PCOS and Vitamin D

Ok, Men, this is your fair warning to stop reading now. You don't want to know about this and even if you are a little curious now that I told you to stop reading, you really don't want to continue. You have been WARNED. :)

That out of the way, today something very interesting and rather important happened. I won't say exciting because once you know what it is you will know it is not necessarily something a woman cheers about, but it is significant in my life. I started my period today! Yippee right?!? Well, for me it is. For anyone who has been following our little blog and has ANY idea of what we have gone through in the past 8 years, you know that this is a big deal. You will know it is a bigger deal in that I have been off birth control since January. That's right ladies (and hopefully not gentlemen!) I have been birth control free for enough time now that I should not be starting my period without some kind of chemical help. Well, to be honest, I have had a little help I think. I started taking 1000 IU of Vitamin D3 every day since the end of January. I did this at the suggestion of my PCP who told me after some blood work that my Vitamin D levels were "sub-optimal". I don't fall in the "deficient" range, but the levels are definitely lower than normal. So I have been taking the Vitamin D religiously every day. The interesting thing is, I can tell the difference when I take it later in the day than usual - like if I forget or get busy and don't take it in the morning.

Here is what I know about Vitamin D - first it is a necessary component to help with bone strength in that is helps your body maintain proper calcium levels. Second, it has it's little fingers in just about every other aspect of your body's health - from immune system, cardiovascular and pulmonary systems to - you guessed it - hormonal and insulin use. After doing some more research I learned that studies have been done that document the impact Vitamin D can have on restoring balanced hormone and insulin levels in PCOS patients. One study showed that PCOS patients deficient in Vitamin D were able to not only regulate their cycles (and their hormone and blood sugar levels) but some of those patients were pregnant within two months of starting Vitamin D therapy! Without knowing the specifics of those patients, I can't even begin to guess how Vitamin D will affect me - and only being one month in means there will likely be more changes to come, but it is exciting to see this small step has already taken place.

In the mean time, I keep researching and finding out more and more information about Vitamin D and the impact it has on pretty much all of your major functioning systems. That being said, it is important to note that Vitamin D alone does not necessarily "change" things. It is also important to remember that Vitamin D has a list of co-factors(like other minerals and vitamins that should be taken with it - like magnesium for instance) that it needs to work at "optimal" levels and there are certainly a number of factors that play in to a person's individual health that means Vitamin D supplements will affect everyone differently. But, it is an interesting development in our world and one I will be keeping my eyes on. If nothing else, I will at least be tracking my "progress" and if this strange occurrence of starting a period without taking medication to do so occurs again I think I will make an appointment with my OB/GYN to run my levels again just to see what is going on.

So I share this with you as an update in the world of Kellie with PCOS and also as a bit of information I never knew. Until my mother was told she was vitamin D deficient I never even knew there was such a thing. And until I was told I was also Vitamin D "lacking" I would never have stumbled upon the connection of Vitamin D to PCOS. So in that same vein I hope to spread the word to others who are dealing with the same "stuff" that I am - the word that none of the numerous doctors I have been to yet have even thought to check or mention (yeah - that's not frustrating at all!) and up until just recently, the word that many PCOS sufferers didn't know anything about. I'm not saying it will solve the world's problems, but in my little corner, it just might make some improvement! (and on a side note - no I am not letting my hopes run wild that this could be our "answer" to getting pregnant. I just can't let myself hope that much again, but I am praying that it will at least be an answer to regulate things that need regulating - and hopefully it will help me drop a dress size or too! What? A girl can hope! :) )

Here is one of the websites I have found some good information on if you are interested: http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/