Plus Size Women PCOS Stories and Resources

Plus Size Women PCOS Stories and Resources

Community members often post questions on the Plus Mommy Facebook page about Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS). They are searching for plus size women PCOS stories and resources they can relate to. I don't have personal experience with PCOS so I've never blogged about it.

Then it hit me – why not turn to an expert like Amy from PCOS Diva and ask the community to share their PCOS stories? So I did just that! Below you'll hear from Amy, see links to stories, and supportive resources.

Plus Size Women PCOS Stories and Resources

Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) Support 

Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) is one of the most common female endocrine (hormone) disorders and is a leading cause of female infertility. The condition is caused by an imbalance of a woman’s female sex hormones. It affects as many as 10-15% of women of all women, and half of women with PCOS actually are undiagnosed.

PCOS can cause irregular periods, weight gain, depression, mood swings, acne, excess facial and body hair growth, and ironically, hair loss. It can also cause the absence of ovulation, which can prevent a woman from conceiving.

I have often heard PCOS referred to as the “Thief of Womanhood.” If left unmanaged, it can rob you of your fertility, femininity, health and happiness. I understand this label and struggled with all of the PCOS symptoms. It wasn’t until I realized that a diagnosis isn’t the end of the world – it is a chance for a new beginning – that my real healing journey began. When I started taking care of myself, loving myself and making me a priority, I became a new woman. My husband started calling me a diva. What a compliment!

It's most often managed with prescription drugs like birth control and the diabetic drug Metformin, but there is another way.

My mission is to help women take control of their own health and life and overall happiness. By altering your lifestyle and following my 5 Fundamentals of a PCOS Diva, you can reduce your symptoms naturally. After I started living the PCOS Diva lifestyle, I became pregnant naturally at the age of 37 and have a healthy little girl after having 2 boys, both conceived through fertility treatments.

5 PCOS Diva Fundamentals:

  1. Sizzle in the kitchen: Cook your own food. No crazy diets, just get in the kitchen and start cooking.
  2. Have discriminating tastes: Only clean whole foods allowed in your temple.
  3. Move it: Exercise. The more you move, the better you’ll feel.
  4. Practice extreme self-care: Love yourself and know you’re worth it.
  5. Be powerfully positive: Steer clear of perfectionism, self-sabotage, and negative self-talk.

The experience of healing myself and regaining my fertility, femininity, health, and happiness – and having a healthy little girl – truly launched my site. My daughter may inherit my PCOS genes and if she does, I want her to know that having it is not the negative thing I once thought it was. It is an opportunity to live life as a diva!

About the Author: Amy Medling, CHC is a health coach and founder of PCOSDiva.com, an online resource dedicated to helping women understand and manage the symptoms associated with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome.

Jen McLellan, CBE
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15 Comments

  1. I’ve shared my story a couple times on Facebook, but I want to share it here as well. I never had regular periods.When I was 16 my mother read about PCOS and took me to the most “respected” ob-gyn in the area. He listened to all my symptoms (which was everything but hair loss) and then told me that I had PCOS because I weighed too much and that it would disappear if I lost weight. He also told me that I would probably never be able to have children because I had PCOS, even if I did fix it by not weighing so much. Needless to say, that didn’t help my self esteem any. I felt broken. I hated myself. I did not feel like a woman, but rather a sorry excuse for a human. I lived with that self-image for many years. Once I married and started TTC, the feelings of not being feminine got even worse. Dr’s put me on birth control to make me have a period with the suggestion to not take it regularly so maybe you’ll ovulate. Then I started on Metformin which tore my stomach up and the promise that “next time I’ll put you on Clomid.” Finally I found a Dr that recommended the extended release Metformin. I was able to take it and not get sick. It helped some in regulating my periods but I still would skip 3-4 months at a time and end up having to take progesterone to start. Then I found PCOS Crown. It is a health coach that has PCOS and teaches women how to handle this disease naturally. I learned about a balanced diet, supplements, and the relationship between gluten sensitivity and PCOS. I cut out 95% of gluten, dairy, and processed sugars. Not only did I feel better but I started seeing a decrease in my PCOS symptoms. The hair on my chin wasn’t as dark and I started having more regular periods. The thing I continue to have the most difficulty with is exercise. On August 30, I finally got that plus sign I had been waiting on for 5 years. I thought it was PMS since I hadn’t tested positive for ovulation the month before (while my cycles are better, they aren’t clockwork yet). Turns out we are pregnant. we started trying in September 2008. I found out I was pregnant on Aug 30 2013. Five years of tears. Five years of hopelessness. Five years of feeling inadequate because I couldn’t give my husband a child. In my heart, I always thought back to the Dr who told me I wouldn’t be able to have kids because I was fat. I let that ignorance and prejudice taint my self-worth and my emotional well-being. Despite all that, I did it. I am pregnant. I have lost weight. I do feel better about myself. PCOS may be a disease but its one we can fight. The disease doesn’t make us. We can overcome.

    1. My cousin is 18, and last year she was diagnosed with PCOS and was told that she probably wont be able to ever have children. Her self-esteem was already low, from being an over-weight teenager, and she has always suffered epilepsy, so due to that she can’t drive. She was already a pretty depressed teenager, and this added to it. My poor cousin attempted suicide, and luckily survived, and is now in therapy. But it is doctors who are careless with their words to young girls that make dealing with diagnoses like this struggle. I am so sorry for your journey, and congrats on beating those odds. I worry that I have had PCOS un-diagnosed for a long time, but have not been checked for it yet. It is on my to-do list. Wish me luck. <3

    2. Hi Dianne P! I just read your story regarding your PCOS journey on the Plus Size birth website. My daughter is 32 and struggling with infertility due to PCOS and is so discouraged. I tried to find a link to the PCOS Crown you mentioned because I do believe diet is such an integral part of our body’s ability to heal ourselves but couldn’t find it. Could you send it to me? Thank you so much in advance.

  2. My story is somewhat atypical for PCOS. I had regular cycles at first, but after a bout with bell’s palsy and HUGE amounts of steroids, That all changed. When I was 18, I was diagnosed with PCOS. I had (and still have) many of the symptoms. I’m fat, have male-pattern hair growth, irregular periods and infertility. I exercised (I owned horses and was incredibly active), I ate pretty good, I did all the natural healing things and all the drugs. Nothing really made any difference whatsoever. Doctors had informed me numerous time I would not be able to have children.

    After I got married, my hubby and I started trying to have a baby, even going so far as to do fertility treatments. We tried for 5 years, and finally, I couldn’t do it anymore. I experienced feelings of guilt, and I felt like I wasn’t a woman or feminine. It sucked hard. Nothing worked and we stopped trying all together. If we were pony parents it would have to do, even though I broke my heart into a million peices. All I’d ever wanted to do was be a mom and raise horses and babies.

    Two years after I stopped trying, I got pregnant. Then I miscarried 10 days before Christmas. That killed me. I stopped paying attention to my cycles and went about my life. I didn’t even notice when I got pregnant again that following April. My mother had to inform me I was acting pregnant, because I had distanced myself from cycles and what-not for so long. I’m sure I would have caught on, but at the time, I felt sleepy and blah. No morning sickness or extreme symptoms. Those came a few weeks after I found out I was expecting.

    Seven years of trying and in our 8th year of marriage we had a little boy. While my delivery was a nightmare (and that’s a whole other story) he was what we’d been hoping for. We decided to try again a year after he was born. Our thought was if we had a second, YAY and if not, we had gotten our miracle baby. I took another 2 years, but I fell pregnant again. We now have a little girl who is 10 months old to accompany our 5 year old boy. I am doubly blessed. At 35 I am now a mom of to glorious miracles who weren’t ‘supposed’ to be.

    After all the different drugs and whatnot from 18-20, I’ve never been treated again for my PCOS. I never changed my lifestyle (until recently when my activity dropped off due to back issues). I’m not sure if mine was triggered or if I did get it from my grandmother, who had fertility problems. Every other woman in my family is uber-fertile. 🙂 I hope my new obgyn will help or give me ideas to treat it or let me know if I’m doing ok.

    Regardless, I have my babies, who are the light of my life.

  3. Can I just say THANK YOU for talking about how there are indeed natural treatments for PCOS! After being diagnosed with PCOS, I began meeting with other moms and family members with the condition to find out what did/did not work for them in terms of treatments. I heard many horror stories about the the drugs for PCOS, family members who had surgeries to remove the cysts and even others that had an ovary removed! What I noticed is all of the treatments never really get to the source of the problem, but only it’s symptoms. After navigating all kinds of natural remedies and having PCOS for the past 10 years, I was able to conceive three children naturally, without any drugs and I am so thankful! I encourage anyone with PCOS to look for natural treatments.

  4. Okay so Here’s my issue, I was told by my Doctor that I had some PCOS symptoms, but not all of them, My androgen levels were great, my progesterone levels were good and so were my blood sugar levels, though I have some insulin resistance. The issue was that the radiologist said that my Ovaries looked like they could have PCOS.

    So the Doctor left me thinking okay huh! and so I am not sure now what is going on… Do I have PCOS or don’t I? Then the Doctor said that with my losing 60 kg. I would probably be more successful having a baby. Not to mention that he told me that since I am over 30 ( I’m 32 in two weeks!) that I should just go right to try for IVF. but then ended that statement with but nobody will do IVF for you unless you lose about 60 kg or more.

    I weigh about approx. 320lbs, and I am a size 20-22 pants, I guess that means I am huge (to doctors and such, but I am very proportionate for my size!) I have been off of Depo provera for over a year now, and recently my periods have come back to normal because I started taking iron supplements again (because I have Thalassemia… because I’m Italian!) but they are 40 days apart where they use to be 28 – 30 days apart. So now I am just in a land of confusion!

    I am taking supplements like Maca, Chasteberry, red raspberry Leaves, Vitamin D and Iron and a Pre-Conception Vitamin, What else do I need to do???

    I’m nervous that the doctor is right and I have to get gastric bypass to have a baby! and My husband and I said we would go the IVF route if we needed to but then the Doctor says no other doctor will touch me to do IVF with someone so big…. so what do I do now?? I am trying not to stress about it but as other people get pregnant around me I find myself getting sad that it isn’t me and My husband…. what do I need to do now?? How do I stop myself from worrying? Are those Doctor’s right??

    1. Ashley I can only imagine the amount of frustration and confusion you’re feeling. Have you considered trying to find a size friendly fertility specialist or getting a second opinion from a size friendly provider?

  5. Hey pcos diva i have a friends wanting books to read about pcos and getting pregnant, are there any you suggest? I am new to this stuff so i wasnt sure how to ask.. feel free to email or what not… i want to buy her a book as shes just found out that the last cyct on her overys had popped, thank you in advance

    1. I’m not sure how often PCOS Diva checks this article, so you might want to go directly to her website or Facebook page linked within the article 🙂

  6. i too have suffered from PCOS but thanks to the treatment I received I have two beautiful boys aged 8 & 9.

  7. Hello,

    I weigh 212 pounds and I am 5’4″. I have one child who is 4 years old and we have been trying for the past year. I have had 3 miscarriages and a few false positives. Yep false positive! My last miscarriage was in november and before that my cycle was at 31 days. Since my miscarriage I have had just one period. 47 days after the miscarriage and now nothing anymore! I am currently at 52 days. I changed my diet since my miscarriage and it only made it worse. I already exercise 3 or more times a week. Still no period…my diet is better than when i used to be at 31 days cycle but somehow that made my pcos worse. Anyway, just thought I would share! Tests on monday to see what is wrong…

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