to feel patronised and judged by this nurse.

[watchoutforthatsnail]

I have pcos. I am on the pill to help control the symptoms. Last time I saw my doctor she gave me a years worth and promised she would never take me off it. I take it for pcos more than contreception, since ive been single for over 3 years.

In feb I went for my review appt where the nurse told me I needed to lose weigh. She would only give me 3 months worth and told me to come back. That was awful enough, she did acknowledge that I was fighting a loosing battle with it though.

I tried to view this postively, as had already started a diet and was cal counting on my fitness pal. At 1200 cals a day, I should have lost 1.4 lbs a week.

Weight loss is harder and slower with pcos. But I was hoping to get there.

As with a lot of people with pcos, I have disorted eating, and in futuile attempts to lose weigh I do cut my cals to 500 or so a day, that maybe, if I'm luckly let me lose 2 lbs a week. The doctors know this. My weight goes up and down by 2 stone yearly, because you can't substaine that kind of diet.

I don't want to keep doing that, I want to break the cycle, so vowed to stay away from the scales so I don't get disheartned, and just log my cals. I figure slow weight loss, but ill get there. There have been a few days each week where I've been 800 cals, but ive tried so hard to get it back to 1200.

I saw the nurse today. I have gained 2 lbs. She pulled a face at me and told me I wasn't trying hard enough. I burst into tears, because I am, and I have. Ive been on no carbs, lean protein, veg, no sugar for 4 months, and I've gained.
She told me Im not doing it right and questioned if I exercised. I do. Lots.
I offered to show her my Eating logs, she didn't want to know, just told me to get my weight down because I'm too heavy.
I asked her what I should do and she said she didn't know.

The worse thing is, if she takes the pills off me I'm less able to do anything About my weight, and balloon. And end up hsvibg to shave my face twice a day, and other awful things.

She's refered me back to my.doctor, but in the meatime I'm to ' try harder'

:(

Worra, she is already doing what you suggest, swimming a mile a week, walking the dog, cycling, low GI etc

morloth - thanks :) really, thanks.

i am REALLY trying to sort my head out with it, and beat it. hence the whole thing since jan. and i know i need to accept ill always be fat, and thats fine, it doesnt define me.

and ill see the doctor and go from there.

its just, i dont know, its al there in my notes. i just think she could have handled it differently and not looked down her nose at me. If i let it, i could end up a state and not eating, as has happened so many times before. But im not going to do that this time, as you say, fuck the nurse.

So pick a method that makes you feel OK and stick with that. Being fat shouldn't destroy your soul, its just fat.

It doesn't have to have so much power.

:) thank you. sat here in tears now.

PCOS is utterly shit. I havent read the whole thread but that nurse is an uninformed witch.

Have you tried a trial of Metformin? I found it REALLY helpful in controling my PCOS like symptoms (never offically diagnosed but strongly suspected). I lost an enormous amount of weight on it and managed to get pregnant which was my main goal. It helps in two ways, resensitizing your body to insulin thus stopping the sugar spiral and thus the wacky hormones and alters your ability to eat carby foods (they will not agree with you any more, therefor forcing you to eat protien foods).

See if GP can refer you to an endocrinologist but if he cant (or wont) he should still be able to write you a script for metformin if you can convince him/her.

I have PCOS too. I found I actually lost weight off the Pill. In literally fell off me in a matter of weeks.

In your shoes I would definitely give metformin a go. I have been offered it but haven't tried it yet. The slow release stuff is supposed to be easier on the system but is not routinely offered because it is more expensive.

i havent, but ive never asked for it and noones offered it to me.

Im going to ask for it. It might help, even a little?

i cant come off the pill because it controls the other symptoms and i dont want to be shaving my face twice a day.
:(

just checked and ive actually only gained 0.7 of a pound, which isnt anything, is it.

AND, that my pill is ok, being prescribed by a doc with a bmi up to 35. which im not near at all. so the nurse was talking shit and it should be ok.

can i have metformin AND the pill though?

I'm a steady size eight....have been for years....wiry, put muscle on easy (bear with me......I'm saying this for a reason).
I HATE sugar and carbs! Years ago (I'm 41) I worked out that if I didn't want to be snapping, shaking and sweating half an hour after eating something really carby, I'd have to balance it out with protein.
If I want a snack, I'll have a piece of cheese rather than a biscuit......eye bread instead of wheat.....I prefer veg to fruit, as you get your fibre and nutrients without a great whack of sugar.
I'm fortunate in that my hormones are fine (although I too have familial hypercholesterolaemia, like a PP's DH).
These are little changes you can make in addition to your meds.....you sound v fit (swim a mile in 45 mins!!!!!), and like you know what to do with food, but yoy've been in "fire-fighting" mode for years.
I like what another poster said "it's only fat"......slow it all down, try some different meds (and a different nurse.....the caaaaaah) and try to remove the EMOTION from this.
Also.....to second, third and fourth (as it were) what others have said, get a good brekkie down ya! That's the biggest change I'd make.....straight off.
Just over-ride the bloody nurse, she can knob off. You know more about PCOS than she does!
It's a new month, get crackin'!!!!!

I've heard good things about Metformin....if you haven't given it a bash, ask for it. Do you think you haven't been offered of because you seemed to be holding your own with food and exercise? It might be the answer.

Metformin is a pill for diabetics, it originally had nothing to do with conception or PCOS, it's just that during trials, the researchers noticed it had beneficial effects on diabetics because of the way it works.

There should not be a contraindication with the pill. Your GP may be willing to write you a private prescription - I paid about £28 for 3 months worth.

Muller lights are full of sugar. You said you dont eat low fat but they are, I wonder how many other sugar packed, low fat foods you're eating without realising

How long do you stick at one diet/exercise regime? Sometimes these things can take a few weeks before they make any difference. I know I give up too easily sometimes and when you dont get the instant 'rewards' for all the hard work you do it can be very demoralising

The nurse was an unhelpful cow though!

they are the lowest sugar ones i can find... its the only thing with sugar i tend to have all day really.

i should have eggs, but i like them for lunch.

everything else i eat comes in its raw state and i cook it. ie , its just veg and meat, or fish.

muffinh - this has been for months. so a little more than a few weeks :)

mini - thanks - i bloody do know about food and exercise :) i just cant fix it with food, or fire fighting, as you put it :)

oh - im not agruing that clinically she might have done. just she didnt have to be so rude and patronising about it. And had she of read my notes, then she might have handled it differently. maybe.

Watchout - have you thought about making your own yoghurt? You can get a starter culture and make your own, it's cheaper and you'd be better able to control the sugar in it. :)

www.makingyourown.co.uk/make-your-own-yoghurt.html

what - you will have we weaving lentils next!!!!

Hugs, I posted a lot of faces on behalf of my my DM, for weight and unhelpful HPs.

I need to loose weight, but have zero will power.

I don't think lentil-weaving would help you as much as homemade yoghurt

I have PCOS. I can only lose weight if I eat around 800 calories aday. I exercise for an hour 5 days a week at least. I understand your pain- dieticians and GPs insist you are cheating when you're not. I found it easier to lose weight when I was on Metformin but it also gave me terrible diarrhea and also seemed to lower my bp. I lost lots of weight but I felt awful.
I came off it when I got pregnant and put on loads of weight again despite eating and exercising the same. I couldn't bear to go back on the metformin and I don't think my battered pelvic floor could take the constant diarrhea.
I have lost some of the weight but it seems to work best if I diet for 2 weeks, eat 'normally' for a week, diet for 2 weeks. I think it keeps your metabolism up. I found non carb diets useless. I put weight on with weight watchers and slimming world.
I don't weigh myself anymore as I was getting totally depressed. It is rubbish but you are not alone.
I found porridge to be my firend

is it worth it, for the side effects? i supose i can only give it a go? did you get it from your doctor?

i dont weight myself either, else i get depressed and stop eating in a bid to see the number come down quicker. The nurse told me off for not weighing myself too....

its hard, it helps to know others have experienced the same thing and know exactly how i feel. the eating so little and exercising and doing it all right, and then people sitting there and telling you its not enough.

i feel a bit better.
not much, but a bit, and like mor says ' so what if im a bit fatter' i think thats the thing, i just need to accept it, and bollocks to everyone else.

My mother is on metformin for type 2 diabetes and she had no side effects at all. The diarrhea I got was awful but I managed to control it after a month or so. The low bp thing was just peculiar to me I think as I have lowish bp anyway. You still have to diet but it helps you lose weight slowly when you might not otherwise. I got mine from the gynae as I was trying to conceive but your GP should be able to prescribe it for you. if not ask to be refferred.
The gynae was great he told me it is an evolutionary throwback- people with the PCOS metabolic thing are basically built for survivng famines as their bodies are more efficient at extracting energy from food, storing it as fat and holding on to it longer and so they can reproduce even when food is in short supply. Therefore great when there is a famine but rubbish in the21st century. He told me I could extract the same energy from a lettuce leaf that someone else could get from a cream bun- an exaggeration obviously. He also told me it wasn't my fault I was fat as I waas doing the right things but struggling. Him telling me that freed me from the guilt and shame I felt at not being able to be thin.

Just came on to say about endocrinology referral/metformin, and see loads of others have too :)

I don't have PCOS myself but used to work with lots of patients who did and some of them were really helped with metformin.

Also the consultant gynaecologist I worked for used to tell PCOS patients to concentrate on eating well, exercising and as long as their BMI was under 35 he was happy, so there are HCPs out there who understand a bit.

There really doesn't seem to be a "magic bullet" for controlling weight with PCOS, I have met people who have done really well with Slimming World and others who found low carbing worked well for them, but it does seem to be more about not gaining than losing,

My friend's sister swears by Jillian Michael's (of Shred fame!) metabolism book, she has PCOS and lost a couple of stone after reading this which she's kept off. I know she eats a lot of "windy" veg but she says it's worth it as she feels great and is a size 16, might be worth a look?

argh I also meant to say stuff that nurse, she's not very nice.

x posts with albert I wonder if your gynae is the one i worked for!

I would recommend writing to the practice manager, explaining why you're upset about the nurse. It could be annonymous. I wouldn't be aggressive; just assertively point out about patient care and listening to an individual and not criticising patients etc.