Even through all this, I got pregnant, had a healthy pregnancy, gave birth and began to breast feed. Through the breastfeeding I struggled because of constant clogging of the ducts. The breastfeeding clinic indicated that the sy,toms I presented were consistent with diabetes, which I do not have.

All this I say because I wonder if all these symptoms are consistent with PCOS or not? How can I have a sugar problem and not have diabetes or regiter any abnormality in the GTT? I am underweight, is that consistent with PCOS?

Any help will be appreciated.

Dear Rhiannon,

Thank you for contacting the Insulite PCOS support blog.

I understand your desire for to use Yaz to help your symptoms, especially since it has helped in the past! Unfortunately, I can’t make that decision for you as I am not your doctor. Have you discussed this decision with your doctor?

What I can tell you is that, 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 since you want to prevent pregnancy, you would need to find an alternate form of contraception (condoms, diaphragm, etc.) if you decide to not use 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. The System is comprised of supplements, diet and exercise guidelines, addiction awareness and customer support.

The supplements are designed to improve insulin sensitivity, help you lose weight, reduce the symptoms of PCOS, correct the hormonal imbalance of PCOS, and help manage the deleterious consequences of having elevated insulin. Here is a link to a page on our website that describes the supplements in detail: http://www.pcos.insulitelabs.com/PCOS-Elements.php.

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 helps to answer 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 Relz,

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

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. The pill may help to regulate your menses, but once you discontinue it the irregular menses and hormone imbalance may return. 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. Also with PCOS the ovarian cysts can be absent.

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.

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.
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 Syndi,

Thank you for writing in to the PCOS Support blog.

I am sorry to hear about your recent diagnosis.

Birth control as you know, is given to help re-establish your period. Many women with PCOS experience missed or irregular periods due to the hormonal imbalance caused by insulin resistance, the underlying cause of PCOS.

However, since you are late or have missed a period, you can easily take a home pregnancy test. If you have been taking the birth control pill as directed, then it is less likely that you are pregnant. However, birth control is not 100% effective at preventing pregnancy, but it is close (95-99%). So, it is possible that any of the reasons may be responsible for your period being absent or late. It is a common symptom in PCOS, and there are some women who do not have a period even with using birth control.

The best thing to do at this point if you have not had your period yet, is to take a home pregnancy to rule this out.

Syndi, I also wanted to recommend the Insulite PCOS System as well. This can also help to regulate your cycle and to help address and control the insulin resistance. Also, our website has a wealth of information on PCOS and all that is related to having this condition.

I hope that this helps. Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns.

–
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.

Can the hair growth be attributed to excess male hormones in general? Or is this always linked to PCOS and the other symptoms of PCOS too.

Dear Lisa,

Thank you for contacting the Insulite PCOS Support Blog.

PCOS is one of the most common endocrine disorders leading to excess androgenic (male) hormones.

However, there are other disorders including congenital adrenal hyperplasia and Cushing’s disease that can cause similar symptoms.

However, having hirsutism in addition to irregular periods and excess weight gain points to probable PCOS.

I encourage you to have some baseline labs done, including DHEA, testosterone, fasting insulin, LH, FSH, cholesterol. You could also ask your doctor for a pelvic ultrasound to look for cystic ovaries.

I hope this information if useful to you, Lisa. I hope to hear from you again!

Best wishes,

Dr. Shana Spector Deneen, 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 Lizzie,

Thank you for writing into the PCOS Support blog.

I can understand your frustration, Lizzie. Unfortunately, there is a large part of the medical community that looks at PCOS as a fertility issue and will only address the problem when a person is trying to conceive. However, we know that PCOS is much more than a fertility issue. Certainly, many women struggle to conceive but in addition to that, there are many other affects that PCOS has on the body that lead to the symptoms.

Birth control can regulate your cycles and can help you to ovulate when removed in the initial months following discontinuation, for some women, but that is not really addressing the problem at the level it needs to be considered.

PCOS is an endocrine problem with effects on the reproductive system. It is the hormone imbalances that impact ovulation, cyst formation, etc. making pregnancy more difficult.

However, what is important is educating yourself about PCOS and all the effects that it has on the body, in addition to the reproductive implications. Having PCOS increases risk for developing diabetes and cardiovascular disease as well.

The choice to use birth control is certainly up to you. Mirena is an IUD that contains the synthetic form of progesterone (levonorgestrel). I have included a couple links here on different forms of birth control as well as another that explains more about IUD’s.
http://www.americanpregnancy.org/preventingpregnancy/overviewtypesbirthcontrol.html
http://www.americanpregnancy.org/preventingpregnancy/iud.html

I am not sure why your doctor is choosing not to recommend a form of treatment to address the PCOS. But what can be helpful for your current and future health and your goals is taking steps now that can positively impact how you feel and how you are affected by PCOS. I would recommend that you check out the Insulite PCOS System, Lizzie.

This is a comprehensive approach to PCOS that addressing the underlying problem, insulin resistance, as well as helping to rebalance hormones, reduce symptoms, and reduce future risks associated with PCOS. This is a way that you can take control. You can read more at http://pcos.insulitelabs.com/

I hope that this gives you some good information and options. Please continue to visit and participate in the Support blog and let us know if we can help further.
–
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.

I am 26 years old and I was diagnosed with PCOS 3 years ago. I was put back on bc and then a year later began to take met and spirolactone. I did lose weight on met but it made me sick. I decided i no longer wanted to take prescription drugs and stopped taking both of them. After stopping, my hair began to thin. I believe it is because my body became dependent on spiro, as I never had this problem before. I have had my testosterone tested and it is really low. I just don’t understand why it would be falling out?? Can anyone help?? I also began taking insulite and love it!!

———————

Hello Jessica,

Thank you for contacting Insulite’s PCOS Support Blog. It’s great to hear that you are doing well on Insulite’s PCOS System!

That is unfortunate about the change in your hair after discontinuing the medications. Has your doctor also tested your thyroid hormone levels? Hair loss can happen for many reasons. Other conditions to consider are hypothyroidism, anemia, extreme stress, vitamin and mineral deficiencies. If it is indeed PCOS causing the issues, the PCOS+ supplement of the Insulite PCOS System will be very helpful because they help rebalance hormones. Also, an omega supplement can help in correcting any essential fatty acid deficiency. Starting and stopping the birth control pill can cause hair loss as well.

The thyroid test is TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone) and this number should ideally be at 1.0 (or very close by). The range for this test is very broad (0.45- 4.5 or in some labs 5.4). Most women say, “My TSH was normal” because they fall in the range however if you are above 2.5 this confirms that your thyroid is sluggish (a common cause of hair falling out in addition to many other PCOS symptoms).

It can take 6 months to see new hair growth in the form of baby hairs on top of your head or around the margin of your hairline. This is perhaps the slowest symptom to improve on the Insulite PCOS System, so be patient, and keep doing what you are doing. Hopefully many of your other symptoms will start to improve sooner so that your wait for the hair-regrowth doesn’t feel too long!

One final note, stress can have negative effects on our entire body, including causing hair loss. If you are feeling overly stressed, I recommend finding stress relieving exercises like yoga, deep breathing, and meditation.

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.