I am on OC pills since many years. Is it safe to continue them forever?
I have PCOS since almost 10 years. I have gra... - My Ovacome
I have PCOS since almost 10 years. I have gradually put on 20 kgs because of this. What is the best way to control such weight gain?
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benaifer
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3 Replies
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Hello:
two different questions there.
1. You can't, and won't, be on contraceptive pills "for ever" but you can be on them for many years with no problems. Obviously I presume your doctor checks that they are still suiting you when you get your new prescriptions? It's considered safe to prescribe combined contraceptive pills (containing oestrogen, the sort you take for 3 weeks then have a week off) up to age 50 if you're a nonsmoker and don't have other significant risk factors for blood clots.
So as long as you're not a smoker, don't have migraines with aura, and have no history of clotting (plus a few other rarer health problems but including, of course, "female cancers" - given this is a website for ovarian cancer!), you should be OK. Talk about it with your doctor if there's anything specific worrying you. The only proviso is that if you've put a lot of weight on but are still on the same pill as you were when you started, you might want to discuss this with your doctor -- some brands are less suitable than others if you're carrying a lot of extra weight.
2. Weight gain and PCOS is a real bugger (scuse the French!) - the weight makes the PCOS worse, but the PCOS makes it more difficult to lose weight -- And I'm sure you already know that! I'm afraid I don't know of any way to lose weight other than the tried-and-tested "eat less, move more" regime, and of course there are many ways of trying to fulfil that.
20kg in 10 years sounds a lot but is "only" 2kg/year.
Best to look at losing it in small amounts just as it probably went on slowly. Trying to lose 20kg is a lot to get your head around. Trying to lose 2kg, say in 6 weeks (just a suggestion?) is a lot easier to handle and would be a good start to morale!
The only tablet you can get on prescription to help with weight loss is Orlistat. This stops your body absorbing fat. Studies show it can help a little but TBH I don't think it works any better than just cutting the fat from your diet, and has the horrible sideeffect of uncontrollable oily diarrhoea if you do eat fat with it.
Surgery is an option if you are very heavy but you need to have tried all the other non-surgical things first (and you need to be very heavy, depends where you are in the country as to what your local services offer, but typically you might need to have a BMI of more than 40 or even 50 for it to be considered). It works -- but not always -- and again, can cause lots of other potential problems.
Have you been checked for diabetes btw?
DOI - I am a GP and have seen many people with your problem over the years.
Hi,
I think Opalcloud's reply to your question is excellent and I can't add anything to that.
You are very fortunate to have got such a concise and informative answer to a question that you have posted on this ovarian cancer support forum.
However I do think you would be better joining a forum that can be of more help to your particular condition...
From your post I assume you are not living in the uk ...
There are many PCOS support groups on the web so here are some links to them.
facebook.com/PCOS.diet.fert...
pcosfoundation.org/support-...
dailystrength.org/c/Polycys...
Best wishes x G x
Thnx a ton both of you. I live in India and I'm 28 yrs old. Given that I have a very busy schedule at work, I don't get time to work out. So I have started with yoga 3 days a week and I am "trying" to have a better diet. I had a beautiful figure once so i get very depressed when I see 70 asmy weightinstead of the earlier 50. I am 5"8' so I do not look veryyy obese but I do have a prominent stomach which puts me off a lot!! Given the time constraint I can't do much plus I get too complacent which also, I believe, is a pcos side effect.
My dad has high diabetes and my mom who was obese passed away 5 yrs back because of breast cancer. My paternal grandmom and her 4-5 siblings also passed away because of some or another form of cancer. Hence, I was a little worried about the risk my brother (38 yrs old) and I might face.
