[COLOR=Plum] Hi all, My name is Karen and i am new here.. i am looking for a buddy for support and talk with. I have been doing atkins for 5 months now and have lost 37 lbs. I live in Southern California. I am 25 years old and married, but no kids. Its a bit harder for me to loose weight because i also have PCOS. so.. anyhoo...[SIZE=3]

Well, I just *HAD* to write to you! My name is also Karen, and my middle name is Marie, and I also have PCOS!!

As you can see by my member name, though, I do have kids (OY, do I have kids!)

I just re-started Atkins, I've been on and off for a few years. I lost 80 pounds in 1999, but then got pregnant with the trips.

We're even about the same stats, though you're almost 20 pounds ahead of me now! I'm trying like made... I seem to stall every time I hit 314. The next time I weigh is almost ALWAYS 316. GRRRR!!

Anyway... welcome to the site, I hope you love it, and if you'd like a buddy, I'd love to correspond!

You should start a journal, that way, the support also comes to you... take a look at mine and see what I mean! It's so nice to go to your journal and see posts from other friends there to support you, and to chew the fat!

Talk to you soon!!

Karen

Karen,

Thank you so much for replying. You are just the person i needed to hear from to brighten my day. See i have been married for 7 years and for the last 5 years trying to have a baby. I am still going rounds with my doctors and seem to get no where. Pretty much every GYN that i have seen has told me my only problem is that i am fat, that if i would loose the weight i would have a child. As you can imagine, i was not very happy, not only to say that they are wrong. I KNOW i am fat. That is not my only problem. I have been off of Metformin for almost 4 months now and i am waiting to go see the doc to go back on it. I was recently up in Washington, visiting with family for a few months when i had ran out and started atkins so my doc said she would not refill it till i went to see a GYN. GRRR!!! So now i am waiting to go do that. To be honest in the last 3 weeks there has been so much going on and so much stress i kinda threw atkins out the door and said screw it. I have been staying steady at 301 and seem not to be able to break it. Anyhoo any input would be wonderful. Lets just hope i can see the doc soon. I am gonna go nuts...!!!

Karen

Hey Karen. What is PCOS? If you don't mind me asking?

A bunch of us have taken a challenge to do Atkins "KISS" (Keep it Simple Sweetie) or the FFP (Fat Flush Plan) for January. Everyone started on or around the 1st to present of January and are sticking to whichever plan they choose for two or more weeks. Go under this thread (Countdown Buddies & challenges)
and click on KIS & Flush - January Fat Flush and read it and get excited I had been so stagnant and indiferent. Trying to get back in the goorve and starting "tomorrow". Know what I mean? Then I chanced upon this thread and got excited - the enthusiasm of everyone catches you and you just want to be part of it - Well that hapened to me. 4 dys on the Fat Flush I'm down 10 lbs mostly water I'm sure but I was really getting worried after Christmas.

My husband got excited too, He bought me the whole Fat Flush Plan, Cookbook, and Journal. (He's always complaining about my cookbooks!!!) Pop in any time. Let me know if you are planning to flush or kis got to run my grandson just came over with the flu - his mom has to work talk to you later Mary

Mary, PCOS is called Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome. Here is a web site that you can get more info about it.
http://insulitelabs.com/insulitelab...&OVMTC=standard

Its something that keeps you fat or i should say atleast trys to. It also causes infertility. I have tired most everything out there to loose the weight. Atkins so far has been my only way of loosing weight. But when things start to happen... ie.. alot of stress... its hard to stay on it... I will check out flush and kiss. Thank you so much for the heads up on it.

Karen

Hi Karen!

I actually run the website http://www.pcos.net I've been running it for a few years now.

Screw the OB/GYN's, you need to see a Reproductive Endrocrinologist. Obviously, your OB/GYN's are just "blah, blah, blahing" you. Yes, you need to lose weight, but only a 5% drop will enhance fertility, and you've already lost 10%. A Reproductive Endocrinologist will be able to help with your PCOS, and fertility, and most likely, will have read a book or two about it within the past 5 years (yes... still hostile about doctors

Have you been on Clomid, and has your husband had his sperm tested? Those are the first 2 things I would look into doing.

To get pregnant with the trips, I did IVF/ICSI. We ran the whole fertility gamut, and I totally understand where you are right now. Don't lose hope, and don't abandon the diet. With the diet, you will continue to get closer to your goal of having a baby! Better than 90% of women with PCOS can get pregnant (that includes all us fatties!) so let's hop to it

Let me look up a link for friendly PCOS doctors for you...

Karen

Here you go... a whole boat load of doctors that actually know something about PCOS:

http://pcosupport.org/membership/professionals.php#CA

Thank you Karen! There is one Doctor on there that is close enough to me. I am going to call them tomorrow and talk to them. I have not been put on any kinds of meds besides metformin. I have been told that i don't need anything else to get pregnant. No my husband has not been tested yet. I did ask my doctor about him being tested and about me being put on something, but again they give me the run around. This is all very frustrating..!!!!!

I was unsure if I should reply or not but here goes. I went to dr.'s and gyn's for years over weight gain, no periods, hairloss, extra hair where I as a woman shouldn't get it and I kept getting the run around.
After a few year I ran into an old friends who had always been quite heavy and was very noticeably thinner. We got together a few times and she brought pcos up to me. Told me that had to do with her new thinner state and she felt we had similar symptoms. I made an appointment with her dr and low and behold pcos!!!!!!! I did take meds for a while, did the suggested lc dieting. Even without the meds(stopped after a whiledue to loss of ins.) as I lost weight I got periods. Now they are regular. DR explained to me more body fat = more estrogen=more out of wack!
Oh, on to my friend! She had had infertility issues for about 18 months( thats what lead to the pcos diagnosis). After losing some of that weight and some metformin she got pregnant with a beautiful little boy!

Tripletmom, I just love your pic, especially the horns!

honestly i dunno what a "regular" period is... sometimes i will have one and other times i will not.. like right now, i have not had one since nov, 2003. My periods usually last 2 weeks or longer. The longest was about 3 months. Trust me, it is not comfy. So far, my doctor has put me on the strongest pill azand that would stop it but i would be come the bitch on wheels... sorry... my poor hubby would have to put up with alot. Well it would stop the period, but then i would not have one for a long time... then start all over again and have one again. Sigh its a endless cycle and i wish some of these doctors would not be so dumb and just help me... I KNOW i am fat.. i KNOW i need to loose weight... but that is just not the only problem... grr

ok Karen... truth time. You can't let yourself not have a period for 3 months. You need to have at least 6 periods/year in order to keep your risk of cervical cancer "normal"... anything less than that, and you are asking for trouble.

I tried the pill, and could never tolerate it. I had break through bleeds, fainting spells, anemia, etc. What the doctor finally did was give me Provera. He told me if I didn't have a period for 2 months, to take it. I did, and my periods were controllable. Before that, I had the famous 27 day bleed. You have nasty periods because the lining just keeps building, so if you skip 6 periods, when you finally do have your period, you get 6 months worth of build-up.

Metformin and the LC diet is *The way* to go for both losing weight, and getting your periods back under control. I found that when I stayed under 25g/carb per day, and 1500mg of Metformin (no real exercise) that my periods started coming regularly within about 3 months.

You need to keep your eye on the prize: a baby. I was so motived to get pregnant, that I got in the "zone" and dropped 80 pounds in 8 months. It could have been more if I could have gotten some exercise, but I was working so much overtime, I couldn't fit it in.

So, call that doctor near you, get a prescription for Metformin. Tell him you want to get pregnant and that you've already lost 36 pounds. S/he will probably give you Clomid 50mg. It helps you pop extra eggs when you ovulate. You shouldn't take Clomid for more than 3 months, though. And... as an added bonus, many times, women with PCOS are "Clomid Resistant"... meaning, it won't even help you ovulate at all. If you fail to get pregnant on Clomid, that's when your husband's sperm count/motility/morphology should be tested.

Do you know where your health insurance stands on infertility treatments? Clomid is pretty cheap, I think it's about $30 for a month's supply.

I'm here for you, Karen. When I say I've "been there, done that"... I mean it really literally! I was 270 pounds when I got pregnant, so it CAN be done. After I had the boys (after gaining all the way back to 340 with the pregnancy) and I was home, I got on the scale: 265. After all was said and done, I was down an extra 5 pounds!! (unfortunately, I ate my way back to 333.... toast is just so easy to make!)

OK... I'm rambling! Let me know what the new doctor says!!

Big hugs,

Karen

Here's a picture of the boys!!

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Karen,

Your boys are very cute! How old are they?!

Karen- Just wanted to pop in and say Hi, from another Karen with PCOS. I was diagnosed over 18 months ago. I'm not looking to have any more children, but the PCOS was so awful I had to do something. My periods were painful, terrible mood swings, and I just could NOT lose weight. Metformin was given to me and helped me lose some, but LCing has helped tremendously with pain and mood swings. still get a little pms but doing well with it.

Just wanted to tell you good luck and keep on trying. Those little ones are just too much fun not to.

Smiles and hugs!
Karen

Those little punkers will be Four years old in March, where DOES the time go?!?