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Re: Just how many PCOSer's are overweight?

From: Sonnet (anonymous@obgyn.net)
Sun, 23 Jun 2002 13:10:16 -0500 (CDT)

OK, first off, PCOS is NOT caused by being overweight! While I will agree I've heard that the hormone shifts produced by being obese over a long period of time can lead to small increases in, say, facial hair. BUT that doesn't account for all the rest of the PCOS. Also, as has been pointed out before, many of us (most of us??) had symptoms of insulin problems or the androgen problems of PCOS **before** the weight gain. So in those cases clearly weight wasn't to blame! I'm sure sorry you've been treated this way by your doctors. They obviously don't know very much about PCOS! (Have you seen an endo? They might be a better choice!)

As far as myself:

5'10", currently around 335lbs (ack, I gained weight this month!) I have been severely hypoglycemic since birth, my parents used to have real problems because if my bottle was late, I wouldn't be able to eat it and would just lay there or cry! I started to gain weight when I was about 9 years old, much to my mother's dismay. I was put on every diet from Weight Watcher's to Jenny Craig without any real success. (I did lose a *few* lbs at WW, but no more than 10.) By high school, I weighted around 250lbs, but I also had friends and a boyfriend and didn't really care. I was careful about my fat intake in high school (I ate no more than 10g a day for some time) but I did eat a lot of sugar. No one told me it was bad! Those years I started to have menstrual irregularities and my hair started to fall out. By college I was getting serious acne as well.

After college I moved to a town in rural Australia. We had no car, and we walked everywhere. For two years I walked *at least* 10 miles a day. Sometimes double that. I was looking forward to my wedding so I started dieting: Low fat, no refined sugar. I gained 50 more lbs. I saw an OBGYN that my friend had suggested. I walked into her office and she looked up and exclaimed, "My God! You're huge!" She told me I was pathetic and would never conceive because I was so big. I told her about PCOS and she told me that it had nothing to do with weight. (?) I saw a different doctor who wasn't so mean about it but who insisted that I also see a dietician. I did. Every week when I went into her office she would look over my food diary and tell me the only suggestion she could make was to eat more meat! Later a saw a note she sent to my doctor implying that I was "sneaking" food because I wasn't losing. My father-in-law got me an appointment to see the head of endocrinology at a Sydney hospital. We drove 8 hours to see him. He was very nice, and agreed I had PCOS, but also thought that it should be treated with bcp and weight loss. We argued a lot :) Eventually I convinced him to let me try glucophage because it wasn't going to hurt me. The glucophage does a lot of good for me, and I don't seem to gain as fast on it, but I'm not magincally losing either.

Back in the USA for the past 2 years I have seen some really awful OBGYN's (One told me that the only thing she would suggest for me was a gastric bypass - after I came in for a pap! She also told me that "fat people have deformed babies" and that my bp was too high to carry a child: it had been tested at 90/60 in her office.) I haven't been as good about the diet as I should be. I go for some time off refined sugar, but I can't seem to make the leap to low-carb. I'm going to give it another try in the next few days! I've slowly gained a little bit of weight here and there, especially when I'm stressed, to my current 335. I have good doctors now though, so we'll see what we can do!

Sorry so long! 

--
Sonnet :)


At Sun, 23 Jun 2002, Trista wrote:
>
>Hi everyone! I am just wondering how many of us really are overweight.  I
>have read several articles that say only about 50% of PCOS women suffer
>from obesity.  .  .  and the possibilty that the obesity causes the PCOS
>rather than the other way around.  I personally gained 80 pounds in one
>year with no change in my diet or exercise program, which in itself with
>some other symptoms prompted me to seek medical attention.  I dieted and
>exercised exhaustively for a couple of years before just giving up and
>accepting that I will always be huge.  (I am in the process of foregoing
>that acceptance for another try at a lifestyle change, however).  I have
>been to a couple different doctors (one a OB/GYN and one an RE); neither
>actually did any tests on IR or anything.  The OB/GYN did 2 ultrasounds
>and a biopsy and diagnosed me that way.  Both told me to go home and
>lose weight (one actually told me to join Weight Watchers, which I did
>without success) and come back to them when I had gotten down to a
>sensible size!! Because I have failed at this, I have not sought
>treatment for my PCOS again .  .  .  I am ashamed of this failure and
>know that the doctor's will just tell me again to lose weight.  Anyhow,
>it seems to me by reading this board that MORE than 50% of us are
>overweight or obese.  I would appreciate your cooperation in just
>replying to this post with your height, weight, & any success or failure
>that you have had with this problem.  I would like to get a feel for
>just how many of us are suffering with this.  I am tired of
>professionals not believing me when I tell them that I have TRIED to
>lose weight without success.  I will start us off:
>
>5'2", 238 lbs, used to eat a low-fat diet and did one hour of aerobics &
>one hour of walking per day - UNSUCCESSFUL, later joined Weight Watchers
>and followed their program along with 20 minutes of walking & one hour
>of lap swimming 5 days a week - UNSUCCESSFUL, currently not dieting, not
>exercising, and not on any medications.
>
>Thanks in advance to all of you who will share!!
>
>We're all in this together ladies!!
>
>--
>Trista
>



--
email always welcome: sonnet_fitz@hotmail.com


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