PCOS Review Newsletter #111

A free health newsletter for women with polycystic ovary syndrome or polycystic ovaries.   Issue #111      July 25, 2010

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

1) Hair Loss and Saw Palmetto

2) Have PCOS and Hirsutism? Consider Laser Therapy + Metformin

3) How You Eat Is How You Live

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1) Hair Loss and Saw Palmetto

Saw palmetto is a nutritional supplement extracted from the berries of the saw palmetto tree.

It is widely used for the treatment of enlarged prostate glands in men. Prostate glands become enlarged partly because of a male hormone called dihydrotestosterone, or DHT.

Women with PCOS tend to have higher levels of DHT than other women. Therefore, if saw palmetto works for men, it may work for women.

This may be the reason why saw palmetto is one of the most popular products in our online supplements store.

Excessive levels of DHT in women has been linked to acne, hirsutism (hair growth in the "wrong" places), and female pattern hair loss.

Female hair loss is one of the most troubling and difficult aspects of polycystic ovary syndrome. It is caused in part by DHT, which causes the hair follicle to shrink and thus causes the hair shaft to be discarded. The result is thinning hair on the scalp.

The Journal of Alternative Complementary Medicine published a study showing that saw palmetto may slow down this hair loss process. This was a small study of ten men. Six of the ten men taking saw palmetto had reductions in their hair loss.

The type of hair loss that men have is similar to the most common type of hair loss that PCOS women have. Therefore, if saw palmetto works for men, it should also be helpful for women who have PCOS and hair thinning.

Because of its inhibitory effect on the male hormone DHT, saw palmetto should be useful for acne and hirsutism in addition to hair thinning.

Source: Prager, N et al, A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial to determine the effectiveness of botanically derived inhibitors of 5-alpha-reductase in the treatment of androgenetic alopecia, J Altern Complement Med. 2002 Apr;8(2):143-52

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2) Have PCOS and Hirsutism? Consider Laser Therapy + Metformin

Hair growing in the wrong places is a serious problem for many women who have PCOS. It's called hirsutism.

One popular way to get rid of unwanted hair is with "intense pulsed light" therapy, commonly known as laser therapy.

The Isfahan Endocrine and Metabolism Research Center in Iran conducted an experiment with 52 women who had hirsutism and polycystic ovary syndrome. They were given 5 laser therapy sessions over a span of 6 months.

The women were divided into two groups. One group was also given 1,500 mg. of metformin, while the other group was not.

Metformin is a pharmaceutical medication often prescribed for women with PCOS and who may have a condition called "insulin resistance".

In this study, the women who took metformin along with their laser hair removal therapy had better results in reducing their hirsutism than did the women who had laser therapy alone.

The takeaway from this study is that if you are going to use laser therapy, you can get better results if you also reduce your insulin resistance at the same time.

Metformin is one therapy to improve your insulin sensitivity. But if you don't want to deal with metformin's side effects, what else might you do?

You could utilize other methods for reducing insulin resistance, including a proper diet, more exercise, reduced stress, and selected nutritional supplements such as the d-pinitol formula. None of these methods have any side effects.

By the way, laser hair removal therapy is not for everyone. It is only used for removal of black or brown hair. It also is most effective with light skin and coarse hair.

Source: Rezvanian H et al, Increased Insulin Sensitivity by Metformin Enhances Intense-Pulsed-Light-Assisted Hair Removal in Patients with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome, Dermatology. 2009;218(3):231-6

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3) How You Eat Is How You Live

How is your relationship with food a mirror for your life?

That's an interesting question, well worth some contemplation.

Unfortunately, all of the medications for treating insulin resistance have some adverse effects.

The majority women with PCOS are likely to have issues with food consumption and food choices. One reason is biochemical because their appetite control system is disordered.

Another reason for poor eating habits is psychological, due to poor self-esteem or feeling depressed and out of control.

For both biochemical and psychological reasons, it's very easy to reach for the wrong foods, or to eat more than we need. Much of our eating behavior is unconscious.

Below are some statements from Cheryl Richardson, a life coach after she participated in a seminar with Geneen Roth, author of "Women, Food and God". Use them as a way to gain some insight into your relationship with food, and your relationship with yourself.

"What my mind and my mouth tell me to eat is rarely what my body wants."

"What my mind tells me to do in relationship to exercise is rarely how my body wants to move."

"My head and heart often make my food and exercise choices, not my body."

"How I eat is how I live. If I'm rushed, overwhelmed, or irritated, for instance, I eat on the run, shovel food in my mouth to get meals over with, or make food choices designed to numb my frazzled nerves. These behaviors do not support weight loss or a vibrant and healthy body."

"Deprivation, restrictions, and rigid rules will always lead right back to poor food choices, rebellious overeating, and a "what the hell" attitude. It's requires a paradigm shift to get that we change with love, not with demands."

"Ending the war with food is about beginning a relationship with myself based on trust. Staying awake and listening to my body so I eat when I'm hungry, eat what my body wants, and stop when I'm full, is the path to creating a more loving and trusting relationship with myself."

"When we learn to trust ourselves with food, an even bigger world opens up to us."

Geneen Roth said: "This path isn't about losing weight quickly, it's about connecting with who you really are -- the part of you that doesn't weigh a pound."

Food for thought!

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Thought for Today: "Great acts are made up of small deeds." -- Lao Tzu