Hi all,

I have PCOS and have been trying lately to stick to a low-carb diet in the hopes of restoring my cycles (with no luck so far). I eat non-starchy vegetables, meat, eggs, nuts, dairy, some fruits occasionally (I'm permanently craving fruits). I'm nowhere near Atkins levels: my calories breakdown on fitday for the last month shows an average of 42 g "net carbs" a day. I tried to go lower but I feel really terrible at 20 g a day. Apart from 5 pounds that I lost in the first week, presumably due to glycogene depletion, I haven't lost weight. Not surprising considering that my average caloric intake is a whopping 1,966 cal a day (but if I eat less, I feel frustrated and hungry). Anyway, losing weight isn't really my primary goal, ovulating is.

My problem is that for the last few weeks I have been increasingly experiencing symptoms evocative of depression (difficulties falling asleep, difficulties concentrating, fuzzy mind, general lack of energy, difficulties making even simple decisions). I have a history of major clinical depression and have been on Paxil for years; I've been off it for two years and was doing perfectly fine before going low-carb. Of course it could just be some mild depressive symptoms kicking in unrelated to diet, but it started right after I began low-carbing, and it gets partly eased when I up the carbs a little (to 60, 65 g a day). A quick search brought up this: http://www.psychologytoday.com/arti...carb-state-mind ... Now, I can imagine that low-carb diets don't spark depressive symptoms in everyone, or you wouldn't be all doing it; plus the study was made on rats, who are not exactly expected to eat a low-carb diet etc etc, but... with my medical history I really wouldn't want to mess with my serotonin levels. So I don't really know whether I should continue or not.

Your thoughts?