Of Estrogen Dominance, PMS, AGEs, Migraines, Insulin Resistance and other aspects of our system

Like I mentioned before, here is the chronological order of PCOS/Endo development. This chronological order won't apply to everyone however-considering the environmental/dietary factors in the US it will probably affect the majority of us.

This should explain EVERYTHING:

1. Hypothyroidism (often caused by Iodine deficiency) or other thyroid disorders causes Estrogen Dominance.. (our tap water has fluoride/perchlorates which are iodine blockers, processed foods have bromides, an iodine blocker)-

"Iodine Deficiency Increases Ovarian Production of Estrogen"
"Since 1928, the iodine concentration in the ovary has been known to be higher than in every other organs except the thyroid."
http://www.breastcanceralternatives.org/iodineref.html

I know it's a breast cancer page, but estrogen dominance causes these stupid cysts

"the recommended dosage is 12.5-50 mg/day- in fish, seaweed, DAIRY...Americans consume an average 240 micrograms (µg) of iodine a day.
" It removes toxic chemicals — fluoride, bromide, lead, aluminum, mercury — and biological toxins, suppresses auto-immunity, strengthens the T-cell adaptive immune system, and protects against abnormal growth of bacteria in the stomach."

http://www.lewrockwell.com/miller/miller20.html

Iodine deficiency may cause the ovaries to develop cysts , nodules and scar tissue. At its worse this ovarian pathology is very similar to that of polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS). As of the writing of this article I have five PCOS patients. The patients have successfully been brought under control with the use of 50 mg of iodine per day. Control with these patients meaning cysts are gone, periods every 28 days and type 2 diabetes mellitus under control.

http://www.optimox.com/pics/Iodine/IOD-10/IOD_10.htm

2. Estrogen Dominance causes Insulin Resistance. (High Progesterone levels, esp. in women in their second trimester of pregnancy are at risk for Gestational Diabetes).

"...at first, makes pancreatic cells secrete the glucose-regulating hormone insulin. Then after repeated exposure of estrogen (produced by our bodies? and xeno estrogens) caused insulin resistance."

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1563522/posts

This is why women should be eating LESS sugar than anyone. And this is why I beat the drum hard against high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), "Corn Syrup", etc... get that stuff out of your diet, high fructose corn syrup is poison.

3. Insulin resistance puts woman at risk for diabetes II.
It doesn't mean we've all been chowing down on sweets. Thyroid issues increases *estrogen dominance* which cases insulin resistance in women.

Which might explain the weight gain, moodiness and migraines.

Migraines are caused by insulin resistance.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16033384

http://www.journals.elsevierhealth.com/periodicals/jns/article/S0022-510X(10)00350-3/abstract

4. Insulin resistance puts people at risk for inflammatory issues. Caused by Advanced Glycation End Produccts aka. "AGEs".

I don't know if you've ever heard that "sugar causes everything"?
It's sort of true.

Inflammation is caused by advanced glycation end products ("AGEs")- which is really mutated proteins binding with sugars which is oxidation, or a "rusting" and causes inflammation. (that's why staying away from processed foods keeps the inflammation down with auto-immune diseases).

When we're insulin resistant(prediabetic), the extra glucose is floating around in the blood and they attach themselves to the mutated proteins and go through "glycation", oxidation-which means your cells are basically rusting which causes inflammation (ie. auto-immune disorders, rhumatoid arthritis, Lupus, kidney disease, etc.). The best way to prevent this is to avoid processed sugars, avoid sugars, avoid high fructose corn syrup and avoid overcooked foods (processed/prepackaged/fastfood).

http://www.aboutinflammation.com/foodsthatcauseinflammation.html

I believe that Migraines are caused by advanced glycation end products.

Also, the glycation also increases your LDL cholesterol.

Some have said that using Progesterone cream helps with migraines.

http://www.migraine101.com/

(this site gives conflicting yet useful information. Estrogen can decrease sensitivity of the thyroid gland. So can inflammation, some inflammatory issues cause the body to attack the thyroid and those women have the worst cases of PCOS).

Benfotiamine(B1) and Carnosine are both anti-oxidants, they fight off inflation. Benfotiamine and Carnosine are also supposed to benefit the nervous system- which is why I believed they helped with my migraine headaches. What is disappointing is that because Big Pharma can't patent vitamins, there's very little research on the benefit of vitamins. Vitamins can be a great aide if you use them correctly. But how do you know?

I've taken the Benfotiamine and Carnosine for a while now and noticed a decrease in headaches. I stopped for a week, just to see what happened. The Santa Ana winds triggered a killer migraine, after a while I just popped a Benfotiamine supplement, drank some cold water then slept. When I woke up, I felt fine. It was much easier on my stomach than taking an NSAID or Acetaminophen; which I like because I want to minimalise stomach irritation because of these cramps.

Back to the big picture, Advanced Glycation End Products are known to cause PCOS.

"In addition, transient transfection exper-iments indicated that the CYP17 promoter is enhanced in PCOStheca cells compared to normal theca cells (Wickenheisser et al.,2000). The up-regulation of steroidogenesis in PCOS the ca cell suggests the presence of an intrinsic defect in the metabolic path-ways of the cells responsible for androgen production independ-ently of environmental and neuroregulatory factors. However, theca cell studies have been performed only on classical PCOS phenotype with hyperandrogenemia and there is no information if all subtypes of theca cells present a steroidogenic defect. Additional studies on theca cells isolated from different PCOS phenotypes will provide valuable information."

http://www.scribd.com/doc/7269904/PCOSObesity-Genetics-Pcos-HRU

"A study of female mice is suggesting that ovarian cysts may at least partially be the result of an immune system dysfunction. The gland involved is the thymus gland, which is responsible for the management of major aspects of your immune system. One of the functions of the thymus gland is to produce T-cells, which are white blood cells that help protect you from infection and also perform other important activities.

The researchers reported that ovarian cysts in the female mice did not develop unless there was an absence of regulatory T-cells."

http://www.ovarian-cysts-pcos.com/news81.html

A putative role for the thymus in estrogen-induced anovulation and follicular cyst formation (a model of PCOS) was examined in female mice by removing the gland prior to estrogen injection. Whereas all intact, female mice injected with 20 microg estrogen at 5-7 days of age had ovaries with follicular cysts, no cysts were observed in animals in which thymectomy at 3 days of age preceded estrogen injection. In fact, after restoring immune function by thymocyte replacement, the majority of thymectomized, estrogen-injected mice had ovaries with corpora lutea. Thus, when estrogen is unable to act on the thymus, ovulation occurs and follicular cysts do not develop. This implicates the thymus in the cysts' genesis and discounts the role of the hypothalamus.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19450261?ordinalpos=7&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DefaultReportPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum

In female rats, diet enriched in advanced glycation end products (AGEs) has been associated with increased serum testosterone levels and deposition of dietary glycotoxins in ovarian tissue.

Women with PCOS present increased serum AGE levels, which are acutely elevated after intake of a single meal high in AGE content. In this study the effects of a hypocaloric diet and an AGE-enriched hypocaloric diet were investigated, on the endocrine and metabolic profile of PCOS women.

Eleven women with PCOS, defined by Rotterdam criteria, were assigned for two months to a hypocaloric regular diet followed by two months of a hypocaloric AGE-enriched diet. At the end of each period endocrine parameters were determined.

PCOS women on hypocaloric diet showed a significant reduction on BMI (P=0.0276), which was followed by a significant reduction on HOMA (P=0.0035), but not significant changes on AGEs (P=0.6073) or Testosterone concentrations (P=0.7857). In post hypocaloric-AGE-enriched diet, without significant changes in BMI (P=0.29) and HOMA (P=0.1560), testosterone levels (P=0.0007) were increased in comparison to their status during hypocaloric diet and to baseline. Additionally, the difference of AGEs levels from hypocaloric diet to high AGEs diet were significantly higher (P=0.0312).

Increased dietary intake of AGEs in hypocaloric diet is associated with significant increases in androgen levels, contributing to abnormal hormonal profile in women with PCOS. Since in the ovarian compartments from polycystic ovarian tissue the AGE and their receptor RAGE have been determined immunochemically, the role of dietary AGEs in PCOS needs to be explored http://www.endocrine-abstracts.org/ea/0016/ea0016p171.htm

Androgen excess causes hirutism, acne and thinning hair.

http://www.healthywomen.org/condition/androgen

5. Estrogen Dominance also increases prostaglandins which causes uterine contractions which causes cramps. Progesterone combats prostaglandins so the uterus contracts less which helps relieve cramps. NAISDs (Naproxins and Ibuprofin) both combat prostaglandins to aid with the cramps.

Also:

Article on free fluid in pelvis...(doctor told me that this is evidence of a cyst rupture. Cyst ruptures might cause hemorrhage which is why we get serious abdominal discomfort when it happens. they say it always clears up, you just need to get a doctor to verify that it was a cyst and nothing else)

"Free fluid in the pelvis or abdomen should be considered blood until proven otherwise. Blood and ascitic fluid may look the same on ultrasound. In the proper clinical scenario, such a hemodynamically stable patient with no history of trauma and a benign exam, ascites may be more likely. Other causes of free fluid include bowel or bladder rupture."

http://www.erpocketbooks.com/er-ultrasounds/pelvic-ultrasound-for-the-ed/

This almost makes me wish for my own ultrasound machine.

So at the end of the day, the low Glycemic diet, eating like a diabetic, the low inflammation diet will all be helpful as long as you're getting your vitamins, minerals and anti-oxidants.

The insurance business is awful. In California, the health insurance companies are allowed to reject you for having PCOS. I just filed a claim with the Senator in my area about this. Yes it is that important. Any time a woman have a stomach issue that's not caused by food, there's a great possibility that it's caused by her reproductive system because it's located right by the gastrointestinal tract. If any woman is afraid of losing her coverage with a diagnosis of PCOS, she may miss out on early cervical or ovarian cancer detection. An early detection of ovarian or cervical cancer gives women the greatest chance of survival.

I'm hoping that the doctors will aid us in curing PCOS, instead of "treating the symptoms". It shouldn't cost that much, we shouldn't be in this much pain and it shouldn't require this much effort to just "fix it". We're in the 21st century, we should've had it by now.