How to Control Hirsutism (Excessive Hair)
By Dr. Nancy Dunne and Bill Slater
PCOS Review
Jan. 16, 2009
A recent study of women with PCOS at the UCLA School of Medicine has shown that the hormone insulin is directly related to the severity of hirsutism. Hirsutism is the presence of excessive facial and body hair.
The higher your insulin level, the more severe the hair problem. Unfortunately, women with PCOS are very likely to have insulin levels that are abnormally high. So it’s no surprise that hirsutism is a problem.
If you have an issue with abnormal facial or body hair, you’ll want to lower your insulin levels.
So how do you do that?
The first step is always to improve the quality of your diet so that your body does not have to produce so much insulin. This is extremely important because PCOS women tend to over-produce insulin in response to the standard American meal. Your meals need to be different, as we describe in our PCOS diet book.
www.ovarian-cysts-pcos.com/book
Second, you’ll need to make exercise part of your daily routine. Exercise helps you to control insulin.
Third, you can take supplements like chromium, which helps insulin do its job, and thus you need less insulin. This is why chromium is included in our d-pinitol formula.
www.ovarian-cysts-pcos.com/store/pinitol
Fourth, you can take pharmaceuticals such as metformin, which also help you to get by with less insulin. But a problem with metformin is its side effects.
Read the full article here.
www.ovarian-cysts-pcos.com/news73.html#sec2
I went on the South Beach Diet because my doctor told me too. The first two phases have very low insulin intake….which decreased the hair growth. However, when I went to the third phase and added fruits the hair didn’t grow as much as it used to, but not as little as phase 1 and 2. I miss those phases, but I believe you need natural sugars in your diet…or something else could go wrong!
Dear Jillian,
Thank you for contacting Insulite’s PCOS Support Blog.
We do suggest limiting fruit intake for people who have insulin resistance, pre-diabetes, or diabetes (insulin resistance is the underlying cause of PCOS). Reason being, people with blood sugar problems simply cannot handle carbohydrates as well as people without blood sugar regulation issues. A general guideline would be to have no more than 1-2 pieces of fruit per day. People with outright diabetes might need to be stricter. These fruits are higher in carbs and should be avoided: bananas, grapes, mangoes, and papaya. If you are unable to control your blood sugar, then you can reduce your fruit intake more.
Some people could be concerned that without fruit you could be missing out on certain nutrients, but nutrients found in fruits are also present in vegetables.
I hope this information helps.
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’ve been reading up on the possible benefits of d-pinitol. My daughter has PCOS, but suffers from hair loss rather than hirsutism. Within the last 6 months she has lost almost all her hair and now wears a hairpiece. She is naturally very distressed. She takes oestrogen tablets 2mgs a day and metformin with every meal, but the problem is getting worse. She is also on a low GL diet and is now very thin. Please can you suggest something – would d-pinitol help?
Dear Trisha,
Thank you for contacting the Insulite PCOS Support Blog.
Unfortunately I don’t have much experience using d-pinitol with my patients. Has she had her hormone levels tested? Hair growth should resume once the hormones are in balance. However, I have to say that this is difficult to see early on, it requires some patience and perhaps it is the last symptom we see improving with some women while on the Insulite PCOS System.
The key is to get the hormone levels balanced with diet and exercise and nutrient supplementation. So, the long-winded answer is YES the hair should start growing back but it will take some time. Be sure to rule out other causes of hair loss besides PCOS, such as medications and hypothyroidism (low thyroid function).
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 loss, acne or other symptoms related to PCOS.
One final note, stress can have negative effects on our entire body, including causing hair loss. If she is feeling overly stressed, I recommend finding stress relieving exercises like yoga, deep breathing, meditation, Tai Chi or even getting counseling.
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.