Am a desperate case from Mauritius
by Leena
(Mauritius)
This is not a success story!!
Hi, my name is Leena, just turned 28 and from Mauritius.
This website is sure a blessing and am delighted to have come across it when 'googling' about 'PCOS'.
I got confirmation that I got PCOS when I entered the keywords 'Woman with too much testoterone' online a week ago and when I read about PCOS, I feel like reading all the symptoms I have in life!!
I cried with all my heart out for I was shocked, scared, angry, frustrated, disgusted, sad, lost...
I feel hopeless and desperate because Mauritius is a small island and you cannot find the drugs in the stores in here and most doctors are not very familiar with the syndrome to follow me in here!!!
It took me all this time to learn about it, all by myself when I have been spending huge sums of money in the past with doctors and tests trying to put a name on what I was going through in life - frequent fatigues, insomnia, stress, hirsutism, mood swings, nervousness, irregular menses to like once a year at times, infertility, very small breast for an obese person (105kgs for 1m57 height), hungry all the time (but have starved myself to death at times but now am trying to eat clean food, no binge triggering food home, never was someone who eat junk food or soda), neck of darker colour, difficulty to stay concentrated in studies...
All I heard from doctors was 'probably some thyroid disorder', I was never encouraged to go on medication as some said that 'birth control pills' make you gain more weights and also I never took it as am trying to get pregnant!!!
I usually feel like I was probably meant to be a 'boy', just the thought of it make me feel real depressed and go crazy!!!
I enjoyed being a woman but can't feel such most of the times with all these problems.
I try to hide myself from the world for I don't go much often out as I would like to and though I have tried everything for the hair problem from waxing to eletronesis for years but there is no less hair. I need to go in front of the mirror daily to take it one by one with a tweezer under my chin.
Though it is sunny most of the times being in a tropical island, I have to wear scarves to hide myself behind them as the tweezers have left marks over time together with the very dark pigmentation of my neck as compared to the rest of my skin colour. My skin get scaly at the bottom of my feet and dry all over the legs!!!
Unfortunately, I cannot find any of those drugs listed in here, not even 'Metformin' in the island and have tried to import it but cannot find a store which can ship it to Mauritius.
It is difficult to digest that I will not be able to eat rice as it is our main food in here, you cannot find brown rice on the market, you have to drive real far to get brown bread, never seen whole - wheat pasta in here, vegetables are scarce nowadays as we are going through the rain season now, canned food are not recommended (am sad to learn that corn kernel contain lots of starch, I do not know what to eat and from where to get the drugs???
It is difficult to stay motivated doing all those exercises for I know already that for us, it is pretty much difficult to lose weight like normal people would do. I am trying to lead a healthy lifestyle with plenty of water, greens, seeds and exercise daily but it is no easy task to shed those weights knowing already that years ago when I used to be of normal BMI, I was still having those symptoms!!!
Also I was wondering whether one day I will get cured over PCOS after menopause or I will have to live with it all my life??
Thanks for reading me, for your time and consideration
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Ed. comments: Hi Leena, we certainly empathize with your difficult situation. You are already doing almost everything you can. But I might suggest a few additional things.
1) Continue to do your very best to eat as many vegetables as possible. If you cannot buy any, is there a place where you can grow some vegetables?
2) Consider eating more protein such as eggs or fish. There should be plenty of fresh fish available in your area. Have some animal protein at every meal. Protein will help to reduce your carbohydrate cravings. Fish also is high in omega-3 fats, which will also help your condition.
3) If you must eat starchy carbohydrates such as white rice, always have some fish or other animal protein with it. As a general rule, white rice and white bread are very, very undesirable, especially for you. A better choice would be whole beans or lentils, since brown rice is not available. Any low glycemic load food is better than white rice or white bread.
4) Whatever your level of exercise is now, you can increase it. Since you are overweight and you appear to have insulin resistance, exercise is absolutely necessary for you to burn off fat. Remember, fat is burned in muscle cells, so the more you use your muscles, the more fat you burn. Also remember that fat produces some unhealthy hormones that cause problems for you.
PCOS does not magically disappear as you get older. It may change how it manifests itself, but it is still there. So you want to eat as healthy as you possibly can and continue to exercise on a regular basis for many years to come.
Since you cannot get nutritional supplements to help with PCOS, I won't discuss them here.
Above all, just keep doing the right things. Keep working on building your health and eating the healthiest foods you can obtain. Never give up hope! You and everyone else with PCOS has a significant degree of control over the outcome of this disorder. It's not easy but is definitely possible.
Congratulations on the good work you've done so far. Keep it up!
Does anyone else have any ideas that would help Leena?
