Recently diagnosed with PCOS

[Hoperose101]

I have recently been diagnosed with PCOS, I am feeling a little overwhelmed and I don’t know where to start or even what questions I should be asking my GP. I have read that symptoms can be helped with changes to diet and lifestyle so any advice you can offer me is much appreciated.

[JMSNutrition]

Hi Hope, PCOS is quite complex as there are 3 different types, but yes lifestyle interventions have been shown to be very effective. Where to start or how to approach is likely to vary person to person. I'm a practitioner and would happily jump on a free consultation with you just so you can start heading in the right direction if you'd like? No strings attached, just would need to know a little bit more about you to give any helpful tailored advice. Please check out my website jmsnutrition.co.uk and drop me an email and we can jump on a call towards the end of the week/early next week if that helps

[Kimmy2002]

Hi I have a whole typed out message… some things may help some not but take what ever you need from it.. it’s my personal experience I’m not a professional but if it helps in any way … firstly Lots of different things suite different people. My first advise is go and do your own research, Pinterest is a good source of advise.. pcos diet, pcos symptoms, pcos why, pcos what is it.. all things I typed and got some serious knowledge. There are also people on Instagram who do 30 day free meal plans and give you loads of information for free.. I think it’s called simple pcos, me personally I developed type 2 diabetes I was 6 stone over weight, lost a load of hair on my crown to point where I wear a wig and loads of hair in places there should be non! I was always tired and I just felt crap for so long it was my normal. My husband and I have been trying for a baby for over 13 years and for 10 years I hadn’t had a period so my pcos was quite severe. The first thing I did was learn what pcos actually is and then that helped me understand how to change both my diet and lifestyle to be well again. A super simple explanation is our body’s don’t tolerate sugar.. so they create insulin to match the higher sugar levels then because we have high insulin we create to much testosterone as the two hormones match each other within us and that causes a load of crappy side affects, like heavy periods, constant periods, no period at all, mood swings, weight gain, hairy chin, neck and back, loss of hair on crown and receding hair line, sweating a lot, always hot (especially hands and feet ) constantly tired, .. the list goes on but you can change it.. sugar is your new nemesis and It’s also not just simple sugar like sweets and deserts.. unused carbohydrates turn into sugars within our body if it’s not used.. so white potato, bread, pasta rice all things that if possible need to be removed from your diet even gluten free options should be a treat, There are other things you can have.. sweet potato, butternut squash, swede, quinoa buckwheat… but they are all complex carbs and will stop the ride of sugar spikes and plummets.. that’s also important as that why your craving food.. not even bad food just food I hear ya I been there.. it’s your body craving it’s next sugar high it sounds ridiculous I know.. one of the most helpful things I now know is to eat protein with every meal.. the protein helps Cut down sugar and carbs so double you protein intake (chicken, all fish and as much as you can inc oily fish if you can, please do cut the fat of bacon or pork as there is not a diet plan in the world where it’s good for you! ) and half your carbs and also good fat like avocado, humous, coconut oil, organic real butter.. please also stop counting calories.. a standard diet as you probably already know won’t work for us! and I back that up as i personally got a pcos nutritionist at my own cost and this comes directly from her... if I can shed any help I would also recommend going gluten and lacto free another side affect of pcos is loads of people are diagnosed with IBS again crappy lazy doctors what it is in most cases is a thing called pcos Leaky gut ( again Pinterest it) basically you can upset your tummy with gluten and lactos so if you avoid them it one more thing you don’t have to deal with but it’s more than just being close to a toilet constantly.. the leaky gut is twinned with inflammation of the stomach and left untreated can be nasty and again the side affects of that are feeling crap, tummy aches, the runs but it’s also affects your body working at a normal level.. Also the constant tiredness and feeling crappy seriously I know those diet changes feel like a lot but once you do it you will never look back.. I used to want to sleep in the late afternoon I was so poorly All the time I didn’t know what feeling good felt like until I changed my diet and lifestyle. One of the big issues is also stress.. stress actually makes your sugars increase crazy right! But when your stressed or upset do you reach for bad food.. look it up it’s a hormone called cortisol and it’s a ladys With pcos worst friend we need it as it helps us wake up and stimulates other hormones but we have too much.. there is no medical way of reducing so it’s a manage stress and situations. I’m 4 stone down, feeling fantastic and had conformation of Ovulation 2 months in A row but it’s taken 2 years of research and changing my diet to get there.. supplements is the last thing to briefly talk about you 1000% need inositol if nothing else, an omega 3, vit d with k3 and palmetto plus forte, also magnesium glycinate is a good Shout. There also herbal supplements called adaptogens you can take to help deal with stress hormone cortisol.. but please do your own research I can only tell you what has worked for me and every one is different. I wish you luck

[Kimmy2002]

firstly Lots of different things suite different people. My first advise is go and do your own research, Pinterest is a good source of advise.. pcos diet, pcos symptoms, pcos why, pcos what is it.. all things I typed and got some serious knowledge. There are also people on Instagram who do 30 day free meal plans and give you loads of information for free.. I think it’s called simple pcos, me personally I developed type 2 diabetes I was 6 stone over weight, lost a load of hair on my crown to point where I wear a wig and loads of hair in places there should be non! I was always tired and I just felt crap for so long it was my normal. My husband and I have been trying for a baby for over 13 years and for 10 years I hadn’t had a period so my pcos was quite severe. The first thing I did was learn what pcos actually is and then that helped me understand how to change both my diet and lifestyle to be well again. A super simple explanation is our body’s don’t tolerate sugar.. so they create insulin to match the higher sugar levels then because we have high insulin we create to much testosterone as the two hormones match each other within us and that causes a load of crappy side affects, like heavy periods, constant periods, no period at all, mood swings, weight gain, hairy chin, neck and back, loss of hair on crown and receding hair line, sweating a lot, always hot (especially hands and feet ) constantly tired, .. the list goes on but you can change it.. sugar is your new nemesis and It’s also not just simple sugar like sweets and deserts.. unused carbohydrates turn into sugars within our body if it’s not used.. so white potato, bread, pasta rice all things that if possible need to be removed from your diet even gluten free options should be a treat, There are other things you can have.. sweet potato, butternut squash, swede, quinoa buckwheat… but they are all complex carbs and will stop the ride of sugar spikes and plummets.. that’s also important as that why your craving food.. not even bad food just food I hear ya I been there.. it’s your body craving it’s next sugar high it sounds ridiculous I know.. one of the most helpful things I now know is to eat protein with every meal.. the protein helps Cut down sugar and carbs so double you protein intake (chicken, all fish and as much as you can inc oily fish if you can, please do cut the fat of bacon or pork as there is not a diet plan in the world where it’s good for you! ) and half your carbs and also good fat like avocado, humous, coconut oil, organic real butter.. please also stop counting calories.. a standard diet as you probably already know won’t work for us! and I back that up as i personally got a pcos nutritionist at my own cost and this comes directly from her... if I can shed any help I would also recommend going gluten and lacto free another side affect of pcos is loads of people are diagnosed with IBS again crappy lazy doctors what it is in most cases is a thing called pcos Leaky gut ( again Pinterest it) basically you can upset your tummy with gluten and lactos so if you avoid them it one more thing you don’t have to deal with but it’s more than just being close to a toilet constantly.. the leaky gut is twinned with inflammation of the stomach and left untreated can be nasty and again the side affects of that are feeling crap, tummy aches, the runs but it’s also affects your body working at a normal level.. Also the constant tiredness and feeling crappy seriously I know those diet changes feel like a lot but once you do it you will never look back.. I used to want to sleep in the late afternoon I was so poorly All the time I didn’t know what feeling good felt like until I changed my diet and lifestyle. One of the big issues is also stress.. stress actually makes your sugars increase crazy right! But when your stressed or upset do you reach for bad food.. look it up it’s a hormone called cortisol and it’s a ladys With pcos worst friend we need it as it helps us wake up and stimulates other hormones but we have too much.. there is no medical way of reducing so it’s a manage stress and situations. I’m 4 stone down, feeling fantastic and had conformation of Ovulation 2 months in A row but it’s taken 2 years of research and changing my diet to get there.. supplements is the last thing to briefly talk about you 1000% need inositol if nothing else, an omega 3, vit d with k3 and palmetto plus forte, also magnesium glycinate is a good Shout. There also herbal supplements called adaptogens you can take to help deal with stress hormone cortisol.. but please do your own research I can only tell you what has worked for me and every one is different. I wish you luck

[JMSNutrition]

Just to let you know that this ^^ is way to extreme, firstly there are 3 types of PCOS. Secondly just because you have insulin resistance (IR) doesn't mean that all people with PCOS have IR (however IR is commonly associated with PCOS). 3rd- This doesn't have to mean sugar is the new enemy or the cause- talking about PCOS research and diabetes (IR) research you can still have sugar but it may be prudent to focus on more whole foods like grains and other complex carbohydrates due to higher testosterone commonly in PCOS women impairing appetite regulation to some degree and these foods are more satiating, so I'd advise this but don't demonise sugar, the odd enjoyable food and a flexible approach is key to keeping you on track if your trying to lose weight. If you are going to do research please do. ot use pintrest or instagram or youtube etc... data from clinical randomised control trials and systematic reviews can be found on Pubmed, however it is very technical thats why practitioners like myself do it and convey it as best we can for you. The nutrition industry is rife with misinformation so please don't just follow any bull****. Some of the information provided here is good, i'd suggest myo-inositol too but 2x2g/day for 6 months. Omega 3 is a good option too, dose will depend on the individual and how much fatty fish they already get in their diet but supplementing with 1.2g/day of combined epa&dha has been shown to be effective in PCOS women (again jump on a call with me and i'll talk you through some of this stuff in more detail, just felt the need to respond to some of the above). Vitamin D, depends if you've taken it before. If you are vitamin D deficient I would 100% recommend (again doses need to be considered and discussed). There are other supplements like carnitine, research is there but not in quite as much depth so you'd have to do a little cost-benefit analysis. The ultimate goal is to lose weight, even if your BMI is in the 'normal' range moving to slightly lower end of normal is beneficial. The best way of doing this is working with a diet that works for you, often (not always) this includes higher fibre and higher protein foods as they have a bigger impact on satiety. Doing some exercise is also beneficial, both aerobic like walking, running, swimming, cycling etc... and some Resistance Training or HIIT (high intensity interval training). Apologies for a lot of probably overwhelming information, I just wanted to clear up a few things before you looked to non reliable sources of information. Any references needed or questions please don't hesitate to get in touch.

[HannahKate1989]

Try not to panic! My biggest advice is to take control of your symptoms first and simple lifestyle changes across diet, exercise, stress management are your biggest friends however you are young and it’s great that you have been diagnosed so early because you can take control and be an advocate of your own health

You will be advised of a lot of ingredients to take and over the years I have tried many supplements but I’m not a fan of taking lots of pills - I came across a lovely brand called Yoppie a couple of months ago who are really trying to help women with science backed education and they have a PCOS symptom support powder called Poly Complete Support and I have switched to using just this - which is great and working for me! JMSNutrition I would be keen to know what you think of the ingredients in this supplement? From my research it looks to be one of the most complete formulas on the market to addressing a lot of the most common symptoms in a cost effective way : try.yoppie.com/condition-su...

Kimmy2002 you might want to check this out too? It helps with insulin resistance x

[JMSNutrition in reply to HannahKate1989]

Hi very sorry it took me so long to come to this as I didn't receive a notification.

Ummm I mean there's nothing really wrong with it per se. As you can see it includes some myo-inositol pretty much alongside a multi-vitamin.

The dose of inositol is fine as long is it is tolerated (GI disturbances) (4g) which I would recommend but split into 2 doses, if there were some GI disturbance.

Apart from that it just to me seems like a multi-vitamin with that in it. I'd probably say it's better to get inositol, omega-3's & vitamin D separately, take them in the right amount and save money, and get the right dose of the other two.

Nothing wrong with a multi-vitamin but if you have a pretty decent varied diet, its not necessary per-se, more just a fallback if you don't.

Hope this helps. If your happy with it, its got inositol which is definitely the starting point from a supplement point of view and the correct dose.

[HannahKate1989 in reply to JMSNutrition]

Thanks! Yes it is working well for me as it's really good value and has everything together so I don't need to take lots of supplements - the Yoppie supplements alongside keeping my nutrition in check has been a GAME CHANGER. Long may it continue!

[JMSNutrition in reply to HannahKate1989]

Congratulations, really glad you're seeing some desired improvements after doing the hard yards. I wish you the best of luck. Please reach out if your ever in need of assistance and i'll do what I can or research what I can to help you out.

Thanks and best wishes,

JMSNutrition