Ovulation and Ovaries Forum - Hypoglycemia and PCOS symptoms

Hypoglycemia and Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS), genrely come hand in hand, it is a hormonal disorder which causes many and varied symptoms, Hypoglycemia been one of them. 1 in 8 woman can be affected.

Woman with PCOS do not have the ability to control there blood sugar levels with out eating reagulry, and when they consume large amounts of sugars.

The amount a hypo affects a woman with PCOS differs, some don't even notice it, like me before I changed my diet did not think much about the heart papulations I got. This is because woman get into a cycle of eating the things that rase their blood sugar, like chocolate, bread, chips. One keeps going round and round as the never ending cravings for food keep one oblivious to the efects.

The symptoms of PCOS can be one or a combination of these:

* Hirsuitism (excessive hair growth on the face, chest, abdomen, etc.)
* Hair loss (androgenic alopecia, in a classic "male baldness" pattern)
* Acne
* Polycystic ovaries (seen on ultrasound)
* Obesity
* Infertility or reduced fertility
* Irregular or absent menstrual periods

There are a few others but these are the main ones.

In addition, women with PCOS appear to be at increased risk of developing the following health problems during their lives:

* Insulin resistance
* Diabetes
* Lipid abnormalities
* Cardiovascular disease (heart disease, heart attacks and stroke)
* Endometrial carcinoma (cancer)

I only noticed the problems I was having with blood sugar when I managed to break my eating cycle, and when I ate white flour and sugar. When I read about hypoglycemia on the net once I realized that that is what was happening to me, it was why I got muscle fatege, heart paps, feelings of cloudiness and a lack of concentration.

But I then got a bit confused when I found this site and read a list of things one with hypo should not eat, as I never had a problem with many of the things on the list. I can eat bananas with no problems at all for one, and the books I have on PCOS named a bunch of things I can eat that some people with Hypoglycemia can not eat.

Then I found an artical on PCOS and Hypoglycemia, it explains more on Postprandial Hypoglycemia

http://www.docguide.com/ne ws/content.nsf/news/852571020057CCF6852572 F3006E6045#

And I found this little bit of information:

"And of course hypoglycemia is different from insulin resistance. It (in particular reactive hypoglycemia) is one of the effects of long term IR. The pancreas becomes accustomed to overproducing insulin when it is stimulated by high blood sugar levels, and even a slight rise in blood sugar will produce a flood of insulin. IR may make the insulin relatively ineffective, but the amount that the pancreas is conditioned to produce ends up lowering the blood sugar too far. Some of the sugar is forced into the cells, much of it is used by the insulin for fat storage. Many women with PCOS have hypoglycemia, and are properly treated for it with Metformin. Yet another one of the lovely symptoms of all that goes wrong with our endocrine system with PCOS!"

So for all you woman out there reading this I would suggest checking this out if it rings any bells for you.

If you do find out you have PCOS then the best diet is a low Gi and low fat diet that keeps the insulin levels down.

Z