[Mini] New to PCOS? | Ep. 55

This is a mini episode about PCOS and will be a good intro for you if you have irregular cycles and/or signs of high androgens like midsection weight retention, unwanted facial hair, or acne. Check out Ep. 54 for the longer form version of this episode.

Let me know what you think about these mini episodes! It's something new I'm trying so you have the chance to hear the topic again (we're all multitasking adults and need a bit of repetition in our lives) or in case you just want to cut straight to the point. DM me on Instagram @bridgetwalton or rate/review the show. 

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Chapters

• 0:02 Understanding PCOS and Managing Symptoms
• 7:51 Exploring Non-Hormonal PCOS Management

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:02

Hey and welcome to this week's episode of I'm Hormonal. This is the mini episode for this week, so we are going to be just touching on the points that I mentioned earlier on PCOS and where you might want to start. So if you are a girly who has irregular menstrual cycles, maybe you have suspicions that you have PCOS, or maybe you know it and you're like okay, what direction can I go in? First, what is important for me? What should I learn more about? Then this will be a good recap episode for you. If this piques your interest, then definitely go back and check out the longer episode that came out on Tuesday earlier this week, so I'll jump into this in just a second. First, though, I want to say, hey, my name is Bridget Walton. I am the host here of I'm Hormonal, so thank you so much for sticking with me here.

Speaker 1: 0:52

As always, I need to remind you that this information is for educational purposes only. It should not be used as a replacement for any sort of medical diagnosis, medical advice or other tailored advice that you would get working one-on-one with a certified practitioner. So let's jump into the good stuff for today, talking about PCOS, which is polycystic ovary syndrome. This is a syndrome that affects up to 15% of menstruators. So, if not you, maybe one of your girls or your sister somebody in your sphere anyway might be impacted by this. So what is it? Poly meaning multiple cysts on your ovaries. It's a syndrome that can prevent regular ovulation. There are a couple of hallmark characteristics that your doctor would use to diagnose you with this, if that's your journey or your situation, and so they would be looking for multiple cysts on your ovaries. They'd be looking for high levels of androgens, which are your hormones, like testosterone, and they would also be looking for irregular or anovulatory cycles Anovulatory meaning you're not ovulating in every cycle.

Speaker 1: 2:08

Now I want to encourage you to really investigate what is the root cause or the driver of your PCOS. Maybe this is something that you're talking with your provider about, because lab testing can aid you in making conclusions about some of these. But let's look at what are the four root causes or drivers that you'll want to get familiar with. First, there's insulin resistance. Second, inflammation. Third, post-birth control and fourth, adrenal PCOS. So if you are really understanding which one of these is most relevant for you, it will help you to better tailor your protocol, your plan, whatever you're doing to manage your symptoms. So I'll go through each of these quickly.

Speaker 1: 2:59

Insulin resistance is going to be well. What is insulin? Insulin is the hormone our body produces in response to elevated levels of blood sugar, to help bring that glucose into our cells and actually use it. Now, if we have a pattern of overdoing it with sugars or an array of other circumstances that can lead us to insulin resistance, it's not something that happens in one day, it can happen over time, surely. But addressing insulin resistance, focusing on regulating your blood sugar levels, that's going to be an important place to start for insulin resistant driven PCOS. Next, inflammation can certainly impact ovulation, because when we are inflamed right so this could be from stress, from interactions with endocrine disrupting chemicals. Also, high insulin levels can be inflammatory. But if you're having inflammation in the body, then that can drive up androgens, which I had mentioned earlier as one of the key characteristics for PCOS, and so bringing down that inflammation will be what you want to do, of course, if this is your driver.

Speaker 1: 4:12

Next, post-birth control. Pcos is pretty straightforward. When you are taking certain types of hormonal birth control, that can, of course, artificially bring your androgen levels down low. Once you stop taking that birth control, then your body wants to overcorrect, overcompensate for that, and it is just cranking out the androgens, and so that's also what can cause acne, facial hair. Weight gain is another thing, too that is often accompanying PCOS, although certainly it's possible to have PCOS and not be overweight or have that unnecessary or, I guess, undesired weight gain or weight retention. Now, the last one I'll mention here is certainly the least common, but adrenal PCOS, meaning that your adrenal glands, which produce a lot of those androgens, need a little bit more love, and so well, they need a little bit more love so they can a more optimal amount of those androgens for you. So those are the four types of PCOS drivers. Focus on which one of those is most relevant to you so you can get the right plan that works for you.

Speaker 1: 5:25

Now let's talk about, though, overall, what can well probably most people, but also you, if you have PCOS you want to think about or learn more about, talk about with your doctor First, would be quitting sugar. Now, it doesn't have to be perfect, it doesn't have to be all or nothing, but saying how can I eliminate, reduce the amount of sugar that I am eating, of course, how can you support more stable blood sugar levels? You can check out other podcasts that I have done on blood sugar regulation. Also, glucose Goddess is a really well-known, popular gal. She has an Instagram that you can look up at Glucose Goddess and a couple of good books that I always recommend to my clients if you're trying to understand what blood sugar is, understand why it's important to focus on, and she really gives some good step-by-steps.

Speaker 1: 6:21

Another thing you'll want to focus on is getting good quality sleep. Now, I know that this isn't rocket science, but if you're not getting enough sleep, then that can exacerbate, yes, your blood sugar situation. It also can increase your stress levels, your blood sugar situation. It also can increase your stress levels, and so when stress is higher, when our cortisol hormone is higher, that also can have an impact on ovulation. Right, because stress is another form of inflammation. You see how these are all kind of related, right? Inflammation, insulin resistance, sleep it all goes together. Right? Our body is working as one big system. There's no silos here. It's not together. Right, our body is working as one big system. There's no silos here. It's not going to be one piece or the other.

Speaker 1: 7:04

Another thing you'll want to focus on is starting to work towards eating a whole food diet, so avoiding and eliminating processed foods. How can you focus on the most nutritious and varied meals that you can? The last thing I want to mention and then we will split for this episode is that there are different types of supplements and herbs that you can take in order to support your body in managing your PCOS. So this is something that you definitely will want to work with your doctor on, work with your provider on, but know that there are studies that show that, like berberine, for example, can be equally as effective as metformin, if not more effective. So that's the super short version. There's way more to dig into there.

Speaker 1: 7:51

But know that your only option is not going on hormonal birth control right, that's what a lot of gals are told, and for some people maybe that'll work. But if you want to manage your PCOS in a different way, bring your irregular cycles back to some level of normality, then there are different vitamins and supplements and herbs out there that can help you reach that regularity and reach better balance. So that's it for today. Thank you for listening to this mini episode. If you like these mini episodes, I would be really grateful if you wouldn't mind to just leave a quick review rate and review the podcast or whatever platform you are listening on. I will see you here for the next one. Until then, be well.