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Re: -a lifetime thing? (long-right back at ya!)+building muscle quickly
From: Barbara (anonymous@obgyn.net)
Thu, 11 May 2000 00:01:20 -0500 (CDT)
Well, it's just a thought, but if we can get facial hair,
sweat like men, gain weight and lose hair in a male pattern way, why not
build muscle like them?
After all, shouldn't we get something out of it? :)
I have brought up the alcoholic/addictive personality thing before, but
people are often resistant to share that kind of info. It's definately
in my family history.
At Wed, 10 May 2000, Mary wrote:
>
>That's so funny you say that re: muscle b/c I feel that way too.
>But...honestly, do we have THAT much extra testost.??? I mean, don't you
>kind of need a LOT for that effect? I'd be amazed that we have enough to
>get "built" fast becuase of it.. but who knows. Maybe others have
>thoughts?.
>
>That's interesting about alcholics and trying to regulate themselves. I
>definately have addictive personalities in my family--some alcoholic,
>some chronic eaters (I am not the only one who has continuously tried to
>medicate myself with food). I worry about the men b/c --let's face
>it--just b/c this insulin issue affects our ovaries and wreaks havoc
>that way doesnt mean that our genetic insulin resistance isn't hitting
>the guys too. And yet.. they don't have so obvious a 'syndrome' to
>send them desperate, fat, hairy and irregular to the Dr's office. (Do
>they?) I mean, we're all prediabetic--they would be too, just don't know
>it the way we do. It's troubling b/c my little brother is retarded and
>he can't make these kinds of decisions for himself, so we need to be
>vigilant for him.. Look after things with his health FOR him. I dunno.
>(sigh..) It's a big problem.
>
>At Wed, 10 May 2000, Barbara wrote:
>>
>>You know, after I was diagnosed, and started doing research and talking
>>to other cysters, I starting putting some of the puzzle pieces together
>>for myself.
>>When I was a teen I was on BCP, I took PE all four years of High School,
>>walked back and forth to school and took dance classes outside of
>>school, so alot of excercise. My mom was also a very healthy cook, so
>>it wasn't necessarily low-carb but it wasn't high sugar, and we didn't
>>each much junk or processed food. After I graduated I started working
>>full time over the summer, eating out alot and not working out as much
>>and that is when my blood sugar problems started.
>>A couple of years ago I also had the experience of working out about 4
>>times a week and at the time was not on BCP and had two 28 day cycles.
>>Unfortunately, nothing has lasted as a solution, so I think I am on to
>>combining diet, excercise and supplements and I will stay on BCP until I
>>feel like I am getting healthier.
>>A side note, perhaps a positive side effect of PCOS, I have always built
>>muscle quickly when working out, Perhaps the extra testosterone? :)
>>Something I have always been curious about as well, with all the blood
>>sugar issues that run in our families, I wonder how many of us have
>>family members with chemical dependencies like alcoholism? They are now
>>saying that one component might be that alcoholics are basically
>>self-medicating trying to get themselves regulated, and trying to deal
>>with the emotional/mood issues that go with
>>blood sugar problems.
>>Any thoughts?
>>
>>At Wed, 10 May 2000, Mary wrote:
>>>
>>>Here's what I know re: insulin resistance. It can be built up or pushed
>>>down. I accidentally lowered mine several years ago (before I knew i
>>>had insulin resistance!) when I got really into running. Also chromium
>>>piccolinate was getting a lot of press then, so I was taking it too.
>>>
>>>My body got leaner and not just from the exercise--it was as if it was
>>>able to reSPOND better to the exercise. I had much much better results
>>>i think than if I hadn't done the chromium.
>>>
>>>Conversly, you also boost your insulin resistance by eating a lot of
>>>crap--or even just a lot of carbs. <--which is kind of unavoidable
>>>considering the govt itself advocates a low fat, high carb diet!!
>>>(pphhht!)
>>>
>>>The science of it is this (from what I've read) if you have too much
>>>sugar (carbs break down into sugar) in your blood stream from whatever
>>>meal you just ate, pancreas dumps insulin into blood. Insulin is needed
>>>to escort blood sugar into cells as fuel. Without insulin escorting it,
>>>sugar can't go in (so you get crabby and tired). But if you are
>>>resistant, cells (muscle and organ cells) shut the door to insulin, so
>>>they just sit there in your blood instead.
>>>
>>>So your body has no where to put all that fuel, --it has to do soemthing
>>>with all that sugar so it writes it off as excess and dumps it into fat
>>>cells. (hence we become gigantic) Meanwhile, your mucle and organ
>>>cells--that dont' realize what they just did to themselves--are crying
>>>for fuel. So that makes your brain tell your pancreas dump MORE insulin
>>>into blood so that it will make you feel hungry/depleted/ and make you
>>>go eat. And then the same thing happens all over again. This has been
>>>happening to all of us 3 times a day for years on end.
>>>
>>>If you think about it, take a normal person, and...say all they eat is
>>>candy--that will stimulate a lot of insulin, and the musc/org cells will
>>>have to get resistant just out of self-preservation (i don't know what
>>>happens if they don't get resistant, but it is a natural protective
>>>mechanism). They start the process of insulin resistance and it just
>>>goes in a vicious circle, spiraling higher and higher.
>>>
>>>For PCOSers, we don't need to eat candy to start up in that vicious
>>>circle--we're already very sensitive to sugar (lots of blood sugar
>>>probs. in our families)--so even just eating normally can mess us up.
>>>BUt I think it's only when things get reallybad do we realize there is a
>>>serious prob and get diagnosed (if we're lucky). By then we are already
>>>way way up the beanstalk--and it will take awhile to come back down.
>>>
>>>Thing is, at some point in our lives, maybe as kids or teens, whatever
>>>exercise we did get probably helped beat down --or keep down--our
>>>insulin resistance. I know that for me, when I was running, I did that
>>>'vicious circle' in reverse. My body became better and better at being
>>>insulin responsive. But only as long as I still exercised (not
>>>hard-core but reasonably regularaly)--and a few mos after.
>>>
>>>Eventually, it sprialed back up. And I'm not going to pretend I dont'
>>>have a sweet tooth b/c i do--bigtime. So I know it didn't help that I
>>>gobbled lots of 'fat-free' sweets, etc. But you know, I also ate like a
>>>normal person, which..is not so good for pple like us.
>>>
>>>BTW, according to carb addicts lifetime plan book---even diet soda,
>>>sugarless gum, and msg can stimulate an insulin burst. IN fact, just
>>>THINKING a lot about food can stimulate insulin.
>>>
>>>I guess we are all just a lot more likely to get insulin resistant than
>>>other pple... so we all need to avoid triggers. BUt to answer your
>>>question, you can wean off chromium someday I guess, but you(and all of
>>>us) will always need something that keeps our resistance down: exercise,
>>>lowcarb diet, metformin, etc.
>>>
>>>On bright side, these are not terrible options... :)
>>
>>--
>>Barbara
>>
--
Barbara
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