Maybe check out the Centchroman subforum? It's not adding hormones to your system, but I'm not clear on all the specifics of how it works or what it does.

Yes, Bunny that's right. I think I got ahead of myself and didnt' focus on the PCOS and the high LH levels...My sister has PCOS and used Metformin (diabetic medication that helps those with PCOS fix their blood sugar levels somehow) to ovulate and conceive her second son (worked within 2 months). She is still on Metformin to maintain weight and keep skin clear, but it's not natural and some people have different kinds of PCOS. However, when you do want to have a baby there is medication out there that can help you ovulate despite having PCOS, depending on what for of the syndrome you have. I'm not a dr...so your dr. would have options for you when you do want a baby. I know my sister's case has a lot to do with her being overweight, which could come from her thyroid problem....

As for not getting pregnant....hmm maybe try and treat your PCOS now so you can be hopefully be ready to conceive when it's time....use condoms in the meantime. That centchroman sounds interesting if you're not planning on trying to get your ovulation in order for next year when you may want to conceive.

Ormeloxifene (Centchroman) (WIKIPEDIA)
Ormeloxifene (Centchroman) is a selective estrogen receptor modulator, or SERM. It causes ovulation to occur asynchronously with the formation of the uterine lining, preventing implantation of a zygote. It has been widely available as a birth control method in India since the early 1990s, marketed under the trade name Saheli. Centchroman is legally available only in India.[citat

Her being overweight can also be from her PCOS. Many women with PCOS are also insulin resistant. A carb restricted diet can help with that, it balances blood sugar levels and maintains a healthy metabolism.
A low carb/GI-diet is very effective for women with PCOS, many women start ovulating regularly again. As an added bonus it is weight regulating, and a very healthy way of eating.
It is not for everyone though, but might be something for your sister to check out.
Maybe you too, nafi? Try it for some months and see if your cycles regulate, and maybe even track them.

Other than that, I agree that it seems like Centchroman might be a good option.

A raw diet might help, too. See this story--http://askcassyfirst.com/blog/?page_id=78.

I didn't have a period for a year. They wanted to put me on prednisone (sp?) or bcp's forever. At one point, this thought came into my head. There was one thing I changed about a year ago. I started drinking milk that had no growth hormones in it. I was thinking about how they say the hormones they put into dairy affects you, and thought I probably sent my system into shock. Here it's had these hormones from dairy products my whole life, and then I just rip it out suddenly. Not like I'd advise the hormone filled milk, but as an experiment, I started drinking it again. Sure enough, within a few weeks, the period came back.

Another thing is I consumed soy for years, and soy can negatively mess with your hormones and your thyroid--see http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2000/04/09/soy-research-update.aspx. Even if you're not purposely trying to eat it, soy hides in a lot of places if you just look at labels.

Also, meat and other animal products might have hormones.

I've even heard plastics can leach hormone-like substances or something like that.

All of these environmental things could be affecting hormone levels.

Anyways, I agree that some kind of cleansing diet could potentially help things...or not. I guess you have to try different things, and also listen to your bodies reactions...which is hard to do. Different things work for different people at different times. I wouldn't have imagined that healthy choice I took in cutting out the hormone laden milk would have had such dire consequences at that time.

Hey, I think you are talking about "estrogen dominance" or something that at least made me think about it.

http://gynecological-health.suite101.com/article.cfm/estrogen_dominance

The thought of all the synthetic hormones that I am exposed to and then to add more of it through the pill disgusts me.

My sister went to see a naturopath who wanted her off of the Metformin to diagnosis. Well she went off, her skin broke out (which is probably normal until the naturo could get it under control). Then she never followed up and went back on the metformin. I think you have to be super dedicated to go the natural way and not everyone is committed to do it. I think my sister is stuck in a rut; busy with kids, husband away working. I wish I lived closer so we could at least work out together.

I hadn't heard much about that disorder...thanks!

Yes, I guess you have to be desperate to go the natural way. I had to get desperate about getting my period back when the doctor's advice seemed scary or not very helpful. I had to get desperate about getting off the pill after the unpleasant side effects got bad enough.

My concern with Centchroman is that it doesnt regulate periods. often it increases your cycle length and I'd be in the same position of not bleeding enough over the year. I don't have a huge weight issue, I'm about 5'2 and weigh around 140lbs. I gained about 20-30lbs starting about maybe 5-6 years ago, 1-2 yrs after graduating high school. And I'm a little worried that it'll screw up my cycles more making it harder for me to get pregnant in the future.

I talked to my fiance and he, like me, really doesn't want to go back to condoms. It hinders his performance and it kills the mood for us. After 2 yrs of rarely using condoms with the 2 of us it'd be really hard to go back to it. I'm running outta options, may have to make sacrifices and come to a compromise.

And not to mention the fact that it may not even be legal in your country. Who do you get it from and what happens if you have a bad side effct and need medical treatment...if I were you I'd spend the next year getting your cycle back through natural means (naturopath, accupuncture whatever) and use condoms, spermicide with withdrawal (foam or suppositories), and lady comp in hopes that your cycle does get regular.

If you do want to get pregnant in the future maybe now is the time to get your body in sync so it's ready when you are :o)

fem cap with natural spermide contragel is 98% effective, use with withdrawal on top of that are you are probably good to go!

Yeah it would be so hard to follow such a strict diet and it's not cheap to eat very healthy too. I work shifts so it's crazy enough to find food for work. Have you ever heard of Body for LIfe? It's all about eating 3 meals and 3 snacks a day- combinations of healthy carbs (whole grain) with healthy lean protein. It's a cool diet that I try to keep in mind when making choices. It's so much better that they are making a lot more with whole grain noawadays.

I think with PCOS the biggest thing is to figure out what type you have with your dr. based on symptoms. Some people are overwight with insulin intolerance and this can be managed with diet an exercise. Some are thin and have thinning hair...some have acne...some have excess body hair...some ovulate, some don't...

Paula, that's a good point about the Centchroman. I kind of worried that about getting a lea's shield in the U.S. Yes, I could get it, but then what happens if something goes wrong?

I'm not familiar with the Body for Life program. I like your concept of aspiring to a diet and then keeping it in mind when making choices. I agree it is hard to eat healthy because of a variety of good reasons. I still think the raw diet could be very helpful for a number of complaints. I found this story very inspiring--http://www.rawandjuicy.com/shelly.html. For me, my limitations are space (our place is tiny for a lot of appliances), of course time, and I have a jaw problem that makes it hard to eat raw veggies that are tough to chew. Right now, I've been trying to do a combination of the Maker's Diet and the Anti-Candida Diet to kick my yeast infections. The Maker's Diet is supposed to help with a lot of things; I went on it a number of years ago for digestive problems. (A nice side effect was that I lost all of the pounds I gained in college). I agree it is hard, though. Many times on these diets, I have made comprimises due to money or will-power (you have to let yourself cheat sometimes) or time.

I always find it humerous how many different diets there are out there, how different they are, and even how there are so many differing voices on nutrition. Maybe part of it is because there are different people...or maybe many have differing pieces of the picture. Perhaps, everyone has to research and come to their own conclusion.

I guess for me, in the end, I think it is important to aspire to eat lots of fruits and vegetables (raw if you can), as near to natural as you can (grass-fed meat, raw milk, organic), and the least processed food you can.

Nafi, I hear you on the condoms...my husband won't consider them. At least he was okay with me going off the pill and looking into other options.

Keppers, it sounds like you are on my diet that I went back to after a few years off; raw milk, grass fed meats, dairy, eggs, fruits, veggies, fatty fish, unprocessed, no vegetable oils (processing oxidizes cholesterol), basically as old-fashioned as possible. I feel phenomenal on it and it's so much healthier! If you want an idea of how I eat, why, and the health benefits/research behind it, read the books by Nina Planck.

I will have to check her out! I've been hoping to get "Nourishing Traditions" by Sally Fallon...I think she might be in the same vein...when I searched for Nina Planck "Nourishing Traditions" came up in the list. Have you ever read Katie Singer's book, "The Garden of Fertility"? She seems to have some sort of connection to the same line of thinking as well. I've been kind of wanting to check out her book. (I already have Toni Weschler's book).

I haven't read the Katie Singer book, but I did just get Nourishing Traditions from Barnes and Noble a week ago. Great book, just a bit jumbled in its organization, like recipes scattered throughout the whole book instead of in just one section. It's fine if you know what recipe you are looking for though, because the are listed in the index in the back. Another one in my wish list (hopefully in download for my Sony eReader) is The Whole Soy Story by Kaayla Daniel about all the ways it is bad for you and the health problems it causes, as well as about the soy lobby getting soy into most of our foods. There is a similar book by Dianne Gregg, but the title escapes me.

The more you read about commercially produced (industrial) foods, the more it sounds like they are trying to deliberately kill us! Okay, a bit dramatic, but still.......LOL

The Whole Soy Story does seem like an excellent read. I was first introduced to the concept that soy might not be what I thought it was when I saw somebody selling that book. He started to go into how it was bad, and how it had messed up his wife's thyroid. I was shocked. I toyed with vegetarian eating in college and had drank soy milk and eaten other soy products on and off since then. I definitely had some negative hormonal changes / problems subsequently, but I don't know if that was the cause.

Anyways, I didn't end up buying the book though it looked fascinating. I checked it out from the library a month or so ago and started reading some of it. However, I guess I have too many books to read and too much to research on the internet, so I ended up returning it before I finished it. Hopefully, someday I'll get around to it.

Actually, I wouldn't be surprised if there are elements in society who want the human population to decrease and would put forth efforts to secure that dream...but perhaps it is more the love of money than a deliberate effort to kill us. But anyways, I agree--it is scary.

Hey nafi,

Just had a thought. This is what my sister who has PCOS uses for BC...

http://www.early-pregnancy-tests.com/ovacue.html

It works by reading the electrolytes in your saliva, there is a vaginal sensor too that must analyze your CM.

Interesting...so that one is different then the way Lady Comp works? How long has she been using it? Does she actually have regular cycles, or does it work well even with irregular cycles? Probably more stuff I should ask a doctor, but thought I'd see what info you have.

I'm probably not as familiar as she is with it, but when I was researching it in the past, it was around 94% effective at identifying the fertile window with electrolyte changes. I'm not entirely sure how long of a fertile window it identifies or not though. The one shown in the link looks a lot more up to date than when I was looking, so probably has better method as well. I was a bit confused by the electrolye graphs shown before, but I also hadn't read the manual to know what I was looking at. LOL! Might be something to look into a little more.

Hello girls !
I have a question for you
I had to go this week on a race and during that two days, it will not be a "sleeping trip"....had to wake up every two hours the night and probably sleep all the day lol and I don't talk about the stress
I think I will not take my LC for this two days because of the variations of my temp...is it a problem for LC ?
Or Will I have to take it and take my temp ?
Thanks !

Sorry I am so late at replying, I didn't see this. My sister said that the ovacue may work better with the vaginal sensor. She is waiting for natural methods to send it to her. She seems happy with Ovacue but says that it says a lot of her days are fertile- she seems to think that it will be more precise with the vaginal sensor.