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Re: Frustrated on glucophage!! Help!From: anonymous (anonymous@obgyn.net)Thu, 12 Sep 2002 10:16:26 -0500 (CDT)
"I think sugar cravings are normal." No, sugar cravings are not normal but they are a product of an imbalanced diet. In industrialized nations where we are very affluent and have a lot of food choices we often eat rich high protein and low carbohydrate diets. This is actually not the normal human diet. Our body's main fuel (or shall I say the body's prefered fuel which it will burn the fastest) is carbohydrates. Carbohydrates are naturally sweet and human beings naturally crave them and carbohydrates should be at least 60-80% of our daily diet (preferably whole foods and not the overly refined products many of us our accustomed too). If you look at the food guide pyramid you will see that it does reccomend 60-80% carbohydrates daily for a healthy diet but the majority of the population do not eat this way. Anyway, the reason why people have sugar cravings is that they do not get enough carbs in their diets and since the body naturally prefers carbs as its fuel (and carbs are sugars either simple or linked) you will have cravings for sugar and often that means taking the nearest detour to the candy dispenser or having that huge slice of chocolate cake after a steak dinner. If you want to get rid of the sugar cravings and lose weight and maintain your weight naturally (without starving yourself) I suggest a diet high in complex carbohydrates, whole grains, whole unrefined foods, and lower in fat and protein. When you eat the right foods you can eat a lot of them without feeling guilty and never have to feel hungry or crave sugars agin. It is really easy and very delicious to eat a diet rich in carbs and whole foods (and your body will will adapt quickly and thank you greatly for fueling it the way it wants to be fueled) and you will naturally feel better and have more energy rather than feeling sick and tired and the myriad of other symptoms you no doubt must have along with the PCOS. Also, chances are, if you truly are one of the insulin resistant PCOS cases, then you may not need to continue the medicines that make you sick because a high carb and lower protein diet will help you to control the insulin production in your body. You will be able to eat more, feel better and weigh less! Furthermore in regard to glucophage/metformin (which are pretty much the same thing) it is still a newer treatment for PCOS patients and therefore the long term effects of this medication on PCOS patients has yet to be documented. Taking this drug is very much at your own risk. I have tried it and it made me become very ill and many people have had this problem as well. Even diabetics who have taken it have become very sick from it. However, there are persons that have taken this medicine and it has worked for them. Doctors do not have all the answers and often doctors feel they are doing their best to treat you when they send you home with a prescription...when they run out of options it is amazing how convincing some docs can be that it isn't really your medication making you sick but it is just you or some other little malady. If you have reason to suspect that your medicine is making you sick then why torture yourself and take it. If your doctor doesn't want to take the time to listen to what ails you and take it seriously then you ought to find a doctor who will because it is your health and you owe that luxory to yourself. You are paying your doctors salary so make sure he earns it!!! Also keep in mind that doctors these days make money off of sick people and the fact that people are getting sick and sicker their business is booming. Medications have a big profit for docs and for the pharmacutical companies and those companies want to keep making money. If the doctor were to tell you that you can acheive a superior health through a good diet (even if you never wish to exercise) and you try it and you really acheive the good health what do you think will happen? The doc will be out of business soon because few people will truly be sick and seriously need medical help. I am not saying don't trust your doctor because that isn't my point at all my point is that there are times that you have to know when something isn't right for you and put your foot down. Become educated about your body and your health and use your doctor to your advantage as if he were a consultant but knowing that his advice isn't always perfect and don't feel bad to get second third and fourth opinions if you have the luxory to do so! It is now only scientifically a fact that there is a major coorelation between what you eat and what illnesses affect your body (in relation to your genetic predispositions as well) but this is not a new thing. People of the past did not have the illnesses we face today because they did not eat the same way we do today...with industrialization of society our diet changed greatly and because of it our health has slowly been diminishing. Diets that were once rich in vegetables, fruits, whole grains, beans and legumes became replaced with refined flours and products, processed foods, a "meat and potatoes diet" (which is mainly meat with few meager servings of veggie or grain side dishes), refined sugars etc... PCOS is a fairly newer disorder that has its origins after industrialization but I have not read anywhere that it existed previously but if it did it certainly must have been a rarity. Now, it seems more and more women in industrialized nations are having PCOS and other problems related to reproductive health but seems kind of starnage that if you were to look at third world countries that are not "blessed" with our high protein and highly refined diet and see that they do not have these illnesses and so many women in the "starving nations" get pregnant and have healthy children and healthy pregnancies when mainly all their diet consists of is whole grains, vegetables and fruits (seasonal and as available) and beans or legumes of some sort. Meat, is indeed a luxory in such societies and isn't ideal because the grain they feed cattle is better suited to feeding the hungry persons of their nations. I am also willing to wager that women in those countries do not suffer from the sugar cravings we in the industrialized nations have come to believe is a normal thing. I hope this helps to understand sugar cravings and the nature of illness a bit. I am not a person who believes the only way to be healthy again (if you have a health obstacle) is to take every medicine you can and for the rest of your life. Most the time medicines are only necessary in extreme cases but today doctors either do not have the time to really spend with their patients because so many people are sick and it really is the easiest option to prescribe medicines and hope they at least provide some relief to the patient. In ancient Chinese culture doctors were paid to prevent illness...strange how the medical profession evolved to the other end of the spectrum. It is also interesting to note that the chinese and japenese who eat their traditional diet (not the foods Americans have been accustomed to thinking is chinese food) are among the healthiest people in the world and among those people they do not suffer with the maladies that we know so commonly here in the West but it is also important to note that when chinese have migrated to the west and adapted the western diet (high protein and high fat) they quickly became fat and very unhealthy. this is just another example of how important our diet is to preventing and healing our health. I know I am long winded and I apologize really I do but I do care to honestly help others and I aim to be a medical doctor and a nutritionist because of that reason. You don't have to take a thing I said with a grain of salt really but hopefully in a few years from now after trying all the medicines in the book and not feeling any better you might remember this advice cause it is about the best you can get. I remember at one point I was actually privilaged to have visited a nurse practitioner who gave me the nutrition advice rather than wanting to load me with medications and at that time I would have preferred any medicine to having to make dietary changes but the medications only made my life and my illness more complicated and frustrating and finally in the end of it all and in desperation I resorted to what I thought I would never do and changed my diet. Now I no longer suffer from the maladies of PCOS and this is something we all can acheive if we put our minds to it! Kindest Regards Always and wishing you only the best of health!
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