March 23, 2025 • 38 mins
Polycystic Ovary Syndrome affects more than 10% of women worldwide and yet the level of care is no where near where it should be. Clare Goodwin is a nutritionist and PCOS expert who was diagnosed with PCOS in her mid-20s despite being extremely fit and healthy.
Clare found that there were simple diet and lifestyle changes she could make that made drastic improvements to her symptoms. So on this episode she shares how these personalised changes can help other people with PCOS
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
We Need to Talk Conversations on Wellness with co cfm's
Tony Street.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Hello, welcome to We Need to Talk. Polycystic ovary syndrome
is a hormonal condition that can affect many areas of
women's health. It can cause a variety of symptoms, including
hormonal imbalances, irregular periods, excess facial or body hair, acne,
weight gain, excess androgen levels, and cysts on the ovaries.
It can also make it difficult for some women to
(00:27):
get pregnant. Dealing with the syndrome can be difficult. It's
a chronic condition that can't be cured, but we do
know that some symptoms actually can be treated. Claire Goodwin
knows this all too well. She has PCOS as it's called,
and has made it her mission to help others deal
with the symptoms. She was sick of being told that
there was nothing she could do to help and that
(00:49):
PCOS was something that she had to live with, so
she devised a protocol to live by, which we will
hear about in a minute. Claire is a registered nutritionist.
She's an exercise scientist and trained teach. She's also the
author of the book Getting Pregnant with PCOS and has
a website full of information at dubdubdub dot THEPCOS nutritionist
(01:09):
dot com. Now clear, it's lovely to have you here.
This all started because you had PCOS. When did that happen?
Speaker 3 (01:16):
I was only diagnosed, well, it was relatively young, but
probably twenty four or twenty five. But I had been
dealing with her symptoms four years before that. So when
I was at university, I would be regularly going to
the doctor and saying, I haven't had a period for
three years, what's going on, I've got acne, what's causing that?
I'm training twenty plus hours a week. I was an
(01:37):
athlete at that time, and I'm putting on weight. What's
going on? And so a lot of these symptoms had
been very prevalent for me for many years, but never
really got put together until I just happened to meet
that one doctor who goes, I think I know what's
going on here, let's do this test here, and sure
enough it was pretty clear that I had PCs.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
I can totally relate to that. That one doctor that
I had decides they're going to get to the bottom
of it. So what were they saying to you when
you're training and you're putting on weight. What was the
explanation for that?
Speaker 4 (02:08):
Go on see a dietician.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
And I was like, oh, that's quite interesting because I'm
actually like third year in my nutrition degree like Honors
and exercise science, Like I feel like I've got a
pretty good handle on this. And and same thing with
the with the missing period. They would say, well, of
course you're an athlete, and I'm like, yeah, but all
the research at the moment, I mean, this has actually
changed since but at the time was you don't only
(02:30):
lose your period if you're a really low body weight.
But I was like, well, hold on, these two things
are completely opposing. Yes, putting on weight about you know,
it was about it wasn't really rapid like a lot
of people experience really rapid weight game with PCs. I
mean we're talking like ten kilos and six months. Wouldn't
be surprising for me to see worth some patients that
I work with. Mine was more like a kilo every
(02:51):
six months. But it was just this continual gain.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
But bizarre, when you're training as hard as you would
have been, what sort of exercise were you doing?
Speaker 3 (02:57):
So I was competing, I was a run and then
I switched a triathon when I kept get a bit
two injured with running, so I like switched a trithon.
So yeah, I was competing at like World Championships level
from when I was about fifteen when I retired at
twenty four. So yeah, I mean I was training incredibly hard.
I was I was eating, you know, following all the
sports nutrition guidelines, and yet I was still struggling with
(03:20):
these symptoms.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
That would have been quite demoralizing.
Speaker 3 (03:22):
Then incredibly demoralizing, because especially graduating as a trained nutritionist
and excise scientist and going, I can't even work this
out myself. How on earth am I going to help
patients when I can't figure this out my own body.
It was probably one of the big reasons why I
didn't like immediately work in the field immediately. I actually
went and worked in technology for ten years before I
(03:44):
kind of came back to health, which in hindsight has
been a massive blessing. But at the time I was like,
you know, like how and especially when you look on
the media, and I was like looking at like Women's
Day and it's like, you know, all the celebrities that
are losing my and I was like, how can you
do it like any of this training, you're you're an actress,
and yet I can't figure this out.
Speaker 4 (04:04):
And I've studied five years.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
To know this stuff, and so it was really just
really frustrating, really demoralizing, and quite embarrassing to be frank,
I couldn't figure it out for myself.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
Yeah, and the period side of things, I know now
you've got a daughter, So I'm guessing even back then
you knew one day you'd want to start a family,
and not having a period for three years, that's got
to be pretty daunting.
Speaker 3 (04:28):
Yeah, I don't think I thought about it like that
at that time. I think I thought, yes, this is
not necessarily right, but I didn't really realize the ramification
of what that meant, Like I didn't, to be frank,
I probably didn't really understand why. I know, I didn't
understand that a period as a result of you ovulating, and.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
They probably didn't that either.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
No, like, and to be fair, it was probably quite
a you know, a good thing at that stage, especially
when you were training. Like again, now, I think what
is really brilliant is that we have much more research
coming out about why it is actually a performance enhancing
thing for women to get to ovulate, and how we
can work with that natural hormone cycle of estrogen and
progesterone too for a performance enhancing benefit really, But at
(05:11):
that stage when I was competing, pretty much the rhetoric
doctors was, if you're an athlete, go on the pill,
just stop it completely, just shut down those hormones entirely,
like it's easier, it's better. So I'm quite glad now
that that's changing, but that was definitely the stay at
that point. So I don't think I really thought about
that until I did get diagnosed. And that's the first
thing my doctor did say to me was when I said, okay, PCs,
(05:36):
that sounds really scary. What does that mean? And she said, well,
you're going to struggle to conceive. And I mean I
was twenty four. I wasn't thinking about that, you know, right,
Like that wasn't even on my radar. So quite irrelevant
and probably one of my big bug beer is about
how PCUS is treated in the medical virginity is that
there is a huge amount of emphasis pot on fertility
(05:56):
kind of regardless of what where that patient is, and
they're rather than actually going, okay, what are the main
things that you're struggling with, and let's deal with those
and are you thinking about this in the next two years.
If not, no problem, we'll be able to get there.
But you know, come back and tell me if that
it does start to get on your radar and we
can talk about what the options are.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
So why do you struggle to conceive if you have PCOS?
How does that work?
Speaker 3 (06:20):
It's one of those things that not all people do.
It really does. Like you said, PCs is a hormone
and balance, right, So what's happening is that there's an
increase in testosterone and the female body to like more
than optimal levels, and what that does is that really
disrupts the natural cycle of our estrogen and progesterone and ovulation.
(06:42):
And so what happens is that often ovulation is like
your body will try to ovulate. So if you read
any textbook will say that women ovulate on day fourteen,
which is total p even women with a twenty eight
day cycle, only five to ten percent of woman will
ovulate on day fourteen. But if you've got PCs, it's
really highly likely that your body might try to ovulate
(07:02):
or around that time, but it's just not quite successful.
I kind of liken it too, like you know, I
mean you're a coach like unitball team at the start
of the start of the year, right like when they
don't know each other and like passes are going awry
and you know, like they're a bit under.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
The season is not going to go well.
Speaker 3 (07:20):
Yeah, that's kind of what the pcres like hormones like,
is that hormones are firing at the wrong time and
the body is like, oh, I don't know what you're doing,
and it just like it doesn't ovulate, It can't grow
the follicle or the egg to the right size because
there's just not enough estrogen at that time because testosterone
suppressing that or lutinizing hormone, the one that like shoots
up in the middle of the cycle basically, I like,
(07:41):
and it's like a pinball machine that's like flying the
egg out into the fallopian tube.
Speaker 4 (07:45):
That kind of.
Speaker 3 (07:45):
Goes off at the wrong time, and then your body's like, oh,
I don't know what I'm doing here, and so that's
what happens, and so you like your body's like, okay,
didn't ovulate, and then it will go back to its
basket of its reserve of follicles. It's reserve vegs and
then try with the next year. And so it might
do that too or through your four times every cycle,
and so that's why you might have a full So
(08:06):
you might not be getting a period for forty days
or fifty or sixty or ninety or three years in
my instance, because that's what your body's doing every single
week or ten days, is trying to ovulate and not
quite getting there. So it's not like nothing's happened. It's
not like you're not missing any sexual organs. It's just
that it's misfiring. And so the brilliant thing about that is,
like a sports team, is we can train that body,
(08:28):
we can get things back in balance, and we can
get things working optimally. And this is what we talk
about in terms of improving the symptoms or reversing the symptoms.
Is that that can happen, and that can be done
either through lifestyle treatment or medication or a combination of
the two.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
Okay, so what is the lifestyle treatments that you can utilize?
Speaker 3 (08:47):
Yeah, So just to go back of a step this
will help, is that what PCs is is really when
so you have the genetics that predispose you to developing PCs.
But just like all most genetic conditions, is that they're
not necessarily turned on from birth. There's something that sort
of triggers that and then that's sort of driven forward
(09:08):
and that's really where the environmental the lifestyle piece comes in, Right,
So we kind.
Speaker 4 (09:11):
Of know what that trigger and what that driver is.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
And is that not different for everyone?
Speaker 4 (09:16):
Yeah, okay, it is.
Speaker 3 (09:17):
So there are some common things, So in PCRE is
a really common one is our blood sugar or specifically insulin,
which is the hormone. You might hear about insulin diabetic
people injecting insulin, and insulin's produced naturally by our body
and its job is to store that blood glucose, right,
and so but the problem is if you're producing too
much insulin, and those of us that have the genics
(09:38):
for PCs, that actually causes our body to produce too
much testosterone.
Speaker 4 (09:43):
Right.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
So these are things that are connected. And then when we've
got too much insulin and too much testosterone, those things
lead to weight gain. They also lead to acne and
our oil glands producing more oil, which then leads to acne.
They also that testosterone then turns the little fine peach
fuzz here is in our face and our body into
like long terminal heres which you can then see it
(10:03):
also then can kill the heir on our heat, especially
in the like the crown of our head. And that's
why some people might experience here loss with piece.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
Isn't that the irony? I know, growing too much here
we don't want it, and not enough where you do
want it.
Speaker 3 (10:14):
And really really cruel rnf yes, so many women, right,
and so that's so that's you know, like one of
the big drivers is this high insulin, and so another
one can be stress and so again high stress almost
a chronic stress really and promote our body to produce
(10:35):
it's it's another androgen, so testosterones in a group of
one one's called androgens, it's another one called DHA yes,
and that one is really promoted by like chronic stress
as well, and then also chronic inflammation and also low
thyroid hormone as well can be can be drivers of that.
So in terms of knowing them what lifestyle treatments is,
(10:55):
we still need to know what those drivers are. And
once we know them, then it can be actually really
simple to put those right life style treatments in place.
So if someone has high insulin, then things like just changing.
Speaker 4 (11:08):
Their diet to suit that.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
So it might be that we were just reduced down
like the amnt of sugar that they're eating and really
simple carbohydrates and make sure we get there getting lots
of vegetables and fiber, good protein, and.
Speaker 4 (11:22):
Then but also still having some carbohydrate as well.
Speaker 1 (11:27):
You're listening to we need to talk with Tony Street.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
What were your drivers? Do you remember?
Speaker 4 (11:32):
Yeah? Oh, totally insulin.
Speaker 3 (11:35):
So when I got diagnosed, luckily, as I said like that,
that doctor was amazing and she knew the connection with insulin,
which is why she then also did a test, and
so at that time she also said, hey, look you're
you're really in the pre diabetic range, which is again
a massive blow because you know, I was twenty four
to twenty.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
Five healthy athlete.
Speaker 3 (11:53):
Yes, yeah, supposedly like you know, a nutritionist EXCLS scientist,
And yeah, again another one of those Wow, I can't
even prevent myself from getting like diabetes. How am I
supposed to work in this field where I don't know
this information? You know, like I'm doing everything that I've
been taught and yet it's not working. So that was
a really big one for me. But the other one
was definitely stress. You know, I was doing so much
(12:15):
ensurance exercise. I was also then while I was at university,
I was competing internationally, training twenty one hours a week,
a lot of us self totally, plus doing a honors
degree in excess science, plus trying to be somewhat of
a student as well, you know, like definitely burning the
candles at both ends. So then that moved into when
(12:35):
I was in a graduate so I was working in
a graduate job for Telecom New.
Speaker 4 (12:40):
Zealand and then for zero I worked.
Speaker 3 (12:43):
For after that as well, and like quite pressure, high
pressure sales jobs as well. So again like stress was
a big factor for me too. So what I was
doing by just doing more and more and more exercise,
because that was kind of the way that I was
trying to control with specially my weight. I was like
weight was like going up and up and up, and
I was in the overweight cateigree being my categree by
(13:05):
this stage as well. So it's not like this was
just like a little bit of extra, you know, like
it was getting to that point where I was, you know,
getting more and more worried, and they were saying, hey, look, well,
this is what you've got to do to improve that
like pre diabetes as well.
Speaker 4 (13:18):
Was actually you know, reduced body weight. And I was like, how,
how tell me I.
Speaker 2 (13:22):
Will follow seeing my calories here, I'm running all the time.
Speaker 3 (13:25):
Give me the recipe and I will follow it because
I feel like I am I'm following all of these guidelines.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
So and recipe was to lower your insulin.
Speaker 3 (13:32):
The rest we was definitely lower mansulin and really so
that was a big thing for me. So instead of
having you know, like a sports utrition guidelines of porridge
and can peaches for breakfast, it was like, hey, we
really need to make sure we've got some good protein
and fats and there to really stabilize that blood sugar.
And the reason that you're starving at ten o'clock in
(13:53):
the morning, even though you've only eaten your porridge and
peaches two hours ago, is because your insulin's too high
and then it's dropping and then you're getting really revenous
and that's why you're needing a scorn at ten o'clock
and then you're needing you know, you're starving by lunchtime,
and then you're really craving sweets in the afternoon and
after dinner, and that's why you can't stop thinking about
sugar at three o'clock in the afternoon.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
And so what did you flip your breakfast from from
the porridge to.
Speaker 3 (14:16):
To like it was, like, tried lots of different things.
Smoothies work really well when I'm in a hurry, so
but just making sure like lots of good protein or
collagen powder, some good fats in there from either like
nut butter or like some coconuts, and then some some
berries and some I add like lots of fiber in
there from things like frozen corgette, which is a really
(14:37):
great thing.
Speaker 4 (14:37):
Sounds odd, but try it down, try it honestly.
Speaker 3 (14:41):
But then I kind of graduated into being totally fine
with a savory breakfast. So it might be things like
even left over dinner from the night before, lots of
good vegs, some good protein, good fiber, and salmon works
really well. My toddle love salmon as well, so that
works really well for us.
Speaker 4 (14:57):
Eggs is not enough for me.
Speaker 3 (14:59):
That's one big thing that I've realized is that eggs
is definitely not enough. I thought that, you know, when
I first started getting into this Okay, well, if I
need to balance my blood shag a bit more in
the morning, maybe eggs might work well, but they're actually
quite a low source of protein. You need quite a
few to really get the same being fed buck is
what you would from something like a good smoothie.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
Or a good and there's only so many eggs one
person can eat in a single sitting. Right before you
get all eggy, I totally yet that. So you sorted
your diet out, but at this point you still hadn't
had a period for three years. Where did that end up?
Speaker 4 (15:31):
So that actually came back relatively quickly.
Speaker 3 (15:33):
Okay when I started swinging that, So this wasn't overnight
like right like I when I got diagnosed, there was
then I was I said, right, what now? And they said, okay,
well you probably need to go on the pill and
to get a regular bleed. But again didn't know at
the stage that while that gave me a bleed, that
that didn't actually fix the problem. I wasn't ovulating still,
(15:55):
and because the pill and by essence of being a
concept of stops you from ovulating, so it's never going
to fix that problem. It does give you a regular bleed,
which can be helpful for reducing the risk of things
like endometrial cancer, but it's not really fixing the problem.
The other thing the pill does contain, though, if you're
on the right pill, it does contain an anti androgen
producedant part of it, and so that can be really
(16:16):
helpful for a lot of people for the symptoms like
acne and hersitism. So it's not it's not all bad,
but it's really not fixing the problem. So this is
part of the issue that I see with the way
that PCs is treated.
Speaker 4 (16:27):
As people are.
Speaker 3 (16:28):
Told, go on the pill and it will regulate your cycle.
It does nothing of the sort. It regulates a bleed,
but it does not regulate ovulation.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
Right, and sounds like that's only one small piece of
the overall torture what you need to do.
Speaker 3 (16:42):
Yeah, And so the problem is that people then think, Okay,
I've been getting a regular period for years, do come
off to get pregnant, and then it's right back to
where they.
Speaker 4 (16:50):
Were before they went on the pill, or even worse.
Speaker 3 (16:53):
So I think that's the bit of extra information that
I think is now much more readily available, but is
still prob not being communicated very well by our doctors.
Speaker 4 (17:02):
About what it's actually doing, and.
Speaker 3 (17:06):
That that's not a bad thing, but it just means
that when you do want to conceive, you probably need
to be coming off that a year or more in
advance to give time to have time to really sort
this out.
Speaker 2 (17:16):
Did you struggle to conceive when you went to have
your daughter?
Speaker 4 (17:19):
No?
Speaker 3 (17:19):
No, because by that stage it had been, you know,
ten years later, So I didn't. We didn't try until
I was thirty five, so I'd had ten years of
really figuring this out, and I had by that stage
been regularly ovulating for at least six seven of those, right,
So by that stage, absolutely no issue. I knew that
I was ovulating. New when in my cycle I was ovulating.
(17:41):
I've been able to track that for a long time.
So in terms of the timing and everything else, that
was all sorted. And I think that's the beauty of
when you understand this as well as you know what things,
because fertility can feel like.
Speaker 4 (17:54):
A real black art.
Speaker 3 (17:55):
You think, yeah, absolutely, you have no Oh gosh, I've
had no idea. I was just spent my entire life
trying not to get pregnant, and.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
So that was me. I just went into it with
no knowledge.
Speaker 3 (18:04):
Yeah, and so it feels like some sort of like
snake oil and black heart. So you feel like you
can't really do anything until you try that. You can't
really know what your fidility is going to be like,
but you can you know, you can know if you
are ovulating and relatively regularly, like once every thirty days
or so, getting a relatively regular period, and that phase
(18:27):
after you've ovulated, what's called your ludinal phase, whether that's
actually optimal, because that's also the part that can be
a bit short for a lot of people, especially as
we get into our thirties, and can be a real
reason why even if someone's ovulating, they might be struggling
to conceive, because that parts is not quite long enough
for that fertilized embryo, that egg and sperm to travel
down and burrow into uterine lining and say to your brain, hey,
(18:48):
we're pregnant.
Speaker 4 (18:48):
Don't shoot the lining, don't get a period. We're here.
Speaker 3 (18:52):
And so I knew that all of those parts I
call them in my book, I call them my fertile ingredients.
I knew all my fertile ingredients. We're working well. And
once you've got there, you're ninety percent of the way there.
Speaker 2 (19:01):
Okay, Yeah, you talked about one of the other symptoms
with the excess facial embody here and acne. Is that
as easily fixed with the diet and the trying to
reduce the stress?
Speaker 3 (19:12):
Really good question. Sometimes sometimes not though depends how.
Speaker 4 (19:15):
Severe it is.
Speaker 3 (19:16):
I would say acne, yes, more so than hersitism. Also
the facion body here, that's what it's called horsitism. Acne
can tend can can be what I found anyway, can
respond quite well to lifestyle within a few months. But
also if not, there are some also some great anti
androgen treatments and it doesn't have to be the pill.
(19:37):
There are other great ones ones called spar and lactone.
And also there's a new topical one that's well new
on my radar anyway called wind Levy, which is a
like a cream and it's an anti engrogen cream which
kind of works more locally on the seedn glands to
stop them producing oheel. So those are yeah, there's some
really good I would say with my patients, I always say,
let's give it like a trial for three months or
(19:58):
it depends how severe it is. It's really fitting the
mental health. I'm like, right, let's throw all the things
at it. Let's do the medication and the lifestyle, and
then let's wean off the medication after you've really got
the lifestyle like working well for you, and let's see
how well that's working. And I tend to find that
that kind of works better because it gives people in
like an immediate improvement, and then we've got a plan
(20:20):
to kind of competent medication.
Speaker 2 (20:21):
And the mental health. Yeah, is that the same for
the here as the aechnique? What?
Speaker 3 (20:24):
So, I'd say that here takes a lot longer to
see improvements, and so we'd be talking more like six months.
Once that peach fuzz here has turned into a terminal here,
it's never going to reverse, right, So you still have
to actually kill that here. So the only ways that
we have to kill that here is through electrolysis or
IPR or laser. Okay, Right, So I'd normally say to patients,
depending on where they are, like sometimes the anti engrogen
(20:47):
while the antiangrogens are not can't be used if they're
trying to conceive, So it really depends on where they
are as well. But if they're not trying to conceive,
I say generally say let's if you're okay with it,
let's throw everything at it and then give it six
months and then kind of gradually come off it and
see how it goes. And what we generally see as
a slowing of growth, that would be the first sign
(21:08):
that that's starting to take improvement and then less regrowth.
So once you've killed that terminal here, it won't ever
grow back, but one next door and the follicle next
door could sprout up right, and so it can't ing. Yeah,
next ones growing okay, right, So that's kind of what
we can see. Genetics play big role in that as well.
So often see that people of Mediterranean descent or South
(21:29):
Asian descent, they're naturally going to probably have more severe hostism.
So it might not be enough just the lifestyle stuff
for them. They might need to be anti engyin to
really keep that under control for longer term.
Speaker 2 (21:41):
Now I've had a good look through your website and
one of the things you mentioned a lot is this
protocol that you've devised. What is that?
Speaker 3 (21:47):
So that's really what we were talking about before that
really understanding exactly what it is what's driving your pcos
and then matching that with the right treatment things. For me,
as we talked about before, that was really about fixing
my blood sugar. And but if someone's not presenting with
any symptoms of insulin resistance, then we wouldn't do that
like an I actually fat, we probably wouldn't even start
(22:08):
with nutrition for them. And this is why we get
all of our patients to fill in a really quite
detailed questionnaire so that we can actually understand what are
the drivers for them and what is going to have
the biggest impact, because lifestyle treatment is really hard. You know,
we're having to change your habits. We want to make
damn sure that we're changing habits that are actually going
to see some improvement. And also knowing that for me
(22:31):
and for many of my patients, we've tried lots of things.
You know, this is not our first rodeo. People that
are coming to me and coming to us, this is
not the first thing they've tried. They've often tried lots
of different things, and so we want to make sure
that we're not just telling them really generic advice like
eat well and exercise.
Speaker 4 (22:47):
Doing that for years.
Speaker 2 (22:48):
It's also a bit depressing too. Well, I've tried to
do that, yeah, and so I suspect people that come
to you are probably a little cagon. Is this even
going to work?
Speaker 1 (22:56):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (22:56):
Totally right, absolutely absolutely, And naturally I would have been, well,
I would have been the gosh, well, I've already tried
all these things. I'm already really healthy, Like how much
more can you do for me?
Speaker 4 (23:06):
Rather than exercise? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (23:08):
Yeah, Like, especially when you hear the normal rhetoric, especially
for things like weight losses, eat less, and exercise more,
I'm like, well, what more am I going to do?
Speaker 4 (23:16):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (23:16):
And so actually though, I think that a lot of
them find it quite refreshing, being like, oh wow, it's
actually maybe even exercise a lot less and eat more.
Speaker 2 (23:26):
And someone would tell me that.
Speaker 1 (23:33):
Now that we need to talk with Tony Street.
Speaker 2 (23:37):
So with your symptoms, so you're sort of mid twenties,
do you think in hindsight you had them earlier than that?
So when do you think you? Like, what I'm saying is,
can what's the youngest age you could start noticing that
maybe you have got PCOS.
Speaker 3 (23:51):
It's a really good question one that they're still trying
to find a fine balance here, because you can teenage
can definitely exhibit symptoms of PCs. But then again, a
lot of the symptoms of PCs are quite normal for teenagers.
So having YEP, but also to having higher testosterone and
also site your higher insulin are really normal for teenagers.
Speaker 4 (24:13):
That's how we get through puberty.
Speaker 3 (24:14):
Our bodies need, like female bodies actually need a bit
more testosterone to develop and to get through puberty. So
it's a bit of a fine balance about when we
intervene and also when we diagnose, because getting a diagnosis,
especially as a young teenager, can be quite traumatic when
you may not have the capacity to understand that and
(24:37):
to deal with that. And so the international guidelines don't
really recommend diagnosing with PCs until about five years after
they've started their period. So that's the other thing I
supposed to say is it's really common for teenagers to
have a regular.
Speaker 4 (24:53):
Cycles for up to five years.
Speaker 3 (24:56):
So that's why kind of that guideline is it's probably
better to hold off. But then it's also quite hard
because you know, if your teenagers struggling with facial body
here and getting really bullied at school or things like that,
you want to intervene. I know I would would, and
so yeah, it can be a bit of a fine balance.
So I think that really then comes down to the
just to the knowledge of the pediatricianal endocrinologist, indocronologist is
(25:20):
the You might think that PCs would be a gynological
condition because it affects the ovaries, but it's really a
hormonal condition. So it's an endocronologist who's a real specialist here.
Speaker 2 (25:30):
I was going to ask that because time and time again,
no matter what health topic we're talking about on this podcast,
quite often people hit a roadblock when they see the GP,
whether it's menopause, whether it's anything to do with hormonal
and it's often finding out the right specialist to go to.
So endocrinologist, Yeah, endocrinologists can be the right person to
especially maybe do that diagnosis if the GPS struggling to go, well, hey,
(25:54):
they're still really quite young and I don't want to
put a diagnosis or a label on this young person
at the stage and that affect their life. An endocrinologist
would probably be the right person then to make that
call and say, would for example, an antiangrogen treatment be
the right one for this. Again, in the past, it's
(26:15):
been quite common for you know, young like for teenagers
to go to their doctor and with reporting irregular cycles
and their doctor was saying, Okay, we'll just go on
the pill, that'll fix it.
Speaker 4 (26:27):
But again, we're.
Speaker 3 (26:27):
Finding out more and more now about how population is
actually really important for females and it's really important for
not just fertility, but for our bone health, our breast health,
our heart health, our brain health, and so why we
don't just want to turn that off at the first
sign of trouble, and actually why it's really important for
our brains to develop that neural pathway from our brain
to our ovaries to help us ovulate, and that critical
(26:50):
post puberty early men art time is actually really critical
for that development pathway. So we don't just want to
go and turn that off and actually get to the
root of the problem. If that's painful, pres if it's acne,
if it's whatever it is, actually treat the problem. And
so yeah, interconnagers would be the right person. But then again,
at that point, what they can offer you, I think
what's really helpful when dealing with the medical fraternity is
(27:12):
understanding what they have in their tool bag to give
you and knowing that they won't have everything, so what
they will be able to offer you is medication. That's
their bread and butter that is what they're trained in.
What they won't be able to offer you is what
lifestyle treatments are the right thing for you. What the
right lifestyle treatments are for you a young teen you know,
who might be really struggling with acne or painful periods
(27:34):
or and you're not confident comfortable with them going on
the pill. So that might be the thing that they
offer you, but you don't have to accept that, Like,
remember that they're just giving you what they have in
their tool bag. It's up to you then to decide
if that's the right thing for you. And knowing that
there are other avenues and other options out there. The
hard thing in New Zealand especially though, is finding out
(27:55):
what those other options are like. For example, with PCs,
only five percent of when when or people with PCs
will ever get a referral to a dietisian to talk
about food and nutrition around their piece.
Speaker 2 (28:06):
Osh. That's incredibly low. And yet it sounds like it's
one of the main things to change your lifestyle to
help symptoms.
Speaker 4 (28:13):
Absolutely and it's not.
Speaker 3 (28:14):
This is not like a failing of our doctors, you know,
especially our GPS. They've got thousands of conditions to know
about it.
Speaker 2 (28:20):
And it's not their field either, No, you know, it's
the one area. And that's what I think is as
kiwis in our medical fraternity, I feel like we're very siloed,
you know. And it's as you say, it took you
that one doctor who was a bit more holistic to
be able to diagnose you. And that was my experience
with my autoimmune condition as well. It took actually a
gastro enterologist who wasn't even the specialist in the field
(28:42):
I needed, but he was prepared to go back and
look at the full picture. Yeah, so at least at
least people will know now that that's what you need
to start doing the moment you get symptoms and if
you've got any concerns, and hopefully people are listening to
podcasts like this so they can actually see where to go.
So your symptoms, I'm sitting here looking at it. You
look at picture of health, right, but I'm guessing it's
(29:03):
not linear. I'm guessing you have peaks and troughs in
your health regardless of whether you're following the protocol correctly.
Speaker 4 (29:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (29:11):
Absolutely, And I think that that's just normal life, right,
Like I think that's normal life for us to go
through really stressful periods of time where maybe then our
symptoms might.
Speaker 4 (29:21):
Reverse and or maybe then our lifestyle changes.
Speaker 3 (29:26):
So it might be that postpartum, you know your symptoms
are changing, or where the stage of life I am
now were late thirties and entering into that perimenopause phase
and that changing again or post menopause. So I think
that I mean, I'm I now have reversed my symptoms
so much that I would no longer be diagnosed with PCs.
Speaker 4 (29:45):
If I went to a jet indocnologist.
Speaker 3 (29:47):
Today and they were looking at me, then I wouldn't
meet any of the diagnostic criteria for PCs, which is fantastic,
but doesn't mean that I never would be had if
I didn't sort of manage it.
Speaker 4 (29:59):
And it's but for me now where I've.
Speaker 3 (30:02):
Got to is that it doesn't It's not an all
consuming thing that I have to be. I've been doing
this for long enough now that I know I kind
of know the beer minimum of what I need to do.
And that's really what I encourage my patients to do,
is that.
Speaker 2 (30:14):
What is that what is the beaer minimum for you?
Speaker 4 (30:16):
So for the bare minimum for me.
Speaker 3 (30:17):
Like, this is why I always encourage my patients to
figure out like what their non negotiables are, especially when like,
you know, we've just been summer holidays, and you know
you're not going to be while you're on holiday, like
going to the gym and you know, doing your resistance
training and stuff like that. You need a break from that,
and that's great. So for me, though, what I know
keeps me feeling well, regardless of whether I'm flying internationally
to you speak at a conference, or whether I'm on holiday,
(30:39):
or whether I'm a bit ill, is that sleep is
like a fundamental thing for me and really important. I
mean sleep especially for things like our blood sugar, you know,
like it only takes a few nights of less than
five hours sleep and our insulin resistance reduces by thirty percent,
like a sensitivity to their hormone insulin.
Speaker 2 (30:58):
I'm really this on that. As someone there just wants
to watch one more episode.
Speaker 3 (31:02):
Of Netflix and they put up at four, I am,
yeh bricks right, absolutely, but I yeah, So I know
that that's like a critical one for me, and it's
it's not just when my PCs symms did. Also, I
know that that's like when when I'm going to get
sick as when like when I like when I'm not
getting good sleep, and so like that's a really crucial
one for me. The second one is as breakfast. I
(31:23):
know that if I have a really good breakfast, then
then I won't be starving during the day. I won't
be really craving those sweets. So it's not about for me.
For so many years, I was, you know, crave sweets,
and I was always trying to avoid them. I was
always trying to devise solutions to stop myself from craving sweets, Like, Okay,
I always crave sweets at three pm, so like I
must organize meetings during that time, so I'm not going
(31:45):
to be going to the venue machine or downstairs to
the dairy for that time, right, or like I'm going
to make these like healthy sweet treats to keep in
the freezer at home, so I'm not like so I
have those instead of something else after dinner. Actually, when
I figured out that they were just a physiology response
to my blood sugar dropping, and actually, if I fix
the blood sugar roller coaster that I was on by
doing things like having a really good breakfast, I wouldn't
(32:07):
need to be pulling myself away from those sits.
Speaker 2 (32:11):
So the desire wouldn't be there totally.
Speaker 4 (32:12):
It wasn't.
Speaker 3 (32:13):
It was never inn a shoe of self control, yeap.
I was never lacking self control. And I think that's
such a huge thing for so many of my patients
to feel, because they have been made to feel like
failures their entire life, and to hear that this is
not something that you've failed at. This is your body.
This is what it's doing, and this is it's a
natural response. You know, blood sugar's dropping, your body's saying, ah,
this is dangerous. I don't want low blood sugar. I
(32:34):
won't be able to think. Brain needs gluecose to work.
So bring that back up. And you know what the
easiest thing to get their backup is Snickers bar. And
I know you like it, so go get it. And
it's really like it's really jumping onto those primal desires
that we will go and find those foods and that
we desire and we like, and it will jump onto
that as well. So our self control is also never
(32:57):
going to really be able to override those things. We
really have to fix the problem. And this is why
you know, I really try and fix the root problem
as opposed to just you know, rely on self control
or just do you know, do those things, which I
tried for so many years and then even worked.
Speaker 4 (33:12):
So I think that that was that's a really.
Speaker 3 (33:14):
Big thing for me, is that's my second non negotia,
is that I know that that's what makes me feel good,
and that won't necessarily be the same for everybody. As
we talked about, you know, PCUS is a syndrome, it
is a spectrum. We all differ, and so someone that
doesn't have those strong sugar cravings, they won't be able
to resonate with what I'm saying. But I guarantee you
to anybody that's listening to this that resonates with it,
they'll be like, oh my god, yes, that is exactly right.
(33:34):
That's exactly what I've experienced for most of my life.
And so that's why it's so crucial to to have
personalized care, to be to be working on the things
that are actually improving your symptoms, not just following like oh,
I do a YouTube video or someone else does a
YouTube video and says I went vegan for PCs and
it fixed my symptoms.
Speaker 4 (33:54):
It's like, yeah, cool.
Speaker 3 (33:55):
That worked for you, awesome, It doesn't mean it's going
to work for Kimberly down the road.
Speaker 2 (34:00):
What if you're someone like me and I'm like, I'm
far more in tune with my body now because I've
had to be with my autoimmune condition, But for many
years I was a bit blase and if you'd said
to me, oh, well, how much sleep do you get?
And I'd be like, I don't really know. Do you
have much sugar?
Speaker 4 (34:17):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (34:18):
I guess like, you know what if you're a person
like that, how would you deal with someone that is
a bit you know, not in touch with their body totally?
Speaker 3 (34:26):
We ask quite pointed questions okay, and we get them
to go revisit them. If they don't know, revisit them
after a week or so, just be like, okay, well
then just just keep note like even on just like
your notes app on your iPhone or something like that,
if you did it, did experience there? If you don't
think that you do, Okay, let's track Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday,
or ask some quite pointed questions like what did you
(34:47):
have yesterday? And they're like, oh, yeah, you know, I
did have some chocol after dinner, or I did do
you know?
Speaker 4 (34:51):
Did do that?
Speaker 3 (34:52):
When you can ask like quite pointed questions, it's easier,
same thing instead of just saying how much sleep.
Speaker 4 (34:56):
Do you get?
Speaker 3 (34:56):
Be like does it take you more than fifteen minutes
to get to sleep at night? Do you regularly wake
up between two and four am? And people that do
know it because you know, like every time you look
at that clock it's like two three.
Speaker 2 (35:08):
Stressing you out?
Speaker 3 (35:09):
Yeah, as stressing you out because you're like, I've got
to get up at sex and I'm lying here, I
want to sleep. I've dedicated this time to sleep. Literally,
that's all I want to do. So these things that
people generally know, but if they don't, we get them
to go away track for a week and then come
back and then we can have a better idea because yeah,
you're right, sometimes you just might not know and oh
(35:31):
yeah maybe and then after tracking it for a couple
of weeks ago.
Speaker 4 (35:34):
Yeah, actually that is a big thing I do.
Speaker 2 (35:36):
Yeah, And just finally clear, like, if someone's listening to
this and they think they might have PCOS or they do,
what would your message be as someone that has managed
to get themselves from being diagnosed to basically in remission.
If you like, what would your message be to them?
Speaker 3 (35:53):
My message would be from a lifestyle perspective. There are
things that can work, and you may have tried lots
of things. They often don't need to be massive changes
like we often think that we need to, like especially
at this time of year, at the start of the year.
We're recording this in mid January, and so it's like
a very common time to be wanting to make really
(36:14):
massive changes, like signing up for a marathon or you know,
a boot cam or specially something like that, especially if
maybe weight's been an issue for you.
Speaker 4 (36:21):
It doesn't need to be big changes like that.
Speaker 3 (36:23):
It's like literally tweaks to your diet can be really
really helpful, but it needs to be based on what
your drivers are. It needs to be personalized to you.
There's no pdf plan you're going to find on the
internet that's going to work for you. It needs to
be that. And often medications can be really helpful as well,
and they can certainly help improve those symptoms, especially if
(36:44):
it's things like acne or hersatism, but they really need
to work in combination with that lifestyle stuff, because even
if it might fix a symptom. We're just kicking the
can of things like insulin resistance and pre diabetes and
diabetes down the road. So you really want to work
on both those things to make sure that you not
only are thriving now with PCs, but thriving for the
rest of your life, whether that whether you know, in pregnancy, postpardon, perimenopause,
(37:09):
menopause and into older age as well. And if we
can get on top of that, actually PCs can be
an incredible, you know, not wake up call, but I
would say early warning sign that you're just not quite
in balance. And actually this can be a real blessing
in disguise because people that don't get that early warning
sign may not find this out until they're in their
sixties and it's too late.
Speaker 2 (37:30):
Brilliant, Thank you so much for today, and congratulations on
the book and the website. And I'm sure anyone that
sort of has any of these symptoms can have a
look and work out what plan is best for them. So,
if you are listening to this, the p Cooees Nutritionness
dot Com for all of Clear's resources.
Speaker 1 (37:47):
We need to talk with COASTFMS Tony Street. If you
enjoyed the podcast, click to share with family or friends.
To get in touch, email, We need to talk at
Coast online, dot co, dot zid
We Need to Talk Conversations on Wellness with co cfm's
Tony Street.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Hello, welcome to We Need to Talk. Polycystic ovary syndrome
is a hormonal condition that can affect many areas of
women's health. It can cause a variety of symptoms, including
hormonal imbalances, irregular periods, excess facial or body hair, acne,
weight gain, excess androgen levels, and cysts on the ovaries.
It can also make it difficult for some women to
(00:27):
get pregnant. Dealing with the syndrome can be difficult. It's
a chronic condition that can't be cured, but we do
know that some symptoms actually can be treated. Claire Goodwin
knows this all too well. She has PCOS as it's called,
and has made it her mission to help others deal
with the symptoms. She was sick of being told that
there was nothing she could do to help and that
(00:49):
PCOS was something that she had to live with, so
she devised a protocol to live by, which we will
hear about in a minute. Claire is a registered nutritionist.
She's an exercise scientist and trained teach. She's also the
author of the book Getting Pregnant with PCOS and has
a website full of information at dubdubdub dot THEPCOS nutritionist
(01:09):
dot com. Now clear, it's lovely to have you here.
This all started because you had PCOS. When did that happen?
Speaker 3 (01:16):
I was only diagnosed, well, it was relatively young, but
probably twenty four or twenty five. But I had been
dealing with her symptoms four years before that. So when
I was at university, I would be regularly going to
the doctor and saying, I haven't had a period for
three years, what's going on, I've got acne, what's causing that?
I'm training twenty plus hours a week. I was an
(01:37):
athlete at that time, and I'm putting on weight. What's
going on? And so a lot of these symptoms had
been very prevalent for me for many years, but never
really got put together until I just happened to meet
that one doctor who goes, I think I know what's
going on here, let's do this test here, and sure
enough it was pretty clear that I had PCs.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
I can totally relate to that. That one doctor that
I had decides they're going to get to the bottom
of it. So what were they saying to you when
you're training and you're putting on weight. What was the
explanation for that?
Speaker 4 (02:08):
Go on see a dietician.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
And I was like, oh, that's quite interesting because I'm
actually like third year in my nutrition degree like Honors
and exercise science, Like I feel like I've got a
pretty good handle on this. And and same thing with
the with the missing period. They would say, well, of
course you're an athlete, and I'm like, yeah, but all
the research at the moment, I mean, this has actually
changed since but at the time was you don't only
(02:30):
lose your period if you're a really low body weight.
But I was like, well, hold on, these two things
are completely opposing. Yes, putting on weight about you know,
it was about it wasn't really rapid like a lot
of people experience really rapid weight game with PCs. I
mean we're talking like ten kilos and six months. Wouldn't
be surprising for me to see worth some patients that
I work with. Mine was more like a kilo every
(02:51):
six months. But it was just this continual gain.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
But bizarre, when you're training as hard as you would
have been, what sort of exercise were you doing?
Speaker 3 (02:57):
So I was competing, I was a run and then
I switched a triathon when I kept get a bit
two injured with running, so I like switched a trithon.
So yeah, I was competing at like World Championships level
from when I was about fifteen when I retired at
twenty four. So yeah, I mean I was training incredibly hard.
I was I was eating, you know, following all the
sports nutrition guidelines, and yet I was still struggling with
(03:20):
these symptoms.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
That would have been quite demoralizing.
Speaker 3 (03:22):
Then incredibly demoralizing, because especially graduating as a trained nutritionist
and excise scientist and going, I can't even work this
out myself. How on earth am I going to help
patients when I can't figure this out my own body.
It was probably one of the big reasons why I
didn't like immediately work in the field immediately. I actually
went and worked in technology for ten years before I
(03:44):
kind of came back to health, which in hindsight has
been a massive blessing. But at the time I was like,
you know, like how and especially when you look on
the media, and I was like looking at like Women's
Day and it's like, you know, all the celebrities that
are losing my and I was like, how can you
do it like any of this training, you're you're an actress,
and yet I can't figure this out.
Speaker 4 (04:04):
And I've studied five years.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
To know this stuff, and so it was really just
really frustrating, really demoralizing, and quite embarrassing to be frank,
I couldn't figure it out for myself.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
Yeah, and the period side of things, I know now
you've got a daughter, So I'm guessing even back then
you knew one day you'd want to start a family,
and not having a period for three years, that's got
to be pretty daunting.
Speaker 3 (04:28):
Yeah, I don't think I thought about it like that
at that time. I think I thought, yes, this is
not necessarily right, but I didn't really realize the ramification
of what that meant, Like I didn't, to be frank,
I probably didn't really understand why. I know, I didn't
understand that a period as a result of you ovulating, and.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
They probably didn't that either.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
No, like, and to be fair, it was probably quite
a you know, a good thing at that stage, especially
when you were training. Like again, now, I think what
is really brilliant is that we have much more research
coming out about why it is actually a performance enhancing
thing for women to get to ovulate, and how we
can work with that natural hormone cycle of estrogen and
progesterone too for a performance enhancing benefit really, But at
(05:11):
that stage when I was competing, pretty much the rhetoric
doctors was, if you're an athlete, go on the pill,
just stop it completely, just shut down those hormones entirely,
like it's easier, it's better. So I'm quite glad now
that that's changing, but that was definitely the stay at
that point. So I don't think I really thought about
that until I did get diagnosed. And that's the first
thing my doctor did say to me was when I said, okay, PCs,
(05:36):
that sounds really scary. What does that mean? And she said, well,
you're going to struggle to conceive. And I mean I
was twenty four. I wasn't thinking about that, you know, right,
Like that wasn't even on my radar. So quite irrelevant
and probably one of my big bug beer is about
how PCUS is treated in the medical virginity is that
there is a huge amount of emphasis pot on fertility
(05:56):
kind of regardless of what where that patient is, and
they're rather than actually going, okay, what are the main
things that you're struggling with, and let's deal with those
and are you thinking about this in the next two years.
If not, no problem, we'll be able to get there.
But you know, come back and tell me if that
it does start to get on your radar and we
can talk about what the options are.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
So why do you struggle to conceive if you have PCOS?
How does that work?
Speaker 3 (06:20):
It's one of those things that not all people do.
It really does. Like you said, PCs is a hormone
and balance, right, So what's happening is that there's an
increase in testosterone and the female body to like more
than optimal levels, and what that does is that really
disrupts the natural cycle of our estrogen and progesterone and ovulation.
(06:42):
And so what happens is that often ovulation is like
your body will try to ovulate. So if you read
any textbook will say that women ovulate on day fourteen,
which is total p even women with a twenty eight
day cycle, only five to ten percent of woman will
ovulate on day fourteen. But if you've got PCs, it's
really highly likely that your body might try to ovulate
(07:02):
or around that time, but it's just not quite successful.
I kind of liken it too, like you know, I
mean you're a coach like unitball team at the start
of the start of the year, right like when they
don't know each other and like passes are going awry
and you know, like they're a bit under.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
The season is not going to go well.
Speaker 3 (07:20):
Yeah, that's kind of what the pcres like hormones like,
is that hormones are firing at the wrong time and
the body is like, oh, I don't know what you're doing,
and it just like it doesn't ovulate, It can't grow
the follicle or the egg to the right size because
there's just not enough estrogen at that time because testosterone
suppressing that or lutinizing hormone, the one that like shoots
up in the middle of the cycle basically, I like,
(07:41):
and it's like a pinball machine that's like flying the
egg out into the fallopian tube.
Speaker 4 (07:45):
That kind of.
Speaker 3 (07:45):
Goes off at the wrong time, and then your body's like, oh,
I don't know what I'm doing here, and so that's
what happens, and so you like your body's like, okay,
didn't ovulate, and then it will go back to its
basket of its reserve of follicles. It's reserve vegs and
then try with the next year. And so it might
do that too or through your four times every cycle,
and so that's why you might have a full So
(08:06):
you might not be getting a period for forty days
or fifty or sixty or ninety or three years in
my instance, because that's what your body's doing every single
week or ten days, is trying to ovulate and not
quite getting there. So it's not like nothing's happened. It's
not like you're not missing any sexual organs. It's just
that it's misfiring. And so the brilliant thing about that is,
like a sports team, is we can train that body,
(08:28):
we can get things back in balance, and we can
get things working optimally. And this is what we talk
about in terms of improving the symptoms or reversing the symptoms.
Is that that can happen, and that can be done
either through lifestyle treatment or medication or a combination of
the two.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
Okay, so what is the lifestyle treatments that you can utilize?
Speaker 3 (08:47):
Yeah, So just to go back of a step this
will help, is that what PCs is is really when
so you have the genetics that predispose you to developing PCs.
But just like all most genetic conditions, is that they're
not necessarily turned on from birth. There's something that sort
of triggers that and then that's sort of driven forward
(09:08):
and that's really where the environmental the lifestyle piece comes in, Right,
So we kind.
Speaker 4 (09:11):
Of know what that trigger and what that driver is.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
And is that not different for everyone?
Speaker 4 (09:16):
Yeah, okay, it is.
Speaker 3 (09:17):
So there are some common things, So in PCRE is
a really common one is our blood sugar or specifically insulin,
which is the hormone. You might hear about insulin diabetic
people injecting insulin, and insulin's produced naturally by our body
and its job is to store that blood glucose, right,
and so but the problem is if you're producing too
much insulin, and those of us that have the genics
(09:38):
for PCs, that actually causes our body to produce too
much testosterone.
Speaker 4 (09:43):
Right.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
So these are things that are connected. And then when we've
got too much insulin and too much testosterone, those things
lead to weight gain. They also lead to acne and
our oil glands producing more oil, which then leads to acne.
They also that testosterone then turns the little fine peach
fuzz here is in our face and our body into
like long terminal heres which you can then see it
(10:03):
also then can kill the heir on our heat, especially
in the like the crown of our head. And that's
why some people might experience here loss with piece.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
Isn't that the irony? I know, growing too much here
we don't want it, and not enough where you do
want it.
Speaker 3 (10:14):
And really really cruel rnf yes, so many women, right,
and so that's so that's you know, like one of
the big drivers is this high insulin, and so another
one can be stress and so again high stress almost
a chronic stress really and promote our body to produce
(10:35):
it's it's another androgen, so testosterones in a group of
one one's called androgens, it's another one called DHA yes,
and that one is really promoted by like chronic stress
as well, and then also chronic inflammation and also low
thyroid hormone as well can be can be drivers of that.
So in terms of knowing them what lifestyle treatments is,
(10:55):
we still need to know what those drivers are. And
once we know them, then it can be actually really
simple to put those right life style treatments in place.
So if someone has high insulin, then things like just changing.
Speaker 4 (11:08):
Their diet to suit that.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
So it might be that we were just reduced down
like the amnt of sugar that they're eating and really
simple carbohydrates and make sure we get there getting lots
of vegetables and fiber, good protein, and.
Speaker 4 (11:22):
Then but also still having some carbohydrate as well.
Speaker 1 (11:27):
You're listening to we need to talk with Tony Street.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
What were your drivers? Do you remember?
Speaker 4 (11:32):
Yeah? Oh, totally insulin.
Speaker 3 (11:35):
So when I got diagnosed, luckily, as I said like that,
that doctor was amazing and she knew the connection with insulin,
which is why she then also did a test, and
so at that time she also said, hey, look you're
you're really in the pre diabetic range, which is again
a massive blow because you know, I was twenty four
to twenty.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
Five healthy athlete.
Speaker 3 (11:53):
Yes, yeah, supposedly like you know, a nutritionist EXCLS scientist,
And yeah, again another one of those Wow, I can't
even prevent myself from getting like diabetes. How am I
supposed to work in this field where I don't know
this information? You know, like I'm doing everything that I've
been taught and yet it's not working. So that was
a really big one for me. But the other one
was definitely stress. You know, I was doing so much
(12:15):
ensurance exercise. I was also then while I was at university,
I was competing internationally, training twenty one hours a week,
a lot of us self totally, plus doing a honors
degree in excess science, plus trying to be somewhat of
a student as well, you know, like definitely burning the
candles at both ends. So then that moved into when
(12:35):
I was in a graduate so I was working in
a graduate job for Telecom New.
Speaker 4 (12:40):
Zealand and then for zero I worked.
Speaker 3 (12:43):
For after that as well, and like quite pressure, high
pressure sales jobs as well. So again like stress was
a big factor for me too. So what I was
doing by just doing more and more and more exercise,
because that was kind of the way that I was
trying to control with specially my weight. I was like
weight was like going up and up and up, and
I was in the overweight cateigree being my categree by
(13:05):
this stage as well. So it's not like this was
just like a little bit of extra, you know, like
it was getting to that point where I was, you know,
getting more and more worried, and they were saying, hey, look, well,
this is what you've got to do to improve that
like pre diabetes as well.
Speaker 4 (13:18):
Was actually you know, reduced body weight. And I was like, how,
how tell me I.
Speaker 2 (13:22):
Will follow seeing my calories here, I'm running all the time.
Speaker 3 (13:25):
Give me the recipe and I will follow it because
I feel like I am I'm following all of these guidelines.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
So and recipe was to lower your insulin.
Speaker 3 (13:32):
The rest we was definitely lower mansulin and really so
that was a big thing for me. So instead of
having you know, like a sports utrition guidelines of porridge
and can peaches for breakfast, it was like, hey, we
really need to make sure we've got some good protein
and fats and there to really stabilize that blood sugar.
And the reason that you're starving at ten o'clock in
(13:53):
the morning, even though you've only eaten your porridge and
peaches two hours ago, is because your insulin's too high
and then it's dropping and then you're getting really revenous
and that's why you're needing a scorn at ten o'clock
and then you're needing you know, you're starving by lunchtime,
and then you're really craving sweets in the afternoon and
after dinner, and that's why you can't stop thinking about
sugar at three o'clock in the afternoon.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
And so what did you flip your breakfast from from
the porridge to.
Speaker 3 (14:16):
To like it was, like, tried lots of different things.
Smoothies work really well when I'm in a hurry, so
but just making sure like lots of good protein or
collagen powder, some good fats in there from either like
nut butter or like some coconuts, and then some some
berries and some I add like lots of fiber in
there from things like frozen corgette, which is a really
(14:37):
great thing.
Speaker 4 (14:37):
Sounds odd, but try it down, try it honestly.
Speaker 3 (14:41):
But then I kind of graduated into being totally fine
with a savory breakfast. So it might be things like
even left over dinner from the night before, lots of
good vegs, some good protein, good fiber, and salmon works
really well. My toddle love salmon as well, so that
works really well for us.
Speaker 4 (14:57):
Eggs is not enough for me.
Speaker 3 (14:59):
That's one big thing that I've realized is that eggs
is definitely not enough. I thought that, you know, when
I first started getting into this Okay, well, if I
need to balance my blood shag a bit more in
the morning, maybe eggs might work well, but they're actually
quite a low source of protein. You need quite a
few to really get the same being fed buck is
what you would from something like a good smoothie.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
Or a good and there's only so many eggs one
person can eat in a single sitting. Right before you
get all eggy, I totally yet that. So you sorted
your diet out, but at this point you still hadn't
had a period for three years. Where did that end up?
Speaker 4 (15:31):
So that actually came back relatively quickly.
Speaker 3 (15:33):
Okay when I started swinging that, So this wasn't overnight
like right like I when I got diagnosed, there was
then I was I said, right, what now? And they said, okay,
well you probably need to go on the pill and
to get a regular bleed. But again didn't know at
the stage that while that gave me a bleed, that
that didn't actually fix the problem. I wasn't ovulating still,
(15:55):
and because the pill and by essence of being a
concept of stops you from ovulating, so it's never going
to fix that problem. It does give you a regular bleed,
which can be helpful for reducing the risk of things
like endometrial cancer, but it's not really fixing the problem.
The other thing the pill does contain, though, if you're
on the right pill, it does contain an anti androgen
producedant part of it, and so that can be really
(16:16):
helpful for a lot of people for the symptoms like
acne and hersitism. So it's not it's not all bad,
but it's really not fixing the problem. So this is
part of the issue that I see with the way
that PCs is treated.
Speaker 4 (16:27):
As people are.
Speaker 3 (16:28):
Told, go on the pill and it will regulate your cycle.
It does nothing of the sort. It regulates a bleed,
but it does not regulate ovulation.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
Right, and sounds like that's only one small piece of
the overall torture what you need to do.
Speaker 3 (16:42):
Yeah, And so the problem is that people then think, Okay,
I've been getting a regular period for years, do come
off to get pregnant, and then it's right back to
where they.
Speaker 4 (16:50):
Were before they went on the pill, or even worse.
Speaker 3 (16:53):
So I think that's the bit of extra information that
I think is now much more readily available, but is
still prob not being communicated very well by our doctors.
Speaker 4 (17:02):
About what it's actually doing, and.
Speaker 3 (17:06):
That that's not a bad thing, but it just means
that when you do want to conceive, you probably need
to be coming off that a year or more in
advance to give time to have time to really sort
this out.
Speaker 2 (17:16):
Did you struggle to conceive when you went to have
your daughter?
Speaker 4 (17:19):
No?
Speaker 3 (17:19):
No, because by that stage it had been, you know,
ten years later, So I didn't. We didn't try until
I was thirty five, so I'd had ten years of
really figuring this out, and I had by that stage
been regularly ovulating for at least six seven of those, right,
So by that stage, absolutely no issue. I knew that
I was ovulating. New when in my cycle I was ovulating.
(17:41):
I've been able to track that for a long time.
So in terms of the timing and everything else, that
was all sorted. And I think that's the beauty of
when you understand this as well as you know what things,
because fertility can feel like.
Speaker 4 (17:54):
A real black art.
Speaker 3 (17:55):
You think, yeah, absolutely, you have no Oh gosh, I've
had no idea. I was just spent my entire life
trying not to get pregnant, and.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
So that was me. I just went into it with
no knowledge.
Speaker 3 (18:04):
Yeah, and so it feels like some sort of like
snake oil and black heart. So you feel like you
can't really do anything until you try that. You can't
really know what your fidility is going to be like,
but you can you know, you can know if you
are ovulating and relatively regularly, like once every thirty days
or so, getting a relatively regular period, and that phase
(18:27):
after you've ovulated, what's called your ludinal phase, whether that's
actually optimal, because that's also the part that can be
a bit short for a lot of people, especially as
we get into our thirties, and can be a real
reason why even if someone's ovulating, they might be struggling
to conceive, because that parts is not quite long enough
for that fertilized embryo, that egg and sperm to travel
down and burrow into uterine lining and say to your brain, hey,
(18:48):
we're pregnant.
Speaker 4 (18:48):
Don't shoot the lining, don't get a period. We're here.
Speaker 3 (18:52):
And so I knew that all of those parts I
call them in my book, I call them my fertile ingredients.
I knew all my fertile ingredients. We're working well. And
once you've got there, you're ninety percent of the way there.
Speaker 2 (19:01):
Okay, Yeah, you talked about one of the other symptoms
with the excess facial embody here and acne. Is that
as easily fixed with the diet and the trying to
reduce the stress?
Speaker 3 (19:12):
Really good question. Sometimes sometimes not though depends how.
Speaker 4 (19:15):
Severe it is.
Speaker 3 (19:16):
I would say acne, yes, more so than hersitism. Also
the facion body here, that's what it's called horsitism. Acne
can tend can can be what I found anyway, can
respond quite well to lifestyle within a few months. But
also if not, there are some also some great anti
androgen treatments and it doesn't have to be the pill.
(19:37):
There are other great ones ones called spar and lactone.
And also there's a new topical one that's well new
on my radar anyway called wind Levy, which is a
like a cream and it's an anti engrogen cream which
kind of works more locally on the seedn glands to
stop them producing oheel. So those are yeah, there's some
really good I would say with my patients, I always say,
let's give it like a trial for three months or
(19:58):
it depends how severe it is. It's really fitting the
mental health. I'm like, right, let's throw all the things
at it. Let's do the medication and the lifestyle, and
then let's wean off the medication after you've really got
the lifestyle like working well for you, and let's see
how well that's working. And I tend to find that
that kind of works better because it gives people in
like an immediate improvement, and then we've got a plan
(20:20):
to kind of competent medication.
Speaker 2 (20:21):
And the mental health. Yeah, is that the same for
the here as the aechnique? What?
Speaker 3 (20:24):
So, I'd say that here takes a lot longer to
see improvements, and so we'd be talking more like six months.
Once that peach fuzz here has turned into a terminal here,
it's never going to reverse, right, So you still have
to actually kill that here. So the only ways that
we have to kill that here is through electrolysis or
IPR or laser. Okay, Right, So I'd normally say to patients,
depending on where they are, like sometimes the anti engrogen
(20:47):
while the antiangrogens are not can't be used if they're
trying to conceive, So it really depends on where they
are as well. But if they're not trying to conceive,
I say generally say let's if you're okay with it,
let's throw everything at it and then give it six
months and then kind of gradually come off it and
see how it goes. And what we generally see as
a slowing of growth, that would be the first sign
(21:08):
that that's starting to take improvement and then less regrowth.
So once you've killed that terminal here, it won't ever
grow back, but one next door and the follicle next
door could sprout up right, and so it can't ing. Yeah,
next ones growing okay, right, So that's kind of what
we can see. Genetics play big role in that as well.
So often see that people of Mediterranean descent or South
(21:29):
Asian descent, they're naturally going to probably have more severe hostism.
So it might not be enough just the lifestyle stuff
for them. They might need to be anti engyin to
really keep that under control for longer term.
Speaker 2 (21:41):
Now I've had a good look through your website and
one of the things you mentioned a lot is this
protocol that you've devised. What is that?
Speaker 3 (21:47):
So that's really what we were talking about before that
really understanding exactly what it is what's driving your pcos
and then matching that with the right treatment things. For me,
as we talked about before, that was really about fixing
my blood sugar. And but if someone's not presenting with
any symptoms of insulin resistance, then we wouldn't do that
like an I actually fat, we probably wouldn't even start
(22:08):
with nutrition for them. And this is why we get
all of our patients to fill in a really quite
detailed questionnaire so that we can actually understand what are
the drivers for them and what is going to have
the biggest impact, because lifestyle treatment is really hard. You know,
we're having to change your habits. We want to make
damn sure that we're changing habits that are actually going
to see some improvement. And also knowing that for me
(22:31):
and for many of my patients, we've tried lots of things.
You know, this is not our first rodeo. People that
are coming to me and coming to us, this is
not the first thing they've tried. They've often tried lots
of different things, and so we want to make sure
that we're not just telling them really generic advice like
eat well and exercise.
Speaker 4 (22:47):
Doing that for years.
Speaker 2 (22:48):
It's also a bit depressing too. Well, I've tried to
do that, yeah, and so I suspect people that come
to you are probably a little cagon. Is this even
going to work?
Speaker 1 (22:56):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (22:56):
Totally right, absolutely absolutely, And naturally I would have been, well,
I would have been the gosh, well, I've already tried
all these things. I'm already really healthy, Like how much
more can you do for me?
Speaker 4 (23:06):
Rather than exercise? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (23:08):
Yeah, Like, especially when you hear the normal rhetoric, especially
for things like weight losses, eat less, and exercise more,
I'm like, well, what more am I going to do?
Speaker 4 (23:16):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (23:16):
And so actually though, I think that a lot of
them find it quite refreshing, being like, oh wow, it's
actually maybe even exercise a lot less and eat more.
Speaker 2 (23:26):
And someone would tell me that.
Speaker 1 (23:33):
Now that we need to talk with Tony Street.
Speaker 2 (23:37):
So with your symptoms, so you're sort of mid twenties,
do you think in hindsight you had them earlier than that?
So when do you think you? Like, what I'm saying is,
can what's the youngest age you could start noticing that
maybe you have got PCOS.
Speaker 3 (23:51):
It's a really good question one that they're still trying
to find a fine balance here, because you can teenage
can definitely exhibit symptoms of PCs. But then again, a
lot of the symptoms of PCs are quite normal for teenagers.
So having YEP, but also to having higher testosterone and
also site your higher insulin are really normal for teenagers.
Speaker 4 (24:13):
That's how we get through puberty.
Speaker 3 (24:14):
Our bodies need, like female bodies actually need a bit
more testosterone to develop and to get through puberty. So
it's a bit of a fine balance about when we
intervene and also when we diagnose, because getting a diagnosis,
especially as a young teenager, can be quite traumatic when
you may not have the capacity to understand that and
(24:37):
to deal with that. And so the international guidelines don't
really recommend diagnosing with PCs until about five years after
they've started their period. So that's the other thing I
supposed to say is it's really common for teenagers to
have a regular.
Speaker 4 (24:53):
Cycles for up to five years.
Speaker 3 (24:56):
So that's why kind of that guideline is it's probably
better to hold off. But then it's also quite hard
because you know, if your teenagers struggling with facial body
here and getting really bullied at school or things like that,
you want to intervene. I know I would would, and
so yeah, it can be a bit of a fine balance.
So I think that really then comes down to the
just to the knowledge of the pediatricianal endocrinologist, indocronologist is
(25:20):
the You might think that PCs would be a gynological
condition because it affects the ovaries, but it's really a
hormonal condition. So it's an endocronologist who's a real specialist here.
Speaker 2 (25:30):
I was going to ask that because time and time again,
no matter what health topic we're talking about on this podcast,
quite often people hit a roadblock when they see the GP,
whether it's menopause, whether it's anything to do with hormonal
and it's often finding out the right specialist to go to.
So endocrinologist, Yeah, endocrinologists can be the right person to
especially maybe do that diagnosis if the GPS struggling to go, well, hey,
(25:54):
they're still really quite young and I don't want to
put a diagnosis or a label on this young person
at the stage and that affect their life. An endocrinologist
would probably be the right person then to make that
call and say, would for example, an antiangrogen treatment be
the right one for this. Again, in the past, it's
(26:15):
been quite common for you know, young like for teenagers
to go to their doctor and with reporting irregular cycles
and their doctor was saying, Okay, we'll just go on
the pill, that'll fix it.
Speaker 4 (26:27):
But again, we're.
Speaker 3 (26:27):
Finding out more and more now about how population is
actually really important for females and it's really important for
not just fertility, but for our bone health, our breast health,
our heart health, our brain health, and so why we
don't just want to turn that off at the first
sign of trouble, and actually why it's really important for
our brains to develop that neural pathway from our brain
to our ovaries to help us ovulate, and that critical
(26:50):
post puberty early men art time is actually really critical
for that development pathway. So we don't just want to
go and turn that off and actually get to the
root of the problem. If that's painful, pres if it's acne,
if it's whatever it is, actually treat the problem. And
so yeah, interconnagers would be the right person. But then again,
at that point, what they can offer you, I think
what's really helpful when dealing with the medical fraternity is
(27:12):
understanding what they have in their tool bag to give
you and knowing that they won't have everything, so what
they will be able to offer you is medication. That's
their bread and butter that is what they're trained in.
What they won't be able to offer you is what
lifestyle treatments are the right thing for you. What the
right lifestyle treatments are for you a young teen you know,
who might be really struggling with acne or painful periods
(27:34):
or and you're not confident comfortable with them going on
the pill. So that might be the thing that they
offer you, but you don't have to accept that, Like,
remember that they're just giving you what they have in
their tool bag. It's up to you then to decide
if that's the right thing for you. And knowing that
there are other avenues and other options out there. The
hard thing in New Zealand especially though, is finding out
(27:55):
what those other options are like. For example, with PCs,
only five percent of when when or people with PCs
will ever get a referral to a dietisian to talk
about food and nutrition around their piece.
Speaker 2 (28:06):
Osh. That's incredibly low. And yet it sounds like it's
one of the main things to change your lifestyle to
help symptoms.
Speaker 4 (28:13):
Absolutely and it's not.
Speaker 3 (28:14):
This is not like a failing of our doctors, you know,
especially our GPS. They've got thousands of conditions to know
about it.
Speaker 2 (28:20):
And it's not their field either, No, you know, it's
the one area. And that's what I think is as
kiwis in our medical fraternity, I feel like we're very siloed,
you know. And it's as you say, it took you
that one doctor who was a bit more holistic to
be able to diagnose you. And that was my experience
with my autoimmune condition as well. It took actually a
gastro enterologist who wasn't even the specialist in the field
(28:42):
I needed, but he was prepared to go back and
look at the full picture. Yeah, so at least at
least people will know now that that's what you need
to start doing the moment you get symptoms and if
you've got any concerns, and hopefully people are listening to
podcasts like this so they can actually see where to go.
So your symptoms, I'm sitting here looking at it. You
look at picture of health, right, but I'm guessing it's
(29:03):
not linear. I'm guessing you have peaks and troughs in
your health regardless of whether you're following the protocol correctly.
Speaker 4 (29:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (29:11):
Absolutely, And I think that that's just normal life, right,
Like I think that's normal life for us to go
through really stressful periods of time where maybe then our
symptoms might.
Speaker 4 (29:21):
Reverse and or maybe then our lifestyle changes.
Speaker 3 (29:26):
So it might be that postpartum, you know your symptoms
are changing, or where the stage of life I am
now were late thirties and entering into that perimenopause phase
and that changing again or post menopause. So I think
that I mean, I'm I now have reversed my symptoms
so much that I would no longer be diagnosed with PCs.
Speaker 4 (29:45):
If I went to a jet indocnologist.
Speaker 3 (29:47):
Today and they were looking at me, then I wouldn't
meet any of the diagnostic criteria for PCs, which is fantastic,
but doesn't mean that I never would be had if
I didn't sort of manage it.
Speaker 4 (29:59):
And it's but for me now where I've.
Speaker 3 (30:02):
Got to is that it doesn't It's not an all
consuming thing that I have to be. I've been doing
this for long enough now that I know I kind
of know the beer minimum of what I need to do.
And that's really what I encourage my patients to do,
is that.
Speaker 2 (30:14):
What is that what is the beaer minimum for you?
Speaker 4 (30:16):
So for the bare minimum for me.
Speaker 3 (30:17):
Like, this is why I always encourage my patients to
figure out like what their non negotiables are, especially when like,
you know, we've just been summer holidays, and you know
you're not going to be while you're on holiday, like
going to the gym and you know, doing your resistance
training and stuff like that. You need a break from that,
and that's great. So for me, though, what I know
keeps me feeling well, regardless of whether I'm flying internationally
to you speak at a conference, or whether I'm on holiday,
(30:39):
or whether I'm a bit ill, is that sleep is
like a fundamental thing for me and really important. I
mean sleep especially for things like our blood sugar, you know,
like it only takes a few nights of less than
five hours sleep and our insulin resistance reduces by thirty percent,
like a sensitivity to their hormone insulin.
Speaker 2 (30:58):
I'm really this on that. As someone there just wants
to watch one more episode.
Speaker 3 (31:02):
Of Netflix and they put up at four, I am,
yeh bricks right, absolutely, but I yeah, So I know
that that's like a critical one for me, and it's
it's not just when my PCs symms did. Also, I
know that that's like when when I'm going to get
sick as when like when I like when I'm not
getting good sleep, and so like that's a really crucial
one for me. The second one is as breakfast. I
(31:23):
know that if I have a really good breakfast, then
then I won't be starving during the day. I won't
be really craving those sweets. So it's not about for me.
For so many years, I was, you know, crave sweets,
and I was always trying to avoid them. I was
always trying to devise solutions to stop myself from craving sweets, Like, Okay,
I always crave sweets at three pm, so like I
must organize meetings during that time, so I'm not going
(31:45):
to be going to the venue machine or downstairs to
the dairy for that time, right, or like I'm going
to make these like healthy sweet treats to keep in
the freezer at home, so I'm not like so I
have those instead of something else after dinner. Actually, when
I figured out that they were just a physiology response
to my blood sugar dropping, and actually, if I fix
the blood sugar roller coaster that I was on by
doing things like having a really good breakfast, I wouldn't
(32:07):
need to be pulling myself away from those sits.
Speaker 2 (32:11):
So the desire wouldn't be there totally.
Speaker 4 (32:12):
It wasn't.
Speaker 3 (32:13):
It was never inn a shoe of self control, yeap.
I was never lacking self control. And I think that's
such a huge thing for so many of my patients
to feel, because they have been made to feel like
failures their entire life, and to hear that this is
not something that you've failed at. This is your body.
This is what it's doing, and this is it's a
natural response. You know, blood sugar's dropping, your body's saying, ah,
this is dangerous. I don't want low blood sugar. I
(32:34):
won't be able to think. Brain needs gluecose to work.
So bring that back up. And you know what the
easiest thing to get their backup is Snickers bar. And
I know you like it, so go get it. And
it's really like it's really jumping onto those primal desires
that we will go and find those foods and that
we desire and we like, and it will jump onto
that as well. So our self control is also never
(32:57):
going to really be able to override those things. We
really have to fix the problem. And this is why
you know, I really try and fix the root problem
as opposed to just you know, rely on self control
or just do you know, do those things, which I
tried for so many years and then even worked.
Speaker 4 (33:12):
So I think that that was that's a really.
Speaker 3 (33:14):
Big thing for me, is that's my second non negotia,
is that I know that that's what makes me feel good,
and that won't necessarily be the same for everybody. As
we talked about, you know, PCUS is a syndrome, it
is a spectrum. We all differ, and so someone that
doesn't have those strong sugar cravings, they won't be able
to resonate with what I'm saying. But I guarantee you
to anybody that's listening to this that resonates with it,
they'll be like, oh my god, yes, that is exactly right.
(33:34):
That's exactly what I've experienced for most of my life.
And so that's why it's so crucial to to have
personalized care, to be to be working on the things
that are actually improving your symptoms, not just following like oh,
I do a YouTube video or someone else does a
YouTube video and says I went vegan for PCs and
it fixed my symptoms.
Speaker 4 (33:54):
It's like, yeah, cool.
Speaker 3 (33:55):
That worked for you, awesome, It doesn't mean it's going
to work for Kimberly down the road.
Speaker 2 (34:00):
What if you're someone like me and I'm like, I'm
far more in tune with my body now because I've
had to be with my autoimmune condition, But for many
years I was a bit blase and if you'd said
to me, oh, well, how much sleep do you get?
And I'd be like, I don't really know. Do you
have much sugar?
Speaker 4 (34:17):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (34:18):
I guess like, you know what if you're a person
like that, how would you deal with someone that is
a bit you know, not in touch with their body totally?
Speaker 3 (34:26):
We ask quite pointed questions okay, and we get them
to go revisit them. If they don't know, revisit them
after a week or so, just be like, okay, well
then just just keep note like even on just like
your notes app on your iPhone or something like that,
if you did it, did experience there? If you don't
think that you do, Okay, let's track Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday,
or ask some quite pointed questions like what did you
(34:47):
have yesterday? And they're like, oh, yeah, you know, I
did have some chocol after dinner, or I did do
you know?
Speaker 4 (34:51):
Did do that?
Speaker 3 (34:52):
When you can ask like quite pointed questions, it's easier,
same thing instead of just saying how much sleep.
Speaker 4 (34:56):
Do you get?
Speaker 3 (34:56):
Be like does it take you more than fifteen minutes
to get to sleep at night? Do you regularly wake
up between two and four am? And people that do
know it because you know, like every time you look
at that clock it's like two three.
Speaker 2 (35:08):
Stressing you out?
Speaker 3 (35:09):
Yeah, as stressing you out because you're like, I've got
to get up at sex and I'm lying here, I
want to sleep. I've dedicated this time to sleep. Literally,
that's all I want to do. So these things that
people generally know, but if they don't, we get them
to go away track for a week and then come
back and then we can have a better idea because yeah,
you're right, sometimes you just might not know and oh
(35:31):
yeah maybe and then after tracking it for a couple
of weeks ago.
Speaker 4 (35:34):
Yeah, actually that is a big thing I do.
Speaker 2 (35:36):
Yeah, And just finally clear, like, if someone's listening to
this and they think they might have PCOS or they do,
what would your message be as someone that has managed
to get themselves from being diagnosed to basically in remission.
If you like, what would your message be to them?
Speaker 3 (35:53):
My message would be from a lifestyle perspective. There are
things that can work, and you may have tried lots
of things. They often don't need to be massive changes
like we often think that we need to, like especially
at this time of year, at the start of the year.
We're recording this in mid January, and so it's like
a very common time to be wanting to make really
(36:14):
massive changes, like signing up for a marathon or you know,
a boot cam or specially something like that, especially if
maybe weight's been an issue for you.
Speaker 4 (36:21):
It doesn't need to be big changes like that.
Speaker 3 (36:23):
It's like literally tweaks to your diet can be really
really helpful, but it needs to be based on what
your drivers are. It needs to be personalized to you.
There's no pdf plan you're going to find on the
internet that's going to work for you. It needs to
be that. And often medications can be really helpful as well,
and they can certainly help improve those symptoms, especially if
(36:44):
it's things like acne or hersatism, but they really need
to work in combination with that lifestyle stuff, because even
if it might fix a symptom. We're just kicking the
can of things like insulin resistance and pre diabetes and
diabetes down the road. So you really want to work
on both those things to make sure that you not
only are thriving now with PCs, but thriving for the
rest of your life, whether that whether you know, in pregnancy, postpardon, perimenopause,
(37:09):
menopause and into older age as well. And if we
can get on top of that, actually PCs can be
an incredible, you know, not wake up call, but I
would say early warning sign that you're just not quite
in balance. And actually this can be a real blessing
in disguise because people that don't get that early warning
sign may not find this out until they're in their
sixties and it's too late.
Speaker 2 (37:30):
Brilliant, Thank you so much for today, and congratulations on
the book and the website. And I'm sure anyone that
sort of has any of these symptoms can have a
look and work out what plan is best for them. So,
if you are listening to this, the p Cooees Nutritionness
dot Com for all of Clear's resources.
Speaker 1 (37:47):
We need to talk with COASTFMS Tony Street. If you
enjoyed the podcast, click to share with family or friends.
To get in touch, email, We need to talk at
Coast online, dot co, dot zid
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