Dear Theresa,

Thank you for writing into the PCOS Support blog.

I am sorry that you are struggling to manage the effects and symptoms of PCOS. We really do understand how frustrating and scary this can be for women. As you mentioned, the changes that can happen have an huge impact on how we interact with the world.

There are approaches to PCOS that support a healthy lifestyle and changes to promote weight loss as well as addressing the underlying cause and hormone imbalances seen in PCOS.

One thing that caught my eye from your post was that you are only eating once a day. I understand that eating more often may make you feel as if more weight is coming on but eating once a day can actually make it more difficult to lose weight.

Eating once a day will slow your metabolism as your body knows that there will not be regular food intake. With PCOS, your body is very efficient at storing energy and skipping meals can worsen this effect.

I would recommend eating more regularly but when you do, focus on reducing carbohydrate intake. The Insulite PCOS System is a very comprehensive approach to PCOS. Our nutrition guidelines recommend reduction of carbohydrates to about 60-80 grams a day, from all food sources. We also have exercise recommendations. The exercise you are doing is helping, even though it doesn’t seem like it right now. But please keep it up. To round out our approach we have a combination of supplements that are also focused on PCOS, hormone imbalance, insulin resistance.

Here is a link to our website for more information:
http://pcos.insulitelabs.com/.

Lastly, there is some great support that we offer. Not only do we have the blog that you wrote into but we also have a forum, where many women post asking questions, reaching out, etc.:
http://pcos.insulitelabs.com/forums/index.php

You are not alone and we are here to support you, Theresa. Please let us know how we can help.

–
Best Wishes,
Dr. Heather DeLuca, ND
Insulite Laboratories Consulting & Advisory teams

DISCLAIMER: The information contained in this email and the Insulite Labs website is for the sole purpose of being informative. This information is not and should not be used or relied upon as medical advice. Always seek the advice of your physician, nurse or other qualified health care provider before you undergo any treatment, take any medication, supplements or other nutritional support, or for answers to any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.

xxxxxx

Dear Jade,

Thank you for contacting the Insulite PCOS Support Blog.

You are not alone in noticing that PCOS may have something to do with your moods. Women with PCOS are more likely to experience anxiety and depression, although the reasons for this are not entirely known.

Many women with PCOS may find themselves more anxious or depressed by their appearance or their inability to become pregnant. These mood disorders can also be caused by hormone problems. Managing your PCOS symptoms may help to relieve depression and anxiety, though this is not proven in research studies.

We have not designed the Insulite PCOS System to help specifically with mood swings. However, the System is designed to target the underlying cause of PCOS, which theoretically would improve all of the symptoms of PCOS.

In addition, we have had many customers comment that their moods improved when they started using the System: increased energy, increased sense of well being, etc. I don’t know how this would translate for someone with anxiety and depression, but I must say that I am hopeful it would have a positive effect. At the very least, I don’t anticipate the Insulite PCOS System would worsen your mood swings.

The low libido may also be a hormonal imbalance due to the PCOS. You may find that as you get the hormones and weight (if that is an issue for you) better under control, this problem may then resolve. Finally, some women with PCOS have reduced libido and orgasm simply due to the emotional impact of having a condition that they feel is physically disfiguring (i.e., hair growth, acne, and weight).

Your hypothyroidism can cause many of the same symptoms as PCOS does, so it’s important to make sure you are re-testing your thyroid hormone levels and are on the right dose and type of thyroid hormone.

If you would be interested in working with a Naturopathic Doctor, a physician who specializes in alternative medicine, go to HYPERLINK “http://www.naturopathic.org” http://www.naturopathic.org and do the “Find an ND” search located on the opening page. You would want to look for an ND with some expertise in women’s medicine.

The benefit of working with an ND is that they work holistically, treating the whole person, and address nutritional needs. This is important in a disease like PCOS, which responds well to lifestyle changes.

I hope this information answers your questions. Please don’t hesitate to contact us again with any further questions or concerns.

Best wishes,

Dr. Nicole Kellum, ND
Insulite Laboratories Consulting & Advisory teams

DISCLAIMER: The information contained in this email
and the Insulite Labs website is for the sole purpose
of being informative. This information is not and
should not be used or relied upon as medical advice.
Always seek the advice of your physician, nurse or
other qualified health care provider before you
undergo any treatment, take any medication,
supplements or other nutritional support, or for
answers to any questions you may have regarding a
medical condition.

Dear Jade,

Thank you for contacting the Insulite PCOS Support Blog. I am so glad you found our website.

It is only natural to want to have a child of your own one day. I don’t know what treatments you have tried so far, but you are still young and have time to get control of the PCOS.

Women with PCOS may be able to improve their fertility by losing weight and improving the insulin resistance that underlies PCOS.

The Insulite PCOS System, which you may have read about on our website, http://www.pcos.insulitelabs.com, is designed to help heal PCOS by addressing its underlying cause, which in most cases is insulin resistance.

With insulin resistance, the body becomes insensitive to the insulin it produces, which leads to elevated circulating levels of insulin. This in turn leads to hormonal imbalances such as increased testosterone and other androgens (masculinizing hormones).

Elevated insulin also contributes to the formation of cysts in the ovaries in part due to the hormonal imbalances and also because the ovaries are highly sensitive to the influence of insulin.

All of these factors combine to complicate a woman’s chances of conceiving if she has PCOS.

The Insulite PCOS System helps to improve insulin sensitivity with its combination of nutrients and herbs as well as diet and exercise guidelines. The supplements are also designed to correct the hormone imbalance of PCOS.

Our system is designed to balance the testosterone, insulin and other reproductive hormones that impact ovulation.

While we cannot promise that you will conceive on our program, we know that theoretically reducing insulin and testosterone will increase your chances of conceiving.

As far as the depression, hormonal imbalance of PCOS (elevated testosterone and DHEA-S) could be implicated, as well as the insulin resistance, which underlies PCOS. Also, simply the stress of living with a condition like PCOS, which affects appearance (hair growth, weight, acne, etc.) is of course associated with emotional health.

There is a startling lack of information on this topic, i.e. on the physiological reasons behind this phenomenon. However, I would guess that improving the insulin resistance and hormonal imbalance of PCOS would help improve symptoms of anxiety and depression.

I hope this information answers your questions. Please don’t hesitate to contact us again with any further questions or concerns.

Best wishes,

Dr. Nicole Kellum, ND
Insulite Laboratories Consulting & Advisory teams

DISCLAIMER: The information contained in this email
and the Insulite Labs website is for the sole purpose
of being informative. This information is not and
should not be used or relied upon as medical advice.
Always seek the advice of your physician, nurse or
other qualified health care provider before you
undergo any treatment, take any medication,
supplements or other nutritional support, or for
answers to any questions you may have regarding a
medical condition.

Hello Jade,

I read your post and I also wanted to comment.

First, I am so sorry that you continue to suffer. But I am also glad that you chose to share this and I think you will find that you are certainly not alone (like you said for everyone else) and in fact, part of a wonderful community of women that are very supportive. I understand that many women would not choose to be part of the PCOS community, but unfortunately this is where you are right now.

How you are feeling is understandable. You are right that there is a huge lack in understanding on how this not only affects women from a physical aspect but also mental and emotional. But there are reasons for this as well.

PCOS is an endocrine condition that affects hormones. Estrogen, progesterone are often out of balance with each other due to lack of ovulation and regular periods. Also, add in additional testosterone that brings along not only unwanted acne, hair growth, and can contribute even further to anger or mood changes.

There are other hormones related as well. But I think you get my point in that there are things that are going on that make it difficult for you to have control of how you are feeling.

I would recommend that if possible you consider counseling. This can be very effective in helping you to talk through your feelings and how you are being affected by what is happening in your life. I also feel that any time we are using anti-depressants we should be learning tools that will allow us to discontinue use of the medication.

However, I do know that you mentioned that you are not using them due to lack of effect.

PCOS is a confusing and a complicated condition. Many want to simplify it by telling women to use a drug to regulate periods, or just lose weight (as if it was easy). When I hear that women are told to stop eating so much or not be lazy, I believe that the doctor does not understand the condition.

As you have found, it becomes a vicious cycle… weight gain, mood changes, lack of energy, depression, increased cravings for foods that temporarily make you feel good (comfort foods), weight gain…. It is hard to break but I do believe that you can do it. It will take time and taking small steps to make appropriate changes to support your goals will be useful. You have to be patient with the process.

I would also like to add that if having PCOS is the reason why you were told you would not be able to have children, I do not 100% agree with this. There are many women who have children and many others that have gone on to have successful pregnancies. I do not know what will be the case for you but I would not give up. There are many ways to help, if needed.

Jade, I hope that you are considering using the Insulite PCOS System as I feel it can be a good place to start to help you with what you are dealing with.

Please let us know how you are doing and if we can help.

–
Best Wishes,
Dr. Heather DeLuca, ND
Insulite Laboratories Consulting & Advisory teams

DISCLAIMER: The information contained in this email and the Insulite Labs website is for the sole purpose of being informative. This information is not and should not be used or relied upon as medical advice. Always seek the advice of your physician, nurse or other qualified health care provider before you undergo any treatment, take any medication, supplements or other nutritional support, or for answers to any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.

Dear Amanda,

Thank you for writing into the PCOS Support blog.

This is a great question and I hope that I can answer it sufficiently for you.

First, you mentioned a couple of tests that were done to determine if PCOS was a possible diagnosis and to also rule out any thyroid issue. You may not have listed everything that was done and there are a couple more that may be more indicative when it comes to PCOS.

First, fasting insulin, fasting glucose, LH, (luteinizing hormone), FSH (follicle stimulating hormone), should be included. We can also see changes in estrogen and progesterone levels. Were any of these tests done? Did they do an ultrasound to determine if there are any cysts present on your ovaries?

Next, there are some women for whom the tests will come back within the normal range but they may be on the high or low side of normal and they are interpreted as normal. I have seen this over and over, that when all else has been ruled out, the only option left was PCOS and if the symptoms fit, treating as such can certainly help.

Also, it is important that other conditions that can have similar symptoms be ruled out and it sounds like they did this with the thyroid panel. I do want to let you know that there is another condition called Cushing’s disease that has many symptoms of PCOS and is sometimes mistaken for PCOS. Cushing’s is not very common, but I still wanted to mention it to you. This would be something to discuss with your doctor to ensure it has been ruled out.

Here is some additional information about some of the tests.

- free testosterone- elevated in PCOS

- DHEA-S- often elevated in PCOS

- Sex Hormone Binding Globulin (SHBG)- usually low in PCOS

- Fasting insulin- elevated in PCOS. Some doctors may hesitate to order this test because the normal range (0-20) is so wide. However, we find that results greater than 9 indicate insulin resistance. Insulin resistance is usually the underlying cause of PCOS, as you may have read about on our site. Some doctors may also order a 2-hour post-prandial insulin test, along with a 2-hour post-prandial glucose test. For the post-prandial insulin, results over 25 or 30 may indicate insulin resistance.

- Fasting glucose or 2-hour post-prandial glucose test- elevated in PCOS. Using this information in combination with the insulin levels helps to diagnose insulin resistance. Also, women with PCOS have a higher risk of diabetes so it is important to screen for this early and often.

- LH: FSH- Some doctors may also look at the ratio between these two hormones. In PCOS, we would expect LH to be elevated in comparison to FSH.

- You could get an ultrasound to check for the presence of ovarian cysts. Even if the ovaries do appear normal, the absence of ovarian cysts does not mean that you don’t have PCOS. Not everyone with PCOS has ovarian cysts.

Your symptoms (irregular periods, acne, excess body hair, depression or mood changes) are certainly not uncommon in PCOS. But I am not sure what the problem is. However, I would discuss your concerns with your doctor or consider a second opinion. Obviously, you are not feeling well and it will be important to figure out what that is so that you can address it.

I hope that this helps a bit. Please let me know if there is anything else we can do to help and let us know what you find out.

–
Best Wishes,
Dr. Heather DeLuca, ND
Insulite Laboratories Consulting & Advisory teams

DISCLAIMER: The information contained in this email
and the Insulite Labs website is for the sole purpose
of being informative. This information is not and
should not be used or relied upon as medical advice.
Always seek the advice of your physician, nurse or
other qualified health care provider before you
undergo any treatment, take any medication,
supplements or other nutritional support, or for
answers to any questions you may have regarding a
medical condition.

Dear Paige,

Thank you for contacting the Insulite PCOS Support Blog.

Anxiety and depression are commonly experienced by women with PCOS- you are not alone in this! The reasons why this is so are not very clear, though.

The hormonal imbalance of PCOS (elevated testosterone and DHEA-S) could be implicated, as well as the insulin resistance, which underlies PCOS. Also, simply the stress of living with a condition like PCOS, which affects appearance (hair growth, weight, acne, etc.) is of course associated with emotional health.

Here are some references to scientific papers that address anxiety in women:

1. Weiner et al. Androgens and mood dysfunction in women: comparison of women with polycystic ovarian syndrome to healthy controls.
Psychosom Med. 2004 May-Jun;66(3):356-62. PMID: 15184695 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

2. Elsenbruch et al. Quality of life, psychosocial well-being, and sexual satisfaction in women with polycystic ovary syndrome.
J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2003 Dec;88(12):5801-7. PMID: 14671172 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

3. Mansson et al. Women with polycystic ovary syndrome are often depressed or anxious- a case control study.
Psychoneuroendocrinology. Volume 33. Issue 8. September, 2008. Pages 1132-1138.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6TBX-4T3KTHY-3&_user=10&_coverDate=09%2F30%2F2008&_alid=784573320&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=search&_cdi=5154&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_ct=1&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=aa0815db354168ee9fd6d36e08a4771e

There is a startling lack of information on this topic, i.e. on the physiological reasons behind this phenomenon. However, I would guess that improving the insulin resistance and hormonal imbalance of PCOS would help improve symptoms of anxiety and depression.

We do not recommend oral contraceptives as a treatment for PCOS because they are synthetic hormones that mask some of the symptoms of PCOS rather than fixing the problems. Treating absent menses or other symptoms with oral contraceptives does not treat the underlying disorder of PCOS and when the contraceptives are discontinued, the PCOS symptoms will persist.

Our philosophy is to treat the cause of the disorder so that there is no longer a need for using contraceptives. Of course if you are using birth control to prevent pregnancy, you will need to find an alternate form of contraception (condoms, diaphragm, etc.) if you decide to discontinue the birth control pill! The supplements of The PCOS System do not do the same thing as the birth control pills, they do something even better! They work to correct the underlying cause of PCOS.

You can read much more about the Insulite PCOS System by visiting the following link and browsing around: http://www.pcos.insulitelabs.com/.

I hope this information answers your questions. Please don’t hesitate to contact us again with any further questions or concerns.

Best wishes,

Dr. Nicole Kellum, ND
Insulite Laboratories Consulting & Advisory teams

DISCLAIMER: The information contained in this email
and the Insulite Labs website is for the sole purpose
of being informative. This information is not and
should not be used or relied upon as medical advice.
Always seek the advice of your physician, nurse or
other qualified health care provider before you
undergo any treatment, take any medication,
supplements or other nutritional support, or for
answers to any questions you may have regarding a
medical condition.

do. I just want to be happy again. Is there anything I can try????

Dear Natasha,

Thank you for writing into the PCOS support blog.

I am very sorry to hear about your diagnosis and how you are feeling. It can be very confusing and certainly frustrating to understand PCOS and the many ways it can affect a woman’s life.

But there is some great support available and you will find that many women, although they will not have your exact story, will sound familiar and you will be able to get good advice and know you are not alone.

It sounds like you are taking steps with weight loss; that will certainly help to address the underlying problem in PCOS, insulin resistance.

Insulin resistance vastly reduces the insulin sensitivity of cells, which impairs the processing of glucose through the cell wall for conversion to energy. As a result, glucose remains in the blood stream, causing elevated levels of blood sugar, some of which is sent to the liver. Once there, the sugar may be converted into fat and stored via the blood stream throughout the body. This process can lead to weight gain and obesity, key factors in creating PCOS.

Sometimes insulin resistance results in high blood sugar, sometimes in low blood sugar, and sometimes there is no change whatsoever in blood sugar levels. I think this probably depends on how long the person has been insulin resistant, among other things. Like many things, developing insulin resistance was probably a combination of environmental and genetic factors.

This in turn leads to hormonal imbalances such as increased testosterone and other androgens (male hormones).

The increased testosterone is responsible for many of the symptoms such as acne, hair growth/loss and abnormal menstrual cycles.

Elevated insulin also contributes to the formation of cysts in the ovaries in part due to the hormonal imbalances and also because the ovaries are highly sensitive to the influence of insulin. In women with PCOS, the ovaries are over-sensitized to insulin’s effects.

The weight gain associated with PCOS is intricately related to insulin resistance. Losing weight helps to improve insulin sensitivity, and vice versa: becoming more sensitive to your insulin helps you to lose weight. As you may know, losing weight is not as easy and requires consistency and hard work. But it is all worth it.

You are also not alone in having more depression and anxiety. We hear this very often. Women with PCOS are more likely to experience anxiety and depression, although the reasons for this are not entirely known. These mood disorders can also be caused by hormone problems. Managing your PCOS symptoms may help to relieve depression and anxiety, though this is not proven in research studies.

Here are some references to scientific papers that address anxiety in women:

1. Weiner et al. Androgens and mood dysfunction in women: comparison of women with polycystic ovarian syndrome to healthy controls.
Psychosom Med. 2004 May-Jun;66(3):356-62. PMID: 15184695 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

2. Elsenbruch et al. Quality of life, psychosocial well-being, and sexual satisfaction in women with polycystic ovary syndrome.
J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2003 Dec;88(12):5801-7. PMID: 14671172 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

3. Mansson et al. Women with polycystic ovary syndrome are often depressed or anxious- a case control study.
Psychoneuroendocrinology. Volume 33. Issue 8. September, 2008. Pages 1132-1138.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6TBX-4T3KTHY-3&_user=10&_coverDate=09%2F30%2F2008&_alid=784573320&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=search&_cdi=5154&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_ct=1&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=aa0815db354168ee9fd6d36e08a4771e

There is a startling lack of information on this topic, i.e. on the physiological reasons behind this phenomenon. However, I would guess that improving the insulin resistance and hormonal imbalance of PCOS would help improve symptoms of anxiety and depression.

Many women with PCOS also have a low libido. Again, hormones influence this as well as our minute to minute mood changes. Also, since you have some depression, this can also dampen your sex drive. It is also important to understand that this is not your fault and that there are reasons that it may be happening.

Have you considered the Insulite PCOS System, Natasha? I do feel that this would be a great option for you. You can read more at: http://pcos.insulitelabs.com/. It is a comprehensive, non-pharmaceutical approach to addressing PCOS.

We have not designed the Insulite PCOS System to help specifically with mood swings/depression/anxiety. However, the System is designed to target the underlying cause of PCOS, which theoretically would improve all of the symptoms of PCOS.

In addition, we have had many customers comment that their moods improved when they started using the Insulite PCOS System: increased energy, increased sense of well being, etc.

Lastly, here is a link to other sites that will useful in learning more about PCOS: http://pcos.insulitelabs.com/Insulite-PCOS-System-Support-Links.php

I hope that this helps. Please feel free to write in at any time.

–
Best Wishes,
Dr. Heather DeLuca, ND
Insulite Laboratories Consulting & Advisory teams

DISCLAIMER: The information contained in this email and the Insulite Labs website is for the sole purpose of being informative. This information is not and should not be used or relied upon as medical advice. Always seek the advice of your physician, nurse or other qualified health care provider before you
undergo any treatment, take any medication,
supplements or other nutritional support, or for
answers to any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.

Thanks for your time.

Dear Melisa,

Thank you for contacting the Insulite PCOS Support Blog.

Women with PCOS may be able to improve their fertility by losing weight and improving the insulin resistance that underlies PCOS.

The Insulite PCOS System, which you may have read about on our website, http://www.pcos.insulitelabs.com, is designed to help heal PCOS by addressing its underlying cause, which in most cases is insulin resistance.

With insulin resistance, the body becomes insensitive to the insulin it produces, which leads to elevated circulating levels of insulin. This in turn leads to hormonal imbalances such as increased testosterone and other androgens (masculinizing hormones).

Elevated insulin also contributes to the formation of cysts in the ovaries in part due to the hormonal imbalances and also because the ovaries are highly sensitive to the influence of insulin.

All of these factors combine to complicate a woman’s chances of conceiving if she has PCOS.

The Insulite PCOS System helps to improve insulin sensitivity with its combination of nutrients and herbs as well as diet and exercise guidelines. The supplements are also designed to correct the hormone imbalance of PCOS.

Our system is designed to balance the testosterone, insulin and other reproductive hormones that impact ovulation.

While we cannot promise that you will conceive on our program, we know that theoretically reducing insulin and testosterone will eliminate some obstacles to your chances of conceiving.

It is safe to continue trying to get pregnant while you are using the System. We do recommend, however, that, if you become pregnant while using the PCOS System, you discontinue using the supplements during your pregnancy and then resume them after you finish breastfeeding. The reason is that while we know that the Insulite PCOS System is safe and non-toxic in general, these supplements have not been tested in any clinical trials specifically on pregnant women or infants.

Symptoms of PCOS can include excessive weight gain and obesity, irregular, heavy or completely absent periods, ovarian cysts, excessive facial or body hair, alopecia (male pattern hair loss), acne, skin tags, Acanthosis Nigricans (brown skin patches), high cholesterol levels, exhaustion or lack of mental alertness, decreased sex drive and excess male hormones. If it is indeed PCOS causing the excess facial hair and head hair loss, the Saw Palmetto and Stinging Nettle in the PCOS+ supplement of the Insulite PCOS System will be very helpful because they help rebalance hormones by helping to remove excess testosterone. I’m not sure if the flaky skin is related to PCOS. You may want to ask your doctor about this or see a dermatologist.

Glucophage (Metformin) acts as an anti-hyperglycemic; it reduces glucose thereby reducing insulin levels. It is prescribed to women with PCOS because the condition is caused by insulin resistance.

Some women with PCOS respond well to Glucophage in terms of losing weight and regulating their menses, but we hear from many women for whom this medication is ineffective.

Our view on the pharmaceutical treatment of PCOS is that there is no one drug on the market that will change your condition. The only way to reverse the disorder is to reduce elevations in insulin, which directly affect testosterone and other hormonal changes that are responsible for causing PCOS.

The Insulite PCOS System was created to address the cause of PCOS. With those on Glucophage, we cannot say that we have noticed dramatic results in weight loss, hair growth, acne or other symptoms related to PCOS.

These symptoms can be partially controlled by diet and exercise changes. The addition of nutrients will help you become more sensitive to your insulin and reduce the symptoms of insulin resistance and PCOS.

I hope this information answers your questions. Please don’t hesitate to contact us again with any further questions or concerns.

Best wishes,

Dr. Nicole Kellum, ND
Insulite Laboratories Consulting & Advisory teams

DISCLAIMER: The information contained in this email
and the Insulite Labs website is for the sole purpose
of being informative. This information is not and
should not be used or relied upon as medical advice.
Always seek the advice of your physician, nurse or
other qualified health care provider before you
undergo any treatment, take any medication,
supplements or other nutritional support, or for
answers to any questions you may have regarding a
medical condition.

i’m 24, been having irregular periods since i can recall… was diagnosed with PCOS recently…

but i don’t really have all the symptoms everyone’s talking abt.. i’m 5’5, 145… i don’t look overweight but my doc said i should reach 121 ASAP..
as a teenager i never had acne… i started having it at the age of 21… but it is much less now…
my facial hair isn’t much… a bit over the regular though…

in general, i do have a few mood swings… they happen more at certain days..
i cry easily all the time…

my testosterone levels were normal… i just had a disorder in the rate of LH over FSH..

now i’m engaged… my doc has told me that i am fertile… that i may face troubles getting pregnant but it can happen after all..
she said the golden years to get pregnant are 20-30… above that i’ll have a lesser chance…

now, i wanna know is that true? will i have troubles in pregnancy? am i really that overweight?

How do they diagnose PCOS after all?

Dear Zain,

Thanks for writing in to our PCOS Support Blog.

At a weight of 145 you’re in the pocket of being considered on the edge of being overweight. Dropping to 121 would put you in the middle of ‘normal’ weight.

I am 5’5” and I really don’t look at all healthy at 121, so you need to consider your frame and muscle mass when you think about how low to go in weight. There are lots of BMI calculators online, check one out.

Not everyone has the same symptoms with PCOS. The consensus for a diagnosis however is that a woman has 2 out of the 3 following symptoms: cysts on her ovaries, signs of hyperandrogenism (excess hair, acne), and scanty or absent menses.

In most cases Insulin resistance appears to be the underlying cause of PCOS.

Some ways to know if you are insulin resistant are to see if your Triglycerides are over 150, HDL is under 50, and if your fasting insulin is above 9. Any of these could point to Insulin Resistance.

The topics of lean women with PCOS, and PCOS without insulin resistance are still not entirely understood in the medical community. Many thin women with PCOS do have insulin resistance, but some do not. It is not a clear-cut distinction that thin women are not Insulin resistant. Some lean women with PCOS hyper-secrete insulin but do not yet manifest insulin resistance. And in many women with PCOS, their ovaries are highly sensitive to insulin, so that even if their serum insulin levels are normal, the ovaries are highly reactive to that insulin.

Here is a link to study that was done with lean women who have a history of PCOS:
http://www.insidepcos.com:80/articles/612/1/Lean-Women-with-Polycystic-Ovary-Syndrome-Respond-to-Insulin-Reduction.html

I hope this is helpful. Feel free to write in again.

Best Wishes,

Dr. Apryl Krause, ND
Insulite Coaching & Advisory teams

DISCLAIMER: The information contained in this email and the Insulite Labs website is for the sole purpose of being informative. This information is not and should not be used or relied upon as medical advice. Always seek the advice of your physician, nurse or other qualified health care provider before you undergo any treatment, take any medication, supplements or other nutritional support, or for answers to any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.

Please visit our PCOS community where you can share ideas, concerns and
issues and find additional information and support to reverse PCOS symptoms:
http://www.pcos.insulitelabs.com/blog/index.php PCOS Support Blog
http://pcos.insulitelabs.com/forums/index.php PCOS Forums

Priya, thanks for writing in. You are so right. Tell us about your blog, please.