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  #1   ^
Old Fri, Jun-17-05, 15:46
Shandybob's Avatar
Shandybob Shandybob is offline
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Plan: G.I Diet
Stats: 224/224/120 Female 5'2"
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Default Confused about PCOS

I think I posted in the wrong place earlier, well I am new to the forum, hehe! At the risk of double posting, here goes ...

I would like to ask a question of you all if you don't mind.

Most days I get a pounding headache, lightheadedness, palpitations, hypertension (which doesn't seem to last too long before it goes back to normal), general sense of feeling ill, which I hadn't really associated to being after meals, but after thinking hard about it - it really is after I've eaten an evening meal that it is at it's worse, or late night after I've had supper (have to for medication whether I want it or not).

After reading I'm assuming I'm Insulin Resistant, which is why I bought the book. At present I haven't a clue what I should and shouldn't eat. I didn't know I should be on a diet, my Endocrinologist didn't tell me I had to eat specific foods to help the condition - can you believe that?

What is odd is that I was taken to hospital a couple of days ago (at night again) and my blood pressure was pretty high, plus my blood sugar was low at 2.7, which they tested later and was then 3.5. If I was Insulin Resistant surely it would have been 'up' not 'down'?

One extra symptom that I do have too is after taking my dose of Metformin for a few hours afterwards I have a prickly sensation in my arms, legs and head - would this be a result of the PCOS?

Thank you so much for any input you can offer me, I really am confused about this condition and am struggling to understand what to do with it. I am also confused which symptoms are PCOS or other things, since I have other health problems which my General Practioner has been a star with!
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  #2   ^
Old Fri, Jun-17-05, 19:24
LCer in NW's Avatar
LCer in NW LCer in NW is offline
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Posts: 341
 
Plan: Atkins
Stats: 223/209/200 Male 73 in
BF:
Progress: 61%
Location: Coastal Northwest US
Default

i don't actually believe you are insulin-resistant from what you said. if your were, i believe you would see hyper-glycemia (high blood sugar). you exhibit hypo-glycemia.

in my opinion, you could stand to completely stop any caffeine, start increasing water consumption from current to around 0.3 oz for every pound of current body weight. get to at least 8.5 glasses (8 oz) per day. i don't think you should pick a plan before you get there, and stay there for at least 3 weeks.

you'll see advice thoughout these threads that call for 0.5 to 0.7 oz. per pound of body weight, and that will be necessary if you are going to do a low carb diet.

when i started trying to diet, i got water consumption up for 5 months straight without a single change to my poor diet. I lost 1 pound per month doing just that.

i suggest ditching the caffeine because i think it stimulates hypo-glycemia. if you cannot ditch caffeine, then please lightly snack on wheats, sugars during the 2 hour period after consuming it. i say lightly because anything beyond about 5 grams per half hour is probably going to result in storage versus delivery of the glucose into the bloodstream.

good luck with this.

Last edited by LCer in NW : Fri, Jun-17-05 at 19:30.
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  #3   ^
Old Fri, Jun-17-05, 19:43
Shandybob's Avatar
Shandybob Shandybob is offline
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Posts: 29
 
Plan: G.I Diet
Stats: 224/224/120 Female 5'2"
BF:
Progress: 0%
Default

Thank you very much for your reply. I drink de-caff, but I don't drink a lot of it. I drink like a fish and still feel thirsty! I'll probably at the moment be drinking more than 8.5 glasses of water per day anyway I go through litre bottles of water like no tomorrow.

What symptoms should I be looking for with the 'low' blood sugar, so that I would know what to look for do you know?
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  #4   ^
Old Fri, Jun-17-05, 22:17
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Grimalkin Grimalkin is offline
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Plan: PP
Stats: 160/149/125 Female 66 in.
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Progress: 31%
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Insulin resistance definitely causes hypoglycemia! Shandy, this is sometimes an indicator of pre-diabetes. Basically, the IR elevates your circulating insulin levels because your body needs more and more insulin to lower the glucose in your blood to safe levels. But having too much insulin can drive your blood sugar lower than it would normally go, since a function of insulin is to remove glucose from the blood.

With IR and increasing amounts of circulating insulin, ultimately your cells become so resistant to the insulin that they stop responding and THEN the blood glucose elevates, and that is officially diabetes.

Btw, there are links between high insulin and dysfunctional ovaries... PCOS...

The symptoms you describe sound like a hypo to me. You might want to get a glucose meter and check when you get those symptoms to be sure. I'm surprised your endo hasn't discussed this with you since you are on Metformin.

Also, Atkins worked great for me to reduce my IR and stop the hypos, but people have used other low-carb plans here and gotten great results too. There's lots of info on the other forums about diets!
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  #5   ^
Old Sat, Jun-18-05, 05:55
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Shandybob Shandybob is offline
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Posts: 29
 
Plan: G.I Diet
Stats: 224/224/120 Female 5'2"
BF:
Progress: 0%
Default

I guess what you state makes sense - my grandparents had diabetes, and I've been aware that I could start with it.

I will speak with my doctor about a glucose meter. I have noticed that my symptoms have increased since I have been on Metformin.

Do you think the book I order, the Insulin Resistance Diet will be appropriate for me?

Thanks for your assistance, it is making me feel so much better - it's the 'not knowing' that is so frustrating! I would rather be diagnosed with a condition like Diabetes, than sit and 'wonder' why I get these feelings!
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  #6   ^
Old Sat, Jun-18-05, 08:11
LCer in NW's Avatar
LCer in NW LCer in NW is offline
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Posts: 341
 
Plan: Atkins
Stats: 223/209/200 Male 73 in
BF:
Progress: 61%
Location: Coastal Northwest US
Default

it is rational to expect that metformin will drive blood glucose low or ultra low in the absence of sustained eating of carbs. read up on that.

maybe doses can be reduced if you are consistant with low carbs. work with doctor on this.

at any rate... you'll probably feel more exhausted and maybe slightly dizzy or border on headache when blood sugar is going low. having a ready snack of 5 to 10 fast carbs (wheat, sugar, sweetened chocolate) will help you ease through it, following up with berries, cherries, peaches in 30 minutes to give you slower carbs (again be careful to limit to less than 15 carbs). the key is to try to get the blood sugar without your body shooting the insulin into your blood.

you'll need to stabilize on a set diet for at least 2 weeks to obtain a degree of control over the insulin levels in your blood. your body does not believe you for a while, but then it compensates (or tries to).

sorry i confused things by pointing out the IR would look different (hyper vs. hypoglycemia). There are different stages. My understanding is that insulin only reduces the amount of blood sugar when the cells are receptive to insulin trigger to gulp up available sugar. Resistant cells do not gulp when triggered, and leave the sugar floating around in the bloodstream.

I have a feeling that you have receptive cells, and the main problem is your body keeps squirting insulin in.

Last edited by LCer in NW : Sat, Jun-18-05 at 08:35.
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  #7   ^
Old Sat, Jun-18-05, 11:01
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Grimalkin Grimalkin is offline
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Plan: PP
Stats: 160/149/125 Female 66 in.
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Progress: 31%
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I'm not trying to be confusing, but I think the General Health or Diabetes forums might be better places to understand the process of hypoglycemia than this forum. You should go look in there!

LCer, I've heard the advice you give before and I have no doubt it helps. But the trouble with a carby snack is that it can just spike your BG back up, and then you come down again a few hours later. What worked best for me were protein/fat snacks, like cheese when my BG dropped... it takes a little longer to come back up, but I'd stay stable afterwards. It doesn't trigger the insulin response like the carb hit does.

LCer is correct that you need to consult with your doc if you low-carb and take Met. Met will make your cells more sensitive to insulin and that can drive your BGs lower. My opinion is that it is better to stay low-carb and slowly reduce the Met as your cells become more sensitive.

Sorry to confuse you with a conflicting opinion... I agree with LCer that your cells are still receptive, and I have no doubt you can improve this over time. Good luck!
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  #8   ^
Old Sat, Jun-18-05, 11:10
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Shandybob Shandybob is offline
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Posts: 29
 
Plan: G.I Diet
Stats: 224/224/120 Female 5'2"
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Default

Thank you again for your comments - both of you.

I have been and bought out the 'low carb' section at our local supermarket, hehe.

I'm still not convinced it is headed for diabetes anyway - I do have PCOS and they have started me on a low dose of Metformin (I can't lower it anymore than the dose I'm on of 500mg!), I am to increase up to 1500mg. My doc took a blood sugar test yesterday (blood test), but I don't know what that turned up yet.

I will ask my doc about the glucose test kit so I would be able to test myself.
In the meantime I will try some cheese when I get the symptoms back and see how it goes.

I was under the impression that Met plus LC is the best way for PCOS? Is this the wrong idea? Ooer it is information overload, lol. I told my doc that I was going to LC and she knows that I am on Metformin on Thursday, but I feel she isn't well informed about PCOS, however wonderful she has been with me?

Last edited by Shandybob : Sat, Jun-18-05 at 11:16.
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  #9   ^
Old Sat, Jun-18-05, 11:46
Grimalkin's Avatar
Grimalkin Grimalkin is offline
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Posts: 741
 
Plan: PP
Stats: 160/149/125 Female 66 in.
BF:
Progress: 31%
Default

Shandy, I believe that lowering insulin levels is a great strategy for dealing with PCOS - from what I understand, having high insulin interferes with your hormonal balance and prevents your ovaries from functioning correctly, they tend to form cysts and produce the wrong hormones.

The trouble with blood glucose tests is that they can be misleading - if your cells are resistant your body compensates with more insulin to keep the sugars in the normal range - so the test sees the sugar is fine, but isn't measuring the insulin or the degree of resistance. Make sense? There is a blood test that measures glycation and gives you a snapshot of average BG over several months - I think it is called HbA1c - and the health or diabetes forum is definitely the place to find out more. Most feel it is a much better test as it reflects the up and down spikes that a simple BG test won't show.

I'm not trying to scare you with the diabetes stuff, but having PCOS and hypoglycemia is all part of the long climb up the hill towards this condition. I think it's best to look at it as symptoms of a single underlying metabolic syndrome instead of a bunch of unrelated problems, and I think you will find many things getting better for you as you slowly improve your insulin sensitivity and reduce your circulating insulin levels.

Oh, and Met and LC... there are many here who do that and are doing great. But the Met can make you prone to hypos when it's time to reduce the dose, so work closely with your doctor. I think there are a few Met threads around here that might be helpful to you too!
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  #10   ^
Old Sat, Jun-18-05, 11:56
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Shandybob Shandybob is offline
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Posts: 29
 
Plan: G.I Diet
Stats: 224/224/120 Female 5'2"
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Progress: 0%
Default

Thank you ... lol ... defiitely information overload ... hehe ...

I will nosey in the other sections too ... it's a lot of reading to catch up on!! Lol.

I'll mention your comments to my doc too.
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  #11   ^
Old Sun, Jun-19-05, 07:43
LCer in NW's Avatar
LCer in NW LCer in NW is offline
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Posts: 341
 
Plan: Atkins
Stats: 223/209/200 Male 73 in
BF:
Progress: 61%
Location: Coastal Northwest US
Default

the fast snack suggestion was only since i was not sure you were 100 committed to low carb.

if you are steadily low carb, i'm not sure low blood sugar is of any consequence, because there are plenty of ketones available (this is especially true if you regularly eat a high percentage of fats).
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  #12   ^
Old Sun, Jun-19-05, 17:03
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Shandybob Shandybob is offline
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Posts: 29
 
Plan: G.I Diet
Stats: 224/224/120 Female 5'2"
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Progress: 0%
Default

Oh no - I'm serious alright - every diet I've tried in the past hasn't done a darned thing for me. My Endo said it was because I had PCOS and with the Met I would start to lose weight. But after the hypo the other day I was wondering if I should be on a 'diet' that he should have given me.

Sorry to sound thick, but I don't know what Ketones are?
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