Question to those diagnosed with PCOS

How were you diagnosed and what kind of treatment were you put on? What were your main symptoms pre-diagnosis?

[shaws Administrator]

PCOS can be due to hypothyroidism. I doubt many doctors are aware of this. I have an excerpt I copied from one of our deceased Advisers but don't have a link but I think you'll be interested. I doubt many doctors are aware that thyroid hormones can help. This is the statement:-

"Multiple Ovarian Cysts as

a Major Symptom of Hypothyroidism

The case I describe below is of importance to women with polycystic ovaries. If

they have evidence, such as a high TSH, that conventional clinicians accept as evidence

of hypothyroidism, they may fair well. But the TSH is not a valid gauge of a woman's

tissue thyroid status. Because of this, she may fair best by adopting self-directed

care. At any rate, for women with ovarian cysts, this case is one of extreme importance.

In 2008, doctors at the gynecology department in Gunma, Japan reported the case

of a 21-year-old women with primary hypothyroidism. Her doctor referred her to the

gynecology department because she had abdominal pain and her abdomen was distendedup to the level of her navel.

At the gynecology clinic she underwent an abdominal ultrasound and CT scan. These imaging procedures showed multiple cysts on both her right and her left ovary.

The woman's cholesterol level and liver function were increased. She also had a high level of the muscle enzyme (creatine phosphokinase) that's often high in hypothyroidism.

Blood testing also showed that the woman had primary hypothyroidism from autoimmune thyroiditis.

It is noteworthy that the young woman's ovarian cysts completely disappeared soon after she began thyroid hormone therapy. Other researchers have reported girls with primary hypothyroidism whose main health problems were ovarian cysts or precocious

puberty. But this appears to be the first case in which a young adult female had ovarian cysts that resulted from autoimmune-induced hypothyroidism.

The researchers cautioned clinicians: "To avoid inadvertent surgery to remove an ovarian tumor, it is essential that a patient with multiple ovarian cysts and hypothyroidism

be properly managed, as the simple replacement of a thyroid hormone could resolve the ovarian cysts."[1]

Reference:

1. Kubota, K., Itho, M., Kishi, H., et al.: Primary hypothyroidism presenting as

multiple ovarian cysts in an adult woman: a case report. Gynecol. Endocrinol.,

24(10):586-589, 2008.

[Hidden in reply to shaws]

Thanks a lot, very interesting and helpful indeed!

I am beginning to suspect I have PCOS and might have had for years. You're right, no doctor has ever mentioned this connection between hypoT (Hashimoto's) and PCOS, not even the "Hertoghe" doctor I've been seeing for the past seven years.

Except for irregular/absent periods, I have all of the symptoms indicative of PCOS: hair loss, insulin resistance, overweight with abdominal obesity, difficulties losing weight, carb cravings, high blood pressure, hirsutism (especially on chin/upper lip...long live Veet!), low HDL, and borderline high triglycerides.

But I just read that about 30% of women with PCOS have normal periods and many remain undiagnosed for years or even decades.

I was also diagnosed with ovarian cysts a few months ago - two on each side.

[Fox78 in reply to Hidden]

Hello

I have under active thyroid and also pcos

Thyroid was diagnosed first but I’ve probably had both for years..my periods were normal from around the age of 30 I’m now 41 but up until that I was on some form of birth control from around the age of 18 as I never had children and this will mask symptoms of pcos

I do have chin hairs which I pluck out :/ but I’m quite fair so I don’t luckily have too much

The main issue I have is weight gain around my middle which could be both the pcos and also thyroid

I actually thought I was going through early stages of the peri menopause before my thyroid diagnosis as I had hot flushes skipped periods painful breasts night sweats and when I did have a period they were very heavy and prolonged

I was given an internal ultra sound which confirmed I have multiple follicles and also my testosterone was high along with my sex binding hormone being low

Usually it’s diagnosed using 2 out of the 3 criteria excessive hair oily skin weight gain etc which are all signs of excessive androgens and also blood tests on hormones and an ultra sound

Your gp should send you for basic hormone tests if you suspect I would ask the question

I take 1000mg of metformin daily which is supposed to make the hormones work better and reduce androgens and also help with insulin resistance not sure I can really tell a difference tbh with the metformin but I’ve also just added in t3 to my Levo as I still have other thyroid symptoms which are probably all linked with both conditions

Hope that helps x

[Hidden in reply to Fox78]

Yes, very helpful indeed, thanks for sharing! I have had all the symptoms you mentioned except skipped periods - night sweats, heavy, prolonged periods, and painful, swollen breasts. I have been on NDT for the past seven years but have had to decrease the dosage after developing some hyper symptoms and after having out of range FT3 levels, but the fact is that the symptoms that made me suspect PCOS have become much worse since lowering the NDT...so there seems to be a connection, although I have not been able to figure it out.

I have been offered Metformin as well (for insulin resistance) but it seems the supplement berberine has proven as effective for lowering blood sugar levels but without the side effects.

[humanbean]

Some women have found eating a low carb, high fat diet (or ketogenic diet) is effective for reducing the symptoms of PCOS and also improves fertility in some :

dietdoctor.com/low-carb/ben...

Unfortunately some hypothyroid women don't do well with a ketogenic diet (intake of less than 20g - 25g carbs per day). But you could still benefit if you ate fewer carbs than you currently do e.g. less than 50g or less than 80g or less than 100g carbs per day may reduce your symptoms. (Don't forget you need more fat as well. And bear in mind that people lose salt in the early days of a lower carb diet and this can lead to cramp and keto flu - so don't forget the salt either.) You have to experiment and find the level of carb intake that works for you for both PCOS and hypothyroidism.

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...

[Hidden in reply to humanbean]

Yes, I have been reading a lot about low carb diets lately and it makes sense to me to take away the very thing that triggers your cravings and raises your insulin more than anything - that is, sugar/fast carbs.

It seems many women who go on low carb diets are afraid to eat enough fat, as we've been told over the years that fat makes us fat.

But I have read about severely overweight people who have lost an incredible amount of weight on low carb diets, while recovering from diabetes 2 in the process, so would definitely be worth a try.

I was raised on a low fat diet in the 1970s and 80s, because that is what our mothers were told was the right way to eat - bread with low-fat margarine, pasta, rice, and potatoes with every main meal, along with non-fat dairy and lean meat. Nobody mentioned sugar/carbs back then, only fat, especially saturated fat which was to be avoided at all cost. So I grew up eating a lot of hydrogenated fat and butter substitutes filled with chemicals.

Has anyone here successfully used low carb diets (max 20-25 g of carbs daily) for weight loss?

[humanbean in reply to Hidden]

The diet doctor website I linked to in my earlier post has lots of info that is free to read or videos to watch and they do have articles on the diet and the thyroid, and PCOS gets a lot of mentions. There are also lots of success stories to read. I pay for a membership of the site - the first time I've ever done such a thing in my life. I haven't regretted it so far. A lot of the info on the site is free to read/watch.

I have been trying to lose weight for the last year with a low carb, high fat diet, but I've had no success, for lots of reasons. However, I feel a lot better mentally when I manage to stick to it for a few days or a week at a time - more alert, a bit more energetic, and my brain works better - so I keep trying.

One thing I've failed at completely - to the extent that I feel like I'm torturing myself if I try - is intermittent fasting. All the pains that I live with every day end up being twice as bad as usual. I won't be pushing myself to try it again.

Don't forget Youtube - there are lots of videos that discuss PCOS and diet.

If you want to find out if you are insulin resistant , or how badly you are insulin resistant, then you could try this test (which I've never done, so I don't know how helpful it is) :

medichecks.com/diabetes-tes...

You can get a 10% discount on the price :

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

How it all works :

medichecks.com/how-it-works

[Hidden in reply to humanbean]

Thanks for reminding me of that site, I have visited it in the past and it has a lot of great info so will definitely go back and look for posts about PCOS.

Is intermittent fasting = 5:2 where you eat much less calories two days a week? I cannot imagine myself doing that either.

Thanks also for the link!

[humanbean in reply to Hidden]

Intermittent fasting (IF) can be done in all sorts of ways. Some people do things like fast for a week or two or even three which strikes me as dangerous, but then I don't understand the science behind it. Others do intermittent fasting by restricting their eating to a four hour slot per day, or they may fast for a couple of days per week, or every other day, or some other pattern.

If you look up Dr Jason Fung he writes about IF a lot.

What I can tell you is that I can't do it. Starving is not my idea of a good health plan.

[Hidden in reply to humanbean]

Couldn't agree more!!! Being hungry is torture to me, I'd give up in no time and probably start overeating to compensate...