Interview with a Cyster: Andrea’s PCOS Story!

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and use the code. The sisterhood one word for 10% of can I stop now? Nope. You got 30 more seconds. My own hands. And welcome sisters to another Episode of a sister and her mystery today. We’re chatting with Andrea, a fellow sister from the sisterhood, our monthly membership site, where she was able to learn how to manage her PCLs symptoms,

regulate her period and lose 20 pounds. Welcome Andrea. Welcome to the podcast. Hi guys. I’m so excited to be here. I’m kind of nervous, but I’m excited so much for joining us. This is going to be great. Yeah. And for those that aren’t in the sister just recently, Andrea Rowe, amazing given, ask where she explained her experience and her improvements with PCs and so much more.

We’re going to link that in the podcast description. So anybody who’s interested, they can, you can go ahead and read that, but Andrea, welcome to the podcast and we’re so happy to have you here. Tell us about your experience in the sisterhood and how that’s helped you with managing your symptoms before we launch into your PCLs story. Well, the sister had was,

it has been, I don’t know, it has been like a great gift to me because I’ll talk more about it later. But when I first got diagnosed with TCS, it felt like I was the only girl experiencing all of this crazy symptoms and nobody, none of my friends, none of my family knew what I was going through. And joining the sisterhood has been like,

I see a post of, is anybody struggling with this? I’m like, and then people still ask questions about things that I’ve been curious. And I haven’t really had the time to ask or I’m just like, it’s a double question. I not going to post it. But then someone asks and you and Dereck are always there to answer. And it’s like,

oh, well, I’m glad you asked about that. So it feels to me like world, seriously, we’re all in that together. We’re all like, oh, look what I found at this store. And it’s blue and dairy free and you can enjoy it for a treat or for breakfast. And it’s just like, oh, another idea that I can do my meal prep or things like that.

And yeah, I just love the fact that we have a very supportive community and that we have U2 to help us with that. So I, I am very appreciative of it. Thank you for that. We appreciate that. I think that’s what makes any community so powerful if it’s a sisterhood or if it’s something else, the power of a community, it just brings people together to ask any question because you’re all,

we’re all in the same boat. So when you ask the question, there’s no dumb question or there’s no question that might not be relevant. Like everybody’s majority of people are thinking the same thing. So I think that’s, like you said, it brings the whole community together and makes the progress a lot easier. So I’m so happy you feel the Same way.

Yes. It’s also awesome because I said too many people, I don’t think doctors know how to answer most of our questions because have asked them, they’re like, nah, I don’t know. And it’s like, I don’t know either their hood has been great because yeah, I’ve been through many doctors and found so many answers in a sisterhood that I didn’t have.

And then going from there, could you wanna, do you want to explain how you were diagnosed with right before the podcast, you were telling us a funny story of how you found us and the tech talk. The funny one that you found, but if you could just explain how you were diagnosed with PCs and what led you to basically look online to find like relevant information.

Yes. So I think it was in 2017. I just started gaining weight very rapidly. And I was always like going to the gym and I was always doing hit workouts, you know? And I just started gaining weight rapidly. And then my joints started hurting, like my knees. And I thought, I, I remember telling a friend, my knees hurt and she was like,

you shouldn’t check out if you’re developing arthritis. And I was like, oh my goodness, it’s so scary. But I was like, oh, well, it doesn’t hurt bad enough to go to the doctor. So I guess maybe for like me, I dunno, but I’m one of those persons where like, if I’m not dying, I’m I going to the doctor?

I don’t like it too much, but yeah. I just put it up and then my period went missing and that was like, Hmm, this is weird. I’m very regular. I don’t know what’s going on. So I told my mom, my mom was like, well, I don’t know. That’s weird right away. I took her away the pregnancy because I was not sexually active.

And I was like, well, I don’t know. Then it came back and it came back a bit crazy, not like normal. And then I got it. And then all of a sudden I didn’t have it for three months. And then all of a sudden I started having a period that lasted three months, three months bleeding. And I was like,

I went to many doctors and I was like, well, they couldn’t find any, they wanted to give me birth control and birth control. And I was like, I don’t know. And then I, I was kind of scared. I was like, isn’t cancer, you know, like that’s, this is not normal. And then you tell some people and nobody knows too much about PCLs.

So people rapidly come like you need to get checked and see if it’s this it’s just, it was just so frightening. Anyways, I went to the doctor in one of them were like the only way to control this is birth control. I was like, okay, I don’t want it, but I don’t want to be bleeding anymore. So it did it,

it did control it. And then I got married and I kept being on the pill. And after I wanna say a year or like, okay, let’s try for kids. Yeah. And I slowly started getting out of the pill and it’s like, okay, now hopefully it will get pregnant. And it’s like nothing, nothing. And then my periods got crazy again.

And then I was like, this is so weird. And I was so desperate and well then scrolling through Instagram, I was saying this to you guys before I’m a Christian. So I was praying about it cause I was very concerned and I present this to my God in prayer and all of a sudden I go to Instagram and I go to like explore tab.

And then I see those girls not being her husband, glass water from his head and says Avast at all. And I’m like, oh, this looks funny. You know, it looks like a content I’m going to click on it. And it said something like your caption was kind of like when your husband accidentally drank zero basketball back PCLs and blah, blah.

And then I started looking through your Instagram and I saw the graphics and like all the symptoms in graphics. And I was like, what is this? And I, I think I went through your whole feet. I’ve almost been asleep that night, just going through your whole feed, all your graphics and the symptoms and this and that. And I was just like,

this is what I have. And I was, I was certain, this is what I have. I know it, this is incredibly. And if it’s not, it’s ridiculous because it’s exactly what I’m going through. And I decided to, I said, I’m going to keep researching about PCs. And next step also, you’re, we’re always talking about gluten dairy,

free gluten dairy free. And I was like, you know what, I’m going to start doing it. And if I don’t have PCs, whatever, but if I do, I’m already starting the process and I’m a very radical person. So when I, I came to my fridge and I just threw everything, those area out, it’s all my husband,

sorry. And I just figure it out. And I there the gluten stuff out and I just cleaned my pantry. Cause if I have it in my pantry, I’m going to eat it. So I had to be radical. And I w I went that day to trader Joe’s and just got dairy and gluten free stuff. And I was like, okay,

here we go. We’ll see. And I also schedule an appointment with the BCU as, how do you say this specialist specialist? And I said, Hey, I don’t know if I have it, but these are my symptoms. She said, sure, come this day. So I went and they did a full gynecologist. Yes, yes, they did all I’ll just sound every kind of exams.

And then she called me back a week later and she said, you have something called PCOM. And I was like, I know that I would recommend for you to cut dairy. Alrighty. Yeah. About to this doctor. What’s her name and where is she? Yes. Her name is Natalie. And she’s here in Tennessee. Yes. So she was like,

I would recommend for you to do this. And I said, well, I’m already starting to do that. And she’s like, that’s awesome. And then I asked her about Obasanjo and she’s like, I don’t know what that is, but let me do a research. So she left the room, she came back. She’s like, yeah, you could do that.

Yeah. You know, A lot of times when a doctor hears, I don’t know what that is, it sounds like a BS or something. And they just like, completely like overlook it. But I love how your doctor actually stopped and took a look at it and then gave you a response. That’s amazing. Yes. It felt like everything started falling into place because every doctor before was like birth control,

I guess. And then she’s like, I don’t know what that is. And then she came back and she’s like, oh, it’s not us at all. And this and this. And she’s like, I think you can do it. And she did give me my foreman, which I kind of rebelled against. I didn’t drink it. And yeah.

Anyway, I went three months. I finished my first supply of Avastin and my period was there. Yeah. That’s awesome. And yeah, I’ve had periods. I had periods for four months straight and I got to be completely transparent. And December I did eat some gluten and dairy and in January I didn’t have a period. And I was like, that’s what Happens?

I knew Better, but it’s a lifestyle. And I learn, you know, I learn and I’m like, okay, this is not like a cheating thing. It’s really a lifestyle thing. Yeah. And it’s like, I do want to encourage people to not feel guilty or like you have to punish yourself because that’s what I used to do before. And I would feel so guilty,

so, so guilty. And that would just stress me more than actually eating that little piece of cheese. I feel like my stress will damage my cortisol levels and insulin more than that little piece of cheese that I had. No, I think we totally agree yet. It’s a very common thing too, with like any diet or like trend that sometimes people will follow,

like for example, keto keto, or like low carb diet where you feel like, obviously with keto, it’s a very short term thing. So you feel like you captured it perfectly the whole time to achieve the results. But you know, when you’re looking for something that’s a long-term diet and lifestyle, just like you were saying with gluten they’re free, it’s like a,

it’s a long-term approach to lifestyle approach. So when you have gluten or dairy here, or there, it’s not like something to feel horrible about because that feeling will only make it worse, but it’s something to just, you know, move over, like just accept it and move past it and then try your best with the next meal or next day or a week.

And then from there you see the results just being consistent over months and months and not thinking like, oh, how’s this going to affect my day or week. So I love how you, your mentality has. You’re able to think more positively through those things. Yeah. And it makes you do it for longer and more consistently with that mindset. Yes.

Yes. Sorry. I don’t think I’ve ever lost weight the way I’m doing it right now. A memory loss eight, still eating that goes instill anything pizza, even though it’s gluten free, dairy free. I’ve never lost weight, eating stuff. I liked. It was always like, no, I can’t do that. Oh, tell us about that.

Tell us about your weight loss experience before and after doing gluten free and the exercises and everything we’ll launch into exercises. Yeah. I like, just like Siracha saying at first it was like, I would be involved for five months and I would drop a crazy amount of me, but I was always restricting myself. I like rice and I’m Latina. So I mean,

rice was quite part of our diet rice and beans and meat. And I always felt like I can’t eat my favorite. If I want to lose weight, I have to be super strict. I can’t eat this. And it felt like a punishment. And after a while, you’ll get tired of that punishment and you’ll come out of it and then you will do the rebalance,

but now it’s now it’s like, I eat what I like. And I love not. I fell a lot of the sisterhood recipes and I’m like, what can I do today? Oh, check-in tackle. Let’s do that. And I always, every time I eat, I’ve learned this on the sisterhood. Every time I eat, I learned my car range,

which I didn’t know that was a thing. But now I know how much carbs I can have. And every time I eat carbs, I eat a ton of veggies with it. And that is kind of like, I ate tacos, but I feel great. And I don’t feel tired and I don’t feel like I’m punishing myself. I’m happy. It was food.

Food makes you happy. Let’s be honest. Yeah. So it’s like, I’m happy. I’m still losing weight. And I still feel energy. So that was the big difference between how I used to do things out to have learned to do them now. Yeah. Yeah. It’s, it’s it really, it makes it, like you said, food makes us happy and like having something you like for dinner or for lunch,

it just sets the mood. Like, especially when you’re like with, like you said, with your husband or whoever, when you’re just having that meal and you feel it it’s tastes delicious and you’re enjoying it with your partner. It’s like a great thing. So when you take that out and you become more restrictive, it just takes a fun one out of life.

But also the fun out of like what you’re doing to improve your health. Like, you don’t want to be improving your health with PCs being like miserable the whole time. You want to be like happy and enjoying the foods and like seeing the progress as you’re making these beneficial changes. So I love how that mindset has changed for you too. Yeah. Yes.

And yes, it’s, it’s, there’s no cure for Cassius really. And the way I’ve thought about it is I don’t want to live miserable my whole life. So I need to find a balance to feed good and feel good, you know, manage this symptoms and all of that. So it’s, it’s really a long-term thing and it’s not a trend.

It’s not a fad. It’s my health. Exactly. Exactly. How does your husband feel with like, when you’ve made the changes with gluten dairy? Like, does he do it with you or does he have his own, Does he have like a stash of cheese somewhere? Yes. He’s a meat, cheese and carbs type of guy, but this is one thing I would do.

He loves his steak, his potatoes and his roasted veggies. So I would make, I would get vegan butter and I would make mashed potatoes, but that, and just adjust it to so I can eat as well. And he can’t even tell the difference. He’s like, this is great. I’m like most of the times he doesn’t know if it’s liver dairy.

Cause I feel like nowadays we’re so blessed to live in an era where we have the science to make of this things like dairy, free cheese, dairy, free cream cheese, and all of those things. I feel good. Yeah, it is. Yes. But obviously if he wants to have cheese in the fridge now, I feel like I’ve surpassed the stage of temptation from dairy.

Yes. So I feel like I’m like, nah, I don’t, I don’t need it. You can feel addicting if you are eating it a lot and you have a dairy sensitivity, you’re not detoxing it. And you know, a case. So morphine in your bloodstream makes you feel addicted to the cheese. Once we get past that, you don’t even crave it.

You don’t even think about it. But it’s so funny. Cause people see our account and they’re like, there’s no way I can give up dairy. You’re addicted to it. That’s why. Yes. And the sister had been some people like I’ve given up gluten, but I don’t know how to do dairy. And I can’t am I? And sometimes I have replied.

I’m like, yes, you can stop doubting yourself. Our body’s more capable than what we think. And I feel that is the way we’re always, I feel like we’re always talking about love yourself and this, but the moment of doing something, we doubt ourselves. Part of loving ourselves is to pushing ourselves to become better, to be better. So yeah.

I feel like I was like that. Honestly, I was like, I eat cheese with everything, but now I’m like, I see like an easy thing. Like when you, when I was eating cheese back in the day, it’s like, oh, you know, I’m hungry. Let me just make like a bread and cheese toast thing, you know,

in the panini machine, it tastes so good. It fills you up. You’re good to go. But it’s like gluten dairy. Yeah. And it’s, especially when you’re like seeing how it’s impacting you. Like you were mentioning earlier, how like when in December you had some of some gluten dairy and you unfortunately miss your period and you saw like, some of those symptoms get worse and once you’ve seen those connections,

it’s like, but like biologically you’re like, you’re, you’re naturally not going to really want it as much. Like even telling sometimes like, like if I’m having work for out, if I’m having like ice cream or something, she’ll take a bite, you know, like just like a little bite and then she’ll feel a little bit of acne come up in the few days or something.

And she was like, oh yeah, I should not have had that. And the next time she’s like, I’m not even touching it. So yeah. Or I just know the consequence and I’m like, all right, we’re going to have acne next week. Yeah. Very true. I do think about the consequences most of the time. I’m like,

it’ll feel good for 15 seconds the centers for four days. Right. Can I get a gluten free and dairy free version? Absolutely. I’ll go to the free dairy free bakery and have a cupcake. And there we go. Yeah. Yeah. And just a reminder too, for anyone, like if you do end up feeling something after like there’s no reason to feel guilty again,

like we were saying earlier, just let that, let those symptoms go away on their own. Just go back to what was working for you before. And just like, you know, everything will get better. Like there’s no reason to feel bad or guilty if the symptoms do come back because you have gluten and dairy. So that’s important to note that.

And even if you Don’t lose weight with gluten and dairy free, as long as you see some symptoms get better, it means that it’s helping with the inflammation and that’s an underlying cause of PCLs. And then if you want to like lose weight, then you’re, you got to think, what else can I layer onto this? You know, my workouts,

my lifestyle, so that I can optimize my insulin sensitivity and lose weight and feel like myself again, you know, it’s not, it doesn’t just like ends at gluten and dairy free. And with that being said, like, tell us about what your workout routine is like. Well, my workouts are pretty much copying, whatever you guys post in the sister and Instagram,

I seriously take my iPad or my phone. And I’m like, when did they post it this week? Yeah. It’s it’s I never liked cardio. I’ve always liked weights. So when I started learning through you guys that doing weights was better, I was like, great, awesome. So my cardio, I do 10 minutes of cardio. I do four minutes of walking and then I do intervals.

For example, I do a minute and a half of sprinting a minute and a half walking a minute and a half in sprinting and a minute and a half of walking just so I can let it cool down and then back up and then cool. I liked that a lot. Yes. And after that I just do the weights. So yeah, I pretty much do what you guys post arm,

routines, leg routines. I do squats. I know you posted that squats are great for people with CCIS. I do like doing squats. I do squats pretty a lot. Yeah. A lot of slow weight workouts. And I take my one minute break in between. And do you see like better improvements compared to like maybe if in the past you were doing like intense workouts or things like that,

like you see differences there? Absolutely. Yes. I was before getting diagnosed with PCOS, I was gaining a lot of weight and I didn’t know why, because I was the only one eating a salad. Well, my friends were eating pizza and it just, it was very, yeah. And it felt very frustrating. So I signed up for a hit workouts for the craziest things and I was just getting bigger and it’s like,

makes no sense. And now it’s like, I’m chilling in my minute workout jamming. And it’s like, and stuff, and deans are sizing as I’m going down. And it’s like, well, and a certain way. It’s easier. Yeah, it is of course. Cause you’re not like and running around and yeah, you’re more than feel good. And you’re More in control of the workout itself.

Like you’re in charge. You’re not letting the workout run new to the ground too. Yeah. Yes. Sorry. I wouldn’t like to share for people who don’t like damn weights. I don’t always have time to go to the gym right. As adults or we have crazy lives in schedule. Not always open to go to the gym or to work out for this amount of time in our home.

So I have two dogs. So sometimes I’ll be like, all right, let’s go for 35, 40 minute easy chill a walk. And that’s what we do. And we come back and I’m like, well, that was my workout for the day. Yes. And it also helps me with my stress because you’re outdoors here in Tennessee, Tennessee is very known for being so green and it’s very beautiful.

I love it here. And I go for a walk and it’s very relaxing. I like it obviously sometimes in the winter is not nice, but we’ve been having 60 something, whether it’s here and it’s perfect. So I’ve been going in a few walks in my dogs, love it. I love it. And it’s like, all right, now I can keep going with my day.

And I don’t feel guilty cause I didn’t do the weights or, oh my goodness. I need to go to the gym five times a day. Sometimes I’m like, okay, I can only make it three times. And one of those days I’m going to walk and I did it four days. So that’s good. Yeah, exactly. And we’re like in general,

it’s fitness too. Like you don’t want to feel the pressure to work out three, four times a week. Like you have to, if any day where you don’t feel like working out or you feel like your body’s off doing like a 30, 45 minute walk, just like you said, Andrea can be great. Just to one like walking has shown to help with stress,

to help with also picking up your metabolism. Especially if you’ve been sitting like working for, for the whole day of which a lot of people do, you know, it’s like just the nature of work. So if you just get up and walk for 30 minutes, 45 minutes, it’s already going to reverse some of the slower metabolism to some of the stress that you’re feeling.

And it also helps with insulin resistance to just going on that 30, 45 minute walk. So it’s all about those small wins, getting it in feeling better afterwards. Yes. I, I totally agree. I’ve have felt a difference and I love going for walks. I love going for hikes. Yeah. It’s in highest Heights. Favorite Anytime where you can add like incline or decline any at anytime we’re going up down,

up, down on a walk like a hike is it’s one of the best ways. Cause it incorporates more of your leg muscles, your body to basically exert more strength into the walk rather than just walking straight to, but straight. Great too. Yeah. I know you like to travel. So what’s it like to travel with? S do you keep up with your workout routine while you’re traveling or do you,

what do you do for gluten and dairy free foods? How do you manage that? So I’m very w my husband and I we’re outdoorsy people. So for workouts, we’re always trying to go to a mountain and walk the mountain. He loves fishing. So he, while he fishes, I’d just walk river up. Yeah. I just walk with my dogs river up and it’s lovely.

And the water, it’s just very, it’s nice and I’m working out, but I don’t feel it. So like what I do traveling, or if you’re traveling to a place, well, this year we couldn’t of, you know, the pandemic, but if we would just go to a place where there’s no, really a lot of nature, then we,

I would just walk up and down the stairs or do something like that, like in a slow, steady pace. Or sometimes I wouldn’t sweat it and I’ll be like, I can work it. I can do it today. And that’s okay. Not all the time. You have to make a way. It’s like, again, going back to not feel guilty.

It’s like, I can’t today. Next week, I’ll go for a walk. I’ll go to the gym. It will be good. It’s my life. I can do it today. But for food, I, I feel like there’s a lot of ways that we can adjust our foods. So if say you like Mexican food, all you have to do is can it have corn tortilla and please take out the Serra cream and cheese and bring all the walk,

all the beans and all the, and yeah, I just read the menu. And I asked, I make sure I asked the waiter and I’m like, does this has gluten or dairy? This is made with butter. What is not made with butter? And they’re, you know, they’re usually very helpful and they’re like, we’ll find a way to make a dietary need for you.

One of my favorite foods is Asian. So I make sure I say, can I have rice and with veggies and you know, like a stew or something. And I just made sure to ask, is this has yogurt? Or like, if it’s Indian, does this has younger, it’s a barrier free. And many times they do have options for dairy-free gluten-free.

So it’s always good to ask. I, I’m always asking, sorry to bother, but, you know, I rather ask and, you know, be a bit embarrassed for a moment. Then again, deal with the symptoms for the next three to four days. And there’s nothing to even be embarrassed or like, I totally understand why you would, anybody would be feeling embarrassed to ask in front of other people or like to the waiter or waitress,

but just ask, because at the end of the day, like you said, it’s about your health, how it’s going to impact you, that other person or other people have no idea. So, and one other like a cheat code you can do when you’re at a restaurant is just say, you have an allergy and they will take that shit. So seriously.

Sometimes if I wake up early, I have a Chick-Filet on my way to work. And I always do this custom. So this is a, this is a hack. I go, and I ask, they call it a red flag. What does it, when it’s in a special item? So I asked for their grilled chicken there and white and bacon without cheese and in a gluten-free button and they’ll do it.

And it’s actually cheaper than a regular. Oh, really? Wow. That’s a Great hack. I liked that. I didn’t even know they had gluten free buns. Do other hacks. Can you share with them just protein style and some fries, you know? Yeah. Let’s, let’s see. Well, a filling my go-to because I know they have that.

Let’s see. Well, well, there’s people like if you are on the road, for example, and you only have, you know, sadly, we only have fast food places on the road. There’s not really like good, healthy restaurants. You, if you find a taco bell, just make sure to there’s this how they call it a super bowl.

And it’s rice beans, chicken, and veggies. And they top it with a bunch of sour cream and cheese, take that off. And then you just eat the walk they give you walk to and stuff. So that’s a fast food. It’s not the healthiest, but it’s a gluten and dairy free. And if you’re on the road, you need to eat because you need to drink your bottle and you need to eat something.

One of the ones, that’s kind of like, okay, this is it’s gonna help me. But also I for traveling always have a snack, like a pre-made snack. Like I, you like nuts, like almonds and this and that always have them in the little container. I just found this big bars are gluten free and dairy free vegan. I’ll always have them in stock if I have to get going.

And I, I know I’m going to need a snack and I don’t have to prepare it. I always have the nuts and that ready to go. So yeah, that’s, that’s pretty much, I, oh, my dog is here. So cute. He enjoys the gluten-free life too. Do you, do you throw Avesta tall packets in your purse?

Yes. Every handbag, yes. In every bag that I use, I have one, two or three Avastin just in case I might not make it home on time for dinner. Sometimes I can go to my parents and they’re like, stay for dinner. And you know, they had just dinner for me and I’m like, okay, I’m going to have my basketball here.

I’ll drink it while we eat. Good. I’m sorry. Go ahead. Yeah, but planning, I was just going to say planning, what you’re going to eat really saves you on eating from outside the bad stuff, just meal a meal. Prepping has been great for me cause I’m like, what do I like, what do I want to eat this week?

And whether it’s Indian, whether it’s Korean, whether it’s this, I look for the recipe and I always Google dairy free. And most of the time, you know, to our lifestyle. So it’s good. You can find anything on the internet. Yeah. Good. What’s your dog’s name by the way? That was what we were laughing at right now.

Danny, Danny boy, Danny, give me some love. I haven’t seen him for a bit. So he’s over here. Like I love that. Just to add onto your point though, about traveling. It really does help when you’re, when you’re just planning ahead. Because of course there, there are things that you can’t avoid. Like if we all get hungry and like,

if, if the best option is, you know, either fast food or something else, it’s just always about planning ahead to know, like, what’s going to be the best for you. I love your tips about taco bell or even Chick-fil-A. And another tip too, is like, be like, if you’re going to a city for a couple of days,

if you land there, it really helps to just go to like a grocery store just to get the basics. And then just in case you need like breakfast or anything consistently, you can like, like depend on that. Cause we actually learned from that, we were in Texas a week ago, we were telling you were there. We could go. And all the grocery stores and restaurants shut down because of the winter storm.

And if we, if we hadn’t grocery shop, the day we landed, we would basically start. So sometimes you never know how it’s going to help you. Yes, it does help a lot. I’m I’ve done it once. I didn’t travel much this year, but have to travel a weekend for work. And that’s the first thing we did with my coworker once a Walmart and she does Hito and I’m like,

okay, you go get your Quito and dairy free stuff. And I got all everything to just eat there because in that hotel, all they had was, you know, dairy and gluten. So that’s the first was to go to Walmart and get what we needed for the days that we were going to be there. Right. Yeah. I can hear Danny really getting restless right now.

They’re wrestling. Oh, No worries. No worries, Danny. He’s crazy. It’s okay. No worries. We’re almost down to our last part and we just wanted to ask, I’m going to try to stop them. I’ll be back. No worries. So, and I want to ask you, what advice do you have four sisters out there who are trying to manage PCs or who’ve been newly diagnosed For the ones who have been newly diagnosed.

I started repeating this to myself and I feel like I live by this. Now it is. And I think I shared it to my Q and a. It was do not. Don’t sorry. Don’t look at PCs as your enemy, look at it as the best thing that could happen to you to help you take care of yourself. Because before I was never aware of how I was eating,

how I was moving. And if I was, it was in a very unhealthy obsessive way. I feel like PCs at first was the big curse for me. And I felt like it was the worst that could happen to me. And now it’s like, actually I feel healthier because of this. I learned more about my body because of this. I’ve learned how to take care of myself more because of it.

And I’ve learned how to stand up for myself because of this. Like, we’d be able to say, why are you, why are you doing that? Like what it’s as it’s like, it might not work for you. It’s for me, like in the first thing they would say, it’s like, if I were afraid to have severe disease, why are you eating gluten free?

And I’m like, not, you don’t have to have some seeds to eat. Like it’s been helping me. I feel healthier. And yeah, it’s just know that you’re not the only one I felt for sure like that when I got you’re not the only one, another thing was for me, I wanted to get pregnant back then. Well, I still do,

but now I’m more realistic. Just don’t get upset over your body. Because many times I used to feel like I’m a failure and I cannot get pregnant. I can not do this. And now it’s like I can’t, but I just really didn’t love myself a bit more, one more time, a little more feeling, and then you’ll be ready, which is great that you’re taking it slow and not rushing into it.

Cause oftentimes when people want to get pregnant, they don’t consider that there’s a period of time that you have to heal the PCLs and get it into remission before you get pregnant to minimize any issues that you might have during pregnancy and childbirth, you know, so rushing into it is an ideal taking this time that you’re taking right now is really important. Yes.

It, it definitely is just make sure to pour into yourself and it really helps you grow as a person. If it’s crazy that I used to say, I don’t want it. I hate this. And it’s not like, it’s beautiful to have it, but now it’s like, but I can help other people. My story helps someone else. Now it’s not only about me and how I feel.

It’s also, how can I share hope and how can I, you know, so yeah, just look at it as you’re not alone, keep joined the sisterhood seriously. I can tell you that until we do say this, I say it enough. It’s great to have a community. It really is. It is great. I mean, it’s awesome for it to give you ideas to meal prep,

to just vent out and say, I feel down today, my symptoms are worse. There’s a lot of people who will be there supporting you and for the ones who have ignite nose for years and things like that, just keep going. Don’t give up, don’t give up on your body. Don’t give up on yourself. You got this, you can do it.

You, you can. And we’re all in this together. And just, yeah, just look for help. Like if you need help for a friend in Instagram, I’m fine to lean and Surak, yes, it is scary at first. But once you get the hang of it, you’re like, okay, I can actually, it’s not that bad.

Yeah. That’s an amazing message. Cause like you said, you’re not alone. There is one out of effects, one out of 10 women. And it’s, it’s really important to not feel alone. Cause once like, like you were saying earlier, when you’re diagnosed, you’re like, you don’t know what’s going on. What’s happening? Do I, am I the only one that feels this way?

And once you find the community or other people that are in the same boat, as you, you feel so much more supported and you have more confidence to tackle it. And especially like the article that you wrote. So many sisters have been inspired by that. Thousands are reading it and you have an idea of how, how much that goes for one person to read and have that motivation and inspiration.

So we want to just thank you for writing that and spreading the positivity to everybody else. Yeah. Thank you so much for letting me share that. Honestly, it was such an honor and a pleasure. And just the last one of another thing, don’t compare yourself to anyone else. I used to compare myself a lot to women who were getting pregnant right away and who were losing weight in three months,

I was comparing myself to a lot of people, but our story is not the same as those people have struggles, they might have other struggles that we don’t know about live, who you are in. Just be bold about it. And if, if you’re dealing with BCS, don’t feel like you’re less than anyone else. You are your own individual self and you strong and they are strong and work strong women that can do things.

I love this advice. What a great episode And great note to end our conversation with Andrea. But this was an amazing episode before we go. I love to ask this to every sister, but what is, if you had to pick one feature, what is your favorite one feature from a sisterhood. One feature from the sisterhood. Yeah. Wow. That’s hard.

I don’t know if I can, It could be like the five stages. It could be the workout section. It could be the recipes. It could be the live calls or the private group. If you had to pick one of those, It really one follows the other. But I would say I’m a people person. I love the community. Oh yes.

Nice, Nice, awesome. Great. Well, we’re so lucky to have you with this. Yeah, I am. All right. Stay with us, Andrea. As we end the episode, we’ll, we’ll talk a little bit afterwards, but thank you so much for being part of this episode and thank you for all the listeners. If you’d like to join the sisterhood,

you can, we’ll, we’ll put the information in the podcast description below, but it’s basically@pclsweightloss.org and you’ll be able to join a support community and have be able to chat with other sisters just like Andrea and so much more. Yeah. Thanks so much for coming on. If You enjoyed listening to this podcast, you have to come check out the sisterhood. It’s my monthly membership site,

where sisters just like you are learning how to move through the stages of DCOS from Sage one cold and alone at the doctor’s office to stage five, nailing the PCs lifestyle, gluten and dairy free. Get ready to finally feel in control of your body. Again,