PCOS/Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome

[creekfairy]

I'm trying to find out if PCOS/Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome is a problem within native people. I myself was diagnosed with PCOS when I was 21 (now 27). And I'm wondering if there is any research being done within the tribes regarding this medical issue. Anyone here have it?

[annie_griffin]

personal experience

Creekfairy,
I can only speak of my personal experience. I am of mixed heritage that includes Native American ancestry.
I have had ovarian cysts but I never heard the term Polycystic
Ovarian Syndrome. I do know it seems to be hormone related.
There was a stretch of several years where I had a lot of difficulty.
The doctors did many tests but not much treatment. I finally couldn't take being a guinea pig anymore and started trying to find some information on my own.
Hormones are complex but one thing I read was that the balance
between estrogen and progesterone is important. A women with say 5 or 10 extra pounds may produce excess estrogen. Disrupting this balance. I found a product (Femgest) that supposedly supplies progesterone (plant based). It's just a cream and you put it on your hands or stomach.
All I know is after using it for a couple of months my period came back and I was able to get pregnant. My son is 5 years old now. Anyway I hope this helps.
sincerely,
annie

[ac_miss]

I can't remember when I was officially diagnosed, but it was in my early 20's. I'm now 30 years old. I had all kinds of bizarre, sometimes embarrassing symptoms. I had real bad skin, facial hair, excessive weight gain, mood swings, and hardly any monthly cycles at all. I remember the doctor telling me that I may not have any children, but since I was still somewhat young, I just put it out of my mind. It wasn't until I got married that I began to think more of my health and starting a family.

I did a little research and found that chasteberry was good for women with PCOS to conceive. I never tried it though. I decided that if the Lord wanted me to have children, He would have wanted it that way, so I just decided to look into adoption instead. By this time I was losing alot of weight and getting healthy, but then I was having these nagging chest/breathing problems which I later learned was gallstones. It was the day before my gallbladder surgery when I learned that I was pregnant. We were overjoyed. I went ahead with surgery even though there was a small chance of miscarriage, but we made it through. Now my daughter is 13 months old.

After I learned I was pregnant, I read a bit more on PCOS. I learned that with a healthy diet and exercise, chances are great for women with PCOS to conceive. I've met a husband of a PCOS sufferer as well, and his wife was told that she couldn't have any children due to her condition, but she got pregnant and had a healthy baby.

After talking it over with my mom, she seems to think that several of our relatives may have the same thing because we're all experiencing the same symptoms, but until they get diagnosed I guess we'll never know.

[creekfairy]

thanks so much for both of those lovely responses..very kind of both of you!
I heard about using natural Progesterone Cream from a friend of mine who was having similar problems and so I started using it a few months ago and my periods did come back after using it a couple of weeks. After that I started using many herbs and supplements that I looked up online including chasteberry which is also known as Vitex, so I was using Progesterone, Vitex, Cinnamon (which helps with carb cravings to help ya loose weight and it works!), Dong Quai, Prenatals, and a few others. And they all did help in their own ways but didnt get me pregnant. I honestly think that my PCOS is at this point completely out of control. I have all of the typical symptoms which include digestive issues (including spastic colon/IBS), acne, facial hair and other body hair, hair loss on my scalp, dandruff, acid reflux, dental issues... the list goes on and on. Amazingly with all of the women I've talked to... almost all of them can in one way or another contribute most of their ailments to PCOS.... its amazing what all in the human body starts going screwy when your hormones are messed up!...and its not just a hormone disorder...its an endocrine disorder as well... My husband and I have been trying to concieve for 2 years now and I as well was more interested in taking care of myself once I got married and wanted to start a family... but its been 2 years now and we've decided to include some non-natural medicines... I've got the apointments set up and I'll be starting Clomid hopefully by my next cycle which seems to be the miracle drug among PCOS sufferers who are trying to concieve.
Thanks again ladies for your input :) very kind of you

[annie_griffin]

Wishing you the best

Creekfairy,
I wish you the best. Just remember that there are also a lot of things going right with your body too.As women I think we mentally
beat up our bodies. I try now to give it credit for the good too.
Switching to what it can do rather than always what it looks like.
This I say not to minimize your real troubles but to offer just another tool.
The good news is when you do get pregnant you may find some
of these troubles will go away maybe even for good.

sincerely,
annie

[creekfairy]

Thank so much Annie..
its been a bumpy road but I just know that if I dont do anything and just set back and let this PCOS business take over my body than I'll never be able to concieve.
Thanks for your input
Brandy

[Eagle Plumes]

my big sis always had problems concieving had a lot of femal problems as a kid, and when she met her current husband he had one from a former marriage she had one from a former marriage , she had her tubes tied "suposedly!" he had a lil problem on his end so they were positive no babies together, weeell my mama and I had this same dream about 2 days apart of her being prego and holdiong this beautifull baby wil gobs of long black hair, I was afraid to say anything she was too, it was a very sore subjct, my sis was to teh pointshe couldnt look at at a prego woman or look at baby stuff, so being the teen I was at the time said I saw you prego, maaaaan did the shiz hit the fan she ripped into me like you wouldnt believe, and wouldnt come by or call , anyhoo about 2 weeks later she came over im like ok round two ding ding lol she said you and mom drempt this? im like what??? she said im preggers! Im like I know! aint so doumb now am I????? she made the lab tech tkae her blood 3 times! she just knew she had teh flu lol, now he is a big teen and she still looks at him like the way they did when they layed him on her chest, it will happon for you sweetie hang in there !

[ac_miss]

Yeah, I believe it will happen for you, too. I mean, I was almost at the point of adoption, and i mean really looking into it. All the people I've talked with who had problems with conception just basically gave up after a while, and then lo and behold, here comes baby! I did. I put it ouf my mind. I told myself that so what if I couldn't have a natural child, we'd adopt! But then came the unexpected news.

Just hang in there is all I can say! If you have the means, go for it. We couldn't afford the fertility treatments and such, but I am also a firm believer in fate. It it was meant to be, then it shall.

[creekfairy]

thanks girls for the words for encouragement... lord knows I need them!
Well... its a long story but my husband hurt his back at work almost a year ago (next month will be 1 yr)...anyways, we're fighting it with workmans comp and all that B.S. and basically we havent recieved a dime... so we're broke
But my Mom wants grandkids SOOOO bad! So she is helping us pay for treatments...otherwise it wouldnt happen at all! I'm also scared that my husband might have some sperm issues because he had scarlet fever when he was a kid... and that causes alot of problems for male fertility. So anyways... I'm also apparently diabetic..yippy yay! (not)...
So I'm making apointments at a near by indian hospital to get the diabetic part taken care of... and see how far I can go with them as far as getting my PCOS straightend out... than go to a gyno or fertility specialist to get the rest of the stuff that I need!
Ya know... its kinda crazy but just last week I was having a dream that me and my husband was going around telling everybody that I was pregnant...but than I started my monthly today...go figure!
We have thought about adoption too but I just want to give it an honest shot at trying to concieve
Thanks again girls for the words of encouragements!

[ANNA NICOLE]

Hi, i know what you are going thought.. PM me if you want to talk about treatments and stuff. I'm going through that right now too!! good luck to you...i hope things go better for you than they have for me!

[creekfairy]

I figured I'd post an update since it has been so long...
originally we were looking at doing surgery in May to remove the 4 inch ovarian cyst on my left ovary... well, I let the doctors talk me into trying a medication that "should help shrink it"... well, it didnt. I've been in a lot of pain and I could still feel it... so my last apointment was this past Monday 7.7.08 ... this was the 3rd internal ultrasound I've had.. and this one was extremely painful.. apparently the cyst has more than doubled in size in less than a month... going from 4 inches to 11 inches. This coming Thursday 7.11.08 I will find out when we're gonna do the surgery
Thank you to those of you who have sent me privated messages... your support is greatly appreciaed :)

[APRILCHOCTAW]

i have PCOS. I have seen a PCOS specialist in England theres a surgery I got called ovarian drilling (painless and takes only 30 minutes) it helps keep cysts away for up to 5 years and he put me on a low-carb diet that has helped also. I'm glad something actually works after having 3 surgeries for removal of them!

[yellowthunders mama]

Insulin resistance / diabetes link to PCOD

I really want to send my encouragement to you. My best friend has PCOS and I have dealt with fibroids for almost 20 years. We both got pregnant within a month of each other – her at 27, me at 35 and we had both been told by doctors it wouldn’t happen for us. Don’t give up!
Here is what I know about PCOS. All women with PCOS are either insulin resistant or diabetic. Insulin resistance is a precursor to diabetes. My best friend with PCOS got pregnant after loosing 90 pounds. And she strongly attributes her pregnancy to her weight loss. Weight plays a huge role in PCOS. Extra weight stores hormones which put the body out of whack. And once your hormones are out of whack, it is hard to get them back in order again – but not impossible. I have seen other friends (2) with PCOS get treated diabetes medication – even though they were not diabetic and get pregnant. One of these friends can’t stop getting pregnant now that her body is in pregnancy mode. She got pregnant again when her miracle baby was only a moth old with no additional treatment. Every woman I know with PCOS is overweight or obese. And I have 16 friends with PCOS.
So, as far as your question about NDN women having higher rates of PCOS, I imagine we do because we have higher rates of diabetes. And we have higher rates of diabetes because we have gotten away from our traditional diets and live in the modern world where we have to schedule in our exercise and rest.
If it is possible for you to get back to a more traditional diet and regular exercise (if you haven’t already), it could help your PCOS tremendously.
I wish you the very best in your quest to overcome the challenges of PCOS.
Many blessings!

[kgirl7]

I have PCOS without the cysts. Keeping my weight down is key. I'm on a low carb diet (more like low-refined diet). I'm just waiting for my bike so I can get back into exercising.