Do You Have PCOS? What are you doing to help? - Page 2

[joobilee]

Originally Posted by dakotablue

Cutting Gluten and processed foods made a world of difference for me. Once I am done with this pregnancy and back on the gluten free diet (I had to come off due to hypoglycemia) I want to get tested again to see where my levels are. 6 months into the diet I was almost regular.

I looked into cutting Gluten out of my diet and it seemed very expensive. Do you have any tips?

princesssparkles: If your infertility is due to PCOS check out DCI. It is working wonders for some of my Cysters on SoulCysters. There have even been some that it has only taken a month or two to get pregnant.

[dakotablue]

Originally Posted by joobilee

I looked into cutting Gluten out of my diet and it seemed very expensive. Do you have any tips?

Its actually not all that bad at all. I just changed the types of food I ate rather than try to continue the same food with expensive not so great tasting alternatives.

I did however keep pasta in my diet, Trader Joes brand rice pasta is awesome where I live its $2 a pack but it is more filling than regular so you use less, a bit more expensive than wheat but not bad.

There are lots of food that are naturally gluten free and some process stuff too. Namely Watch for Mexican food, true Mexican food are made with corn and not filled over with flour (expect for the obvious flour tortillas) and Asian food which are mostly rice based. Rice flour is also pretty cheap and I will make banana bread.

Other than lots of rice I eat veggies and meats. Which wasn't THAT much of an adjustment. I just had to except not eating breads and pizza and stuff. Some cereal is Gluten free (like Rice Chex)

Gulten is found in a LOT of stuff, but oddly enough the most expensive is not always the best choice, such as Walmart brand gummy bears are gluten free and Shop rite brand soy sauce is Gluten free. In the beginning I made Dh gluten free with me until I adjusted now I let him eat his version of foods. The only real cost difference was produce, which we should have been eating anyway.

Feel free to ask anything more!

[joobilee]

dakotablue: Thank you! That actually helped a lot. I hadn't ever really thought about changing what I eat (hard to leave my box). I just looked at the, like you said, not so great tasting alternatives. If I do come up with more questions I'll definately ask. Again thank you, it seems you've made a hard task a little bit easier.

[cristeen]

I was dx with PCOS about 10 years ago - spent years on BCPs, not realizing the damage I was doing to my body. When we decided to start TTC we went straight to an RE. Our first son we conceived on the first combined cycle of Met+Clomid. After his birth, we went straight back to TTC again, but neither Met nor Clomid were doing the trick this time.

After a lot of frustration, I started making lifestyle changes. The big one for me was cutting out grain and sugar. All of a sudden I had normal cycles again, and I was ovulating on my own! We were still doing Clomid (but not Met), but getting nowhere. I eventually added in acupuncture, and we worked on "balance" within my body. We weren't actively working on the TTC problem, but just on repairing my body. We took a 2 month hiatus from the ART, and we were going to move onto IUI when we went back. I found out I was pregnant when my time to go back to the RE came and went and I hadn't started my cycle yet. This pregnancy was entirely spontaneous, and I have to attribute it almost entirely to diet and acupuncture - although stress reduction also played a role, I think.

For me, weight loss wasn't even an option - even with a restricted diet and Met I don't lose (much, if any) weight. In fact, I actually gain on Met. For all that I've had plenty of people tell me "Oh, drop 20 pounds and you'll get pg!", I just want to smack every single one of them and say... "do you really think I'd be carrying around an extra 100 pounds if it were so easy to lose?" Exercise however is always a good thing - it helps sensitize your body to the insulin, and really any exercise is better than none - whether it's cardio or whatever.