Success with Vitamin D, Overcame PCOS Naturally
by Jenn
I was diagnosed with PCOS after stopping the birth control pill and 9 months later my periods had not returned.
After doing a lot of research I questioned the diagnosis because I am thin (5'9'' and only 125 lbs), eat a healthy diet, exercise, and was not having other problems like acne.
Also I had always had extremely regular periods from the time I started at 13 until I went on the pill for the first time at 22.
But after second opinions from other specialists, the diagnosis remained. I was not ovulating and there was no explanation other than PCOS even if I did have extremely mild symptoms.
I wanted to treat it naturally and my OBGYN was very supportive of that so she gave me info on a low glycemic diet.
Unfortunately I found this discouraging because when I looked at it I realized I was already following it perfectly (I have always been a health nut!).
I tried vitex and other supplements but nothing was making me ovulate and I really wanted to be pregnant.
Finally I gave up on the natural stuff and got a prescription for clomid. And surprise, surprise even that didn't make me ovulate! I was so discouraged.
It seemed like my body was refusing to ovulate no matter what I did!
Then finally 17 months after stopping the pill I had a breakthrough.
Here is what happened. First of all my identical twin sister also went off the pill and had no problem immediately resuming ovulation and normal cycles. My sister is a biologist and also a health nut like myself so we sat down and analyzed our lives.
We knew we had the exact same genes and mostly the same environment so we concluded the problem had to be something simple she was or wasn't doing that I needed.
That's when it hit her. She loves the sun and I had always avoided it. I like the pale skin look but she was always a big sun bather.
I was skeptical. It can't be that simple I thought.
No specialist had ever suggested to me or tested me for vitamin D deficiency.
It was May and getting warm so I started laying out in the sun with my sister. One month later I had ovulated and had a regular cycle. I couldn't believe it!
After that I started taking 2000IU of vitamin D a day in addition to D-Pinitol. I also continued with the chromium and fish oil I had been taking already.
I continued to have normal cycles ovulating every month and 8 months later I was finally pregnant!
I successfully overcame my PCOS naturally!
Ironically, after my ordeal and success I finally started hearing more and more about the link between Vitamin D and PCOS. I hope my success helps somebody.
If you are on the right diet, a healthy weight, and still not ovulating, it might really be as simple as vitamin D!
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Editor's comments: Jenn, what an inspiring story! As you might expect, we agree 100% on the importance of vitamin D. We've referred to vitamin D on numerous occasions, including our recent newsletter, where we point out that women with PCOS may have a vitamin D insufficiency.
What's utterly fascinating is that you had an identical twin sister with similar environment and lifestyle so that you could compare notes and tease out the "missing link" for you. An excellent piece of detective work!
Also, congratulations to both of you for being health nuts. This type of lifestyle will reward you well in the future, especially in terms of avoiding the long term consequences of PCOS.
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The d-pinitol Jenn is referring to can be found here. It contains both vitamin D and chromium.
If you're looking for a diet that can help you get a handle on polycystic ovary syndrome and infertility, give this diet book a read.
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We have strayed very far from the genetic roots of our ancestors. Their vitamin D levels were much higher than ours are today. They were out in the sun much more than we are today. They also obtained more vitamin D from their primitive food supply.
Many of us are not genetically programmed to effectively deal with living indoors, being sedentary, eating processed foods, or metabolizing the tens of thousands of chemicals that pervade our food, water, air and physical surroundings. The result is the prevalence of chronic disorders that you see all around you today.
Therefore we all have to work a little harder to eat a more wholesome diet, get more exercise, avoid chemicals, and take nutritional supplements as needed. Keep in mind that because of our agricultural practices, our food supply today has less nutrition in it even though it looks the same, e.g.., a kernel of wheat today is not as nutrient-dense as a kernel of wheat 100 years ago.