Episode #129: Inositol Insight: Evidence-Based Approaches to PCOS

Episode #129: Inositol Insight: Evidence-Based Approaches to PCOS

Episode #129: Inositol Insight: Evidence-Based Approaches to PCOS

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure and privacy policy.

Inositol Insight: Evidence-Based Approaches to PCOS

What you’ll learn in this episode

Welcome back to the PCOS Repair podcast! In today’s episode, I am reviewing a research article about PCOS and inositols supplements. Discover the science behind the dosages and ratios of inositols that can potentially help manage PCOS symptoms effectively.

Inositols for PCOS Management

Inositols, particularly myo-inositol and d-chiro-inositol, help manage PCOS by impacting insulin resistance and hormone regulation. In this episode you’ll learn how these supplements operate at a cellular level in women with PCOS, enhancing your understanding of their potential benefits. As well as the specific ratios that have been shown to improve ovulation and metabolic functions in women suffering from PCOS.

The Ideal Inositol Ratios for PCOS Treatment

Discover why a 40:1 ratio of myo-inositol to d-chiro-inositol might be the most effective combination for improving PCOS symptoms based on recent scientific research. This segment helps clarify how specific ratios can influence treatment outcomes, providing a clearer direction for those considering inositol supplements.

During this episode, you’ll get practical recommendations on if inositol is a good option for you to consider and discuss with your doctor, how to choose the right inositol supplements, including recommendations for reputable brands and formulations. This guidance will help you make well-informed decisions in conjunction with your healthcare provider.

 

Let’s Continue The Conversation

Do you have questions about this episode or other questions about PCOS? I would love to connect and chat on a more personal level over on Instagram. My DMs are my favorite place to chat more.

 

So go visit me on IG @nourishedtohealthy.com

 

Let’s Continue The Conversation

Do you have questions about this episode or other questions about PCOS? I would love to connect and chat on a more personal level over on Instagram. My DMs are my favorite place to chat more.

 

So go visit me on IG @nourishedtohealthy.com

 

rate the podcast

Spread the Awareness

If you have found this podcast helpful please take just a moment to rate it and leave a review. This helps apple, spotify or whichever platform you use know to share this podcast with other women. I truely appreciate your help supporting as many women as possible

Resources & References Mentioned in this episode

Read The Full Episode Transcript Here

Welcome back to the PCOS Repair podcast, where today I’m really excited to share a research article that I found on a topic that I get asked about all the time. One of the most commonly talked about supplements for PCOS is the inositols. I can give information on the dosing and so forth in general of what is recommended, but I was really excited to find and read a research article that really dove into all the different research. It looked at some of the research that talks about the dosing, that talks about what dosing is considered helpful, and also the ratio of the two different primary inositols that are helpful in PCOS. We’re going to go into depth on this particular research article today in this episode. I’m excited to share some of the information that has been generally accepted by the PCOS world, but now you’re going to be able to have a better understanding of why. As the supplement market, we’ve talked about in a recent episode how the supplement market can be quite confusing to navigate. In the show notes today, I will include the link to my Guide to Supplements, the inositol are on that, and it goes through in more detail than we’re going to get into today, how to know if it’s one that you may want to consider talking to your doctor about, or how you may want to consider other ones instead, or so forth.

 

So that guide will be in the show notes. So just before we get started, that will be there for you. You have to go to the web page to get that part of the show notes. It doesn’t show up on all of the listening platforms but if you go to the web page for the episode, which is linked in the show notes on all the listening platforms, you’ll be able to find that guide. You can also message me for it over on Instagram, and I’m happy to get that to you there. Okay, so without further ado, we’re going to dive into this research article. It’s a review article entitled, Inositol treatment for PCOS should be science-based and not arbitrary. This was published in March of 2020. This is a very recent article in the realm of research, and it looks at some of the studies and then also some of the applications over the last few years of what we’ve been learning more and more about the inositol group of supplements. This review aims to evaluate the many different inositol products and the composition of them. We need to look at a couple of different things before we look at what composition we want.

First of all, to conduct this study, they looked at different previous studies that looked at the significant groups of inocitals. They looked at the supplement market, and then looked at the research on actually how these supplements work in the body and specifically for women with PCOS. First of all, just a little background. The ovary uses high levels of myo-inositol. The two main anastal groups that we’re going to be talking about today is myo-inositol and d’chiro-inositol. Sometimes they abbreviate those. If you go and read the journal article, which I will also link on the website show notes page for this episode, MI is myo-inositol and DCI is d’chiro-inositol. Both of them are important and they both play a slightly different role. In women without PCOS, Yes, plasma ratios of myo-inositol to d’chiro-inositol are 40 to 1. So the ratio would be basically 40% myo-inositol to 1% d’chiro-inositol. So that was in the plasma, but in the actual ovarian follicular fluid, they found the ratio to be closer to 100 to 1, 100% or 100 parts myo-inositol to 1% or one part d’chiro-inositol. There are two different specific ones here that we’re looking at. The MI is converted and used as an insulin secondary messenger that basically helps the cells use the glucose.

If you have glucose in your system, the myo-inositol is going to be the one that helps to get that glucose into your cells, be less insulin resistant, and get that glucose into your cells. Whereas the d’chiro-inositol worked more to help with glycogen synthesis. Glycogen synthesis is where we take the leftover glucose that doesn’t need to be absorbed into the cells, and we turn it into glycogen in the liver, and we store it for easy and accessible use in the short term. Myo-inositol was also influential in the FSH signaling, so whether or not we want to mature a follicle during the first part of the cycle. Then the d’chiro-inositol was more involved in the insulin-mediated androgen production of the ovaries. Both of them, you can see, if you’ve listened to any of the recent episodes on how these hormones work and how androgen production is coming to be in excess in PCOS, which we’ve talked about in the last couple of weeks, you can see where these two different types of inositols are working on some very primary systems inside of our bodies that relate to PCOS, specifically. There was a controlled study that was done in 1999, and this study looked at the d’chiro-inositol.

Basically, 1,200 milligrams were given to the study group, and then there was a placebo group, and given to them once a day for 6-8 weeks. The 44 overweight women improved their insulin sensitivity and decreased their circulating free testosterone levels compared to the placebo group having zero change. That showed in that study that the d’chiro-inositol was helpful in a metabolic capacity for women with PCOS. Also, in addition, this resulted in 19 of the 22 women, which is 86% ovulated during the study, whereas only 6 of the 22 women in the placebo group ovulated. So not only did it show an improvement in metabolic health, but it also improved chances of ovulation. Then another study began. In this study, they were going to give a higher dose, and it was done by a pharmaceutical company, and it was going to dose d’chiro-inositol twice as high at 24 milligrams per day. This research was actually never published because in the research process, it was discovered that this higher dose of d’chiro-inositol failed to reproduce any of the outcome of the previous one. It has since been seen that a higher dose is actually unhelpful. It’s not just there’s some discrepancy between which research articles you read, but it’s either not helpful as in no change, no statistical effect whatsoever, to possibly actually harmful, meaning a decrease in ovarian production and ovulation.

Then other previous studies have highlighted the pivotal role in myo-inositol for success in IVF treatment. It was also reported that the follicular fluid or the FF volume of its myo-inositol were significantly higher in follicles that were mature and fertilized and went on to be viable embryos. Basically here, what the article is saying is that there is a positive correlation between having higher levels of myo-inositol in the follicles to being a more viable follicle that’s more likely to become mature and then more likely to become a viable embryo. Now, our body naturally produces both of the inositols, especially if it has the appropriate nutrients and so forth to do that. When we see that certain things show a higher amount, like in this follicular fluid, that means that our body may have shuttled or sent the inositol to that follicle, and then that follicle became the dominant follicle. It doesn’t necessarily mean that the other ones were somehow deficient or something like that. It just means that we’re seeing a correlation where for some reason, this is an important part of having a healthy matured follicle that is more likely to become an embryo. In a 2007 randomized control trial Trial, 30 women with PCOS were tested with myo-inositols, and they looked at different things like the gonadotropin releasing hormones, and so some interesting fertility aspects that this particular study found, it found that women treated with the myo-inositol compared to the control that was treated with a placebo, like a sugar pill, nothing that had any of the active ingredient in it, obtained an increased frequency of spontaneous menstrual cycles.

Findings also suggested that myo-inositol may be useful in the treatment of infertility. Then several follow-up studies that that first study led to showed that the benefits definitely related to ovulation with myo-inositol. Women with PCOS undergoing IVF had an increased sensitivity to FSH. Basically, the FSH did a better job for women, their natural FSH was more effective in maturing and preparing a follicle for ovulation in their cycle. Then we started to research the difference between administering myo-inositol versus d’chiro-inositol and what effect it had on the matured follicle as well as any potential egg that was released during ovulation. We found that the number of high-quality eggs was much higher in the Myo-inositol group than in the d’chiro-inositol group. A potential explanation for this phenomenon is the tissue-specific nature of insulin resistance in women with PCOS. Basically, there’s the combination of it working in the actual ovary itself, as well as improving the androgenic effect in PCOS at a metabolic level of the resistance in insulin sensitivity. All right, so then the research goes on to review some of the more recent studies, looking at the combination in what ratio. So looking at the different formulations of myo-inositol and d’chiro-inositol combinations.

They looked at combinations of a 20 to 1, so 20 myo-inositol, 1 d’chiro-inositol, 40 to 1, and 80 to 1. Then the authors found that not only was 40 to 1 better for restoring ovulation, but it was also better at normalizing other parameters such as LH, progesterone, sex hormone-binding globulin, estradiol, and testosterone. Those were secondary things that they were looking at in this study, but the 40 to 1 also improved those parameters and not just the success of ovulation. Then the article goes on to different in-depth explanations as to why this ratio is probably so important. If you want to read through those, I will again link the article below but as the research article wraps up, it talks about how do we look at things in the market and how to select the supplement option that would be best for you or best for potentially improving PCOS symptoms. Considering that the 40 to 1 ratio through many different studies has proven to stand the test of many different groups and many different studies and many different setups and many different setups of different ways of studying the compounds, seems to be the favorable ratio.

That would be the number one thing to look at when you’re looking for what formulation to buy. My supplement guide, again, has the one that I recommend because it has been one, it’s a reputable brand, two, it has that 40 to 1 ratio. That’s really what you’re looking for there. I have had a lot of people ask me about inositol supplements, and it’s a pure d’chiro-inositol. Now, Some of these things are not wrong for other applications. As you heard early on in the article review, the d’chiro-inositol works on that metabolic health. If for someone who’s really more concerned about the metabolic health or a male who isn’t worried about their ovarian function, that may be a good choice. Now, the problem is that marketing companies are going to reach far and wide for who their supplement may be for, and maybe it said something about being for PCOS. When you’re looking for a brand of the inositols, that you’re looking for one with a 40 to one ratio. This is one of those articles that you could also bring to your doctor if you were asking whether or not this would be a good supplement for you and if they had a specific brand that they recommended.

In a conversation piece, some doctors do recommend Myoenocetol or some combination thereof. If they’re recommending one, again, Again, individually, they’re not necessarily bad, although for PCOS, we’re looking at the 40 to 1 ratio indicating to be the best option. You could have this article in your back pocket as a discussion factor with your physician. If you’re asking whether or not one of the inocitals or the combination there would be a good choice for your PCOS. When you’re looking at the market, however, besides the 40 to 1, this article found that evidence was not as strong. Not as strongly studied, not as severely looked at, and also not as much evidence pointing towards this being a problem. But there was some evidence that additional additives, so other antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, and so forth, may have had an effect of actually impairing the quality of the Myo-inositol supplements, so having some impact on them. The conclusion of this particular research article was that companies are doing that more as an added marketing rather than something that was super helpful in the actual supplement of the Myo-inositol and d’chiro-inositol. My takeaway from this is you’re looking for whether or not an inositol would be a good addition to your PCOS supplement.

That’s a conversation to have with your doctor. Then secondly, you’re looking for one with a ratio of 40 to 1 with only those two ingredients in it, really. I mean, there’ll be fillers and whatever makes it into a powder or a capsule and so forth but you’re not looking for one that has added vitamins. You’re not looking for a one-stop shop. Those have their benefits in your general health. But in the regards to what the Myo and d’chiro-inositol are doing for your PCOS, the other additives are not assisting in that and may potentially be impairing the effects of the Myo and d’chiro-inositol and their benefits to PCOS. As a recap, This article, hopefully, answers a lot of those questions that I’ve been getting asked about what is the best Myo-inositol or a d’chiro-inositol, and what’s the correct ratio, and is it a good supplement for PCOS? The women that If you don’t have any ovulatory or cycle irregularities, they would be ones to consider taking some inositol product. Again, that would be a conversation for you to have with your physician. Then the other potential would be if you have a tendency towards the insulin effect root cause.

These are really some types where we would want to consider this as an option. Now, where we may want to be careful, and there has not been studies that show this to be problematic, but any time that we’re looking at a combination of supplements or medications that we’re taking, if we’re taking something else that’s working on our insulin pathways, we may just want to be careful that we’re not overdoing it and creating a problem of becoming all of a sudden hypoglycemic and having too low of blood sugar. Again, that’s why as you put together the list of supplements that you’re interested in taking for your PCOS, this is something that you want to run by your physician and make sure that there’s not any interaction with other things you may be taking or other supplements that you may be considering as well. With that, a couple of recaps of the resources that you have from this episode. One, hopefully that answers your questions. Two, if you go to the website page for this episode, you’ll find the supplement guide that goes through all the different supplements that I recommend for PCOS and what considerations to each one, best practice dosing for general PCOS care so that you can take that and discuss them further with your doctor and see which ones may be a good fit for you.

With that, there will also be the link to this article so that you can read into all of the scientific reasons behind why some of this may be the way that it is, if you’re interested, or to have that research article to refer to in any conversations with your healthcare provider. With that, feel free to reach out to me over on Instagram if you need help getting that supplement guide or have any follow-up questions. I’d love to hear from you all over there, and you can find me @nourishedtohealthy. Other than that, until next time. Bye for now.

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Episode #128: How to Navigate Recovery During “Real” Life, Work, Travel, and Obligations

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure and privacy policy.

How to Navigate Recovery During "Real" Life, Work, Travel, and Obligations

What you’ll learn in this episode

In this episode, as we dive into the bustling holiday season, let’s talk about the frustrating feeling you’re constantly starting over with your health routines. Whether due to traveling, holidays, or unexpected life events, this episode is tailored for anyone who struggles to maintain their health regimen amidst life’s never-ending schedule curve balls.

The Impact of Irregular Routines 

Irregular routines can disrupt not just your fitness plans but also other aspects of health management, including nutrition and sleep. This episode shares some of my personal challenges faced during a summer filled with sporadic travel and activity, highlighting the difficulties in maintaining consistent exercise and health routines. As well as what has helped me and many of my clients overcome these hurdles and maintain our health in the midst of life’s curveballs. 

Approaches to Overcome Setbacks

In this episode, we’ll get into the mental and lifestyle shifts necessary to adapt to ongoing changes without compromising your PCOS management goals. You will discover how to categorize your health management phases into ‘healing’ and ‘lifestyle’ phases to better align your efforts with current life circumstances.

Building and Organizing Health Habits

Learn how to build and organize effective health habits that stick. This part of the episode discusses the importance of habit stacking and organization to prevent overwhelm and ensure sustainable health practices are in place, particularly beneficial for listeners seeking to overhaul their routines without feeling lost.

So if you ever struggle to stick with your PCOS healthy lifestyle you will find this episode packed with tips and encouragement to help you create a lifestyle that works for you and how to jump back to it quickly when you start to slide a bit.

Let’s Continue The Conversation

Do you have questions about this episode or other questions about PCOS? I would love to connect and chat on a more personal level over on Instagram. My DMs are my favorite place to chat more.

 

So go visit me on IG @nourishedtohealthy.com

 

Let’s Continue The Conversation

Do you have questions about this episode or other questions about PCOS? I would love to connect and chat on a more personal level over on Instagram. My DMs are my favorite place to chat more.

 

So go visit me on IG @nourishedtohealthy.com

 

rate the podcast

Spread the Awareness

If you have found this podcast helpful please take just a moment to rate it and leave a review. This helps apple, spotify or whichever platform you use know to share this podcast with other women. I truely appreciate your help supporting as many women as possible

Read The Full Episode Transcript Here

Welcome back to the PCOS Repair podcast, where today, as we approach the holidays, or as we are in full swing of the holidays, it can feel really frustrating to feel like we’re always starting over. If you’ve ever had that feeling, you’re going to love today’s episode. Let’s dive in.

First of all, I have had this feeling many times. I really felt it this summer because I feel like… Well, I don’t feel like. We actually were almost gone every other week or had some big thing going on every other week. I would get home and I would get back into my workout routine, and then we would be gone again. I would try to do things on the go, but it wasn’t my normal routine. It’s one thing to be in your normal routine, and then one week you’re on the go. Instead of doing your normal lifting, cardio combinations and recoveries and all of that, you’re just doing more walking or more whatever equipment or lack of equipment exercises that you can do. When you’re doing that almost every other week for the entire summer, by the end of the summer, I felt like everything that I had worked really hard on during the previous year, working with some specific trainers and things to work on some specific movements as well as some specific improvements of muscle strength, I felt like they had disappeared.

I felt really discouraged, but also felt very intrigued as, How can I do a better job in the future, not just with my exercise, but with my nutrition, with my sleep, with all the aspects of my PCOS and caring for my body, even when life seems to be throwing those curveballs or during travel or busy weeks or any of those things that throw us for a loop or even being sick. Now we’re heading into cold season or maybe you’re full into cold season and you’ve already had a cold a couple of times and all of a sudden, actually right now at the time of this recording, I’m just getting my voice back and having still some good post-cold reactive airway and coughing a lot and things like that and that can make it very difficult, especially in the cooler weather, to get out and do some cardio. Although I have found for myself that when I do, I feel like it actually expands my lungs and gets the oxygen flowing and helps. It can, in the short term, exacerbate the cough and slow down the healing of my voice recovering. Those are things where life gets in the way of all of the hard work that we’re doing for our healthy endeavors.

This can become a real mindset block because it can be hard enough to make these lifestyle changes as it is. It can be hard enough to get out and get exercising on a routine. Maybe that’s three days a week for you, maybe that’s seven days of something during the week. However that looks to you, if you are in a rhythm and that rhythm gets disrupted, it can be very frustrating. It can have a real mindset block to getting started again, especially when you see something else coming down your calendar that’s going to, again, disrupt it. As we head into the holidays, the week of thanksgiving can be very difficult, whether you’re traveling or you’re hosting or you’re thinking about all the food that’s going to derail your healthy eating. These are all ways that we can start thinking like, Oh, crap. I am going to be thrown off my routine this week, and everything that I’m working really hard is going to be difficult to continue and then right around the corner with Christmas, it’s like, well, why even try to drag myself back into my normal routine?

Here’s some things that I want to look at when we start thinking about these ways. First of all, here we’ve looked at all the different scenarios. It could be summer traveling, it could be cold season, it could be holidays, it could be busy seasons at work, so many different things that can stack on themselves to have us feel like life is creating a real block when it comes to our PCOS health. How do we handle that? Well, first of all, I like to think about my PCOS health as being in one of two phases. I’m either in a healing phase where I’m really focusing that energy on making this my time. This is going to be about me doing all the things to the best of my ability. I’m not aiming for perfection here. Perfection is never the goal because perfection is that thing that’s just out of reach. That’s not the goal, but the goal is to be as close to that as possible, to really aim for that. That’s when I feel like maybe my hormones are a little imbalanced. Maybe I feel like I’ve been low energy or I have a few pounds to lose or I have been off my normal routine over the summer and I need to spend a month diving back into and reestablishing my habits.

Just thinking there, I’m looking at, did I have a symptom that came up, fatigue week? Did I feel tired? Do I need to improve my energy? Do I feel like I’ve maybe been a little off my normal routine and a few pounds crept in? Because for me, at least with PCOS, if I am not diligent about that, that happens pretty easily for me. I can very easily and effortlessly manage my weight but if I start to indulge a little too much or take my focus away from my health, then those pounds will creep back in and so I may have 4, 5, 10 pounds that I need to lose after a couple of months of being a little less focused on my health and for me, that’s really important because maybe some of you have also seen this, I have a sticky point at which from this pound to this pound, like a five-pound range, and it varies based on my physical fitness because it varies a little bit based on my body composition but I do find that there is body composition range for me where my lifestyle becomes quite effortless and then there’s a range at which no matter what I do, it feels like nothing works.

And that’s being a little dramatic because it just means I need to be a little more strict. I need to really dive into that healing phase of my PCOS lifestyle and get that spiral going in the right direction but there is, for me, a really big indicator of how my health is doing based on my body composition, and that has to do with the fact that I have a very, very, very significant insulin effect root cause. Different people will find that to be a little different. The other one that we look at is the phase of lifestyle. This phase is where instead of the goal being aiming towards as close to perfection as possible, this phase is almost the opposite and not to be too cavalier or too tongue in cheek with this, you’re almost looking at this as, How much can I get away with? The reason for this is you’re trying to find that sweet spot of being able to actually enjoy your life while maintaining the health results that you want. We don’t want our cycle to suffer, we don’t want our fertility to suffer, we don’t want our body composition to suffer. We don’t want to undo all the hard work that we’ve done, we don’t want our energy to dip, we want to live in a place of thriving in our health, thriving in our body, thriving in our ability, and do it in a way where we get to enjoy all the things that we love with all of the events and activities and situations that we really love with a very healthy and clean mental mindset.

An example of that would be being able to go on vacation and not feel like you’re in diet mode, but also not kill your healthy lifestyle. In our minds, we’re not feeling deprived. In our minds, we’re not thinking in diet mode, but we’re also able to determine, Okay, how many drinks do I want to have on this vacation? How many times am I going to order dessert? How often am I going to get some exercise in? How am I going to do that in a way that feels really good and I feel really proud of myself? I’m also maintaining the health that I want to maintain, and I’m also not feeling overly chained to this health and fitness and nutrition that it’s getting in the way of me enjoying my vacation.

The difference on, say, that same vacation, if you were in more of a healing phase, is you would take the mindset of, this vacation fell during my healing phase. This is a phase where I go all in, I’m going to be going all in even while I’m on this vacation, you’re going to plan out on your vacation how you’re going to get your workouts in, how you’re going to eat, how you’re going to do things, you’re going to bring extra things in your suitcase that you can eat when the restaurant is not quite accommodating what you need, you’re not going to stay out super late, you’re going to do the things that your body needs for that healing phase, even while you’re on vacation with the mindset of there are other vacations to enjoy that type of vacation. Right now, I’m in my healing phase, and this is going to get me so much further down my PCOS health path that it’s totally worth being a little bit more strict on my vacation than I normally would. At some point, I will transition to my lifestyle phase and we’ll be good to go. When we have a shift between the two like that, it’s easier to know when we’re letting life derail you a little bit versus keep it really strict.

Also, when we feel like life is derailing us, that thought of I’m being derailed, what we really need to look at is, how come this is blocking me and how can I better work with the flow of my life? How do I need to adjust my workouts? Or how can I come up with What are some workouts that I could do on the go that would fit in with the ones that I do normally at home? What are some of the nutrition things that I could easily order out or pack with me or where I can buy the grocery store while I’m on the road? These are all ways of decreasing the impact that the Curve Balls of life have on our PCOS health.

Then with that, that’s the big picture of what we’re trying to do as we narrow in a little bit more, how do we actually do that? That’s where building the habits, stacking the habits, and creating organization of the habits for a healthy lifestyle really come into play. Building a habit is a step-by-step process. Baby steps one at a time, really narrowing in on one thing at a time is so beneficial.

If you listen to a podcast or you’re taking one of my programs and you realize, Oh, these are all the things I need to do to improve my PCOS health, and you try to do them all starting tomorrow, it’s going to feel overwhelming. Your life is going to feel like you turned your entire life upside down, and you’re not even going to recognize your day. You’re not going to recognize what you’re eating, you’re not going to recognize your bedtime, you’re not going to recognize all You thought you had so many hours in the day. It’s not going to feel like you have any of that because you’re rushing around trying to figure out these new habits that you’re trying to incorporate. If instead, you look at one new habit, maybe adding a certain amount of minutes of exercise into your day every day this week. Some of those days might be more of a recovery-based exercise, depending on how intense the other days are but those are all things that you work into your habits. You pick one habit, you create that habit once you have it a little bit established, so maybe a week or two in. Maybe you do that for a whole week and then you’re like, Okay, next week I’m also going to add, making sure that I’m drinking that extra bottle of water. I’m already drinking some water, I’m going to add that extra amount to top off my water consumption. Then you get that one underway, and then you can add another one. That’s both forming the habits, but then also stacking those habits. You’re doing it in a systemized way. If you start to feel like some of your first ones are beginning to crumble, you back off on adding more. Maybe you remove the last one that you added but the other part comes in organizing your habits. When we think about how we’re trying to accomplish all these new things, how do we set up our entire system so that it works? Do we have a specific bag that we put the things that we need in so we always know where they are? In the morning, when we’re trying to get out to the gym and then to work, we know where our bag is that we packed with our clothes, with our shoes, with any snacks that we needed, with our water bottle, with our headphones, and it all just goes right there. We know right where it is. We know right where to put the things back when we’re done. Perhaps we bought a second pair of headphones so that our ear buds that we use when we’re around the house aren’t missing somewhere or not charged. When we head to the gym, we have our equipment to have nothing get in our way to make an excuse to not go today.

Then I mentioned this one before, but having just go-to options for what you’re going to do, what your expectations are going to be when you’re on the go, and what resources you would have when you’re on the go. If there are restaurants that you take some time to just research the menu and come up with better options of how could you be in more of a healing phase and still go to that restaurant. You may use those resources even when you’re not in the healing phase, because even in your lifestyle phase, you’re still eating healthy. You’re picking more days where you’re allowed to indulge, but maybe you don’t want to indulge on a day that you’re going to a restaurant with a friend or you need to go for a work meeting or something like that, and to have those options at your disposal without having having to spend time in that moment.

In other words, work says you’re doing a lunch meeting, you’re going to this particular spot, or you’re meeting for an event here on a specific date, and you don’t have time to go through and research but you already have because you know your company uses that place frequently and so you know what you’re going to order, you know what they have available. Those are all ways that are really, really, really helpful to set you up for success and then the final one is just having a way that you return to your “normal”. So in your… This summer, if I had more quickly transitioned every time that we got home, instead of, Oh my gosh, the laundry is piled high. I’m going to do the laundry first, and then I will get to the exercise, or then I will go and make my lunch and all of a sudden, it’s like, Oh, wait, that didn’t happen because I put other things first that seemed daunting because I had just gotten home from a vacation. If If you have a way that you transition, maybe you don’t do the laundry the first day because the first day is more about getting back into your routine and then once you’re back into your routine, you do the other things that are part of your routine but you find your own rhythm on how do you transition back to your own normal as quickly as possible.

With that, I hope that helps you navigate both this busy holiday season as well as just all of those curveballs and honestly, oftentimes, wonderful parts of life, but how they can help to enrich your life as compared to throw you off your PCOS health path. With that, as always, I welcome your questions over on Instagram. You can find me @nourishedtohealthy. I’d love to continue the conversations over there. Until next time, bye for now.

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About Show

Welcome to The PCOS Repair Podcast!

I’m Ashlene Korcek, and each week I’ll be sharing the latest findings on PCOS and how to make practical health changes to your lifestyle to repair your PCOS at the root cause.

If you’re struggling with PCOS, know that you’re not alone. In fact, it’s estimated that one in ten women have PCOS. But the good news is that there is a lot we can do to manage our symptoms and live healthy, happy lives.

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Episode #127: Selecting High Quality Supplements That Are Beneficial

Episode #127: Selecting High Quality Supplements That Are Beneficial

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This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure and privacy policy.

Selecting High Quality Supplements That Are Beneficial

What you’ll learn in this episode

Welcome back to the PCOS Repair podcast! Today’s episode focuses on a topic that’s been touched upon but never fully dived into—supplements for PCOS management. While supplements are beneficial, the core of managing PCOS effectively lies in lifestyle adjustments. The aim today is not just to list off supplements but to empower specific information and tools to choose supplements wisely.

In this episode, you’ll discover that supplements can significantly aid PCOS management, offering support either at the start or as an enhancement to lifestyle modifications. However, it’s critical to understand that supplements are just part of a broader strategy. It is crucial to understand your root cause(s), which supplements to consider, and how to select brands that will supply effective products. 

Navigating the Complex World of Supplements

The supplement industry is vast and sometimes overwhelming. This part of the discussion emphasizes the importance of choosing supplements that are not only known to be effective but also offered by brands that are safe and well-researched. You’ll learn how to sift through the marketing noise prevalent in the supplement industry to find products that genuinely benefit PCOS management.

How to Select the Right Supplements for PCOS

Selecting the right supplement involves more than picking a popular or well-marketed product. It requires:

– Identifying your specific PCOS symptoms, root causes, and your personal goals.

-Researching which supplements effectively address these issues.

– Evaluating the credibility and safety of the brands you consider.

In this section, I will walk you through how to identify each of these factors in a way that is unique to you. This way you can easily discuss the supplements you are considering with your healthcare provider, ensuring it complements your health needs without adverse effects.

Marketing Tactics in the Supplement Industry

Many supplements are heavily promoted due to their profitability, rather than their health benefits. You’ll learn how to critically assess supplement advertisements and promotions to make informed decisions based on scientific evidence and not just marketing hype.

Where to Find Reliable Information on Supplements

The PCOS supplement options are constantly growing and more overwhelming. While I can’t cover everything in one episode I think you will find I give you plenty to work with here in this episode. But so as not to leave you hanging. I also created a PCOS Supplement Guide that includes all the lists of options, recommended brands, and when a certain option might be a good fit. 

Let’s Continue The Conversation

Do you have questions about this episode or other questions about PCOS? I would love to connect and chat on a more personal level over on Instagram. My DMs are my favorite place to chat more.

 

So go visit me on IG @nourishedtohealthy.com

 

Let’s Continue The Conversation

Do you have questions about this episode or other questions about PCOS? I would love to connect and chat on a more personal level over on Instagram. My DMs are my favorite place to chat more.

 

So go visit me on IG @nourishedtohealthy.com

 

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Read The Full Episode Transcript Here

Hello, hello, and welcome back to another episode of the PCOS Repair podcast, where today we’re going to be talking a little bit more about supplements. Now, I know I’ve done some episodes about supplements before, and I do not want this episode to scare anyone or be upsetting, but I do want it to be something that you stop and really evaluate where you’ve chosen your supplements from and how you’ve chosen them. And so today we’re going to walk through some of the key things that are really important to selecting and choosing brands as well as what supplements you’re going to take. First of all, anytime I talk about supplements, I want to start by saying that supplements play a part. They definitely play a role in the management of PCOS. There’s some great supplements, there’s some great research, which is great. There’s not a lot of research when it comes to supplements, but there is some. What there is is really helpful. We’ve gone over some of that in some other episodes, and we’ll continue to go out over that. I’ll also, over time, post supplement posts on my Instagram page. You can follow me over on Instagram @nourishedtohealthy and learn a little bit more about the different types of supplements and what they may or may not be helpful for.

However, when it comes to the role of supplements in PCOS, they can be almost like a front-end boost or a boost at the tail-end of your lifestyle management. But the bulk of where you’re going to see the best results when it comes to improving your PCOS symptoms is really in creating a bubble for yourself in your lifestyle. Now, a supplement can be a part of that. Sometimes for certain people, there’s something that’s going on where they’re trying so hard, but they’re just hitting a certain wall and selecting a supplement that can help them with that issue can help them get started. Alternatively, maybe you’ve made a ton of progress, but you’re just struggling with a last little bit. Sometimes a wisely chosen supplement can help you boost your results a little bit. A little farther but for the most part, if we didn’t have any supplements at all, we could still see huge improvement with our PCOS. That brings me to, I think there’s a lot of really helpful information In this age of easy access with Google and social media, there’s also a lot of marketing. We cannot market eating broccoli. Everyone knows that broccoli is good for you, but at the end of the day, it doesn’t really make anyone any money to tell people that broccoli is good for them or that they should eat more protein.

We already know that. When it comes to a supplement, there’s a lot of noise and chatter around different supplements. That’s because they are a product that is marketable and so we talk about it, or the world talks about it. And so that’s why in today’s episode, I want to talk about what is going on with the supplement industry, how to select good brands, and then ultimately, how not to just start taking 15 supplements a day because you’ve heard that they may or may not be beneficial, because just like a lot of other things with PCOS that we talk about here on the podcast, supplements have a unique benefit for specific unique symptoms. You’re a unique individual that has your own stuff going on in your life, your own hormonal imbalances. Ultimately, not all supplement is going to be a win for As we start off with the reminder that lifestyle changes such as our mindset, caring for our emotional well-being, our nutrition, and Our movement habits are always going to far outweigh any other treatment modality that we can incorporate for our PCOS. Now, that’s not to say that certain medications or certain procedures or certain supplements cannot aid along our way, but it’s to say that we cannot outrun poor lifestyle choices.

If we’re doing something in the way that we’re eating, if we’re not getting adequate movement, if we’re not getting enough sleep, ultimately, those things will catch up with us no matter what other things that we’re trying to do to manage our PCOS. There’s three big things that I consider when thinking about what are the best supplements for an individual, for myself, where I’m talking about your best supplements. First of all, what is it that you’re wanting to improve? If we’re just like, Oh, I have PCOS and I’ve heard this supplement. I saw this girl on Instagram, she was talking about this supplement. I’ve heard it’s a good one. I should try it but we don’t even know what the supplement is within a supplement. Some of these supplements now for PCOS are just labeled PCOS hormonal balance. Well, what’s in there? What’s the active ingredient? What are they trying to improve? Is that something that you want improved? Is that something that has any scientific backing? So the first step is, what is it that you are trying to improve? Let’s talk about this from a standpoint of energy. Say you’ve been feeling really low energy and you’re looking for ways to improve your low energy.

You think it is related to your PCOS, maybe at certain times of the day, you just get this really, really exhausted energy slump, and it’s affecting your ability to do certain work. Maybe it’s affecting your ability to get your workout in in the afternoon and so you’re like, Okay, I’ve honed in on energy becoming a real problem for me. It feels like it’s holding me back, and I would like to work on how do I improve my energy. Well, there’s a lot of lifestyle things that we could consider for how do we improve our energy but if we were looking towards a supplement for energy improvement, what ones would we want to consider? and I’m not going to go into details of what supplements and so forth here. I’m just going to keep it vague. I have a resource for all of you. So if you go to the show notes, you’ll see that there is a resource of PCOS supplements. You can download it and it’ll have all sorts of different types of the actual supplements, the active ingredients, what it’s good for, as well as the brands that I recommend. It’ll give you a resource for where you can find those.

And I’ll walk you through the whole considerations of how to choose a supplement. Right here on the podcast today, I want to keep this very conversational, less in the weeds about one specific supplement or getting into all of them. Okay, so back to our conversation here. You’ve chosen energy, You’re looking at the energy type supplements. You’ve discovered that there are five different ones that you’re interested in. Okay, so this brings me to part two. So now you have a specific thing that you want to address. You have a list of specific supplements that address that It’s a concern and then our next step is to choose wisely what brands we want to try. So certain brands have been checked by third parties, other brands have not. This is where I want to… We’ll come back to the couple steps in a second, but I want to take a sideline conversation about supplements. These are not regulated by the FDA. They are not like medications where when they say there’s a certain dosage on the label or there’s a certain active ingredient in there that it is actually in there or in that quantity. This is something that is scary when it comes to supplements.

We don’t know what else is in there. We don’t know if what we think we’re taking is actually in there in the quantity that we think we’re taking it, as well as we don’t know what else is in there. One of my favorite places to shop for supplements is on a platform called Fullscript and again, when you go through the guide that you can download, it’ll be in the show notes below. You can also go to Instagram and you can just message me the word, all one word, PCOS Supplements. So no space in between. Just PCOS Supplements. Then I will send you the link to the guide. But when you get this guide, you want to check out Fullscript. I highly recommend it and one of my favorite features on it is that when you can repair the different brands, they’ll tell you if it was third-party tested or not, as well as fullscript is a, I think, very reputable company and they’re a dispensary of supplements. It’s like if you went to GNC, but they are very picky about what supplements they provide. You’ll notice if you search for a lot of hyped up brands, they may not be on there.

The reason is they stick with very reputable sources. One, I trust that fullscript has probably done the research for me but even beyond that, their platform is very friendly to going through and comparing what’s in there, has it been third-party tested, et cetera. It’s really easy to help pick the supplement that you’re looking at. I’m going to link to an article that, and it’ll be in the show notes below, but I’m going to link to an article that talks about some sports supplements. These are not all herbs, medicinally, naturally supplements, vitamins and minerals and so forth but the same applies. This article went through and it showed that… Hold on, what was the statistic here? This particular study, and I will link to this in the show notes. Again, this is for sports supplements, but this is what happens when things are not regulated. This is just one article. It would be really cool if we could test more of these. But this is where third-party testing is really interesting. Basically, in this research article, they were a third party testing these sports supplements, and they found that out of the 63 supplements that they tested, actually, they purchased 63, six of them did not list one of the ingredients they were looking at.

So they ended up with 57 products. So out of the 57 products that they looked at, 23 of them, that’s 40%, did not have a detectable amount of the labeled ingredient. So you go buy a sports supplement, you’re going to drop over 30 bucks, possibly closer to $50 or $80 on this sports supplement that you were told that this certain ingredient is going to help your performance and help you build muscle, help you have better energy while you’re working out, et cetera and come to find out, it doesn’t have any of that ingredient in it. So that, to me, is rather concerning. Also concerning was that of the products that contained detectable amounts, the listed actual quantity ranged from 0.02%, so basically none, but enough that it was detectable, to 334% of the labeled quantity. That is an astronomically horrifying range of quantities. When you think about taking a supplement and you think about how important dosing is, and you’re trying to be so careful to make sure you’re taking it, and the dosing range is so variable, how do we trust supplements? This is where I think that researching the brand that you’re getting it from is so, so, so, so, so important.

We don’t know as a consultant consumer what we’re getting. We have to trust the brand that the brand is providing us with what we think that we’re getting. There are specific brands that I feel really good about. Then there’s also just going through and being able to see that a third party actually was able to verify that these supplements from this particular brand actually did contain this, this, and this. And then furthermore, were there any toxic undesirable ingredients in the supplement? That’s another one that is a huge problem in the supplement market. And again, that’s something that full script goes through in their analysis of a supplement. And when you get the guide, I do a little video walkthrough as part of the download, and you can see some pictures as well as I walk you through what to look for when you’re doing a search for your supplements on the platform, just so that you become really easily familiar with how the platform works as you look for your supplements. Also, when you create a login through the link that I provide you, it offers you some discounts and so forth so that you’re able to get your supplements at a reasonable rate.

There is an affiliate component to this. I personally use this platform, and that’s why I’m recommending it to you. I think that it has so much clarity in what you’re getting compared to just going down and buying something off the shelf or purchasing something online because you saw somebody talking about it. And that’s why I’m recommending it to you. I do want to, in full disclosure, say that there is an affiliate portion of it. I get to choose how much of a percentage I share with you, and I share the max amount. So this is really more about you getting the correct information that you need, but it is, at the end of the day, an affiliate link. Okay. And again, you can get all of that information in the download for today. It will be on the link below, whatever platform you are listening. If you do not see it there, because certain platforms limit the content that I can provide you there, you will see that there’s an episode website page. It will be on that page for you. Of course, you can go over to Instagram and ask me for the supplement guide over there.

I’ll send it directly to you. It’s an automated send, so you’ll get it instantly. If you message me the words PCOS supplements, all one word. Now that we’ve talked about the brand and the reputation and how to select those and research those, let’s finish our little conversation here about picking the right one. You chose what concern you had. Are you using the example of energy? You did some research and you found what couple of supplements are going to help with energy. Then you’re looking at the brands, you’ve narrowed it down to a couple of brands. What next? So maybe you have a couple of different things. You’re like, Okay, I have this PCOS root cause, and this situation is leading to poor energy. And then there’s this other supplement that just really helps to level out that root cause. It helps with that root cause. This other supplement helps to manage energy. And they’re completely different. They’re not same category of the product. They’re not the same supplements, and you just pick one. So these two different supplements are two things that I want to try. I recommend trying one first, giving it a few weeks, checking in with yourself, did you feel any different, and do a little research on how something should work.

So some things, when it comes to actually softening or amplifying hormones, so this isn’t so much to do with energy, but one called Maka can actually help your hormone production and help your hormone balancing. For specific situations, again, not everybody with PCOS needs to take Maka, but when we’re talking about adjusting how our hormones are functioning, producing, and regulating themselves, this is not something that This is something that happens over a week. This is something that happens over three months. Now, something like iron, if you’re feeling really fatigued and you have low iron, this is something that can actually start making you feel better in the course of about a week or two. You have to understand as you research your supplement, and this is all things that I’ve listed out for you in the supplement guide. You have to understand the time frame of how long should I try this before I’m like, This isn’t working for me or this isn’t working for me. Then somewhere in that ballpark, you add in the other one. Now, you don’t have to wait three months. Say you were going to add in Maka, and it’s going to take about three months to improve.

Then you’re going to add in something like iron that’s going to take a week or two to improve. Well, Personally, two schools of thought here, actually. You could argue it either way, and I would agree with you either way but you could start the iron first. You could start taking the iron. It’s going to have a quicker effect. You’re going to know over about a couple of weeks whether or not you’ve seen any improvement. I was low iron. When I started taking iron, I noticed an improvement within about 10 days. Not everyone notices that, but I had lab work done and all of a sudden I noticed I was low on iron, and so I started taking an iron supplement. Again, iron is actually a funny one. You’ll see in the supplement guide, when you go to download it, I talk all about iron. There are certain ones that can make you really constipated and certain ones that don’t affect that at all. So definitely choose your iron wisely if that’s one that you’re considering for yourself. The guide also goes through how to help decide where you may want to start and what supplements and how you’re thinking about it.

It basically guides you through the thought process, and then ultimately, you’re going to want to talk to your healthcare provider before adding a supplement but okay, so maybe you start with the short, the one that’s going to give you an effect in a shorter time frame or maybe you’re like, Well, this one’s going to take me three months to start working. I should start taking that one now. Really, there’s not a right or a wrong, but understanding that just It’s because you figured out what concern you have, and you’re going to address it with a supplement, as well as your lifestyle, of course, and then researching what supplements it is that you are interested in, researching the brands that you’re comfortable working with, as well as then deciding when and how many you want to start with. This is really the question here, right? Do you start with both of them? Do you start one at the time? and ultimately, it’s up to you but we don’t want to just go. Okay, I was told the supplement was good for the symptom that I’m concerned about. This was a good brand, therefore I’m taking it.

I never checked in to see if it was helping me. That’s how we end up taking 25 supplements because we keep doing that with the next supplement, but we don’t even know which ones are helping us anymore. I highly recommend you somehow come up with your own system, and have your own little system of journaling. How do you decide why you’re taking a supplement? And then did that supplement address that problem? It may not take it away completely, but did you notice that that one was helpful? For my personal example, when I started taking iron, yeah, I noticed that that one was helpful. Another popular one that we’re going to talk about in a few weeks is ovasitol or inositol like powders. When I started taking that one, I took it for three months, I noticed no difference. Now, something that you take for three months, it’s a little. It’s a little harder to say over three months that I didn’t just slowly start feeling better. When I stopped it, I also paid attention, and I felt no different. That doesn’t mean that it’s not helpful for some women. There is a fair amount of research on inositols being helpful.

We’re going to have a whole episode coming up about that specific supplement because it’s one that everyone thinks if they have PCOS that they should take. We’re going to talk about if that’s true or not in a future episode. But for now, I’m just using it as For me personally, I noticed no difference, and so that’s not one that I continue to take. Anyway, the point is that we don’t want to just take them blindly because somebody said. We want to evaluate for our own purposes, is it helping me? Is it causing any side effects? Does it cause upset stomachs? Does it cause bloating? If so, is there a way that I can take it to modify dosing or the schedule of which I’m supposed to take it to work with my body? Those are all things that we want to be considering and not just blindly taking it. We want to be listening to our body, working with our unique situation. Then before we fully start actually taking the supplement, we’ve done all our research, we always want to check in with our health care provider. This is very important because supplements are over the counter.

That doesn’t mean they come without side effects. It does not mean they don’t come with drug interactions. There are supplements that will interact with your birth control. There are supplements that will interact with heart medications or hypertension medications or blood thinners or any other various category of medications, there are supplements that will interact with them. You want to make sure that your doctor has your full medication list, is aware of any supplements, vitamins, et cetera that you are taking or are considering taking before you start taking them. So be sure to check in with them and then just a few others… Again, I don’t want this to be a scary episode, but just a few other things to be aware of. Now, there are some amazing people who have been frustrated with the supplement market and have created their own brand. I think that’s fantastic. A lot of times, unless they have a good budget behind them, though, there’s not a lot of third-party testing or absorption testing. There can be some limitations to that. Again, you have to really know the company, how they’re being made. I don’t want to knock them from across the board standpoint because some of these supplements are probably some of the best ones out there.

However, the caveat to that is there are a lot of influencers out there who are marketing, quotes, their own brand. The problem is there are a lot of companies out there that will let you self-label. When you can label a product with your company’s logo and your company’s information, it looks like it’s your supplement line. But in reality, it’s actually some other company’s supplement line that allows white labeling and allows an influencer or a company to label it with their name and their information on it. Then they go on to social media, they go on the internet, and they market this product as their best out there supplement line. Because you trust them, because they’re telling you all this other great information, you buy their supplement. They may have very pure motives. They think that this company is a really good company. The problem is, again, and this is where I do have a couple of affiliate things, but I don’t love in-house brands. I like to go with the bigger supplement brands, personally, because I don’t know where these other things are coming from. I don’t know if they’re just self-labeled or if they’re actually self-manufactured.

And in being self-manufactured, do they undergo as many of the systematic reviews that some of the bigger supplement companies have at their disposal. But bigger also doesn’t mean better. So just going in and seeing what’s going on is really important. And that’s a headache. It almost becomes a hurdle. Now, I’m not going to ever get around to it. That’s why I like the platform Fullscript. I feel like they’ve done a lot of that heavy lifting for me, so I can just go in and already be shopping from a collection of very high-quality supplements. Even amongst those high-quality supplements, they make it very easy for me to review some of these key factors of, was it a third-party review? Were there any concerning elements added to it? Is it organic and certified? They’ve been tested for if it has any bad toxic type stuff in it, and they list out the different ones. You can review, or it hasn’t been. You can review which supplement has had the different things, as well as the that’s in it and get a better idea of what you’re purchasing and consuming as you plan out what supplements may be a good fit for you.

With that, that is a ton of information. I know there’s going to be lots of questions about this one. I really encourage you to head over to Instagram and message me, PCOS Supplements, all one word, S at the end. So PCOS, S-U-P-P-L-E-M-E-N-T-S. Go message me that over on Instagram. I will send you the link to get the full guide. It’ll walk you through the different kinds of supplements, how to start narrowing down where you even want to start. Researching, it’ll give you some of the base highlights of the research, and then you can take that further on your own. It’ll walk you through how to use the full script platform and how to set up an account so that you can get some discounts as well as be able to do your own searches and start to learn about which brands may be the best fit for you. And then that way you can take that information and research that you’ve done to your doctor and get the okay that it would be something safe for you to take. 

All right, with that, I hope you’ve enjoyed today’s episode. If so, a lot of jam-packed information in this one. Be sure to hit that subscribe button so that you don’t miss the upcoming episodes we have. In the remainder of this year, I have some great ones planned for you. Go ahead and hit that subscribe button on whatever platform you enjoy listening on. Until next time, bye for now.

Take The PCOS Root Cause Quiz

   What Do Your Symptoms Mean?

  Discover your current PCOS Root Cause

Start to reverse PCOS at the root cause. 

Results are not guaranteed. Please see Medical Disclaimer for more detail.

Similar Podcasts You Will Enjoy

Episode # 132: The Inflammation Factor: A Closer Look at PCOS

Episode # 132: The Inflammation Factor: A Closer Look at PCOS

Explore the vital connection between inflammation, insulin resistance, and ovarian dysfunction in PCOS. Drawing from recent research, you’ll learn how inflammation exacerbates PCOS symptoms and discover how dietary triggers and oxidative stress play a role. Tune in for strategies to personalize your approach, identify your inflammatory triggers, and manage PCOS more effectively for improved overall health.

Episode #131: New Year, New You: Setting PCOS Health Intentions

Episode #131: New Year, New You: Setting PCOS Health Intentions

Kick off the new year with purpose in this week’s episode of the PCOS Repair Podcast! Learn the difference between rigid resolutions and flexible intentions, and discover how to set realistic, actionable goals for managing your PCOS. This interactive session will guide you in breaking down your objectives into manageable tasks, building sustainable habits, and crafting a lifestyle that supports your health. Grab a pen and start the year with clarity, purpose, and a plan for lasting change.

Episode #130: Lily’s PCOS Freedom Through Gluten-Free Living

Episode #130: Lily’s PCOS Freedom Through Gluten-Free Living

In this episode of the PCOS Repair Podcast, we explore Lily’s journey managing PCOS and food sensitivities, offering insights into the complex relationship between diet, lifestyle, and PCOS symptoms. Learn how personalized dietary approaches, rather than blanket restrictions, can help manage symptoms more effectively. Tune in to discover how Lily’s process of eliminating and reintroducing foods empowered her to better understand her body and take control of her PCOS health.

About Show

Welcome to The PCOS Repair Podcast!

I’m Ashlene Korcek, and each week I’ll be sharing the latest findings on PCOS and how to make practical health changes to your lifestyle to repair your PCOS at the root cause.

If you’re struggling with PCOS, know that you’re not alone. In fact, it’s estimated that one in ten women have PCOS. But the good news is that there is a lot we can do to manage our symptoms and live healthy, happy lives.

So whether you’re looking for tips on nutrition, exercise, supplements, or mental health, you’ll find it all here on The PCOS Repair Podcast. Ready to get started? Hit subscribe now

Episode #126: Research Recap: Journal Article Review on PCOS Contraception

Episode #126: Research Recap: Journal Article Review on PCOS Contraception

Episode #126:Research Recap: Journal Article Review on PCOS Contraception

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure and privacy policy.

Research Recap: Journal Article Review on PCOS Contraception

What you’ll learn in this episode

This episode aims to help you with the complex decisions around birth control. Whether it is a choice you are interested in and if so what birth control selections are available for managing PCOS symptoms. You’ll discover the reasons why birth control pills are often recommended and explore the potential long-term health implications associated with their use, including consideration for PCOS risks related to diabetes, hypertension, and cardiovascular diseases.

Understanding the Function of Birth Control Pills

You’ll gain a better understanding of how combined oral contraceptives prevent ovulation and might improve PCOS symptoms. The discussion delves into the impact of these contraceptives on hormonal levels and menstrual cycles and provides a thorough explanation of the biological mechanisms at play. This segment also explores the non-contraceptive benefits of using oral contraceptives, such as reduced risks of certain cancers and management of endometriosis. It also examines the potential risks associated with these medications, including cardiovascular health concerns and hormonal disruptions.

The Role of Lifestyle Modifications in Managing PCOS

Discover the critical role of lifestyle changes in effectively managing PCOS. This part of the episode covers the importance of personal health care. It encourages discussions with healthcare providers to tailor PCOS management plans that might include or exclude the use of birth control. Birth control has pros and cons concerning PCOS, but there are also lifestyle and specific circumstances that need to be considered. This episode will help you to do just that.

Let’s Continue The Conversation

Do you have questions about this episode or other questions about PCOS? I would love to connect and chat on a more personal level over on Instagram. My DMs are my favorite place to chat more.

 

So go visit me on IG @nourishedtohealthy.com

 

Let’s Continue The Conversation

Do you have questions about this episode or other questions about PCOS? I would love to connect and chat on a more personal level over on Instagram. My DMs are my favorite place to chat more.

 

So go visit me on IG @nourishedtohealthy.com

 

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Resources & References Mentioned in this episode

Read The Full Episode Transcript Here

Hi, and welcome back to the PCOS Repair podcast, where today I’m really excited to be reviewing another research article. I think that it’s been exciting over the last several years how much more research is being done and published about PCOS specifically. I’m always excited to share that with you here on the podcast. I hope you find that it’s helpful. First of all, this one is an interesting one because birth control pills have been a mainstay treatment in helping women have regular cycles. From a medical standpoint, physicians are taught in medical school that unless someone is trying to get pregnant with PCOS, birth control is a really good option to give them. In this particular research article, it’s looking at the fact that because women with PCOS, because it’s a lifelong disorder, they’re going to probably want to be on the medication, the birth control, for a long period of time, and whether or not that is a appropriate treatment modality because there are risks associated with birth control. This article wanted to look at specifically the concerns of diabetes and hypertension and cardiac risk factors in regards to PCOS and birth control. I think this is a really interesting article that we’re going to dive into today.

Before we dive into the article, I just want to remind our frame of reference. There is our own personal health and how we care for our health, and that’s our lifestyle. Then whenever we have a medical problem or a problem with our health or a symptom that we feel, then that’s when we go to our physician to get help with it. When we go to a traditional medical physician, the tools that they have are procedures and medications and monitoring. When it comes to PCOS, their tools are limited because This is a disorder that really it stems in our genetics that is amplified or softened by the environment that we expose ourselves to. Then there are medications and so forth and things that the medical doctors can do to help with those symptoms that arise from our PCOS, given the environment that we’re in. My hope is that we can make so much more positive progress by adjusting our lifestyle to dampen the negative effects and to amplify our health, then we can get assistance from medical treatments. That does not mean that medical treatments are not helpful. By any stretch of the imagination, that’s not what I’m trying to say here, But I think that as we dive into the pros and cons of birth control, I want to preface this particular episode by saying that while there are risks with not having a period for long periods of time where birth control may be a really beneficial thing certain people, and not all people are interested in adjusting their lifestyle.

It’s not their top priority at the moment. And so that may be something that they find really helpful in managing their life the way they want to. Absolutely no judgment there about that. But if you’re wanting to take a natural approach, birth control is definitely not necessary. It is a conversation that you’re going to want to have with your physician about when and if and how and do you need it and so forth, because like I said, there can be risks in going too long without having a period. But birth control can also cause some hormonal disruption, as we’ll see in this article as well as there’s other articles that talk about that. It’s not a clear-cut decision. And so knowing that you can do so much for your PCOS with your lifestyle, but then also being armed with the information of if you do choose or for whatever reason need to be on birth control, you understand the pros and of that as well. I think information is just important. We don’t need to be scared by it, but the better we understand it, the more informed we can make our decisions, and the more informed that we can have a conversation with our health care providers when we go to see them and so forth.

So that’s why I’m excited to bring you this article today. This article is from the Journal of Endocrinology and Metabolism, and it is titled An Update on Contraception in Polycystic Ovarian Ovarian syndrome. It was published in 2021. At the time of this recording of the podcast, it is a relatively recent journal article. Okay, so a couple of things. First of all, it’s important to just remember that polycystic ovarian syndrome is a very, very common reproductive and endocrine and metabolic disorder characterized by hyperandrogenism, as well as irregular periods and ovulation and having various symptoms systems that arise from those root causes of the endocrine and the metabolic and the cycle disturbances that can lead to infertility and so forth. One of the main treatments for women who are not planning to become pregnant is to be put on a combination contraceptive. As a reminder, a combined oral contraceptive is a combination of a low dose estrogen with a progestin. These started back in the ’60s, and they contained high doses as an estrogen. Then this was over time, lower to lower amounts. We have to be a little bit aware of where our research is coming from when we’re reviewing some of these, because historical amounts of combination birth control compared to current amounts in combination birth control do vary.

So knowing that that’s a thing and then doing your research on what years things change so that you’re aware of comparing apples to apples, or at least that your doctor is. If your doctor says something and you’re like, It doesn’t quite sound like something else you’ve read, just be aware there are some discrepancies there and make sure that both of you are talking about the same era of medications. One of the historically high risk factors for estrogen-containing birth control is DVTs or some thromboembolism. Those ones were why it wasn’t good to take birth control if you’re a smoker or have a history or a family history of clots or clotting. That still remains something that can be contraindicated for certain medications and that should be evaluated by your healthcare provider prior to giving you a prescription of birth control. But birth control has become so commonplace that sometimes these in-depth histories miss something. So make sure that if you have any concern of a clot or a family history of clot, that you at least discuss it with your healthcare provider. But the combination medications, they usually come with either two types of estrogen.

The most common type is an EE, which is a modified synthetic form of estradiol. So it’s a synthetic, it’s not bioidentical. Then there’s a couple that contain a estradiol valerate, which is an E2V. You may see that abbreviation, which is a more natural form of the estradiol. That one’s not as common. Most of the ones you’re going to see are the EE form. Then there’s numerous forms of progestin, and they’ve had several different generations of development as well. Let’s talk about the mechanism of action. This is an interesting thing of how these work, because in the last couple of weeks, we’ve had some discussion on the podcast about how the cycle naturally works. This is how the mechanism of action, so basically, this is how your combination birth control would work in your cycle. You’ll see here when I go over, a research article is sharing that it dampens certain parts of your cycle. When you go off of it, I believe, this is not in the research article, but I believe that’s why some women with PCOS struggle to regain these aspects of their cycle, is that the birth control train the body to react this way.

In the article here, the mechanism of action is that the progestin component of the combined oral contraceptive directly inhibits the secretion of the gonadotropin-releasing hormone, and this suppresses the luteinizing hormone, so your LH. So the peak doesn’t happen. So it just stays at a base level. And so ovulation doesn’t happen because that LH peak is required for ovulation. So the absence of this LH peak causes a decrease in ovarian sensitivity to FSH, your follicular stimulating hormone, which leads to a reduction in estradiol production. So then another thing that the progestins do is they prevent the sperm penetration in the implantation because they increase the viscosity of the cervical mucus, and they decrease the tubal mobility, and they thin the endometrial lining. So by thinning the endometrial lining, specifically, you’re really impeding the ability for an embryo to implant and for pregnant emergency to occur. The estradiol component of the combined contraceptives affect the progesterone by suppressing the FSH search. So that first half of your cycle where estrogen is your primary player, it’s the The estradiol component of your combined oral contraceptive is suppressing that FSH surge that does not select a dominant follicle and finish maturing it to prepare for ovulation.

So your ovaries are not preparing a follicle each month, or they’re decreasing the amount that they would do that, which also improves the menstrual cycle for women that are having problematic periods or cycles because it helps to prevent that breakthrough bleeding because it maintains needs an endometrial proliferation. Basically, the endometrial lining stays more consistent, so there’s less breakthrough bleeding with the combination oral contraceptives. What about combined oral contraceptives in the use of women with PCOS, specifically? The article states very clearly that lifestyle modifications are the number one modality of treatment and should be the number one consideration when it comes to PCOS. But in addition to those, combined oral contraceptives represent the first line treatment in most women with PCOS if fertility is not desired in order to regulate the menstrual cycle and improve clinical signs of hyperandrogenism. Basically, when a female goes to their doctor, my opinion, this is not from the article, but when a female goes to her doctor because she’s having irregular periods and she does not want to get pregnant, birth control would be the first line after lifestyle suggestions in order to treat her PCOS symptoms. Now, caveat here, too, that I want to point out is that medical professionals are not trained in lifestyle modifications.

So they may say you may want to live a more healthy lifestyle that may improve your PCOS, but they’re not really trained to give much advice beyond the fact that lifestyle would be their number one recommendation. And so that becomes frustrating because then their next recommendation they have available for you, but their first recommendation, they don’t have a lot of advice for you on how to actually implement that. And that’s why I started the podcast and what I do here at Nourish to Healthy. Okay, so The non-contraceptive benefits of combined oral contraceptives is that they can reduce heavy bleeding, they can improve symptoms of endometriosis and pelvic inflammatory disease. Now, I want to point out, though, here, just because I’m lumping this in with this article that’s talking about contraceptives for PCOS. Endometriosis and pelvic inflammatory disease are not related to PCOS. They are an additional finding, they are an additional problem. Sometimes they go hand in hand, but Just because you have PCOS doesn’t mean that you have endometriosis or vice versa. They are two separate things. A lot of women, they think that their pelvic pain is because of PCOS. Heavy periods can lead to cramping, sure.

But other than that, PCOS is typically not super painful. You can have a cyst on the ovaries that’s really painful. That’s not a PCOS cyst. That’s actually a true cyst, not ovaries that look cystic because of the multiple partially matured follicles. There’s a lot of lumping these things all in together. They actually are separate things and should be addressed separately. But the consideration of whether or not to go on an oral contraceptive, if you have PCOS, you’re having irregular periods, and you have endometriosis, would change your consideration potentially if this is a good treatment for you. Also, it can help with women who really suffer with PMS or a more advanced form of PCOS called premenstrual dysphoric disorder. So having really, really, really, really moody or horrible days leading up to when your period should start. Also, it was interesting that the research article did note that women using combined oral contraceptives, their risk of both endometrial and ovarian cancer was reduced by nearly 30%. Now, that’s a complicated statistic. There’s a lot of things that go into that, but these are all reasons why your doctor may talk to you about these. These are specific questions that you may want to bring up to your health care provider of how that works or if that was something that would be of concern to you or of benefit to you.

There still are several concerns and contraindications that go along with the use of combined oral contraceptives. Again, combined being both estrogen and progestin. The biggest one is, of course, a venous thrombosis. This is going to be some clot that can lead to a DVT or a stroke or something like that. They can be quite serious if left unaddressed. Those are one of the top concerns still and why a thorough history should be taken before prescribing any birth control medication. There has been risk of increased MI or stroke. Again, those are I believe in relation to the increased clotting risks. But there also is some counter information that estrogen can actually be beneficial to heart health. These are all conversations that you would want to have with your doctor. They’re really going to come down to probably family history in the conversation about those. But it’s important to know that these have been marked clearly as adverse effects related in research articles and throughout research, proven to be associated with birth control, especially long term use of it. Also, another side effect that was noted, especially in women with PCOS, was that the hyperandrogenism, which is found…

The excess that we have with PCOS, contributes to the insulin resistance through various pathways, which we talked about in the last several episodes, that improving that hyperandrogenism may provide some metabolic improvement. So potentially the effects of combined oral contraceptives may improve the metabolic pathways. However, in reality and in observational studies, this hasn’t necessarily shown to be true, but these are just some things that they theoretically make sense. And so these may be points that your physician points out to you. There’s not a lot of research pointing one direction or another. I think one of the really, this is my personal opinion here, not the research articles, but I think one consideration that is very difficult to always weed out when we’re looking at these articles is that women who have maintained a healthy weight and a healthy lifestyle with PCOS symptoms, like they’re still having some symptoms, Their situation and their health profile and how they react to certain medications is going to be vastly different to someone who is struggling with their weight or has been overweight for a long period of time or who is on the verge of diabetes or who has not adopted certain lifestyle factors to help manage their PCOS.

That same person that has not adopted lifestyle measures to manage their PCOS, if they were to spend a couple months adopting lifestyle modifications, their way of reacting to the medication would likely be quite different as well. A lot of research articles will actually be put in the parentheses. This study was done on women that were under or over a certain BMI, just to try to give a clear a picture on exactly what demographic we’re talking about to help people better understand and make more informed choices of which ones and which advice may or may not pertain to them. It’s a little bit of a cloudy picture is what I’m trying to say there. Then in addition to all of that, there has been a lot of indication that combined oral contraceptives do increase appetite, therefore increasing weight gain over prolonged periods of use. Maybe if you used it for six months, you may not notice that, but over a long period of time, adding a couple of pounds a year may be associated with oral contraceptives, combined with oral contraceptive use. They’ve also been known to potentially cause an increase in blood pressure. Then studies have also indicated in the general population that, not specifically to PCOS, so general population, have suggested that combined oral contraceptives might occasionally be associated with mood alterations, particularly in younger patients and particularly in the form of depression.

Those are our combined oral contraceptives, combination of estrogen and progestin. Next, we have the progestin-only contraceptive. Now, there was an article about this a few weeks ago, I think last month on the podcast where we talked about synthetic progesterone contraceptives. This goes over some of this as well, but looking at these. We have a couple of different forms of progestin-only contraceptives. We have the pills. This is primarily the mini pill. It can be used. It’s used sometimes to induce a period. That can be a very effective way to do that. It’s also not  a bad idea for women who are going long periods of time without having a period to help reduce against endometrial cancer. Ideally, they’re able to get their lifestyle modifications to help regulate that cycle, so they’re having a period often enough to reduce that risk. But if they’re not, the mini pill or a progestin-only pill can be a good way of inducing a period to shed that uterine lining and start fresh. Then we have the Depo Medroxyprogesterone Acetate. This is basically the Depo shot, and this is the one that is actually marked to be avoided with women who have diabetes.

This is one where, frankly, my personal opinion, I would stay away from the Depo shot if it’s at all possible. According to a prospective case-controlled study, a 30 month of the DEPO, basically this is abbreviated DMPA because it’s the DEMPA-methodroxine, a progesterone acetate, so DMP usage. Let me backup and read that to you again. According to a prospective case-controlled study, 30 months of DMPA usage in healthy young women significantly increased body weight, which was entirely attributed to increased fat mass and ino central pattern. Basically, they’re saying that this one was highly associated with weight gain, and that weight gain was not muscle, it was confirmed fat weight gain. That study was pretty clearly marked. It also, and this is concerning, to have weight gain and showed decreased bone mineral density. Not one that I would recommend. Then we have the etonogestrel which is basically the implant. That one’s sometimes implanted in the back of the arm. Studies in healthy women using this one seem to not have reported any adverse effects from a metabolic standpoint. However, a small study of patients with PCOS suggested insulin resistance with a six-month duration of the implant usage.

I would not recommend this one for PCOS. I think a lot of the progestin-only ones tend to be a little problematic for women with PCOS, especially those to the shot and the implant. Next, we move on to the intrauterine contraceptive devices. These are progestin only. They’re long-releasing, over time-releasing IUDs, and they are different durations. This one only talks about the five-year duration, I believe. There are multiple durations of those, but they all fall basically into the same class. The interesting thing with these is that they were able to reverse endometrial hyperplasia. For women who have very, very thick endometrial linings and do have irregular periods, they are the ones that we are concerned about being at higher risk of endometrial cancer. This helped to reduce that hyperplasia, which reduces their risk. It also was helpful in reducing heavy bleeding and in treatment of endometriosis in associated pelvic pain. Those are patients where potentially there could be a really beneficial use. In an observational prospective-controlled study, including non-obese patients with PCOS, six months of an IUD use improved the hyperandrogenemia but increased the weight circumference and fasting plasma glucose measurements, whereas it decreased LDL and total cholesterol concentrations compared to the baseline.

So obviously, there isn’t a clear cut. There are benefits and there are drawbacks. I bring you this article today so that as When you consider your options, as your physician talks to you about different options, or as you see different physicians over time that bring up different options, you are better equipped to have these conversations with them and ask questions so that later on when you go home, you’re not googling things and then wishing you would ask the questions, but going in with better understanding of the topic and ready to ask specific questions. I will also link this article in the show notes on the episode web page. If you go to the episode web page, you’ll find it there. That way, if you ever wanted to discuss a specific article with your healthcare provider, if you had a specific question, you would have the article in order to do so. All right, so that brings us to the conclusion of that research article review for this week, and I hope you found that helpful. Now, I know many of you are coming off of birth control, have been on birth control for a long period of time.

There may be some frustration that you didn’t have some of this information previously. Information is constantly rising, and we’re all learning as we go. I encourage you to feel all those feelings that come up as you hear all this information today. At the same time, give yourself some grace if there was something that you would have done differently in the past or wish you had known in the past. We are learning as we go, and unfortunately, hindsight can be 2020. But if you are struggling after coming off of birth control, there are a lot of episodes to help you with that. On the PCOS Repair podcast. Feel free to reach out to me on Instagram @nourish2healthy. I’d be happy to point you in the direction of other episodes that can help you as you transition back towards trying to have healthy and natural cycles. Then there are those of you who are considering birth control for other reasons, whether your symptoms are fairly controlled, except that you’re still having irregular periods or your periods are too heavy or do not currently want to get pregnant. There’s a lot of reasons why you may want to consider contraceptives, and hopefully that today and that article review is helpful for you.

With that, I’ll say goodbye for this week, and until next time, bye for now.

Take The PCOS Root Cause Quiz

   What Do Your Symptoms Mean?

  Discover your current PCOS Root Cause

Start to reverse PCOS at the root cause. 

Results are not guaranteed. Please see Medical Disclaimer for more detail.

Similar Podcasts You Will Enjoy

Episode # 132: The Inflammation Factor: A Closer Look at PCOS

Episode # 132: The Inflammation Factor: A Closer Look at PCOS

Explore the vital connection between inflammation, insulin resistance, and ovarian dysfunction in PCOS. Drawing from recent research, you’ll learn how inflammation exacerbates PCOS symptoms and discover how dietary triggers and oxidative stress play a role. Tune in for strategies to personalize your approach, identify your inflammatory triggers, and manage PCOS more effectively for improved overall health.

Episode #131: New Year, New You: Setting PCOS Health Intentions

Episode #131: New Year, New You: Setting PCOS Health Intentions

Kick off the new year with purpose in this week’s episode of the PCOS Repair Podcast! Learn the difference between rigid resolutions and flexible intentions, and discover how to set realistic, actionable goals for managing your PCOS. This interactive session will guide you in breaking down your objectives into manageable tasks, building sustainable habits, and crafting a lifestyle that supports your health. Grab a pen and start the year with clarity, purpose, and a plan for lasting change.

Episode #130: Lily’s PCOS Freedom Through Gluten-Free Living

Episode #130: Lily’s PCOS Freedom Through Gluten-Free Living

In this episode of the PCOS Repair Podcast, we explore Lily’s journey managing PCOS and food sensitivities, offering insights into the complex relationship between diet, lifestyle, and PCOS symptoms. Learn how personalized dietary approaches, rather than blanket restrictions, can help manage symptoms more effectively. Tune in to discover how Lily’s process of eliminating and reintroducing foods empowered her to better understand her body and take control of her PCOS health.

About Show

Welcome to The PCOS Repair Podcast!

I’m Ashlene Korcek, and each week I’ll be sharing the latest findings on PCOS and how to make practical health changes to your lifestyle to repair your PCOS at the root cause.

If you’re struggling with PCOS, know that you’re not alone. In fact, it’s estimated that one in ten women have PCOS. But the good news is that there is a lot we can do to manage our symptoms and live healthy, happy lives.

So whether you’re looking for tips on nutrition, exercise, supplements, or mental health, you’ll find it all here on The PCOS Repair Podcast. Ready to get started? Hit subscribe now

Episode #125: Ava’s PCOS Healing Through Revisiting Her Root Causes

Episode #125: Ava’s PCOS Healing Through Revisiting Her Root Causes

Episode #125: Ava’s PCOS Healing Through Revisiting Her Root Causes

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure and privacy policy.

Ava's PCOS Healing Through Revisiting Her Root Causes

What you’ll learn in this episode

Welcome back to the PCOS Repair Podcast. This episode shares the story of Ava, a 28-year-old who has had amazing success navigating her journey with PCOS. Ava’s experience highlights common challenges and misconceptions surrounding PCOS, particularly concerning insulin levels and regular menstruation.

Ava’s PCOS Challenges

Ava, despite being proactive about her health, faced persistent health frustrations of irregular periods and a lack of ovulation. She had been managing her PCOS symptoms relatively well but as she reached her mid-20s her periods became quite irregular. When she came to me she was quite frustrated that her experiences and her lab results did not correlate. Her tests showed normal glucose and insulin levels, yet symptoms suggested an underlying insulin issue, leading to confusion and a search for answers.

Identifying Her Root Cause

After taking the PCOS assessment and understanding more about how insulin was affecting her hormones even though her labs were normal, Ava began her more tailored approach. 

This is an area of so much confusion and I can’t wait for you to listen to this episode to gain clarity on why labs don’t provide us with enough information sometimes when dealing with PCOS. 

Ava’s Insights and Lifestyle Adjustments

Ava’s case underscored the importance of understanding the body’s unique responses to food. Her diet, characterized by frequent, small meals, inadvertently was not serving her and actually fueling her hormone imbalance. With guidance, Ava adjusted her eating habits to better manage her insulin levels. Over time, she noticed significant improvements in her energy levels and menstrual regularity. Her journey highlights the critical role of tailored strategies in managing PCOS symptoms and restoring menstrual health.

Ava’s story is just one example of the complexity of PCOS and the need for personalized strategies. It also emphasizes the importance of listening to one’s body and aligning healing approaches with individual symptoms and responses, rather than relying solely on standard lab results.

I hope you find you find Ava’s journey encouraging and that it inspires you to explore your personal path to better PCOS health. 

Let’s Continue The Conversation

Do you have questions about this episode or other questions about PCOS? I would love to connect and chat on a more personal level over on Instagram. My DMs are my favorite place to chat more.

 

So go visit me on IG @nourishedtohealthy.com

 

Let’s Continue The Conversation

Do you have questions about this episode or other questions about PCOS? I would love to connect and chat on a more personal level over on Instagram. My DMs are my favorite place to chat more.

 

So go visit me on IG @nourishedtohealthy.com

 

rate the podcast

Spread the Awareness

If you have found this podcast helpful please take just a moment to rate it and leave a review. This helps apple, spotify or whichever platform you use know to share this podcast with other women. I truely appreciate your help supporting as many women as possible

Read The Full Episode Transcript Here

You’re listening to the PCOS Repair podcast, where we explore the ins and outs of PCOS and how to repair the imbalances in your hormones naturally with a little medical help sprinkled in. Hi, I’m Ashlene Korcek, and with many years of medical and personal experience with polycystic ovarian syndrome, it is my joy to watch women reverse their PCOS as they learn to nourish their body in a whole new way. With the power of our beliefs, our mindset, and our environment, and the understanding of our genetics, we can heal at the root cause.

Welcome back to the PCOS Repair podcast and this week, I’m really excited to bring you one of my client stories because this is one that I know a lot of people are going to find interesting. It really goes right along with a lot of the messages and conversations that I’ve been having with women over in my messages over on Instagram and so I get to share the story of Ava, a darling girl who was about 28 years old when I first started working with her and prior to that, she had always been relatively healthy, took care of herself. Health was a big priority for her. In a lot of ways, she had been managing her PCOS quite well. She was really frustrated when she first started listening to the podcast and she had taken the PCOS Root Class quiz. Then she had talked to her doctor and she had a bunch of lab work done. They told her, perhaps you’ve heard something similar, that her glucose and insulin levels all looked normal. She had a nice healthy weight. She probably had some thin type PCOS. Really, her best bet was to start. They had offered her some metformin and letrozole.

She just didn’t feel like she had gotten a good answer as to why she wasn’t having regular periods and why she wasn’t ovulating. She reached out to me and she’s like, Hey, I have taken the root cause quiz. It says I have the insulin effect root cause type, and my doctor says that all of that’s normal, and I don’t have a problem with any of that. What’s really going on? What’s going on with my body? Through several conversations, we started talking, and Basically, she did have elevated testosterone and LH, but her glucose and her hemoglobin A1c and her insulin all looked normal. She was having a lot of specific symptoms and cravings and energy crashes and things like that would indicate that she was having some degree of insulin concern in her PCOS root cause. As we started working together, we really visited what was going on with her lifestyle that was increasing her insulin component as well as her diet and so forth. Then as we began to address those and look at her symptoms, we began to see that, yes, indeed, she had a very, very, very strong insulin effect root cause. I want to pause there in her story for a second and just explain what’s going on here metabolically.

In a 28-year-old, your body is going to compensate for everything that you’re doing, whether or not your body is hypersensitive to blood sugar. Basically, in PCOS, we can have a hypersensitivity to things, where if we eat something, our blood sugar may spike stronger and harder, or our insulin response to a fairly normal blood sugar spike with a certain meal is going to be bigger. That isn’t going to show up in a fasting insulin. It’s not going to show up even in a glucose tolerance test exactly, because really what we’re getting is we’re getting a little bit too much insulin sometimes when we’re eating something, or perhaps we’re just more prone to certain cravings. Throughout the day, in order to manage our energy, and because that insulin comes in so strong and hard, what happens is we eat something that is going to raise our sugar nice and high, and we get that nice energy boost and so it feels good but that Insulin overreacts and comes in so strong that it makes us crash really hard.

Then we do it again, and we do it again, and we don’t even realize how many times we’re doing that throughout the day. Well, nothing in that is going to indicate poor labs. Your hemoglobin A1c is going to be fine because you never really had high blood sugar. It spiked for a second, but that insulin came crashing in and took care of it. In fact, you may have even dropped very low a lot of times and so your blood sugar may, on average, actually be quite low, but you had several spikes throughout, and that insulin came into the rescue in large amounts, in high frequency, and that’s what I’m telling your ovaries to produce more androgens. If you want to hear more about that, you can go back to some of the previous episodes. We did a mini-series a couple of weeks ago on the root causes and how excess androgens are developed from those root causes. I will link to those in the show notes on the web page for this episode. If you want to go back and learn more about that but back to Ava’s story. Those excess androgens that were being elevated through her insulin because that’s what she was doing.

She was basically following her energy, and her energy was better after certain food. She ate to boost her energy, and then she would have these crashes, and then she would eat again, and then she’d have these crashes. She had grown up thinking that small, frequent meals were actually a healthy way to eat. She was eating fairly healthy foods during those small, frequent meals. What she essentially was doing was spiking her insulin and crashing, spiking her insulin and crashing through these blood sugar spikes. Throughout the day, she was basically telling her ovaries to release excess androgens. Those excess androgens were raising her testosterone and her LH levels and had essentially wiped out her periods. She would have a period every 60 to 90 days, and it would vary between being almost just a little bit of spotting to being just this intense, bleeding through everything period but even those were fairly short-lived. She’s like, Maybe three days of really a period, and then maybe a fourth day where I would just have to wear a panty liner or something to make sure that she didn’t have any staining on anything. But ultimately, she felt pretty healthy, her weight was fine, and so she had no idea why she wasn’t having regular periods. Her doctor had told her that losing 15 pounds would be really helpful because while she was a healthy weight, she wasn’t underweight. Her doctor had told her that a lot of who are struggling with ovulation, having regular ovulation, they find that if they just drop 5 to 15 pounds, that ovulation will spontaneously restart. She had been constantly trying to lose that weight and so partially where she was trying to eat these small little meals throughout the day and trying to just keep her energy up while she was trying to overall restrict calories, she did seem to lose three or four pounds, and then she would gain three or four, maybe a little bit more back and she felt like she was getting stuck in this back and forth.

So when we started working together, we talked about it, we looked at her body composition, and it wouldn’t hurt. She was not underweight, so she did have room to maybe lose somewhere between 5 and 7 pounds of body fat, but definitely not more than that. That would start putting her in the extreme or approaching the extreme because when we’re dealing with fertility, we really don’t want to approach the extreme.

She was just frustrated because she felt like really nothing had been working. Even when we talked about, Well, yeah, you could lose a little bit of weight. It wouldn’t be harmful to you but she felt really frustrated because she’s like, Well, I’ve lost three or four pounds, but it always comes right back. The problem was, is that underlying insulin effect. Really what we needed to do, and we ultimately helped Ava, was exactly this conversation we’re having right now, is taking that moment to re-verify what is going on in your body. While laboratory values can be really, really, really, really, really helpful, we should not let them overshadow what our body is telling us through symptoms. The symptoms are so, so, so, so, so much more relevant, but the labs can help us determine where the symptoms are maybe standing from, what I mean by that is that hormones, the slightest little adjustments, can make a huge effect in our symptoms. You could have a normal value in your labs and actually have quite a strong symptom to it. We see this a lot in testosterone levels where it’ll be just a little elevated, but having a catastrophic downstream effect of high LH levels that’s then messing with ovulation, which then creates this domino effect of just chaos in your natural hormones of your cycle and similar in our metabolic health, just a little bit of extra insulin spikes coming off of trying to dampen, let your body absorb the glucose spikes that you’re having can really affect and have a down-line effect of androgens and hormone imbalances and so forth, and can lead to those energy crashes. So when your body has a little bit of a blood sugar spike, which is normal, should happen when you eat something, right? Your blood sugar goes up. Insulin comes in to help your body use that blood sugar. It’s all a good thing but when your insulin comes in a little too heavy or a little too hard, then what happens is we actually bottom out lower. What we want to see happen is that going along, you realize that you’re getting a little low energy or it’s time to eat and you’re hungry. Then you eat a little food and your blood sugar comes up nicely, and your insulin gently comes in and helps your body absorb that glucose. Then you’re allowed to use that energy. Your brain feels that energy comes in, your muscles feel that energy, your body feels perked up, your tummy feels full, everything’s good, and you’re ready to wait until your next meal because now you got the energy to continue about your day until then.

After that insulin has done its job, your blood sugar goes slowly back to where it was prior to eating, and it hangs out there at a nice where you don’t feel too low, but you don’t feel hungry yet until your next time that you start to get hungry and feel low again. The problem is if your insulin comes in too strong, what happens is that it comes in and it takes all that blood sugar plus some because it came in so strong. You start crashing down. It’s like you rounded a peak and then you just dropped off a cliff. You’re climbing up, blood sugar is climbing up, climbing up, and then here comes the insulin. A lot of it lets it all go into the cells, and all of a sudden, your blood sugar just plummets. You felt really good while your blood sugar was climbing, and then all of a sudden, it’s all gone. There’s nothing to use slowly over the next couple of hours, and so you felt extremely low. We tend to then repeat, eat another small meal, eat a snack, feel like we need something to get us through, or take a nap because we’re just exhausted.

In doing that, it’s those crashes, actually, that are getting us almost more than anything else. Nothing on labs is really going to show us that unless we are measuring it very closely to see those crashes in our glucose. We may not see it extremely. It still may be within normal levels and so your labs aren’t going to turn red and be like, warning, warning, something’s not quite right here because you may have been hanging out somewhere. It’s not a fasting level, right?  So you’re hanging out somewhere in the 100 to 110 in your glucose, and then you’d go nicely up to 120, 130, and then you’re coming back down but instead of slowing down around 110 again, you’re dropping all the way down to 90, or you’re dropping down to 100, or just below 100. Just that little extra dip makes you feel sluggish, brain foggy. That’s where I see that those symptoms are telling us so much more than our labs are. Now, so helpful to have the labs. We don’t discount the lab but when we have a normal lab value, we can look a little deeper into what are our symptoms still telling us.

By doing this, Ava was able to finally understand why everything she had been trying so hard and why she kept not maybe making a couple of steps forward in progress and then just sliding back. When she finally was able to understand how her insulin effect was affecting her PCOS and her ability to lose weight and her cycles and her ovulation, she was able to, just with that confidence of understanding what’s going on in her body, stay the course long enough to start to see some progress, as well as adjusting the right things in her lifestyle to help her see that progress that she wanted.

So this is just a short recap and then her success, because that’s really an important thing to share here. I’m going to skip right over that. So ultimately, she only had to lose, I think, she had gone back and forth between losing that 3-4 pounds and so ultimately, she found her sweet spot right at about to seven pounds was her sweet spot and you’ll find that when you get down to your sweet spot with your weight, you’ll find a spot where everything just falls into place a lot easier.

Your maintenance becomes easier, your hunger and your hormones and your symptoms, all those symptoms that were fighting you before, start to just become less problematic. She found that sweet spot. Her periods became regular. She still wasn’t ovulating for a few months, but as her periods became more and more regular and her LH continued to lower each month so that she could have a more substantial raise, that’s when she started to see her ovulation return and ultimately was so much happier and felt so much better in her body. Her goal was not pregnancy, that was not her goal. Her goal was that she really wanted to regain her cycle. It was really bothering her that her period has become really haphazard. She was 28, looking to maybe in a couple of years start a family. She wanted her fertility to be optimized in that sense, but wasn’t trying to get pregnant at this time and ultimately, she remembers that just having gone from feeling like everything she was trying was just not quite adding up to working and not understanding what was going on in her body to finally understanding the pathophysiology of what her body was doing and able to confidently address that and move forward in a clear, this is the path forward way, then she was able to just put the time in, do the work, and ultimately see the results that she wanted.

I want your takeaway from this to be that, well, laboratory values are extremely important, and they give us a specific picture of what’s going on in our body or what’s not going on in our body. Listening to our symptoms is also highly important. The root causes in the PCOS Root Cause quiz is really about diving into understanding what your body is telling you through your symptoms to help you get a better picture of what is happening at a more metabolic and endocrine level that’s not as superficial and visible as things like weight gain, irregular periods, facial hair, acne, and things like that, or our energy or our mood. Those are things that we can see pretty easily but what’s going on in our metabolic health can be a little bit more masked, especially when we’re in our 20s and 30s and for the most part, our body is compensating for it. We’re young and we’re healthy, and our body is able to keep up with us. As we get older, our body starts to have a harder time keeping up with our lifestyle if it’s not working for our bodies and so we start to see more of a breakdown happen in our labs when we are over 40, over 50 and so important to remember that I’ve been getting so many questions about, Well, my labs all say these things are normal, but I’m still having these symptoms. What’s going on? What’s not showing up? Are the labs wrong? What’s happening? Hopefully, this helps us shed a little bit more light on, one, why that’s happening, and two, how as we get clear on what our body is telling us through our symptoms, we’re a lot more able to clearly and confidently address those things to finally get the results that we’re trying to get.

With that, if you have any specific questions or requests for episodes, you can find me over on Instagram @nourishedtohealthy. I look forward to hearing from you over, Until next time. Bye for now.

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About Show

Welcome to The PCOS Repair Podcast!

I’m Ashlene Korcek, and each week I’ll be sharing the latest findings on PCOS and how to make practical health changes to your lifestyle to repair your PCOS at the root cause.

If you’re struggling with PCOS, know that you’re not alone. In fact, it’s estimated that one in ten women have PCOS. But the good news is that there is a lot we can do to manage our symptoms and live healthy, happy lives.

So whether you’re looking for tips on nutrition, exercise, supplements, or mental health, you’ll find it all here on The PCOS Repair Podcast. Ready to get started? Hit subscribe now

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This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure and privacy policy.

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Do you have questions about this episode or other questions about PCOS? I would love to connect and chat on a more personal level over on Instagram. My DMs are my favorite place to chat more.

 

So go visit me on IG @nourishedtohealthy.com

 

Let’s Continue The Conversation

Do you have questions about this episode or other questions about PCOS? I would love to connect and chat on a more personal level over on Instagram. My DMs are my favorite place to chat more.

 

So go visit me on IG @nourishedtohealthy.com

 

rate the podcast

Spread the Awareness

If you have found this podcast helpful please take just a moment to rate it and leave a review. This helps apple, spotify or whichever platform you use know to share this podcast with other women. I truely appreciate your help supporting as many women as possible

Read The Full Episode Transcript Here

I’ve gotten several questions lately about specific, unique, I have this going on, but I want to get pregnant, and I don’t know if the normal ways of doing things will work for me. Basically, I’ve been getting a ton of questions on how to get pregnant with PCOS, and I wanted to address the basic path forward of what do we do? Because a lot of women have been instant messaging me about things their doctors have told them or their doctors have been having them try and wanting to get feedback on what’s going on with their fertility. I just wanted to go through and just give you a quick couple steps on, What does it look like to repair your fertility, optimize your fertility, and ultimately increase your chances of conceiving naturally, or even with the help of fertility interventions when you have PCOS. So let’s dive in.

You’re listening to the PCOS Repair podcast, where we explore the ins and outs of PCOS and how to repair the imbalances in your hormones naturally with a little medical help sprinkled in. Hi, I’m Ashlene Korcek and with many years of medical and personal experience with polycystic ovarian syndrome, it is my joy to watch women reverse their PCOS as they learn to nourish their body in a whole new way. With the power of our beliefs, our mindset, and our environment, and the understanding of our genetics we can heal at the root cause.

Welcome back to the PCOS Repair Podcast, where today we’re going to be talking about PCOS and fertility. This can also pertain to even if you’re just trying to repair your cycle and have natural recurring regular periods but what do you really need to know about your fertility and optimizing your fertility when you have PCOS? First of all, a few weeks ago, we did a mini-series here on the PCOS Repair podcast about root causes. They really talked about how all the different root causes of things that are going on deep in your metabolic health and your endocrine health, what’s going on that’s increasing your androgen. All of those symptoms that we have with PCOS, in particular, fertility issues and period problems and not ovulating, those stem from the excess androgens but what’s causing that? I want you to go back if you haven’t already or if you want a refresher, I will link on the web page for this episode. I’ll link in there all of the five episodes in that mini-series. I’ll link those there for you so you can go back and learn about what’s causing that excess in androgens because what happens is that when we have excess androgens, and specifically, usually that’s testosterone.

We have this extra to testosterone in our system, and that increases our LH and when our LH goes up, what happens is our baseline LH is high and so we’re going through the month and we don’t have this nice huge rise or a surge in LH It tells our body it’s time to ovulate and when we don’t have this nice surge in LH, we tend to just have this confused, I almost think of it like each hormone is looking at each other like, Wait, is it my turn? Is it my turn? I think it’s your turn. Nobody’s having this nice rhythm of passing off the next step to the next person or the next hormone. In a regular cycle, we would have FSH stimulate the maturing of a follicle. Actually, it matures several follicles. Then there’s usually one that’s the primary one that’s taking off for the month, and the other ones will back off and let that primary one fully develop. It’ll get all the way developed, and then you’ll have this lovely surge of LH because it wasn’t already elevated. Then you’ll have ovulation occur, and you’ll release that mature follicle that is met with a sperm, it’ll become an embryo. It’ll embed in the uterine lining because you have all this lovely progesterone because while estrogen was helping the first half. Now in the second half of your cycle, which we call the luteal phase, now your progesterone is nice and high, supporting that nice, cushy, healthy uterine lining where the embryo can implant and pregnancy can occur.

Now, if any of those things are off, we have a problem. We’re not going to get the next step to occur. We can create some chaos because none of these are coordinating. They’re all going off on their own, and it ultimately just ends up in chaos. How do we start to bring those different systems into a rhythm so that we can have regular periods that are having ovulatory cycles so we know when we should be trying to get pregnant, and so that after we’ve been trying to get pregnant, that the environment is conducive to implantation and carrying a healthy pregnancy to term.

With PCOS, we know that androgens are a problem. We can take the PCOS root cause quiz and learn how each root cause is maybe affecting us more than another. Then it’s really important to start tracking. As we begin the process of improving our fertility naturally, it’s not something that’s going to happen quickly. Each follicle takes about three months to even be ready for its turn to be matured for the month. When we start thinking about how long it really takes to start optimizing our fertility, we’re thinking a minimum of three months, probably a little bit more, to really get our body ready for that and side note, and I’m sorry to disappoint, fertility Fertility treatments don’t really help you any faster. In fact, if anything, unless you were so close to your body was already doing all of this naturally, and you were just so close and you need this little tiny push over the edge, fertility treatments aren’t really going to be as beneficial as we want them to be. Because in PCOS, we’re in this chaotic hormonal. It’s not like we’re ovulating but it’s not strong enough or that we just need a little extra progesterone. We haven’t reached that point yet. We’re still under chaos and when we’re under chaos, we need to start to address those root causes first. As we start addressing those root causes, I highly recommend you start tracking.

If it doesn’t drive you completely insane to start tracking, if you can track your basal body temperature, that’s the one I would like you to track, it’s so much more helpful. At the beginning, it’s going to be chaos. It’s not going to look like anything like it’s supposed to. It’s going to look like everything’s a mess. You’re not going to have any pattern. That’s what you want to see because you want to see where you started. Then you may start to see a little bit of a pattern. Now, it may not be as much as you want it to be, but if you don’t start tracking till four months in when nothing has been happening, you won’t know how far you’ve come that you went from other chaos to a slight pattern and so that slight pattern can be very discouraging after four months of hard work but if you have that slight pattern starting at four months after several months of charting chaos, all of a sudden, that little bit of a pattern is actually quite rewarding. So that’s where starting to chart, but don’t get too excited about it. Don’t get too upset or don’t get too invested in trying to make a pattern where there isn’t one. It’s more just so that in a couple of months, you can look back and see the progress that you have made.

Then it’s about prepping your body for sustaining a healthy pregnancy. As we start to see those trends and what you’re tracking, we want to be supporting your root cause hormone so that you are having a high enough progesterone so that you are having the nice LH surge to allow ovulation. What happens is as you’re doing that, those cycles feed off of each other. Every time you have the ovulation occur, even if it’s not quite enough to really be a full ovulation, in other words, you have a slight surge, all of those hormone responses, even if they’re not as strong as we would want them to be, they do have a little of a downhill or a continued effect on the next phase. The more times we go around this cycle and we have these phases playing off of the next phase to the next phase to the next phase of your cycle, the stronger each phase gets in and of itself, especially as you continue to support your body through the root cause healing, making care of what’s going on in your metabolic and endocrine health.

This brings me to one of the questions that I’ve been getting a lot is, if I’m trying to get pregnant, does it matter what my specific root cause is, or how do I take my specific root cause and then also focus on improving my fertility? And does that change what supplements I should take? Does it change how I should be eating throughout the month and things like that. The bottom line is it really doesn’t exactly change how that works. Basically, by improving your root cause hormones, so getting in there and improving your cortisol, your adrenal health, your insulin health, and decreasing your inflammation, and allowing your hormones to regulate and to improve any nutritional deficiencies and things like that, and creating a lifestyle bubble that promotes repair and relaxation and nurturing and nourishing your body and daily movement to help your body with all the benefits of exercise. These are the things that will ultimately improve your fertility. You don’t have to do anything massively different.

I do work with women who are purposely trying to get pregnant. We do have specific things that we’re tracking maybe a little bit more strictly or we’re paying certain attention to more than we would if someone was trying to just increase their energy or to feel better in their body or to lose weight but ultimately, working with your root cause health allows all of these surface symptoms to start to optimize and improve themselves. So knowing what’s going on in your root causes, and you may have a couple, you may get to address all of the root causes on some level in order to improve your health but knowing which ones are your biggest bang for your buck, so to speak, are really, really, really, really helpful in allowing you to learn what you need and how you need to create your fertility path on your way to becoming a mommy.

As we wrap up today, I know this is a broad view, but really what I wanted you to take away from this episode today is that the excess androgens are messing with your cycle. That’s why you’re having your regular periods. Other people may be more concerned by the acne that it’s causing or the hair problems that it’s causing or the weight gain that it’s causing. If you’re trying to get pregnant, you’re more concerned about how it’s messing with your period. The first step really is, it’s almost always one of two hormones or both of these two hormones that are the problem and that is your LH is usually too high, and your progesterone may be too low. LH really has to do with the excess androgens, progesterone usually has to do with your lack of ovulation as well as high stress.

Reducing your response to stress, allowing your body to find more peace and calm, as well as addressing your root causes that are elevating that LH, is really going to be beneficial to your cycle and then starting to know when you’re ovulating, tracking what’s working, seeing that improvement through tracking your BBT. A couple of ways you can do that, you can take your temperature yourself. There’s a couple of different devices that will take it for you. You want to get something that’s relatively accurate because there’s nothing more frustrating when you’re already trying to stare at this chart and try to make sense of it and try to somehow see a pattern in it that you want to your data is a little fuzzy because your device that you’re measuring your temperature with isn’t great. So you do want to get a good device.

There’s different options out there. There’s ovusense sense, there’s the Aura ring, there’s just a good old thermometer with, ideally, two decimal points of reading, so it’ll give you something like 97.89 as compared to just 0.9 and then you can also do some Apple watches, we’ll do that as well. If you don’t mind wearing your Apple watch at night. Your sleep is very important, so choose something that’s not annoying to you while you’re sleeping or somehow buzzing or causing alarms, like little dings and reminders to go off while you’re sleeping. We don’t want to disrupt your sleep, especially when we’re trying to optimize fertility. Then all of the things that you’re doing to help repair your cycle are also going to be so helpful as you begin your pregnancy. They’re going to help to reduce your chance of complications and your chance of any problems throughout pregnancy and help you carry a healthy baby to term. So lots of benefits there as well.

Then just that there’s really… I’ve had this question a lot. Is there a difference of what I need to do if I’m trying to get pregnant, or is it different things that I do to manage my root cause is if I’m not trying to get pregnant? Essentially, they’re the same things we track and pay attention to different things, depending on what your goals are but insulin or inflammation or stress pretty much get addressed a similar way and so hopefully that sheds some light on the steps of what you’re looking at as you optimize your fertility and if you have any questions or I’ve been getting so many ideas in my DMs about different podcasts people want me to do, I’ll try to answer some of them even on my Instagram page. So be sure to follow me over on Instagram @nourishedtohealthy and subscribe to the podcast because there’s lots of episodes coming up that were inspired by questions that I’ve been getting in my DMs and as always, I really welcome you to leave me messages in my DMs over on Instagram. Sometimes it takes me a couple of days to get back to you because I’ve been getting many, many, many DMs a day and so it gets a little busy in the chats over there and sometimes if I somehow missed your message, please feel free to ask it again or say, Hey, just following up on this, because I’m not trying to ignore anyone over there in my messages, but it does get a little busy in my chat over there, especially after episodes like today where I’m just going to bring up certain questions for you, feel free to jump over there on Instagram and start a conversation with me. I’d love to hear from you.

So with that, I will say goodbye for now and same time, same place next week. All right. Bye for now.

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About Show

Welcome to The PCOS Repair Podcast!

I’m Ashlene Korcek, and each week I’ll be sharing the latest findings on PCOS and how to make practical health changes to your lifestyle to repair your PCOS at the root cause.

If you’re struggling with PCOS, know that you’re not alone. In fact, it’s estimated that one in ten women have PCOS. But the good news is that there is a lot we can do to manage our symptoms and live healthy, happy lives.

So whether you’re looking for tips on nutrition, exercise, supplements, or mental health, you’ll find it all here on The PCOS Repair Podcast. Ready to get started? Hit subscribe now