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Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) is a sort of combo between reactive hypoglycaemia and insulin resistance. That then leads to an increase in DHEA and testosterone, which affects ovarian function. It's this domino effect that causes a lot of the classic PCOS symptoms, including difficulty conceiving.

Clues to PCOS can include skin tags, male pattern hair loss, but also male pattern hair growth/hirsutism (just not on the head, annoyingly!), even darker-coloured skin in folds and armpits because insulin causes pigmentation changes, weight gain, irregular periods, infertility and skin problems like acne – lovely, huh?

PCOS Treatment

The aim is is to control insulin properly.

First: simple fibre like psyllium, but especially guar gum, flaxseed and pectins in your diet will help. Taking something like Fibromin with a meal can help slow down the glucose absorption so you are less likely to get a spike after eating or crash later.

In between meals, phytosterols and certain branched-chain amino acids can really help stabilize things and prevent blood sugar crashes. Glycemovite will help here. Take between meals either once or twice a day. If you start to feel your blood sugar dropping and you can’t get to something to eat, taking this can really help. Glycemovite can be hard to get in the UK. If you have trouble, use Amino Quick-Sorb instead. 10-15 drops under the tongue between meals, especially if you can't eat and blood sugar is dropping.

Don’t forget to also sort out and support your adrenals, which control our blood sugar levels too.

For insulin resistance, the trick mainly is to cut down sugar, slow carbohydrate absorption and get some exercise. Supplement-wise, the most effective seems to be berberine. Studies have even shown it works better then metformin, the drug most often used to stabilize insulin in PCOS women – so you definitely wouldn’t want to take both, note! Dosage varies for individuals, but often 500mg per meal works well. If you have one particular meal of the day where you feel really tired after it, definitely take it then.

Another supplement that can really help specifically with PCOS is called Myo-Inositol. I’ve written about it for years and always give it. It is an insulin-sensitising amino acid, but also seems to improve FSH and TSH levels. I would combine myo-inositol, berberine and alpha lipoic acid specifically for PCOS. You can get ALA and Myo-inositol in one capsule here. Plus the berberine above. Remember the caution that you won’t need both these and metformin; it would be too much.

If you need advice, use the Ask Micki service, and talk to your chosen health practitioners before taking anything new, especially if you are on meds. Read the info on the links given. If buying supplements through Natural Dispensary, please use Micki Rose during registration when prompted. If using Amrita, use this code to register for access to advanced products, no need to do it again then: 4Y2AE7. For tests – please see the test pages here. Bless your cotton socks from me and everyone who benefits x