Hi Graciemeow,

I posted a link of a scientific study in WishCleans topic on inositol about how the birth control pill can lead to issues with insulin, it's probably a few pages back, you might find it interesting.

I also believe the birth control pill exacerbated my issues, I went from non-inflamed acne to nodular acne post-pill.

I see on your signature that you are no longer taking DIM, may I ask why? Ive just started it myself.

Hello Everyone!

So most of you will be aware that the diagnosis for Polycystic Ovaries can be confusing and depends on a lot of symptoms (which may not all be present) and factors (such as which Doctor you see) etc. For example, I was diagnosed over a year ago because my blood tests showed that my testosterone levels were too high and my periods were very irregular (and I suffer with acne which was my biggest/main concern) however when I had my ultrasound there was only one small cyst which they deemed 'not clinically significant'. Apparantly many women have cysts present on thier ovaries from time to time but these come and go. I don't have a problem with my weight or hirtuism. I know a lot of you out there suspect you may have PCOS but Doctors may not diagnose you with it, or maybe you are in the same situation as me where you have been diagnosed but do not display all of the classic PCOS symptoms. Anyway, I've been doing a lot of research and I recently came across this site:

http://www.sensible-alternative.com.au/female-hormones/polycystic-ovarian-syndrome

Which discusses that there are actually two type of PCOS.

Type 1 was mainly focused on insulin resistance, which is believed to be the main underlying cause of PCOS. However the one which interested me the most was 'Type 2' PCOS which is described as non-insulin reistant PCOS and is thought to be caused by the following:

• Elevated LH from Post-pill syndrome (see above)
• (I am going to do more research on this and also try and find out how long this can last for because I am convinced that going on the contraceptive pill made all my hormonal issues worse)
• Vitamin D deficiency
• Iodine deficiency
• Hormone-disruping toxins such as BPA
• Adrenal stress which disrupts ovulation (see Stress article, Low Blood Pressure article, and Sleep article)
• Thyroid disease
• Insufficient of dietary fat.
• Leptin deficiency. (Leptin is a hormone secreted by fat, and can be deficient, especially if there is a history of an eating disorder.)

The suggested treatments for these are as follows:

• Do not take the birth control pill
• Iodine and vitamin D to promote normal ovulation.
• Detoxify to remove hormone disrupting chemicals.
• Avoid cow's milk to reduce inflammation and clear acne
• Magnesium and zinc to block testosterone.
• Peony & Licorice herbal formula to lower testosterone, bring on the periods, and alleviate acne and facial hair.
• The herbal medine Vitex (Chaste tree) should NOT be used, especially if LH is elevated. It will worsen symptoms.

Although vitex is described on many sites as 'hormone balancing', this could explain why some people's acne worses on Vitex. I am also going to do more research on this as my blood tests stated that my LH was elevated, yet chaste tree seems to work well for me.

• Tribulus herbal medicine.
• Indole-3-carbinol to assist with oestrogen metabolism and clearance

Which explains why a lot of people have success with DIM

• Natural Progesterone to suppress LH secretion (from the pituitary) and allow ovulation to occur.

PCOS is as complicated to treat as it is to diagnose. A lot of medications that doctors prescribe only deal with type one PCOS which is mainly concerned with insulin resistance - or they just prescribe a birth control pill hoping that that will mask all symptoms. However, it is clear that these medications do not always work as the complexity of PCOS is not taken into consideration, or they are not a long-term option. I hope this helps! Still doing a lot of research on the topic myself but I thought I would share x

Hi Graciemeow,

I posted a link of a scientific study in WishCleans topic on inositol about how the birth control pill can lead to issues with insulin, it's probably a few pages back, you might find it interesting.

I also believe the birth control pill exacerbated my issues, I went from non-inflamed acne to nodular acne post-pill.

I see on your signature that you are no longer taking DIM, may I ask why? Ive just started it myself.

Hello Everyone!

So most of you will be aware that the diagnosis for Polycystic Ovaries can be confusing and depends on a lot of symptoms (which may not all be present) and factors (such as which Doctor you see) etc. For example, I was diagnosed over a year ago because my blood tests showed that my testosterone levels were too high and my periods were very irregular (and I suffer with acne which was my biggest/main concern) however when I had my ultrasound there was only one small cyst which they deemed 'not clinically significant'. Apparantly many women have cysts present on thier ovaries from time to time but these come and go. I don't have a problem with my weight or hirtuism. I know a lot of you out there suspect you may have PCOS but Doctors may not diagnose you with it, or maybe you are in the same situation as me where you have been diagnosed but do not display all of the classic PCOS symptoms. Anyway, I've been doing a lot of research and I recently came across this site:

http://www.sensible-alternative.com.au/female-hormones/polycystic-ovarian-syndrome

Which discusses that there are actually two type of PCOS.

Type 1 was mainly focused on insulin resistance, which is believed to be the main underlying cause of PCOS. However the one which interested me the most was 'Type 2' PCOS which is described as non-insulin reistant PCOS and is thought to be caused by the following:

• Elevated LH from Post-pill syndrome (see above)
• (I am going to do more research on this and also try and find out how long this can last for because I am convinced that going on the contraceptive pill made all my hormonal issues worse)
• Vitamin D deficiency
• Iodine deficiency
• Hormone-disruping toxins such as BPA
• Adrenal stress which disrupts ovulation (see Stress article, Low Blood Pressure article, and Sleep article)
• Thyroid disease
• Insufficient of dietary fat.
• Leptin deficiency. (Leptin is a hormone secreted by fat, and can be deficient, especially if there is a history of an eating disorder.)

The suggested treatments for these are as follows:

• Do not take the birth control pill
• Iodine and vitamin D to promote normal ovulation.
• Detoxify to remove hormone disrupting chemicals.
• Avoid cow's milk to reduce inflammation and clear acne
• Magnesium and zinc to block testosterone.
• Peony & Licorice herbal formula to lower testosterone, bring on the periods, and alleviate acne and facial hair.
• The herbal medine Vitex (Chaste tree) should NOT be used, especially if LH is elevated. It will worsen symptoms.

Although vitex is described on many sites as 'hormone balancing', this could explain why some people's acne worses on Vitex. I am also going to do more research on this as my blood tests stated that my LH was elevated, yet chaste tree seems to work well for me.

• Tribulus herbal medicine.
• Indole-3-carbinol to assist with oestrogen metabolism and clearance

Which explains why a lot of people have success with DIM

• Natural Progesterone to suppress LH secretion (from the pituitary) and allow ovulation to occur.

PCOS is as complicated to treat as it is to diagnose. A lot of medications that doctors prescribe only deal with type one PCOS which is mainly concerned with insulin resistance - or they just prescribe a birth control pill hoping that that will mask all symptoms. However, it is clear that these medications do not always work as the complexity of PCOS is not taken into consideration, or they are not a long-term option. I hope this helps! Still doing a lot of research on the topic myself but I thought I would share x

Thank you Brenmc, is it on the 'inositols impact on hormonal acne' thread? I'll check it out. I was the same, only my acne worsened as soon as I went on the pill. The pill gave me my first experience of cystic acne (joy).

DIM...so basically, I started taking it (Natures Way) after reading all these rave reviews and also at a time when i was really suffering with my acne...but DIM was just another thing i added into my supplement regime along with vitex again, EPO, zinc, vitamin a, fish oil,then inositol...god it was just getting too much and my acne wasn't getting any better and all i was doing was researching things obsessivly and i was just getting stressed and I couldn't tell whether dim was actually helping at all (i took it for around two months) or just making things worse or what so i just cut down on everything. I didn't give it a fair whack to be fair as I was on so much stuff and I reckon it needs at least three months to kick in. In time I may try it again as I see a lot of people on line having positive results. How long have you been on it for? Have you seen any results?

also - do you think that post-pill syndrome is irreversable? or do you think the damage that the pill does to hormones is long-lasting and needs to be managed?

xx

Hi,

Yes, it's in the 'inositol's impact on hormonal acne' thread. I'd link you to it but I'm writing this on my cell phone, so it's a pain to go through all the pages on a little screen, but it wasn't that long ago, start at the most recent and work your way back.

I wonder if anything you were taking with the DIM worked against it? I know I breakout on fish oil pills, even the best quality ones. I've only been taking DIM for four days as of today. I'll be updating my progress on the 'Now What' thread.

I don't think it's reversible, sadly. I was off and on the pill from 16-26. I've now been off of the pill for four years and I still have acne.

But what do I know? Please keep researching this, if you find a way to reverse this post-pill hell I would be ecstatic!

How's your acne now?

B

 

 

Hi Graciemeow,

I posted a link of a scientific study in WishCleans topic on inositol about how the birth control pill can lead to issues with insulin, it's probably a few pages back, you might find it interesting.

I also believe the birth control pill exacerbated my issues, I went from non-inflamed acne to nodular acne post-pill.

I see on your signature that you are no longer taking DIM, may I ask why? Ive just started it myself.

 

 

 

Hello Everyone!

So most of you will be aware that the diagnosis for Polycystic Ovaries can be confusing and depends on a lot of symptoms (which may not all be present) and factors (such as which Doctor you see) etc. For example, I was diagnosed over a year ago because my blood tests showed that my testosterone levels were too high and my periods were very irregular (and I suffer with acne which was my biggest/main concern) however when I had my ultrasound there was only one small cyst which they deemed 'not clinically significant'. Apparantly many women have cysts present on thier ovaries from time to time but these come and go. I don't have a problem with my weight or hirtuism. I know a lot of you out there suspect you may have PCOS but Doctors may not diagnose you with it, or maybe you are in the same situation as me where you have been diagnosed but do not display all of the classic PCOS symptoms. Anyway, I've been doing a lot of research and I recently came across this site:

http://www.sensible-alternative.com.au/female-hormones/polycystic-ovarian-syndrome

Which discusses that there are actually two type of PCOS.

Type 1 was mainly focused on insulin resistance, which is believed to be the main underlying cause of PCOS. However the one which interested me the most was 'Type 2' PCOS which is described as non-insulin reistant PCOS and is thought to be caused by the following:

 

• Elevated LH from Post-pill syndrome (see above)
• (I am going to do more research on this and also try and find out how long this can last for because I am convinced that going on the contraceptive pill made all my hormonal issues worse)
• Vitamin D deficiency
• Iodine deficiency
• Hormone-disruping toxins such as BPA
• Adrenal stress which disrupts ovulation (see Stress article, Low Blood Pressure article, and Sleep article)
• Thyroid disease
• Insufficient of dietary fat.
• Leptin deficiency. (Leptin is a hormone secreted by fat, and can be deficient, especially if there is a history of an eating disorder.)

The suggested treatments for these are as follows:

 

• Do not take the birth control pill
• Iodine and vitamin D to promote normal ovulation.
• Detoxify to remove hormone disrupting chemicals.
• Avoid cow's milk to reduce inflammation and clear acne
• Magnesium and zinc to block testosterone.
• Peony & Licorice herbal formula to lower testosterone, bring on the periods, and alleviate acne and facial hair.
• The herbal medine Vitex (Chaste tree) should NOT be used, especially if LH is elevated. It will worsen symptoms.

Although vitex is described on many sites as 'hormone balancing', this could explain why some people's acne worses on Vitex. I am also going to do more research on this as my blood tests stated that my LH was elevated, yet chaste tree seems to work well for me.

 

• Tribulus herbal medicine.
• Indole-3-carbinol to assist with oestrogen metabolism and clearance

Which explains why a lot of people have success with DIM

 

• Natural Progesterone to suppress LH secretion (from the pituitary) and allow ovulation to occur.

PCOS is as complicated to treat as it is to diagnose. A lot of medications that doctors prescribe only deal with type one PCOS which is mainly concerned with insulin resistance - or they just prescribe a birth control pill hoping that that will mask all symptoms. However, it is clear that these medications do not always work as the complexity of PCOS is not taken into consideration, or they are not a long-term option. I hope this helps! Still doing a lot of research on the topic myself but I thought I would share x

 

Also, Graciemeow, do you have many of the symptoms of estrogen dominance?

http://www.highonhealth.org/is-estrogen-dominance-causing-your-acne/

Geoffrey Redmond has probably done more research on PCOS and related hormonal disorders in women than any endocrinologist today.

His website is: http://www.hormonehelpny.com/

He has several articles on there which you should definitely read. If you have access to medical journals, he also published a lot on the subject.

Great additional research, ladies! Are we past the point where we know more than endocrinologists about PCOS?

Hi,

Yes, it's in the 'inositol's impact on hormonal acne' thread. I'd link you to it but I'm writing this on my cell phone, so it's a pain to go through all the pages on a little screen, but it wasn't that long ago, start at the most recent and work your way back.

I wonder if anything you were taking with the DIM worked against it? I know I breakout on fish oil pills, even the best quality ones. I've only been taking DIM for four days as of today. I'll be updating my progress on the 'Now What' thread.

I don't think it's reversible, sadly. I was off and on the pill from 16-26. I've now been off of the pill for four years and I still have acne.

But what do I know? Please keep researching this, if you find a way to reverse this post-pill hell I would be ecstatic!

How's your acne now?

B

Hi Graciemeow,

I posted a link of a scientific study in WishCleans topic on inositol about how the birth control pill can lead to issues with insulin, it's probably a few pages back, you might find it interesting.

I also believe the birth control pill exacerbated my issues, I went from non-inflamed acne to nodular acne post-pill.

I see on your signature that you are no longer taking DIM, may I ask why? Ive just started it myself.

Hello Everyone!

So most of you will be aware that the diagnosis for Polycystic Ovaries can be confusing and depends on a lot of symptoms (which may not all be present) and factors (such as which Doctor you see) etc. For example, I was diagnosed over a year ago because my blood tests showed that my testosterone levels were too high and my periods were very irregular (and I suffer with acne which was my biggest/main concern) however when I had my ultrasound there was only one small cyst which they deemed 'not clinically significant'. Apparantly many women have cysts present on thier ovaries from time to time but these come and go. I don't have a problem with my weight or hirtuism. I know a lot of you out there suspect you may have PCOS but Doctors may not diagnose you with it, or maybe you are in the same situation as me where you have been diagnosed but do not display all of the classic PCOS symptoms. Anyway, I've been doing a lot of research and I recently came across this site:

http://www.sensible-alternative.com.au/female-hormones/polycystic-ovarian-syndrome

Which discusses that there are actually two type of PCOS.

Type 1 was mainly focused on insulin resistance, which is believed to be the main underlying cause of PCOS. However the one which interested me the most was 'Type 2' PCOS which is described as non-insulin reistant PCOS and is thought to be caused by the following:

• Elevated LH from Post-pill syndrome (see above)
• (I am going to do more research on this and also try and find out how long this can last for because I am convinced that going on the contraceptive pill made all my hormonal issues worse)
• Vitamin D deficiency
• Iodine deficiency
• Hormone-disruping toxins such as BPA
• Adrenal stress which disrupts ovulation (see Stress article, Low Blood Pressure article, and Sleep article)
• Thyroid disease
• Insufficient of dietary fat.
• Leptin deficiency. (Leptin is a hormone secreted by fat, and can be deficient, especially if there is a history of an eating disorder.)

The suggested treatments for these are as follows:

 

• Do not take the birth control pill
• Iodine and vitamin D to promote normal ovulation.
• Detoxify to remove hormone disrupting chemicals.
• Avoid cow's milk to reduce inflammation and clear acne
• Magnesium and zinc to block testosterone.
• Peony & Licorice herbal formula to lower testosterone, bring on the periods, and alleviate acne and facial hair.
• The herbal medine Vitex (Chaste tree) should NOT be used, especially if LH is elevated. It will worsen symptoms.

Although vitex is described on many sites as 'hormone balancing', this could explain why some people's acne worses on Vitex. I am also going to do more research on this as my blood tests stated that my LH was elevated, yet chaste tree seems to work well for me.

 

• Tribulus herbal medicine.
• Indole-3-carbinol to assist with oestrogen metabolism and clearance

Which explains why a lot of people have success with DIM

 

• Natural Progesterone to suppress LH secretion (from the pituitary) and allow ovulation to occur.

PCOS is as complicated to treat as it is to diagnose. A lot of medications that doctors prescribe only deal with type one PCOS which is mainly concerned with insulin resistance - or they just prescribe a birth control pill hoping that that will mask all symptoms. However, it is clear that these medications do not always work as the complexity of PCOS is not taken into consideration, or they are not a long-term option. I hope this helps! Still doing a lot of research on the topic myself but I thought I would share x

Thank you Brenmc, is it on the 'inositols impact on hormonal acne' thread? I'll check it out. I was the same, only my acne worsened as soon as I went on the pill. The pill gave me my first experience of cystic acne (joy).

DIM...so basically, I started taking it (Natures Way) after reading all these rave reviews and also at a time when i was really suffering with my acne...but DIM was just another thing i added into my supplement regime along with vitex again, EPO, zinc, vitamin a, fish oil,then inositol...god it was just getting too much and my acne wasn't getting any better and all i was doing was researching things obsessivly and i was just getting stressed and I couldn't tell whether dim was actually helping at all (i took it for around two months) or just making things worse or what so i just cut down on everything. I didn't give it a fair whack to be fair as I was on so much stuff and I reckon it needs at least three months to kick in. In time I may try it again as I see a lot of people on line having positive results. How long have you been on it for? Have you seen any results?

also - do you think that post-pill syndrome is irreversable? or do you think the damage that the pill does to hormones is long-lasting and needs to be managed?

xx

I'll find it and give it a good read 🙂 Regarding DIM, I'm just not sure. WishClean made a good point about me being on Dim Plus rather than just DIM so that could have been it. I just think that I was breaking out so badly all the time that nothing was helping for a while, and maybe I just attributed every new break out to anything new that I added in to my regime maybe. I forked out a good wad of GBP to import 'Estroblock' from the US when I was at my most desperate, but never got around to taking it as I dreaded the initial breakout that people were speaking about on the net. What brand of DIM are you taking? I'll keep checking in on your thread to see how you are doing. I know it may be too early to tell but how are you doing so far?

I will definatly continue researching this. I think I have accepted that I will always have to be on something to help kepe my hormones straight. Agnus Castus was doing a great job until I had a blip, I am getting back on track though now. At the moment...I daren't say it but my skin is doing so so well. I can hardly believe it. I had a small breakout this week because it is around my time of ovulation but these have been small, scant spots rather than the big cystic breakouts I was getting a few months back. I havn't worn make up in weeks. I think this is due to a combination of the agnus castus begining to really kick in along with the herbal mix a naturopath has mixed for me. But I am trying not to get too excited!

Also, Graciemeow, do you have many of the symptoms of estrogen dominance?

http://www.highonhealth.org/is-estrogen-dominance-causing-your-acne/

estrogen dominance symptoms...I have looked into this in the past but I only display a few. pcos being the main one along with cold hands and feet, anxiety (which I think is just caused by my bad skin) and sweet cravings. I'm not sure how many symptoms should be present before estrogen dominance is classed as the main thing to target, the symtoms of low progesterone resonated with me more (although I read estrogen dominance and low progesterone are actually the same thing?).

Geoffrey Redmond has probably done more research on PCOS and related hormonal disorders in women than any endocrinologist today.

His website is: http://www.hormonehelpny.com/

He has several articles on there which you should definitely read. If you have access to medical journals, he also published a lot on the subject.

thank you very much for this Green Gables!! Also it's good to know some people out there (aside from us) are researching this!

Great additional research, ladies! Are we past the point where we know more than endocrinologists about PCOS?

Wishclean you have hit the nail on the head there! x