My story. Can anyone relate?

 Hi all, 

I am currently in the process of getting VSG surgery. No date yet, but all my BCB's are completed.  I am self pay so it just a matter of waiting for hospital schedules before I actually have a date. Hopefully I will know this by Oct 1.

I was diagnosed with PCOS about 10 years ago. Since then I have watched my weight steadily increase over the years, but have always seemed to maintain what I felt was healthy for a majority of that time. I have never been a small person, but at 180lbs I am a size 9-10 and I am comfortable there. I exercise 5X a week. I love swimming and going to the gym. I eat very healthy about 1200 cal a day. I love kale! And I'm not afraid to admit it! 

After the birth of my son in 2008 I gained 35lbs and have been unable to see a budge on the scale. (how I actually got pg is a very long story but I can answer if you want to ask) No matter how much I exercise, how much I eat. or how hard I try this weight is stuck to me. I hired a personal trainer. Paid for food delivery...all the things you tell yourself if you really commit to this, it will work. Nothing has...and instead I gained even more weight.

Currently I am 223lbs which I know is on the lower end of the scale, but I just can't loose this weight on my own.  I am frustrated, exhausted and pissed off.  I have been sold on this idea that if you eat right and exercise you will loose weight. I have been doing just that my entire life and have done nothing but gain! I feel like a crazy person. I feel like when I tell people this, they think I MUST be hiding Twinkies under my pillow. 

No matter what I keep telling myself I still have this constant sense of failure and lack of control over my own body.

Currently my biggest concern is that WLS will fail me.

Is there anyone out there with PCOS and a lower BMI that WLS has worked for? Am I alone out here?

Thanks for Listening, 

Christa

Christa,
 I was diagnosed with PCOS in 1999 and like you, no matter what I did (exercise, weigh****chers, etc.) my weight kept increasing.  My love of food and stress (Hurricane Katrina aftermath) added to the problem.  In 2005, after several rounds of fertility treatments, I gave birth to my daughter Amelie. With the fertility treatments and pregnancy, I went from 175 lbs to 260 lbs.  After her birth,  I managed  to lose 43 of those pounds.  At 217 lbs I  functioned pretty well.  My cholesterol was a little high but other than that my labs were normal and my doctor would routinely counsel me on the benefits of diet and exercise.  In late 2009, my health took a turn for the worse and I developed cellulitus (infection under the skin),  & high blood pressure. Then two days before Christmas, I developed a bad case of Bronchitis, could not breathe and was taken by ambulance to the hospital where I almost died.    After that experience, I decided that it was time for me to do something. I was now 252 lbs.  Again, I met with my primary care physician who was against the idea of WLS.  He dismissed me with, "I don't want to discuss this, you just need to lose weight by watching your diet and exercising.." I pushed the issue and badgered him so much that he finally agreed to refer me to Dr. Lavin for a consult. Dr. Lavin agreed that I was a good candidate for gastric bypass. I was 100 lbs overwieght with BMI of 42. One month before surgery, I was diagnosed with Type II Diabetes. 

One of my biggest concerns was that WLS would fail me because of my PCOS.  I had gastric bypass on July 27, 2010 and as of today, September 24, 2010 I have lost 41.5 lbs.  Everyday is a struggle,  getting in all of the vitamins, getting enough protein, fighting head hunger, choosing the wrong thing to eat and suffering the consequences (vomiting or diahrrea) etc. I have incorporated exercise into my daily life.  No more excuses, too tired, not feeling well, I just do it.  
I also attend WLS group therapy once a week where everyone shares their fears, struggles, etc.
I have noticed that some of my PCOS symptoms are getting better.  My acne is completely gone, the dark patches of skin at my knees and elbows are starting to fade.  I still have a devil of a time with facial hair and may look into Laser hair removal down the road. 


Good luck to you.  I was so very nervous and apprehensive before WLS but turns out that surgery was the easy part.  I had read somewhere before surgery that women with PCOS were "slow losers" after WLS.  Everyone is different and loses weight at their own pace.  Just follow the guidelines given to you by your surgeon and your nutritionist and if your surgeon's office can recommend a support group, check it out even before surgery. 

Colleen

I have felt like a slow loser since I had my surgery... I thought it was just me, but I actually find it a little comforting to know that because I have PCOS, that just might be what it is...

I know my ticker says 83 pounds lost, but I lost 50 of those pounds before my surgery... I've been losing slow and steady since my surgery on 7/29... But, SLOW for sure compared to some of the other huge numbers I see people posting on the board... :D  

I have been off the metformin since I lost about 40 pounds, because my sugar was tanking out low and I was feeling pretty crappy... But, because I stopped taking the metformin my uterus has been crazy out of control...

So, anyway, yeah... I don't know if that answered your question, but you are not alone out here, that's for sure!! 

Huggles!!
~Sarah~

Hi. I'm also in the process of scheduling VSG surgery. I was diagnosed with PCOS a few months ago but did not want to take the Glucophage just yet. I was put on Progesterone instead. I'm hoping that having this surgery will give me better chances of starting a family and decrease the need for medications. I hadn't heard that people with PCOS were "slow" losers so thanks for the info. That could be very discouraging for someone like me to think that the surgery failed cause the weight is coming off slowly. Thanks again.

 I just wanted to thank everyone for responding to my post. It feels good to know there are other PCOS people out there with the same struggles. I am fully expecting to be a slow loser, but hopefully in a year I will have lost 40lbs and that is all I really want!

It is such a strange disease to have. I keep telling myself I don't really have it and that I'm just doing something wrong. A nice thing about getting my BCB's done was seeing my blood tests and then realizing...no wait...this is real. 

I have ended up going with lap-band surgery. Not by choice...but mainly because it was covered by insurance and I was struggling with the hospital as a self pay patient. They wouldn't negotiate with me and I realized I just couldn't  afford what they were asking. The Lap-Band is free, so I might as well give it a shot!

So my surgery is on October 25th.  Hopefully everything will go well.

Thanks everyone, 

Christa

I know that this thread is old but I still wanted to say thanks to those of you who wrote it.  I am hoping to have VSG done by this summer.  I have HTN and PCOS.  My surgeon told me that the surgery would "immensly" help PCOS symptoms but said nothing about weight coming off slower.  That never crossed my mind.  I'm currently on 1000 mg of met daily.  Is that a dose I can keep up after surgery?  I have mainly been on the VSG board and I've marveled at how quickly people drop the weight and I would have been crushed to not have the same kind of results.

 Hi there, 

I'm the original poster from above. I had my surgery on October 25th. I can't tell you how much weight I lost because I stopped looking at the scale. I can tell you that I feel like I'm a slow looser. I have started going to therapy and learned that this entire thing is a process. I had the lap-band surgery which relies on fills in order for you to feel a tightness. So far, I haven't found that sweet spot yet, since I have only had two very small fills. Most people start really loosing weight at around 9cc's of fluid in there band. I only have four, so hopefully when I'm all filled up the weight will come of a bit faster. For now I am still thrilled with my surgery. It sure protected me from gaining weight over the holidays.

You can't be crushed if you don't have the same results as someone else. I can't stress how important this is. A dear friend put it to me like this...who cares if it takes you 2 months to loose 10lbs...you are still 10lbs lighter than you were 2 months ago. It took me 10 years to gain all this weight, so expecting it to come off in just a few months doesn't really make much sense.

I wish you the best of luck with everything! Keep us posted about how everything goes for you!

"You can't be crushed if you don't have the same results as someone else. I can't stress how important this is. A dear friend put it to me like this...who cares if it takes you 2 months to loose 10lbs...you are still 10lbs lighter than you were 2 months ago. It took me 10 years to gain all this weight, so expecting it to come off in just a few months doesn't really make much sense."

I know that what you said makes sense but at the same time it wouldn't stop the dissapointment, ya know?  I have my first non-surgical WL visit at the end of this month and I'm going to make sure to bring this up.  The second reason I want to have this surgery is to be able to have another child.  My husband and I have been trying for over 2 years, meds, u/s, pokes and prods haven't helped.  It all becomes over whelming after a while.
Thanks for replying and good luck.