My Story Of Reversing PCOS !

The Most Important Hormone Required To Balance In PCOS:

At Truhealing, we're all about women's hormone health. We strongly believe that our hormones benefit from a healthy lifestyle and that every green smoothie, yoga class, and minute of meditation matters. But if you have full-blown PCOS or Thyroid weakness, it's marked by big hormonal shifts that can greatly affect the quality of life, causing a lot of anxiety and discomfort. So this week, we're shining the light on one of the ROOT CAUSE OF PCOS  so that we're all the more informed and empowered.

Many women have anxiety about PCOS, but knowledge is power. As a holistic OB/GYN, it's my job to ensure you know what's exactly going on with your hormones and help women restore balance in their bodies and feel their best during this time.

What’s Really Happening to Your Hormones in PCOS:

Estrogen is the first hormone to get imbalanced during PCOS (generally dominance), followed by progesterone (typically descent) and others like increased androgens. This shift will cause symptoms—like missed periods, PMS, palpitations, migraines, lumpy breasts, hair fall, facial hair insomnia, and anxiety, just to name a few. Some of you might feel like your body isn't your own anymore like something was seriously wrong, but it's just that your hormones are not balanced.

So far, medicine has failed to find safe, effective solutions to the hormone fluctuations that can make our lives more difficult during this time. My search for workable treatments arose from my hormonal problems after being thrown into premature menopause and Autoimmune Thyroid disease, which resulted as I was trying to fix my PCOS with birth control pills without addressing the root cause of the problem. I struggled to find answers even as an OB-GYN and women's health physician—only to be thwarted by a medical community that wanted me to take birth control pills, Thyroid pills, sleeping pills, and other medications or learn to live with my agonizing symptoms. But I'm not one to sit back and let symptoms derail me. I wasn't sure what was wrong with my body.

The PCOS–Blood Sugar Connection you Need to Know About:

My investigations led me to discover something no doctors were telling their patients. Along with estrogen and progesterone, two other hormones that are anemones running this show are insulin and cortisol.

Sex hormones like estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone are also affected by insulin. So when it is unbalanced, other hormones go out of kilter, too. You can become "insulin resistant" in PCOS. The cells in your body no longer react properly to its instructions because of excess insulin in the body. When insulin tries to do its job of rushing glucose (blood sugar) into cells for energy, they don't open up.

Since our bodies can no longer handle the high amounts of carbohydrates we used to eat—even healthy ones like fruits, whole grains, potatoes, or brown rice—they develop insulin resistance. Too much sugar builds up in our blood, and the result is hormone havoc—period problems, fatigue, difficulty concentrating, weight gain, facial hair, and other PCOS symptoms.

The Role of Cortisol in Hormone Health:

Cortisol is the second biggest player, the key stress hormone that is an immediate responder in times of danger and stress. Your adrenal glands pour out cortisol following a stressful event, which boosts the amount of blood sugar available for fuel and revs up your heart rate so you can fight off or escape a threat.

Cortisol levels stay high due to our increasingly stressful lifestyles as we age.  Another chief culprit in the decline of your sex hormones is the chronic elevation of cortisol. It robs your body of DHEA (the mother hormone) and causes blood sugar to rise. As a result of this, you can put weight around your belly. Because of cortisol, you lose your sex drive and suffer other sinister symptoms like night sweats, mood swings, and insomnia.

The love hormone oxytocin is the best antidote to stress. Cortisol decreases with an increase in oxytocin.

How To Balance Your Hormones?

You can greatly reduce the symptoms of  PCOS and still feel happy, energized, and content when your hormones, like insulin, cortisol, and oxytocin, are in sync. Here's how to make that happen—naturally, without drugs or artificial hormones.

1. Follow TruHealing diet: At Truhealing, we focus on veggies, healthy fats, and moderate healthy protein. It is valuable because it drives insulin down and reverses insulin resistance. Adding in more alkaline foods (such as greens and many non-starchy veggies) tamps down cortisol and thus controls that hormone.
2. Boost oxytocin naturally which will bring cortisol down: There are many ways to trigger the release of oxytocin. Being in nature, having laughter, yoga, meditation, pursuing your hobbies and passions, nurturing your friendships, practising generosity, and being more self-loving. Take supplements such as vitamin C, D, magnesium, and B complex. These work in different ways, but generally, they support the oxytocin receptors on cells that open up and let this hormone in. During PCOS, a lot is going on with your sex hormones, like estrogen and progesterone. However, we can still remember other major hormones that play a large role in how we feel daily.

A Word on Sugar and Your Hormones:

Stabilizing blood sugar is an essential component of the TruHealing protocol. The first step is cutting back on sugar. We need some sugar because our bodies and brains need glucose as fuel – just not as much as you're probably eating now. It takes a lot of effort to avoid over-consuming sugar and keep your blood sugar in check. The mismanaged blood sugar is identified as a stressor by the endocrine system. Your adrenal glands respond by sending out a lot of cortisol (the stress hormone) and adrenaline. It begins the hormonal havoc.

Here’s a breakdown:  

Your insulin response is stimulated when you eat sugar or carb-based food. Your metabolism is designed to preserve the glucose you receive from carbs or sugar because your body and brain need it for fuel. Sucrose and other sugars must be converted into glucose for your body. The only way the glucose can get into the cells in your body that need it is with insulin. Your body sends out lots of insulin to deal with a ton of glucose in the system when you eat a lot of sugar or carbs.

Your body says, "I want to save this glucose for the brain and body now as we don't know if we'll get it again" (consider this evolutionarily – early women only got glucose via fruits and berries occasionally). Our bodies are designed so that they get more fuel from fat than from sugar. The glucose in your body enters the cells, but there's excess insulin and glucose. Your body doesn't need much glucose since it cannot use it all. It is then packaged up as glycogen. It is why alcoholics are likely to end up with fatty liver disease.

When glucose overexposure saturates your cells, your blood sugar levels start soaring and then crashing. A glucose and insulin spike disrupts ovulation, which prevents your hormones from triggering it. This avoids the production of progesterone. Disrupted ovulation causes hormonal imbalance, and without ovulation, you cannot produce progesterone. This entire thing causes estrogen dominance.

Estrogen is secreted by the fat cells of the body. The more sugar you eat, the more fat cells you create; therefore, they secrete more estrogen. This estrogen adds to the estrogen your endocrine system produces and the xenoestrogens in our environment. You're set up for estrogen dominance, progesterone deficiency, and hormonal imbalance. You will deal with common issues like PMS, cramps, irregular cycles, and acne, along with PCOS and infertility issues due to hormonal imbalance. If you have insulin-resistant PCOS, it will cause inflammation, which leads to many chronic health issues because of having excess glucose in your bloodstream.

How to Quit Sugar to Maintain your Hormone Health?

Now you understand the science behind how sugar messes with your hormones. Now, let's look at how to cut back on sugar and detox it from your diet. Giving up sugar can seem hard, but know that it doesn't mean you can't have anything sweet ever, far from it. You can still have treats and desserts. You need to be conscious about the kind of sweetener and the amount you consume, so you always have an eye on maintaining that blood sugar stasis.

Aim to consume your breakfast within 90 minutes of waking up. It's an easy and great way to safeguard your blood sugar stasis. Make your lunch the biggest meal of the day. Try including complex carbs (like black beans) and good fats (like avocado).

When you usually have a sugar craving, reach for sweeteners that cause less disruption. Honey and dates are good substitutes, but sugar and molasses can also work well.

To satisfy those cravings:

1. Make homemade sweet treats, and try not to feel the need to reach for a candy or cupcake.
2. Use honey or coconut nectar in small quantities.
3. Eat lots of fibre-rich foods to detoxify the liver.

Consuming such products will help you create more of the hormone that prevents sugar cravings and will detoxify your body from excess estrogen. Watch out for hidden sugars. They are found in everything from pasta sauces to bread. Remember that fruit-based juices and smoothies that don't contain much fibre can have as negative an impact on your health as a can of soda.

Remember that health is your birthright; my job is to help you achieve that. We're all in this together. Wherever you may be right now, you are a wonderful woman, and once you get the right information, you can make better choices. Stop masking the symptoms and heal the root cause! It's time to listen to your body and reconnect with yourself. So, what are you waiting for? The science of your body is on your side. Change your life today and become the person you most want to be because this world needs you!

Love, healing and happiness!

Dr.Disha

Originally published October 24, 2019 by Dr Disha Sridhar