The most difficult thing to deal with for me would be the digestion issues. I limit myself to what I can and can't eat due to the fact that I get sick and violently sick when I eat just about anything. I cannot go to a restaurant without knowing exactly how long it will be and how close to home we are. I get new food allergies weekly it seems, all because of this syndrome. I have had my gal bladder taken out, had to go on a glutten-free diet, and still I dread the thought of eating my next meal.
For a long time, I thought there was something seriously wrong with me, but after countless trips to the doctor to try to get answers and trips to the hospital because of the serious illness (just to hear I have food poisoning) there were still no answers. Come on, food poisoning every time I eat or about every month or so, get serious! I was so tired of being told there was nothing wrong except inflammation of the colon (which they say is due to food poisoning). It took some seriously dedicated people to listen to me and who are knowledgeable in PCOS (both doctors and women who have dealt with this before) to tell me that, in fact, it is because of the PCOS.
I have learned that PCOS is caused by a more serious condition called insulin resistance. With insulin resistance there is several things that you need to change in your diet that will help lessen or reverse the symptoms of PCOS and will lessen the problems with digestion. For instance, I can have no more than 60-80 grams of carbs a day. They are the complex carbs which consist of your grains and vegetables. I can have even less if any at all of refined carbs which consist of your simply sugars and fruits (these are the main culprits of insulin resistance). On top of that I need to eat a portion of protein equal to the same portion of vegetables. Even breakfast needs to be this way. As my consultant puts it, breakfast should be like lunch- What you eat at breakfast should be more of what you would eat at lunch, no more cereals, starches, grains, etc.
I have also learned that I need to take the amount of daily carbs down slowly due to cravings and causing my body even more problems. I need to take it down about 5% grams a week so if I eat about 600 grams a day I need to start eating 5% less grams for the first week and then 5% less grams every week after that until I get down to the 60-80 grams of carbs a day. I may even have to take it lower (to about 40-60 grams a day) depending on your body and what it needs.
A good low GI (or Glycemic Index) diet is what I need to follow, on top of a glutten-free diet. The GI is a scale of how fast a food turns into glucose (or how fast a food turns into sugars in your body). Following a low GI diet has been shown to help people with insulin resistance. But you need to be careful, a lot of those diets out there want you to immediately cut out those high GI foods and, like I said earlier, that can cause problems with cravings and such.
I have learned some very interesting and enlightening information in these last 2 weeks and am very excited to learn more. I will share any information that may be helpful to others who deal with this too. I know that the most important thing to do is get as much support as you can. I have found more support, information, and hope in the last 2 weeks than I've ever had in the last 15 or so years with this problem.
I hope that what I do here helps others who may be going through the same thing as me. Support, knowledge, and hope is all we have to fight with. Never under estimate the power support can bring in this journey that we face overcoming PCOS. Thanks and may God bless your week.
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