Pcos And Celiac....any Connection?

[melisadki]

Does anyone have PCOS? Is there a connection at all to Celiac Disease. I am just curious. I cant seem to find much research so if you know of a good link can you let me know...thanks

Mel

[ravenwoodglass]

  melisadki said:

Does anyone have PCOS?  Is there a connection at all to Celiac Disease.  I am just curious.  I cant seem to find much research so if you know of a good link can you let me know...thanks

Mel

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

What does PCOS stand for?

[melisadki]

Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome......it is habit writing PCOS

[ravenwoodglass]

  melisadki said:

Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome......it is habit writing PCOS 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thanks, I had many delitrious effects on my reproductive system, infertility problems (10 years), endometriosis, miscarriages, severe PMS (PMDD), postpartum depression bordering on psychosis, and extremely early menopause. But PCOS, not as far as I know.

[melisadki]

  Quote

Thanks, I had many delitrious effects on my reproductive system, infertility problems (10 years), endometriosis, miscarriages, severe PMS (PMDD), postpartum depression bordering on psychosis, and extremely early menopause. But PCOS, not as far as I know.

Thats what I am afraid of.....if I do end up having Celiac and not just gluten intolerance I am afraid of having so many reproductive problems. I also had a miscarriage at 9 weeks ,and my husband and i are going on 3 years trying to conceive again.

Can you have endo and not have symptoms in your opinion. I am scheduled for a laproscopy in Dec. I wonder what my chances are? I already have PCOS, a fibroid and low progesterone levels.

I am just hope going gluten-free will help us get pregnant. Seems like there are so many odds against me right now. I also have low thyroid and insulin resistance.

[tiredofdoctors]

From what my endocrinologist told me, PCOS is typically a result of hyperinsulinemia -- the excess insulin affects particular organs, the ovaries being a biggie. I have PCOS -- have had it for years. The bigger picture, however, is that hyperinsulinemia is the precursor to Type II Diabetes -- it indicates that your body's cells are becoming resistant to insulin, therefore your pancreas is increasing the production of insulin . . . . . . and the circle continues. May want to see an encocrinologist just to be on the safe side. Lynne

[melisadki]

I plan on seeing an endo if I dont get pregnant soon. I already take metformin and do the low carb diet stuff (well I try my best anyways). What else can they really do? MY other doctor said that low thyroid has alot to do with insulin resistance and PCOS so I also take thryoid meds.

I am just plain screwed up.

[ravenwoodglass]

  melisadki said:

I am just hope going gluten-free will help us get pregnant.  Seems like there are so many odds against me right now.  I also have low thyroid and insulin resistance.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Please give a gluten-free diet a try, it may also help with your thyroid and insulin levels. Don't give up hope, it took ten years but I did manage to have 2 children while still being poisoned by gluten. Please try being gluten-free for awhile, it very well may help and you will avoid the osteo and early menopause that so many of us deal with.

[Eliza13]

I have read that PCOS is related to celiac. I'll look for a link and post it here.

Skar

[melisadki]

  Quote

I have read that PCOS is related to celiac. I'll look for a link and post it here.

Thank you very much I appreciate it.

I plan on going gluten-free as soon as I go to my first GI doctor to see what he says about my diarhea, and undigested food etc...(you get the idea) I have a feeling I am sensitive to milk as well but giving them both up at once may be a challenge. I may just ease into the milk thing and slow down and eventually cut it out.

[beelzebubble]

i have often wondered the same thing. i have pcos and celiac. i have yet to find anything that states a link between the two. however, they are both closely linked with autoimmune thyroid disease. there is also a correlation between pcos and ibs. hmmmm.....

i can't help but wonder if they just haven't noticed a correlation yet. neither disorder is studied as much as it should be. pcos has really only gotten attention in the last five years.

i would love to see the link about pcos and celiac being related.

[melisadki]

Something has just got to be related cause I am just plain falling apart. This gluten-free diet hasnt really changed many of my symptoms even though it has only been a few days..

[beelzebubble]

any luck finding the article? i've been looking but i can't find anything.

[Quacks]

I was diagnosed with Celiac when I was 2... but haven't followed the diet strictly since I was ateenager (just trying to get back ont he diet again) just yesterday i was diagnosed with PCOS. I haven't learned much about it yet, but PCOS people have to watch carb intake yes?-- because of insulin issues-- and Celiacs are allergic to the sugars in wheat... i see a connection. I'm sick of changing my diet... no gluten and now no cholesterol or carbs?--all I have now is fruits and veggies and the occasional lean cut of chicken or turkey... I'm going to be malnurished! I'm depressed and P.O'd at the whole thing.

[motoko]

I was diagnosed with PCOS around the time I was 22, symptoms got bad for that a few years prior at the same time I started having digestive issues, which a GI doctor chalked up to IBS. The endocrinologist I see in NY, Susan Thys-Jacobs, has done a lot of research linking PCOS and other hormonal problems such as severe PMS to vitamin D and calcium imbalances in the body. At the point that I went to see her for PCOS I was so vitamin D deficient I almost had rickets. A couple years on of being treated only with a specific combo of vitamins and calcium (no glucophage or metformin) and I've lost a bunch weight, my skin's mostly clear and I've had a regular cycle for years. But there are still lingering problems, and no answer as to what caused the deficiencies in the first place. It's only become apparent to me in the last few years that I have gluten intolerance, and in the past few months to what extent. Looking back, I think it's entirely possible that the deficiencies that triggered the PCOS were either caused or helped along by gluten doing damage to my small intestine.

[Leslie-FL]

I was diagnosed with PCOS about 9 years ago, at the same time I found out I had started into early menopause (that runs in my family, so I wasn't surprised - plus, the hot flashes had already warned me something was up). I also have PMDD. I don't know if there is a connection to Celiac, but I went on YAZ for the PMDD a few months after I started eating gluten-free, and one or the other, or both, has made a world of difference in my symptoms. I also notice that any time I am accidentally glutened, my entire next cycle is much harder to get through. I seriously suspect that there must be a connection, but I don't have the medical knowledge to know that for a fact.

[splashsmama]

Here's an article I've come across on a PCOS board. Hopefully this will help those who were asking about it, and for future PCOS sufferers who think they may have gluten sensitivity.

Open Original Shared Link

As a sidenote, another thing that was mentioned is that gluten is an insulin-mimicker. For women with PCOS, excess insulin in the blood is what's causing the side effects of irregular periods, infertility, unwanted hair growth, acne, etc. So if you're ingesting something that mimics insulin, you're just digging that hole deeper.

I went on a very strict diet, which completely eliminated gluten from my diet a few months back. I tried it twice, and each time, I had a regular period show up without the aid of medication.

People who don't suffer from PCOS can't relate to how excited we get when Aunt Flo arrives.

HTH.

[ambertides]

  splashsmama said:

People who don't suffer from PCOS can't relate to how excited we get when Aunt Flo arrives.

I came across the article you mentioned a couple months ago and went gluten free to see if she was on to something. I've managed not to have periods even on birth control and after ovulating during fertility treatments. After a month of gluten-free, I had the first unmedicated normal-length cycle in my life. I was so excited and overwhelmed I was weeping!

[Lockheed]

I'm so glad I read this.. I'm now 14.5 months post partum and I stopped breastfeeding 2.5 months ago (when my son turned 1) and my cycle hasn't returned at all. My doctor said if it doesn't return within 3 months after I stop breastfeeding since we breastfeed until my son was 1 that then he would want to look into it further. I'm glad I'm not crazy in thinking I have a fertility issue and I had figured it's an issue with my calcium being low since that's usually my problem so I'm scheduled for my bone density scan next week. I did two years on the bone density drugs starting at 20 to recover from osteoporosis. But I'm really beginning to realize how accidental my son's conception was.. I didn't have normal cycles until I went gluten free and I stopped taking BC after I went gluten free because I started breaking out in hives on my neck - ugh. But we had only been married for about 6 months and weren't trying and the one time we didn't use protection and wham! I was really strict about my diet while pregnant (not like that stopped me from gaining 60lbs anyways - but all but 5lbs of that is gone!) and I didn't really have any issues until about 34 weeks where I had some preterm labor that they were able to control with medication for 2 weeks and then after that the doc said he just wanted to let things play out naturally at that point.

[cristinamek]

I have just been diagnosed with Celiac and have been diagnosed with PCOS for four years. The gluten free diet can take up to a year to actually fully help. I have met with specialist and if you truly have Celiac,they told me that it can take up to a year for your intestines to heal. the longer you are Gluten Free before a slip the better, but your body will still have to heal from the slip (though it wont be as long they told me). There is a connection as eating gluten because of the inter connection the systems have. I have been trying to get gluten-free for a month now, but its the hardest thing I have ever done. Elizabeth Hasslebeck has a very good book that is eye opening. The gluten-free Diet: A Gluten-Free Survival Guide.

[domesticactivist]

I don't know if it's related to celiac disease, but when my partner (who we don't think is celiac) went gluten free, she experienced changes - her cycle normalized, she lost belly fat and got a waist, and her hair became far less hairy. She looked those things up and found that they were symptoms of PCOS, and that PCOS often responds to a gluten-free diet. Then she told some people at school, and one woman said she had PCOS and hadn't had a period in years and had been infertile - 4 days after trying a gluten-free diet she got her period.

So, whether they are connected or not, I'd say anecdotally that PCOS and celiac both are mitigated by gluten.