BARBARA'S TCHATZKAHS

I have some of the same things this woman does. And because I have been diagnosed as physically disabled 18 years (NOT MY "CHOICE"!!! either) some people comment on how well I "adapted" and "cope" because I'm giving them the impression "it's no big deal"... Well IT IS A BIG DEAL... it cut my living a decent productive life off at the knees... in my 30s !!! From the great site: BUT YOU DON'T LOOK SICK! __________________ Lately I’ve been getting the impression from some of my friends that maybe my growing list of chronic illnesses is no big deal. No one is actually coming out and saying these words, but that is definitely the feeling I’m getting. This point could be debatable. Maybe they think that. Maybe I’m projecting. But this is how they are making me feel, so right now this is my reality. And it’s fine really. I know that no matter how much education I do or how much awareness I try to bring, I am neve...

PLEASE SIGN THE PETITION TO HELP THOUSANDS OF WOMEN LIKE ME: PCOS AWARENESS & TREATMENT - Please Sign!! I was diagnosed in 1966 and didn't receive proper treatment until 1999!!! That's right -- 33 years of hearing that it must be me !! Despite PCOS being a KNOWN DISEASE since the 1930s! Let's include being bullied at school by students AND teachers who were clueless about this illness. PCOS robbed me of some of my womanhood, destroyed relationships I cared about, given me heart disease and added to my clinical depression and PTSD issues. And I am not the only one. More Awareness is needed now!! Please help. Thank you. PCOS and Weight Loss by Louise Parker One of the major obstacles facing women with PCOS is the weight gain that has become synonymous with it. Approximately 50 to 60% of all women with PCOS are classified as obese. One of the major reasons why obesity is common in PCOS sufferers is the body’s inability to process insulin. Insulin is a hormone that regul...

I have suffered with PCOS since 1966 and it has affected my physical and emotional health in ways too numerous to elaborate on on this blog. I have had 3 surgeries for PCOS consequences, including one just a few weeks ago. I was in my 40s when I finally found a doctor who "got it" and treated the disease, not just the symptoms. If you need to know more or need to find a doctor - please feel free to write to me. - Barbara If you have PCOS, you've probably heard that you have a much higher risk of cardiovascular disease and diabetes. But what about cancer? Are you at risk? The relationship between PCOS and cancers in general is not completely clear, although women who are overweight are more likely to get some kind of cancer. Women who are infertile ( whether they have PCOS or not ) are more likely than fertile women to get a cancer of the reproductive system. The strongest link between a cancer and PCOS is endometrial cancer. A few studies have suggested a correlation ...

Metabolic Syndrome By Steven V. Joyal, MD Dropping dead from a heart attack, being crippled by a catastrophic stroke, having limbs amputated as a result of peripheral vascular disease — these are among the frightening consequences of vascular disease, the number-one killer of Americans. Metabolic syndrome and its associated condition of insulin resistance pose a major threat to cardiovascular health that most health care practitioners do not even discuss with their patients. Remarkably, the public knows very little about this silent but deadly condition, and many affected individuals are not even aware that metabolic syndrome is inflicting severe damage to their arteries and brain cells. The news media and health care providers pay almost no attention to the epidemic of insulin resistance, the fundamental cause of metabolic syndrome. To avoid the potentially disastrous cardiovascular consequences of metabolic syndrome, you need to understand: What metabolic syndrome is and how to de...

DIABULIMIA - A NEW DANGEROUS PRACTICE Some skipping insulin to slim down -- Practice results in grave diabetic complications earlier in life, expert warns Like many teenage girls, Lee Ann Thill was obsessed with her appearance. A diabetic, she was already suffering from bulimia — forcing herself to throw up to lose weight. But it wasn’t enough, and she’d recently put on 20 pounds. Then one day at a camp for diabetic teens, she heard counselors chew out two girls for practicing “diabulimia” — not taking their insulin so they could lose weight, one of the consequences of uncontrolled diabetes. Don’t you realize you could die if you skip your insulin? the counselor scolded. Don’t you know you could fall into a coma or damage your kidneys or your eyes? But that’s not what registered with Thill, who has type 1, or juvenile diabetes. Instead, she focused on this: Skipping insulin equals weight loss. For the next 17 years, diabulimia was her compulsion. “I took just enough insulin to function...