Not sure where to turn anymore!!

[Ang102173]

Hi, My name is Angela (35 years old). I was diagnosed with pcos about 5 years ago officially. I have all the symptoms that go along with pcos and am at my whits end...I have also been diagnosed with Hypothyroidism and have been on synthroid for about 3 years. I am not sure if my symptoms are from the pcos or from the thyroid. I am constantly having to increase my thyroid meds at every officie visit. I was rx metformin, serafem, and synthroid originally and have been on adjusting doses of the synthroid and metformin ever since with little change in my symptoms on a prolonged basis. My greatest symptoms that I experience are bouts of intermmitant extreme fatigue, irritability, excessive mood swings continued weight gain and menstrual irregularity.
I felt as if the metformin was decreasing my blood sugar readings too much and I had about 5 episodes of what appeared to be a small seizure disorder so I stopped taking the metformin. The serafem seemed to help however my insurance does not cover it any more and they recommended prozac in which I do not want to take...I am not depressed and don't want to take such a stronger antidepressant like that. So right now I am on just my thyroid med (synthroid 100 mcg) along with starting the insulite pcos system about 2 weeks ago.
Will this help my symptoms? Is it the pcos affecting everything? My worst symptoms I will have to say seem to be around what I think will be my period and then I just don't ever have one...these symptoms can last for 2-3 weeks or longer and no matter what I eat I just seem to gain more and more weight.
I look forward to hearing from you....I can only hope that the system along with my thyroid med will work with all things affected including my metabolic syndrome, insulin resistance and the above problems already mentioned...
Thank you for your time,
Angela

[drandrea]

Dear Angela,

PCOS is a very pervasive condition and can affect any number of bodily systems- it's effects are not limited to just the reproductive system. We understand how challenging it can be to try to manage multiple health conditions simultaneously- especially where the endocrine system (hormones) are concerned! But there is hope and things can get better- thanks for writing in!

PCOS and thyroid conditions may be related but we don’t know for sure. The thyroid gland and ovaries are both part of the endocrine system. If one part of the endocrine system is not functioning right, that has an effect on the rest of the endocrine system. One study on rats that showed the thyroid gland has a direct effect on the hormone receptors on the ovaries. As naturopathic doctors we believe in looking at the body as a whole in trying to understand the cause of disease. The actual mechanism is not known, but it appears people with hypothyroidism often have insulin resistance. Hypothyroidism slows down your metabolism, and most likely also affects the body's ability to process carbohydrates. For people with hypothyroidism eating carbohydrates can lead to excess blood sugar levels causing your pancreas to release more insulin. Eventually, your cells become resistant to the excess insulin it produces

As you probably read on our website, the underlying cause of PCOS is insulin resistance. Both insulin resistance and hypothyroidism are extremely prevalent in society today. They might be related in that they seem to be related to living in an industrialized society, so that lifestyle (stress, diet, exercise) and toxic exposure could be one underlying factor for both diseases.

As far as the hypothyroidism, there is no contraindication for using the PCOS System, and while it was not designed to address hypothyroidism specifically, it should not make it worse and may even improve the symptoms.

I hope this information is helpful for you! There is amazing customer support at Insulite Labs; we are here to help you through this healing journey. Please don't hesitate to contact us again if you have any other questions or concerns.

[111john111]

When ever I see the details suggestion like yours' Dr. Andrea, I feel filled of gratitude...