Helpful PCOS Android App

I have been using this great little Android App on my phone called MyDays. It helps track your cylces, ovulation and even those days you get your groove on ;)

There's a PCOS Documentary?

Yep....there is.


Scrambled: A Journey through Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome

I haven't seen it yet. Anyone know if it's anygood?

What am I Doing!?!

Ok....we all know that smoking is bad. I have seen all the warnings, articles, commercials and pictures of black lungs just as you probably have. I have even watched several family members die from smoking-related problems, but I can remember as a little girl rifling through the ashtray of my grandmother's old gray Ford. I'd pretend to smoke; half disgusted and half curious, but longed for my grandmother to quit. I'd make every deal I could think of to convince her to quit. None of those deals quite worked out and she passed away in 2009.

I never, ever thought that years later I would be the full-on smoker. Now it is my daughter striking deals with me to quit and I am totally ashamed. How did this even happen?

Oddly, I became my full-on smoker self right about the time I was diagnosed with PCOS. I often wondered why smoking seemed to increase my weight while others talked about how it kept it off. Well, here is yet another reason smoking is bad for me (duh!)

Smoking's Effect on PCOS

What am I doing to myself?!I have got to quit smoking! I would love any comments, tips or stories to help me quit. Anyone?

As for now, I am almost finished reading The Easy Way to Stop Smoking. It makes some great points, but I don't know that I am convinced quitting is easy quite yet. We will see how it goes (fingers crossed).


Here are some smoking quotes I enjoy:

The believing we do something when we do nothing is the first illusion of tobacco. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson (I <3 Emerson)>

Every citizen who stops smoking, or loses a few pounds, or starts managing his chronic disease with real diligence, is caulking a crack for the benefit of us all.
Mitch Daniels (Don't know who this is, but AMEN brother!)

Giving up smoking is the easiest thing in the world. I know because I've done it thousands of times.
Mark Twain (This will be my last attempt tyvm)

Only 14 years to light a fire under me....

About 14 years ago, I was diagnosed with PCOS. I was originally told that it was "just a fertility problem" and since I was young I had nothing to worry about, but that I may have difficulty getting pregnant one day. Well, it turns out to be a bit more than just a fertility problem. It can wreak havoc on your body and even your mind...if you allow it.

Although I have struggled with the effects of PCOS on my body and body image, I have been VERY complacent about taking medications and making necessary lifestyle changes (mostly because they haven't improved a thing in the past), but now something is different.

My amazing daughter who is about to turn 10 is starting to exhibit the signs that I once did at her age. The signs are pointing more and more to the obvious...PCOS. At first, I cried. I would do anything to spare my daughter from some of the struggles I have gone through related to PCOS; the embarrassment of acne and excess hair, the struggle to maintain a healthy weight, the difficulty getting pregnant, the disappointment of miscarriages, the anxiety and on and on... and on. Then, something snapped. Now I'm pissed and ready to fight back. I want to reclaim my life and self esteem from this disorder that has affected my mother, myself and now, it seems, my daughter. I wish I had been able to get motivated for myself, but there is something different about seeing your own baby suffer.

I know that everything can not be blamed on PCOS, but it IS one nasty little beast. I want to be an example to my daughter on how to kick that beast's butt.