Diabetic Recipes
Moon
With a tainted past of endless symptoms ranging from irregular periods to joint pain, I am constantly looking for new ways to manage my life. By manage my life I mean that I look for new techniques to relieve stress, I change my surroundings to optimize my happiness and I closely examine the medical choices I have to make. This all started about three years ago. Right after my senior year in high school, I started experiencing an array of symptoms. Slowly, they all compounded leaving me with an entire page of bullet points of things going wrong with me. Joint pain, muscle weakness, fatigue, irregular and painful periods, headaches, ear aches, mood swings and so on.
I started out in my family doctor's office wondering if I had polycystic ovary syndrome (my telling symptoms: acne, the period problems, unexplained weight gain, abnormal hair growth). I was told that I wasn't "fat enough" to have PCOS and sent on my way. Next I went to an actual OBGYN who prescribed me some strange hormones that I refused to take and eventually birth control. Then I tried the rheumatologist, the neurologist, the internal medicine doctor and an infectious disease doctor. All kept prescribing me pills but never coming up with a diagnosis. They did perform numerous amounts of tests and ruled out many things (Lupus, Leukemia, Lyme disease), but I was still left hanging.
I tried some of their prescriptions including an arthritis medicine, a muscle relaxant, an antidepressant and that birth control. Nothing helped; in fact, some made everything much worse. I'm not bashing prescription medicines. I'm just stating the facts in my case. So finally, I threw all the prescriptions out the window and settled with the "rule out" disease (you know, where they rule out everything but still can't label what you have). I opted for lifestyle changes like increasing exercise and mass organization to "declutter my chaos." My symptoms persist and I still struggle with being a nineteen year old that can barely make it out of bed in the morning because of aches and pains.
With the news of ovarian cysts, a new OBGYN informed me that I most likely do have polycystic ovary syndrome (now titled anovulatory syndrome). Funny that was what I originally went in for (and no, I'm not much "fatter" than I was before)! My new prescription is another, different kind of birth control. I have yet to fill it. Honestly, I'm just a little scared and very doubtful of its effectiveness.
Recently, I've been reading about the alternative medical practice of bioidentical hormones (basically prescriptions that hold the same chemical compounds of the hormones our bodies produce). I've read both sides of the story. The medical community chooses to believe that these bioidentical hormones are not much different than the synthetics already being prescribed and that bioidentical hormones are not FDA approved (meaning they might not be as pure and safe as all would think). I completely understand this point. It makes sense to me that these bioidentical hormones may not be what they say they are and may not be consistent with treatment. On the other hand, I've ready many articles and books on the success of this type of treatment and the way the process works. That makes sense to me as well.
So my dilemma and my question to all: should bioidentical hormones be used as common treatment? Are they as great as some people say? As a diabetic, should I risk this? Or is the whole point of bioidentical hormones just some "quack" theory?
Not sure how diabetes comes into play with this all, but I know some people have bad reactions to generics versus the exact same active ingredient of the name brand, and some of us have had reactions to entire classes of drugs that were supposed to be "helpful" -- sometimes, because they were prescribed at too high a strength, or for too long, or for the wrong thing.
FDA approval of a drug does not mean it is safe and effective to use (think of how many FDA-approved drugs have been showing significant adverse secondary effects that were not measured in human trials) -- nor does lack of FDA approval mean that a drug is not safe and effective (note that under today's FDA approval requirements, aspirin would fail dramatically).
Now, the idea of "bioidentical" makes a certain amount of physiochemical sense, but it also sounds as if that treatment regime would be more closely associated with either holistic medicine or homeopathic medicine. Many practitioners of one or the other of these treatment philosophies are not licensed to practice medicine in the United States. (Now, that raises a warning flag.)
Whatever your choice, proceed intelligently, with caution, and be willing to speak up and to leave the practice if the professional is not licensed and/or does not listen to your concerns.
My best friend has PCOS for seven years she had all the symptoms but refused to tell the doctor. once they told her what she had i got online did research and got her on the diabetic diet. before she could even fill her birth control prescription [the only thing they will give her until she drops 100 lbs (she is 375 lb).] She started her period on her own after seven years. In everything i have read it pcos is linked to diabetes. but thats just my limited knowledge
I am sorry, but I have to ask the obvious question. Why spend all that money for doctors and then when your diagnosis is confirmed you refuse the treatment. The purpose of the birth control pill is so you will not ovulate, therefore will have much less cyst and get into a normal cycle. Not to be cynical, but just looking at it from a medical point of view. any medication fda approved or not has the "potential" to hurt you, but those % for that with approved drugs is very low. just my 2 cents. Carolyn
tmana- you are so right that sometimes FDA approved drugs aren't so great after all. this doctor is a licensed MD and has practiced for over 30 years. like you said, this kind of treatment definitely should be done by an actual doctor and not holistically.
pastry chef- diabetes and pcos are linked. pcos causes an increase in insulin resistance which can lead to type 2. i'm happy to hear that the diet worked for your friend. some cases of pcos are easily treated with weight loss, diet, etc. others, not so much.
carolyn- you're right in asking that question. my problem with the birth control is that i have tried birth control before and it made my symptoms much more severe. the new birth control prescribed to me has a long history of severe breakthrough bleeding for months at a time. something that i'd prefer not to deal with as a college student or a diabetic. FDA approved drugs are not always the safest on the market and especially when you have other contributing health factors. as a diabetic, birth control is a very tricky pill. it can do insane things to your blood sugar, make you eat crazy and of course, add weight. those things are more than i'd like to handle. if i know of a natural way to cure this, i'd take that route instead.