Fighting PCOS Naturally

What most people don't ever realize about me is that I am a REALLY GOOD LIAR. Sounds shocking, doesn't it? I don't lie to make people mad, I don't lie to hurt anyone's feelings, I simply lie to hide my own feelings. Be honest - would you still talk to me and be friends with me if I was Eeyore? No. You wouldn't. I have to lie in order to have friends. No one wants to hang out with someone who is perpetually sad. A lot of people have told me that I have so much that I shouldn't be sad. I have a good job, a loving husband, good friends, a nice place to live, food in the fridge, and clothes on my back. Great - I have some things. But do the bad things outweigh the good? Let's see. - In-laws who lie to my husband and I with every word out of their mouths. - A father who always says he'll call back, but never does. - A step-mother who says she loves and misses me, then talks shit about me when I'm not around. - A mother that can't get out of

While on DCI, Vitex and Cinnamon/Chromium blend, I have consistently lost 1-3 pounds a week without much effort, lost most of my cystic acne, seen a drastic reduction in my hidradenitis suppurativa, and my cycle length has gone from 534 days to... 41! I'm sure if I hadn't been so extremely stressed out from our emergency move last week, it would have been shorter. My husband was threatened at gunpoint right in front of our apartment building for politely telling someone they were driving in the wrong lane. We found a new place the very next day, and got out as soon as we could. I had alot of cramping last week, so I was expecting AF. She showed up today - which explains the crappy feeling I had this morning. The only annoying thing I have been dealing with for a while is sore breasts. They don't hurt as long as I'm wearing a bra. As soon as they have no support, they hurt pretty bad. Shockingly my hubby can't tell me if they've gotten bigger, but I think they

A weird thing has happened to me in the last few years - I've become paranoid/skittish/pessimistic. I used to be up to trying pretty much anything. Someone wanted to go out to a new place for dinner, no problem. Concert? Sure. New medicine from the doctor? got it. But now, new things scare the crap out of me. It's pretty annoying. Let's start with locations - concert and sports venues. Superpages didn't really worry me too much because I knew that the lawn was big. I've been able to handle that. But American Airlines Center? hahaha yeah right. It was designed to have a crapload of people. So was the Ballpark. My heart races, my hands shake and my legs turn to rubber when there is any thought of going to some large place. I don't understand why. I used to go to the District Conventions (massive gathering of Jehovah's Witnesses) when I was younger, and never had a problem. There were thousands of people, and it didn't matter to me (of course I did know t

We all know the saying, "Breakfast is the most important meal of the day." I agree, but rarely can find time to eat before I have to head out to work. I much prefer getting as much sleep as I can, and I'm often getting up at the last second. I am also on a low carb diet, so my breakfast options are limited. That's where this awesome recipe comes in! Think of these as egg muffins! I make these the night before so I can grab one or two on my way out the door! Grab a muffin pan, some eggs, and any toppings you want - I used minced garlic, diced turkey bacon, salt and pepper. Preheat your oven to 350. Spray the pan with cooking spray. Crack open each egg and pour into muffin pan, taking care not to break the yolk. I usually make six eggs at a time - they are only good refrigerated for a couple of days. Sprinkle whatever toppings you choose carefully over each egg. Stick the pan in the oven and bake for at least 10 minutes. I love runny yolks, so 10 min is fine for me. I

I am very pleased to report that after 5 weeks of DCI, my acne is almost completely gone! I have no more cycstic acne. I have a few little red spots left, but that's it! Awesome! I am very excited that I have seen results like this - because I have only had a clear face after using ProActiv, and I'm too lazy to do that entire system. I have yet to see AF, but I'm still hopeful. I wasn't expecting my acne to go away so fast, so I'm hoping that in the next month or so she'll show up. I bought a couple of infertility books last night that seemed pretty all-inclusive. I can't wait til they get here so I can start reading. Oh, and I bought a gym. It's a Weider Total Body Works 5000. It's one of those that you use your own weight to work out with. I've used one like it before and loved it. We are rearranging the dining room tonight so we have some room for it as well, so I can watch tv and work out. My new weight goal is to reach 240 (on my scale)

I was reading comments yesterday on a PCOS facebook fan page. I was in shock to discover that all of these women posting thought that the only thing they could do to deal with their PCOS symptoms was to take Metformin. Although Metformin does work well, it comes with some nasty side affects, like painful stomach problems and the inability to stay out of the bathroom for more than 5 minutes at a time. So I commented on the status, reassuring these women that Metformin wasn't the only option. In less than 20 minutes, I received a long message from a girl roughly my age that was heartbroken because Metformin was making her sick and the doctor told her the only way she would ever be able to have children would be through fertility drugs after she lost almost 60 pounds. Now while I do agree that losing weight makes it a little easier to have a baby, it's definitely not absolutely necessary. I know several women that are larger than me that have been able to get pregnant and have bea

I know this week is a little late, but I wanted to wait until after I went to the doctor Wednesday to post. I had blood work done a few weeks ago, and I was very curious about the results. I had a basic metabolic panel and a liver function panel. As with most PCOSers, our liver can become a concern due to Insulin Resistance. Thankfully, I don't have to worry about that for a while. Everything came back perfect! All results were within range, and I was excited to find out that my fasting glucose level was 89. Score! Even better still was my weight. I have lost 4 pounds since I started on DCI last month! I started at 256 and I am now 252. Thats a total of 10 pounds in the last 3 months. There have been no intentional dietary changes - I'm still addicted to Chipotle and Jack in the Box's Chicken Teiyaki Bowl. However, I have been craving better foods lately. At midnight Monday, I was starving... And I didn't want junk food. I wanted a veggie plate full of broccoli, tomat

Glossary: DH - Dear husband AF- Aunt Flo O - Ovulate ICSI - intracytoplasmic sperm injection (expensive advance reproductive therapy) In 2006 I was diagnosed with depression and bipolar II disorder. I was off my meds for several years, and just got back on them about 3.5 months ago. My psychiatrist decided that my depression wasn't bad enough to give me a second medication, so she just prescriped Equetro for my BP. It has worked fairly well, and I haven't had any intense mood swings. But... I don't think I'm happy. I sure don't feel happy. I feel, well, depressed. I can't get excited about anything. I don't want to leave the house, because it requires so much effort to get out the door. I don't want to cook because it hurts to stand for too long. I don't want to go to work because it means I have to get out of bed. All I do when I get home from work is sit on the couch and watch tv til I can force myself to go to bed. I know this isn't norm

Sorry I didn't write last week. My great grandmother died, and it sent me in to a depressive spiral. I've managed to drag my self out of it enough to go to work, and now I can post. I have been thinking about this a lot, and I've decided to stop the Insulite for a little while. 18 pills is extremely difficult for me to handle, especially since I keep getting new info on how to take it. The GlucX pills are apparently supposed to be taken 3-4 hours away from any other supplements we take. With the medications I am on for other issues, along with the other Insulite pills, there's just no way I can do that. And $100 a month is a lot of money to waste on pills that I can't take consistently. So I'm going to stick to DCI for a little while. I'll continue to blog about it, and you can follow along if you want.

It has been requested that I start a blog about how Insulite is working for me (@pieceofanarnia) Since I am taking Insulite and DCI concurrently, I'll blog about both. To start off - I started taking Insulite on 7/26. The Insulite is by no means an easy undertaking. It involves taking 18 pills a day. 10 are taken between meals, and 8 are taken with meals. I took two large empty prescription bottles, handed one to DH, and told him to put a week's worth of pills in his bottle and I'd do the same for mine. I have them marked as to when I should take them. It has been easiest for me to take the first set with breakfast, then then the next set between breakfast and lunch. The third set comes at lunch, and the last set before I leave work. I only have trouble remembering to take it on the weekends, but I'm getting better about it. As for the DCI, I have started off with 1200mg daily on 8/17, taken between breakfast and lunch with a set of my Insulite pills. The recommende

Two weeks ago I broke down and paid full-price out of pocket to go to the psychiatrist. I knew that my bipolar disorder and depression was getting out of hande and I needed to be put on medication again. Well, I expected to get the same medication I was on last time. We went through all the motions, and she asked me all sorts of questions. We decided that I needed to get back on Depakote for the BP. Cool, it worked last time, I hoped it would work this time. As she was writing out the prescription, she asked me if I had any other medical conditions. Without hesitation I said I had PCOS. Her eyes got real big and she said "I can't give you Depakote anymore.". I was puzzled, but she didn't look like she wanted to go into detail, so I didn't ask. I knew I could find out online that evening. So she gave me Equetro instead. I got home that night and googled "Depakote and PCOS". Immediately I found this: "Because divalproex (Depakote) was widely used i

Ok, I absolutely love cooking these, because you can add any toppings you want and be uberly creative! This makes 10 pizza cupcakes. Ingredients: - 1 Can refridgerated biscuit dough (I get the Kroger brand for 50 cents) - 1 can spaghetti sauce - 1 package sliced cheese - Regular muffin pan - Toppings of your choice. Meat must be precooked. Directions: - Start by preheating your oven to 400. - Open a can of biscuit dough. - Using your fingertips, flatten a biscuit until it is large enough to cover the bottom and halfway up the side of a muffin cup. (Repeat until your pan is full or you have run out of biscuits) - Fill your formed crusts with spaghetti sauce - Top with a slice of your favorite cheese - Add any toppings you desire. - Bake in oven for 12 minutes. - Remove from oven, cool and enjoy! At some point I will add pictures to make this easier. Enjoy!

I recently started taking a new medication to manage my PCOS. I have been having some unpleasant side effects, so I jumped on my PCOS forum and asked other women about it. Apparently, these side effects are common, especially after eating greasy or sweet foods. The medication is supposed to help my body fight my insulin resistance, so anything greasy or sugary is going to make my system go haywire. I don't want to stop taking the meds, but I hate the side effects, so I'm starting a no carb diet. I've done no carb diets before, and they have worked out very well, as long as I had someone making sure I follow it. (My grandmother is very good at the guilt trips) I am hoping to use my distain for the side affects as motivation to stay on the diet. An added bonus for myself, which I'm also hoping will keep me dedicated, is that Mayhem Fest is in August. For those of you that don't know, my absolute all-time favorite band is KoRn. I was offered a chance to go see them at

You may or may not know this, but Hubs and I are practicing Pagans (for lack of a better, more easily understandable term, witches.) We of course do not try to force our views upon anyone, and out of respect for everyone else, normally try to keep religion from becoming a topic of conversation. Unless the situation deems it necessary, or in this case, hilarious. There are times when you meet someone, start talking to them, and begin to wonder what giant mountain they crawled out from under. This is one of those times. Hubs was awoken by Mormons today. No biggie, we normally tell them we aren't interested and they leave. Well today, Hubs had his shirt off. So after he opens the door, he asks them to hold on so he can throw a shirt on. Well, Hubs has a 3 inch pentacle on his shoulder. Very hard to miss. (For those that don't know, a pentacle is an encircled 5-point star. It's essentially the Pagan version of a cross.) One of the Mormons said, "Excuse me sir. Are you Je

Lately I have grown increasingly frustrated with my husband, because he just doesn't understand how I am feeling. I try my best not to take it out on him, because it's not his fault, but eventually that's what happens anyway. I've googled my heart out trying to find decent information to give him so he can understand and help me out so we can be happy. I've found short web pages, but nothing that really goes into detail about it in terms he can easily understand and put into action. So instead of trying to find websites for him to read, I've decided to write a book. I plan to include tips, suggestions, activities, and ideas on how to help a person living with depression, written from my point of view, as someone with depression. The tips I have found online were written by people who hadn't felt the way we do, and they just don't quite have it. Something is missing, and I plan on filling that gap. With that said, I would love to hear your thoughts on t

I have battled with depression and bipolar disorder for over 10 years. For the last 2.5 years, I've been able to manage my issues without the need for medication. I had kicked my ex out of the house, met a new guy, and things were looking up for me. When I lost my job in August of last year, I could tell that I might run into some problems. I was starting to get depressed, but it wasn't overwhelming. We made it though a tough time of almost losing everything, but pulled through. Now I've got a good job, and I can afford to pay the bills, so my stress has lightened considerably. Until yesterday. I don't know what happened, but whatever it was, it hit me like a freight train. I couldn't get out of bed, no matter how hard I tried to talk myself into it. Hubs tried to help me as well, and I think I freaked him out, because I just started bawling for no apparent reason. After a lot of coercion, I finally got out of bed and dressed so we could go to a SuperBowl party. Not

This tip comes from ehow.com. Especially if you work somewhere that involves a lot of time on a computer, a 5 minute neck massage can do wonders for your stress level. Step 1: Loosen up your neck before you give yourself a neck massage, slowly stretching it forward, backward and side-to-side. Step 2: Pour some massage oil into your hands and rub the oil between them to warm it (though you can give yourself a neck massage without it). Step 3: Flatten your right hand and mold it to the back of your neck. Your fingers should be facing toward your left side and wrapped around that side of your neck. Gently but firmly pull your hand to the right, down toward your chest, using your palm and fingers to apply pressure to the neck as you go. Then do the same with your left hand. Alternate each hand repeatedly in the same sweeping motion several times. Step 4: Make fists and use the fleshy side of them to gently but firmly pummel your neck. Start at the bottom where your neck meets your

"Happiness is a form of courage." ~ Holbrook Jackson I know that I am a very strong person. Anyone that's ever met me can agree wholeheartedly. When you go through as much as I have in my relatively short life-span, you'd know there are only two ways to be; strong, or weak. I guess it's really that way in every situation. - When your parents arguing all the time and you are the oldest sibling, you have to be strong for them. When the arguing got really bad, I'd make sure my sister and I would have plenty of things to do in our room so we didn't have to be around our parents. - When they finally got divorced, I had to be strong for my mom and my sister, because most days my mother couldn't get out of bed. I'd help my 7 year old sister get ready for school, and do my best to make sure we had food to eat. - When I jumped from school to school because we never stayed in one place, I had to be strong in the face of ridicule for being the new kid.