PCOS, high cortisol - can diet and exercise really 'rebalance your hormones'?

[sunsouttoothout]

It's something that I've seen coming up on my Tik Tok quite a lot - women with PCOS or high cortisol giving advice on how to rebalance your hormones. Simple things like making sure you get morning sunlight and go to bed at the same time each time to help your circadian rhythm, replacing intense cardio workouts with gentler exercises like long walks and pilates and a lot of emphasis on not eating food that spikes your blood sugar levels.

It interests me because I definitely feel like there is something unbalanced with my hormones. I'm in my late 20s and have never had a baby and have regular periods. However I have excess belly fat, stretch marks, excessive chin hair that I have to pluck and shave daily and around once a week or so at around 4pm my blood sugar levels will really dip and my hands will shake and I feel like I could collapse until I eat something sugary. I have anxiety and multiple times a day will have a surge of adrenaline in my chest/stomach, and I get stress hives pretty much daily. I had a full blood count recently and all came back normal. I feel like it's not worth pressing the GP about it

Does anyone relate?

I get shakes like that, when I don't drink enough water and I eat a carb/ sugar heavy diet with not enough protein.

I definitely think there's something in it.

Yep my body crashed. I do lots of exercise. Running half marathons and probably a marathon this year. It’ll be my last. I get high cortisol, pile on the weight. Lose it all when I do something like resistance band workouts and stick to a strict anti inflammatory diet. I feel a million times better doing that, all the issues go away. So it’s my final year running. Will stick to hiking and my band exercises.

I have recently started taking Hormonal Balance capsules as I have always felt I have excess androgens and my diet isn't great, they have some very good reviews from women with PCOS and other hormonal related symptoms . I have only taken them for a week so far however my skin on my face has cleared up a little already and my period which started yesterday is not as painful as.it usually is by now, so I'm looking forward to finishing the course

These are the ones I bought

https://www.myvitamins.com/articles/nutrition/what-is-hormone-balance-and-what-does-it-do/?affil=thgppc&gclid=Cj0KCQjwsIejBhDOARIsANYqkD2OLqsTg92EfcpsJNtaH9GGvZH5rR73WZNwDnCd6b2bFabbcGghTdQaAtGUEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

Have you had a PCOS panel done by your GP? An FBC alone won’t show these things. And btw you can still have PCOS even if your periods are regular.

I have PCOS and take myo inositol to lower testosterone which you can buy online. I did a lot of scholarly research on it beforehand. Three months after I started taking it I noticed the few persistant dark hairs I had stopped growing and so far haven’t come back (I’m seven months in) so I assume my testosterone level has gone down although haven’t had a blood test to confirm (GPs don’t seem to like to test again). I’ve also noticed a reduction in sugar cravings and the shakes I’d get early evening. I still have the belly fat (although I’m slim) - but this isn’t necessarily a symptom of PCOS. I wouldn’t recommend taking myo inositol without first speaking to a GP as if your testosterone is within the normal range it’s not a good idea to take something that’s going to lower it.

Talk to your GP about PCOS they don't necessarily do anything much but it can be really useful to have a diagnosis. I had a scan to confirm.

I feel embarrassed to go to the GP about it, I'm not sure why as I've had to go for other embarrassing reasons. I think it's the excessive hair growth, it destroyed my self-esteem as a teenager.

I think it would help for me to lose weight. I hold my weight quite well that GPs just presume I'm just slightly overweight but my BMI is 31, so I'm actually obese.

Possibly the most useful thing to understand about PCOS (and I'm not qualified to say you have it but its certainly possible) is that there's a feedback loop kind of situation, your chemistry is out of whack which makes it more likely for you to put on weight rather than convert it to energy, which makes your chemistry more out of whack.

If you exercise and eat well it can go a long way to unwinding this destructive feedback loop and, once unwound, you can begin to lose weight. So getting to a place where you are losing even small amounts of weight is very beneficial but the weight loss isn't what causes you to be healthier iyswim it's more a noticeable side effect. (note losing weight is healthier for other reasons too just speaking about pcos for a minute)

Honestly don’t be embarrassed. It’s more common than you think.

One of the things the gynae (who was a PCOS specialist) stressed to me was cutting down on carbs. Carbs fuel insulin which in turn leads to increased testosterone due to insulin resistance found with PCOS. I’m a low BMI (21), supposedly ‘lean PCOS’ but there’s debate about what this actually means and whether excess weight gain/difficulty losing weight is a result of the feedback loop. But despite being low BMI, the gynae said that even if I increased a couple of points on the scale to a BMI of 23, this would negatively affect my symptoms and therefore need to make an effort not to gain weight.

I haven’t cut carbs completely, I’ve just modified my diet somewhat. I’ve cut down on bread and stopped buying biscuits. I avoid sugary desserts now and try to make my plate 1/2 veg, 1/4 protein and 1/4 rice/potato. If it’s PCOS, things should improve with exercise, weight loss and healthy eating.

If I were you I’d go back to your GP and mention the hair growth, ask for a PCOS panel and also some help with losing weight if you think you need it. Good luck