Not being able to fall asleep at night. This is more a cortisol issue. Stress hormones, they affect your ability to get good quality sleep at night. And when your stress hormones are spiked, women with P C O S, we struggle to bring them back down. And so that means when we do like really intense workouts, let’s say.
Like I used to do kickboxing at like 7:00 PM and then there was no way I could sleep at night. And I didn’t realize that that was from the cortisol dysregulation. And keep in mind too, like when you have bad sleep, it can actually affect your insulin sensitivity. Studies that have actually shown one night of bad sleep will actually have an impact on how insulin resistant your body is the next day.
So it’s like a cycle. Oh yeah. Dr. Now go
thes into my own hands. And we thirst them naturally. So I became a diet.
So the sisterhood app gave me gastritis. , I’m serious. Well, it’s helping women lose weight with P C O S C. Doug is here having gastritis. No, I mean the, in the month of December we were getting really close to the launch of the app, and throughout the launch there was like some bugs, some things that we were trying to fix with the developers and.
Let’s just say like, I wasn’t being calm, cool, and collected cuz there was like too many issues happening and like with the pressure of the app, like wanting it to be released, I ended up developing like these stomach issues. Like I had nausea, I couldn’t eat, lost a little bit of weight and then oh, went to.
Doctor and And she said, I have gastritis. Yes. I mean, it’s not unusual for like periods in your life to be really stressful on you to kind of like drop the ball with managing stress. I feel like that’s a normal thing that happens. Yeah, for sure. To anyone. It’s getting overwhelmed, right? It’s like even with P C O S, you can do a great job managing it.
All year long, but then there’s gonna be that one or two weeks or even a whole month where something happens and you just can’t keep it together. Yeah. And I feel like that’s normal and I feel like we need to just embrace that and be like, okay, this is just a challenging moment. Next week we’ll be fine.
We’re gonna work through all the app bugs or like whatever was going on, which we did, and now everything’s fine. Everything is fine now as of yesterday. But no good thing is though, with the gas try, like everything’s all cool. I don’t want anyone to get worried. Um, about she looks fine. . Yeah. Like 10 days ago I started taking the over, over the counter medicine prosec and that basically like fixed everything.
Um, and like now I’m back to eating like an animal just to gain the weight back. It’s all fine. We’re all good. It’s all, you know what it is. It’s because me and you, we made the. We’re not this big like corporation where like it’s just like, it’s the coolest, a team of people like doing whatever. Like we put a lot of pressure on ourselves to make it exactly what the sisters have said that they want over the years, and we want it to be perfect.
And as soon as we pressed the green button and said, okay, people can enter, we were like, be perfect. But the truth is it’s not until you like work out the, you know, bugs and stuff. Yeah. Exactly. And just to be a little transparent, we just had some issues with the logging in, but it’s all fixed. So for any sisterhood members, let us know if you’re onto any issues.
But right now, you should be able to log in and do everything very smoothly. We take our email inbox very seriously. Oh yeah. When somebody says something we like, really? We’re on top of it. We fix it. We don’t just like brush anything under the rug. Yeah. Hence, why has gas dryness? It’s also crazy, like for anyone who’s listening who has stress, I’m sure you already know this.
But it’s crazy how, like, how stress can affect you. You know? Like I never thought stress could affect me in such a way where my body like over produces acid. Yeah, yeah. And causes like my stomach lining to like start burning, which is what a gas stratus is. So like, it’s kind of crazy. So for anyone who’s going through stress, Just be mindful of your body, how your body’s feeling.
If you’re feeling pain, if you’re feeling side effects, just you know, like make a note of it. Go to a doctor. There could be, you know, complications from stress that happens that you just don’t want to like ignore. Sometimes you don’t even realize it and you’re living this like stressful lifestyle that you have accepted as you are normal, but it’s really like a stressful lifestyle and like these things kind of like start happening to you and you’re just like, whatever.
And you kind of brush it under the rug, but you really have to pay attention to it. Understand your body and like what it’s reacting to and really investigate it because, you know, the app is good now, so CEX should be fine by every day. As a result, I made my new year resolution, um, meditating every single day, like that’s my new year resolution.
I have a task or a reminder on my phone every day. 10:00 AM It reminds me do your meditation. Right. Alrighty. Well, on that note, let’s talk about P C O S. So today we’re gonna talk about some of the early signs of P C O S. So if you’re someone with P C O S who maybe hasn’t been diagnosed yet, or you’ve been diagnosed, or maybe you’re a parent or a friend of someone who you think may have P C O S, this is a great.
To kind of talk about the early science. Before we get started though, let’s start with our q and A session. So we have our first question from Instagram from peace, love, tranquility, great name, uh, total. The question is, is it possible to have insulin resistance and have this issue or is it something else causing my sleep cycle to be disrupted?
And this is a talking about not being able to fall asleep. this post. So not being able to fall asleep at night doesn’t necessarily have to do with insulin resistance. This is more a cortisol issue. So we just talked about stress, but stress hormones, they affect your ability to get good quality sleep at night.
And when your stress hormones are spiked, women with P C O S, we struggle to bring them back down. And so that means when we do like really intense workouts, let’s say like I used to do kickboxing at like 7:00 PM after my day was over, and then there was no way I could sleep at night. . I was on that adrenaline rush.
I couldn’t bring it back down. I was shaking. It was, and I didn’t realize that that was from the cortisol dysregulation. Then I got poor sleep. I was tired the next day falling asleep in class and so on. So cortisol regulation. Yeah, and keep in mind too, like when you have bad sleep, it can actually affect your insulin sensitivity.
Studies have actually shown one night of bad sleep. Will actually have an impact on how insulin resistant your body is the next day. So keep that in mind too. It’s like a cycle. Oh yeah. Yeah. That’s a good point. Alrighty, next question is about a workout video that we have on YouTube. So for anyone who’s interested, if you go to YouTube, you can try out one of our workout videos at P C O S weight loss.
Uh, the question is, what’s the weight of the dumbbell? I want to bring this up because we get a lot of questions about what’s the weight in that video or what dumbbell are you using for this exercise? But the truth of it, It’s completely individual to each person, and here’s why. Let’s say you’re gonna do a set of squats.
You’re either gonna do a squat exercise and you’re gonna do 10 repetitions. Well, you shouldn’t just do 10 repetitions really easily. It needs to be a struggle. You need to get to 10, barely. So that means you need to pick a weight that’s heavy enough that makes it like eight, nine. 10, like barely. But if you’re able to do like 15 easily, then that means the weight is too light and you need to increase it.
And the opposite, if it’s too heavy and you’re not able to do 10. So keep that in mind for your weights for any exercise. Yes, Aisha ESOP says, what time of day should all of these be taken? This is in reference to a post we had about the Overfit supple. . Yes. So I like to take mine in the mornings, especially because the multivitamin has vitamin D and vitamin B in it and it and the vitamin, they give you energy, cold, complex.
Yeah. Or like the B vitamins. Exactly. So I would take it in the morning with breakfast, you know, coq 10. It gives you energy as well. Yeah. Breakfast. I mean, the O Offi supplements, the metabolism Plus is meant to kickstart your metabolism, right? So it’s literally meant to kickstart your day. So imagine you start your day with a completely multivitamin designed for P C O S.
So it’s filling in all the gaps, plus the omega3 fist oil, which has been shown to improve metabolism. Plus the coq 10, which has been shown to energize cells and the cur procurement to lower inflammation throughout the day so it doesn’t lower your energy. Boom. There you. All right, so. Let’s dive right into it.
I really like this podcast episode cuz I have a lot of experience with these early signs of P C O S. We’re gonna go through them right now and maybe you can reflect on a time when you had some of these symptoms and. Thought that it wasn’t a big deal, but then like it actually turned out to be a big deal.
And I’m not saying that if you have like one of these, you have P C O S, but I am saying that if you have like a lot of these, um, it’s definitely something to consider. Like maybe this has to do with your P C O S and your approach to healing. It could be through. A P C O S related route? Yes. And keep in mind, to be diagnosed with P C O S, you need two out of the three following symptoms.
So those are irregular periods, hyperandrogenism and three ovarian cys. However, these early signs can come. as a result of these three symptoms. So even though those are the, the criteria, these are symptoms that come as a result. Right? So let’s dive into it. The first one is irregular periods. Yeah. What we just talked about right now.
Yeah. Yes. So the first early sign of PIOs is irregular period. I will say that there is a little bit of like some mystery here because when you start your period, it’s never regular at that young age. Um, it’s gonna take a few years to get your period to regulate. Obviously, right off the bat, when you have your first period, a lot of times it’s not gonna come every 28 days immediately.
So a woman like needs some time to, um, get used to the period or like your body to get used to it. With that being said, a lot of times at such a young age, we go to the gynecologist. We say our periods are irregular or we have cramps, and the first thing they do is give birth control. At such a young age, like for me and my sister, we were offered it when we were.
16, and that was super early because you know, my sister ended up taking it till she was 30. That’s 15 years of being on the pill because it was deemed as like the only solution for your irregular periods back then. And it was a sign that she had P C U S, but we didn’t know. And also we could have waited to see if our periods were going to become regular.
being offered that. So yeah, irregular periods is one. Yes. And the the next one is excess body hair or hair loss. So many times this is an imbalance of testosterone and estrogen, which means that your androgen levels are too high. So what we talked about earlier, one of the symptoms of P C O S or one of the signs of P C O S’s, excess male hormones or high antigen.
Androgens. I can never say that word pronouncing it hyperandrogenism. I just, I just like mushed through. I just pushed through. I’m like, I . Um, so that essentially causes like the excess body hair or hair loss. Yeah. And sometimes at a young age, we just think like, okay, well I’m Armenian, so I have a mustache, you know, I’m serious.
Like, that’s what we, we had a lot of leg hair. Okay. Like, but then we had like mustache, chin hair, things like this. Okay. Maybe it has to do with our ethnicity, but it clearly had to do with P C O S. Like by the time I was 18, I should have known that, you know what, or actually not, I should have known. How would I have known?
Nobody was telling me it’s, it’s normal for, you know, Armenian girls, it’s 2020. How would you know? Yeah. Well, you know, sometimes it’s a bit excessive and it has to do with Hyperandrogenism and that it’s leading up to full on P C O S later down the. Yeah. Alright. Uh, and then the next one is infertility. So if you’re, if you’re struggling with infertility, just know that it is one of the most common symptoms of P C O S.
However, it doesn’t mean that it’s impossible to get pregnant with P C O S. In many cases, the fertility is a bit more difficult, but that’s due to like hormonal. Imbalances. Like for example, insulin resistance or high testosterone, both of which make it hard to get pregnant. So when you understand your P C U S root cause, whether that’s, you know, insulin resistance, or maybe you have really high testosterone levels, adrenal fatigue.
Yes. Hypothyroid. Exactly. Then you know, once you manage those things, you can get pregnant. Yeah. With P C O S. So yeah, don’t worry. Did you hear about that sister who took Ovasitol and finally got her period after a year of not having one? Incredible. I see those kinds of messages on Instagram a lot. How does that even happen?
Well, Ovasitol helps with healing insulin resistance, a common root issue that most P C O S sisters have, and by targeting insulin resistance, we’re seeing sisters kick those crazy cravings. Finally regulate their periods, ovulate and improve their ED quality. Each packet of Ovasitol has a 40 to one ratio of myo acetol and D chiro acetol.
This ratio is similar to the ratio that should be found in the body, but with women like me who have P C O S, this ratio is often imbalanced. So taking Ovasitol can be super effective in treating insulin resistance starting from the root of the. So awesome. It tastes like nothing. So just warn me when you put it in a cup so I don’t drink it.
You got it, boo. Check out the link in the description to get 15% off your order. Okay. Weight gain is the next sign, especially when it’s like rapid weight gain out of nowhere and you have done anything differently. Yeah. And you know when this happens at a young age, ugh, like it’s really common to be misunderstood.
People think that you’re just. eating secretly along. Yeah. And you’re like, you’re, you’re lazy. You’re not doing enough. Yeah, you’re lazy. You’re eating chips all day. Like, you know, it’s just really unnecessary commentary that goes around this. And you know what the truth is? When you gain weight from hormonal issues, it’s actually depressing and it makes you want to eat more.
And in fact, you gained weight from the hormonal issues. Eating more unhealthy food isn’t helping however, You might be mislabeled as like a person who just has poor eating habits instead of somebody who’s struggling with hormonal imbalance. So it’s tricky. It’s tricky, but I definitely, that definitely has happened to me.
Um, I did gain weight really quickly. I had no idea why people were judging me. They were like, what happened to you? When I’d see people over the holidays or like on vacations and stuff, and yeah, it, it’s really, Something. All right. But it has to do with P C O S. It has to do with maybe an early, um, sign of insulin resistance and something that you can actually manage if you, you know, do we have lots of podcast episodes about insulin resistance?
I don’t wanna go on a tangent about what you can do. Do, I was was gonna say a recent, we have a episode about insulin resistance, but. Do all the tangents you want be? Well, you know, like at that young age, I was eating what I thought was healthy, but I didn’t know that some of the foods I was eating was inflammatory.
I was eating gluten, dairy, um, you know, yogurt and cheese and bread and like, It was Greek yogurt, it was breaded for like a Turkey sandwich that was like healthy. You know, I didn’t realize that these things were affecting my inflammation and my body’s ability to metabolize food because it was affecting my insulin resistance and I gained weight.
And so yeah, people thought that I was like eating chips all day. It definitely wasn’t. But changing your. Of course with supervision, if you’re super young, but, um, it can make a really big difference and help you avoid this kind of like snowball effect that the weight gain can cause down the line, which, you know, the insulin resistance leading to diabetes and so on.
Yes. And what that said too, going back to what TA said, For all these signs, we just want you to know that we have an episode for each single one if you wanna learn more and dive into it. So we have a entire episode about getting your period back. With P C O S, we have a bunch of episodes on facial hair as well as hair loss.
We actually recently did a episode about fertility with a expert guest, including Dr. Julian Brighton. As you know, we’ve done a lot of episodes about weight loss. So yeah, just look through our feet and if you wanna dive into any of these much further, just listen to those episodes. Yes. All right, so the next one is high blood pressure and cholesterol.
I have seen patients who have had high blood pressure and cholesterol at a young age. They have no idea why, and they’re like, how could this be? I’m eating what? Healthy, not necessarily healthy for their P C O S, but. Generally healthy. Um, and it does stem from insulin resistance. Yeah. So if you find that time after time, you’re told when you go to the doctor that your blood pressure and cholesterol is high, it might be a sign of insulin resistance, it might lead to P C O S down the line.
Um, it’s definitely something you want to address because it can lead to type two diabetes and heart disease. So focus on insulin resistance if this is something you struggle. Yes, absolutely. All righty. The next sign is acne. Of course, this is something that, that a lot of people experience as they’re, you know, going through their teenager life and things like that.
But if you are experiencing like acne through into your adult life, especially cystic acne, then this is a clear sign that you may have. Inflammation and a lot of hormonal imb. Not a lot, but you may have hormonal imbalances happening underneath. Yeah, and it can lead to P C O S. A lot of times we’re given Accutane as soon as we have cystic acne.
Like the next thing that we’re given is Accutane, without question, but the question is, , what about the inflammatory foods that we’re eating that might be affecting and driving the cystic acne, gluten, dairy, for example? And then of course, our hormones, like how are our estrogen levels? Like where is this cystic acne coming from?
Is the question, the answer isn’t just simply Accutane. And I will also add that Accutane has plethora of side effects. And also, yeah. Um, when you have P C O S, even if you do Accutane, . And even if you do laser treatments for your facial hair, it doesn’t matter if your hormones are imbalanced, it’s gonna come back.
It’s gonna be really frustrating and you’re putting your body through a lot by doing Accutane. Treating the root of the issue is always the solution. So the next sign is something that a lot of people can struggle with, but keep in mind that there is a reason for it. So that is fatigue and sleep issues.
So a lot of pcos. Feel fatigue throughout the day, and it’s usually due to insulin resistance. This is because the sugar, the glucose in your body doesn’t turn to energy like it’s supposed to, so therefore it causes you to feel fatigued throughout the day. And then what happens? You end up going towards caffeine just like any other person, right?
You wanna go to caffeine, you wanna get a boost of energy so you can work, so you can study, et cetera. However, it’s like a crutch. What happens is you get caffeine, 30 minutes later, you crash, caffeine, crash. It’s like this vicious. That’s right. All right. The next one is digestive issues. So what I just wanted to highlight this last part, which is the sleep issues.
Mm-hmm. and just wanted to let sisters know that the sleep issues are usually, if you can’t sleep at night, that usually has to do with a dysregulation of your melatonin and your cortisol hormone. So if you wanna get your, if you had that problem, get your labs checked for these specific hormones and see what the levels are throughout.
That’s right. And next on the list of early signs of P C O S is digestive issues. I definitely struggled with digestive issues. I remember being bloated all the time. I really had a lot of issues with my digestion because of the inflammatory foods that I was eating. Without realizing. So I was having the gluten, the dairy, you know, yogurt.
I thought that it was gon gonna be good for me, but it was really affecting my digestion. And I remember being so bloated and it was like accepted as normal for me. Like it was just like, okay, I’m just like this. So that is definitely an early sign of chronic inflammation starting to happen. Yes. Or it could be gastritis,
All right. The last sign of, uh, early sign of P C O S. The last one is skin tags or darkened skin patches. So we get this question a lot about skin tags and how to get rid of them, and it’s actually due to insulin resistance because it, it actually can produce skin tags and. It does come up for a lot of P C U S women.
They could be small, they could be like a, like a flexible flap of skin that raise off of the skin. Just keep it, keep in mind they’re not dangerous, but that they could be another sign of your P C U S. Right. And insulin resistance. Yes, exactly. So yeah, I would say I had pretty much all of these. All of these early signs of P C O S.
Yeah. Because they’re all like interrelated to the core causes of P C O S. Yeah. Which are the, the three symptoms that we talked about. I mean, they’re not the core causes, but they’re the three main symptoms, right? Yeah, definitely. They are. I definitely had every single one of these except the skin rashes, uh, skin patches and darkened skin.
But yeah, they were early signs of P C O S just like kind of bubbling inside me before it totally. Burst. Yeah. and knowing about these early signs can help you get a diagnosis faster and move quickly towards management. So if you’re questioning it and you’re, and you’re listening to this episode, and maybe you’re like, wow, I have all of them, or maybe I have most of them, maybe it’s the time to go to go to a doctor, go to multiple doctors, get your diagnosis from them.
And just, yeah. See what your next steps could be. Or work with a naturopathic doctor if you feel that just diet and lifestyle changes aren’t enough and get that specialized support that you need because you don’t have to just deal with these symptoms, you know? Exactly. You can do something about it.
Exactly. So, uh, with that said though, a perfect transition is to our sisters who are reversing their P C U S. Losing weight and showing P C O S. All right. First step is Kelly Lee. She says, I just bought a house. So with that, my goal is to use my kitchen and meal prep meals that will heal and take care of my body.
I look forward to hopefully losing weight and feeling finally feeling comfortable in my own skin, also regulating my periods and getting rid of some of my chin hairs. Welcome, Kelly. Kelly. Congrats on the house. And yes, we hope and we know all your goals and wishes will, will come to fruition. We, and we’re always here to help you every, all the way through it.
But about that house though, for people who are wondering where we are since we came back from the traveling. Mm-hmm. , we’re living with our parents. My goodness. That’s right. We’re living that sexy influencer. Living with our parents, . That’s true. We are at my parents’ house. Not gonna lie. I kind of like it’s gonna That’s nice.
Yeah. Take a lot for me to get out of here. I’m just kidding. We need to get a house. Yeah, but we are looking for a new place. But as you all know, the world’s crazy out there. We’re just trying to find a stable time. But anyway. Alright, our next win is from Catherine. She says, I love the new app. Thank you. I am exploring the recipes and meal planning.
I’m wondering what is the best way. To see the daily meals that you already have mapped out ahead of time so that I can grocery shop. Okay. I have a perfect response for this. So the sister is asking, what is the best way to see all of your meals so that you can make a grocery list? Well, if you go to the recipe section in the app and you can generate a shopping list.
Based on the days you wanna shop for. So let’s say it’s Sunday and you want to go grocery shopping for Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday of the upcoming week. Well, in the app you can go to the recipe section, select the next Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and then it will generate all the shopping lists for you for the meals that you’re gonna have that day.
Boom. Kabam, Kaba. and then she says, so far the trackers are my favorite feature. Is it possible to add your own tracker? I like to also track my sugar intake. We are working on more trackers. We’re on it, girl. Yes, but I’m so glad you like it. Yeah. So far we have about nine different trackers, and each tracker is something you can like, Track, for example, like how much gluten have you had or how much dairy have you had?
Spearman tea, caffeine. Um, but yeah, we’re, we’re working on supplement trackers, for example, if you’re taking an acetol or something, we’re gonna work on those as well. So, um, stay tuned. Yes. Awesome. So now we have this great conversation in the Sisterhood Sisters. Were sharing their goals, their resolutions, and I kinda wanna share it with you because I find it to be very inspiring.
Yeah. How about you read the first one and I’ll, and then I’ll like, we’ll, Take turns reading the messages because it’s like a full on conversation in the, in the group. Okay. Staria says she’s working on her mental health and physical health. Regan says to become fully gluten free. Tara says, my goal for 2023 is to be financially stable and take care of my health and my children, and bless God for another year.
Ah, that’s a, that’s a great new resolution. Angie says, my goal is to be consistent with my three weighted workouts a week, and gutta and dairy. I also want to focus on self-care and stress management. Love that. That is great. You’ve come to the right place and then Marissa says, I want to lose enough weight and get my P C O S under control so I can hopefully get pregnant.
I’ve wanted to be a mom forever, since I can remember. God, it’s amazing. Marisa. We’ve got you girl. We we’re here for you, support you. . Yes. And the conversation honestly keeps going on , so I think we should end it there, but like this is why we love what the sisterhood has become. Mm-hmm. , the Facebook group, what has become the, like the largest community?
People are talking to each other about their new year resolutions, what worked for them last month to get their periods back? What worked for somebody else to get pregnant? Like everybody’s sharing their stories and their journey because we all know like P C O S. There are so many approaches and there’s not enough like information or information or like stories out there, but when you have a community who is like literally telling you what they’re doing that’s working for them and you can literally like ask some questions back and forth, like, that’s so priceless.
It really is. I remember. Going into Facebook groups to learn more about P C O S, but it was so negative, it was so overwhelming. Nobody had an answer for anything. It was just a lot of confusion and frustration. So I’m really glad that we have this community, um, and everyone is contributing to cheering each other on yeah, looking for solutions, following the method, and just like doing the best they can and sharing their goals and the things that aren’t working out as well.
It’s honestly a big thank you to, for all the sisters in the Facebook group who, who, who has made it to what it is now. Mm-hmm. , it’s because of all of you that the Facebook group and the community is so strong. So thank you everybody for that. Yes. All right, so I guess that is today’s episode. I hope this motivated you for the new year, along with our new year resolution.
Episode that we did a few weeks back and yeah, if you have any questions about your p c s, you know where to find us and you know where to download the app. We’ll put it into the description of this episode. Yes. Thanks so much for listening, sisters. I’m so happy you love this podcast and are enjoying our beautiful voices and CX stories about gastritis.
Exactly. I’ll give you all an update next week, but until then, we. Have a great weekend. We’ll talk to you soon. Bye. 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 P C O S from stage one cold and alone at the doctor’s office to stage five, nailing the P C O S lifestyle, col, pollutant, and Dairy free.
Get ready to finally feel in control of your body again.
