Introduction

Hello, and welcome to my new blog! I am, as you've probably discovered by now, a young lady with PCOS (and possibly IBS) who is trying very hard to get well. A short medical history: I have always had painful cycles, but when I was around 14, they stopped altogether. I didn't think much of it at the time, and I figured it was due to strict dieting and lots vigorous exercise. But after 9 months of no cycle, I knew something was wrong. It all came to a head when I was spending a nice afternoon at my brother's house: I was coloring with my little niece, when out of nowhere, I felt a stabbing pain in my left side. I was doubled over and could not move, and I could hardly breath. The pain lasted about an hour and a half, and by the time I was taken to the emergency room, it had subsided to a dull ache. They did an ultrasound, and discovered that a large cyst had ruptured on my left ovary. Funny, I didn't even know such a thing was possible. I was sent home, and told to rest for a few days. I had occasional brief stabbing pains over the next few weeks, and eventually, another big cyst rupture. Obviously, something was wrong. I was gaining weight very quickly (not at all normal for me), I was tired and emotional, and just felt BAD. I decided to see a gynecologist to figure out what was going on with my body.

After some blood work, I was diagnosed with PCOS, and my gyn put me on Prometrium (progesterone). The side effects (dizziness, stomach pain, fatigue) were somewhat masked at first because I took it right before going to bed. However, they were still noticeable. So, in a nutshell, I am literally SICK of this medication, and I don't ever want to take it again. However, the PCOS is not going to magically disappear (ohhhh, how I wish it would....). So I have to figure out some other way to control my PCOS and make sure it does not escalate into something worse.

I recently came across this website: http://www.ovarian-cysts-pcos.com/ After reading the feedback from other women who had read the book advertised on that site, I became very excited, thinking there might be some hope! My book arrived a couple days ago, and I immediately started the diet. It is entirely gluten-free, dairy-free, and sugar-free. (In other words, total deprivation.)

So far, I've been on it for two days, and I already feel like I'm going to fall apart. I'm constantly hungry, dizzy with a headache, light-headed. Hopefully these are just nasty withdrawal symptoms from carbs, sugar, etc.

I will be recording my progress (weight loss, symptoms, etc) on this blog.

Thanks for reading!

~Erin