Fighting PCOS Naturally

As made obvious by the name of my blog and most of my posts, I'm all for natural methods for resolving any/all illnesses and diseases that we may come across in life. Originally that was due to my lack of health insurance = No insurance mean no meds. But I can't just go throughout life without some sort of treatment. Without some sort of treatment, I'd be in so much pain I couldn't move, crying uncontrollably, and probably begging myself to commit suicide. Yes, it's that serious (although besides my husband, no one in my family believes that my problems are serious enough to justify contemplations of suicide) After years of researching natural treatments for all my problems - bipolar disorder, depression, PCOS, rheumatoid arthritis and fibromyalgia - it occurred to me that natural methods have to be better for you than modern, Western treatments. Our bodies weren't meant to be pumped full of man-made chemical concoctions. The prescription anti-cancer meds I a...

This evening, hubby and I went to the Bedford Food Truck Festival. It was within walking distance, and the weather was great, so we walked. There were five trucks - taco, pizza, sushi, slushies and vegetarian. I went solely for Good Karma Kitchen , and I got hubby excited about Slush Works . I made a bee-line to Good Karma Kitchen. Today's menu included Crazy Good Tacos, Korean BBQ tacos, Reverse Frito Pie, and Crazy Good Taco Salad. Hubby got giddy about the frito pie, and I chose the taco salad. Frito pie had tri-bean and veggie chili, frito chips and cheese. He inhaled it. The taco salad had a taco crumble, jalapeno lime cream sauce, spring greens, beans, cheese and tortilla chips. It was fantastic. The jalapeno added just a little kick. The prices were a little higher than I had hoped, having spent $17. But it was very satisfying and a yummy vegan meal. Hubby said he could live on that chili if he 'had' to go vegetarian. It gives me hope for reducing our meat consumpt...

My rheumy prescribed Elavil as treatment for my fibro. He did this because he knew I didn't have insurance, and the most popular drugs like Lyrica, Cymbalta and Humira are expensive. Elavil has been around so long and used for so many things - anti-depressant, sleeping pills, chronic pain, etc - that it's on all the $4 generic prescription lists, so it certainly doesn't hurt my pocket like the other drugs would. I was grateful that he took my financial restrictions into consideration. Now I'm starting to regret it. It's 7am, and I haven't been to sleep yet. The Elavil helps me sleep, but it also gives me nightmares. I dealt with it in the beginning, because I'm no stranger to nightmares. The rheumy also suggested that I do what I could to reduce my stress levels. About a month ago I impulse bought herbal drops called 'Deep Stress', made by WishGarden. I started taking 3 droppers full at night before I went to bed. Just a few days after I starting, I ...

One of my goals this month was to start doing yoga at home so I'm prepared to use my free week next month. If you walked into my house, you'd think I was a regular yogi - plenty of yoga clothes, 2 mats (because the first one wasn't as pretty as the second one), resistance bands, etc. But in all reality, I haven't done yoga in almost a year. In fact, I stopped looking at the closet door so I didn't get mad that my mat had been in the same place for so long. The floor was vacuumed moments before this pic was taken.  If you look closely you'll see that it's already covered in  hair again. So Monday I texted the hubby and said "Do not allow me to do anything when I get home until after I do yoga." Then I had to quickly modify it with this comment, "Okay, except for vacuum the living room floor so I don't gag on dog hair while I'm doing it." (I still, to this day, don't understand why I decided to bring home a white do...

I am very excited to start the Texas chapter because there are so many women in Texas that need a fabulous support system like Power Up. Visit our page: Power Up for PCOS Texas About the group - This isn't a support group; it's an empowerment group. We don't just sit around and complain about our symptoms, we learn how to overcome them. Power Up has provided a fantastic webinar series that will be shown at our in-person meetings. We participate in a 5K walk every September, and do lots of fun awareness campaigns like the upcoming 'Paint your pumpkin teal for PCOS' in October. All fundraising is donated to inCYST Institute for Hormone Health , an organization dedicated to helping find safe products and methods to treat/manage PCOS. We will be starting in-person meetings in the DFW area in mid-September, and I hope to expand to Austin by the beginning of next year. I will provide frequent updates on our Facebook page, in our private Facebook group ( FB Group ), ...

This was not written by me, but by someone who understands. I only know of the original writer as 'C.S.' - I would give more credit if I knew more. I know that my little blog doesn't reach the people who should read this, those who think that these problems are 'all in our head'. I added my two cents in red. WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT ME 1. My pain - My pain is not your pain. It is not caused by inflammation. Taking your arthritis medication will not help me. I can not work my pain out or shake it off. It is not even a pain that stays put. Today it is in my shoulder, but tomorrow it may be in my foot or gone. My pain is believed to be caused by improper signals sent to the brain, possibly due to sleep disorders. It is not well understood, but it is real.  2. My fatigue - I am not merely tired. I am often in a severe state of exhaustion. I may want to participate in physical activities, but I can't. Please do not take this personally. If you saw me shopping in ...

July Goals: Eliminate soda - again. I think I had two sodas last month. So not a complete success, but far from failure. Walk at least a mile twice a week (2.5+ laps around BBR pond) It has been WAY TOO HOT to go to the park. But I have done some long walking at stores/malls. So not a success 3 days without red meat, pork or poultry Don't think this happened either 1 week without eating anything on my sensitivity list SUCCESS!! Start oil-pulling again Hadn't even crossed my mind in the mornings. Take my vitamins and meds EVERY DAY I missed a couple of days, but by no means failed. Rearrange dining room and living room Living room rearranged. Haven't made it to the dining room. Attend a transcendental meditation info session Never received July schedule from TM leader Listen to my Circle+Bloom mind-body meditation sessions 3+ times a week Nope. These are on a hard drive that crashed. Complete and sell some of the crafts piling up in the bedroom Didn't tou...