welcome! It’s great to see how many other helpful comments
you’ve received. This is such a caring community. :)
You can buy the cream at most health food stores (in the USA and
Canada anyway–I’m not sure about Australia) and online. Dr. John Lee
recommends quite a few different brands:
http://www.johnleemd.com/store/resource_progesterone.html
I spent the whole three months on the cream. I saw some
improvement, but not enough, so my N.P. switched me to a higher dose
in oral form. At my first appointment with her, she’d recommended the
lager dose, but I didn’t feel comfortable taking such amounts of even
a bio identical hormone. Wish now I’d gone for it. I’m only on my
third month of the higher dose (my N.P. says it can take up to two
full years to reach wellness using natural medicine), but I’ve already
started sleeping earlier! I’ve had insomnia since I was fourteen, the
last few years so bad I wasn’t able to sleep until past three o’clock
every night. Now, I’m beginning to nod off around eleven or twelve
o’clock. Hooray!!! It’s hard to heal without sleep. I am full of
hope!