Well, I'm a teen and I still live with my parents, so I can't switch chiropractors and if a doctor tells me to do something I have to listen. Recently (and I'm sorry to say this on a vegetarian board), I've been wondering if vegetarianism really is beneficial or even acceptable for everyone's diet. That particular chiropractor is VERY un-vegetarian friendly and she has given me a hard time from the beginning, but maybe she is somewhat right. It does bother me though that she would tell me and my mom how beneficial it would be if I would eat "just a little" red meat everyday. I don't know that much about nutrition, and it seems as if there is not a "clear cut" healthy diet, but many opinions on what is healthy. I did ask the gynocologist about if my diet change could be related to my negative health changes and they said that they were sure that it wasn't. I think I eat healthy- much healthier than most teens I know. I eat lots of fruit and veggies, beans, nuts, and I avoid refined carbs. I just don't know what to think anymore about diet. (Again I'm sorry to say this here) I am not totally ethically opposed to eating meat, but it just REALLY grosses me out, and as much as I like vegetarian food and being a vegetarian, if it is wrecking my health I don't know if I should do it (though I don't know if I could even get myself to bite into a hunk of meat). I think it is probably cheaper, and more natural to eat meat, than to be put on the pill for my whole life. Anyway, I'm sorry for ranting at you all, but I'm just so frustrated as there is not clear cut solution to this, and I don't want to have to go back to eating meat unless I really have to.
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Well, I used to have regular periods for a few years so that is why they are pretty concerned. Also, my testosterone is very high and it doubled from January to last July. They are testing it again to see if it is still increasing and what it is. My mom has PCOS so that makes it even more likely that I have it.Originally Posted by IamJen
Agreed. I mean, it's possible, but it could also be stress, or
gaining weight/losing weight/being overweight/being underweight.
Plus, if you're a teen, it's VERY common for periods to be heavy/light, irregular or absent.
Do you know what's led them to believe that it's a cyst or PCOS? While I think that these are important conditions to uncover, if you have them, I also wonder if maybe you're undergoing some unnecessary worry over something that will straighten itself out as you get older.
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I only eat about 1 serving of soy daily, but after hearing about the problems that soy can cause, I cut it out of my diet for a few months and everything was exactly the same. Anyway, I got the sonogram done and I wont get to talk to my gyno until tommorow, but the ultrasound technician was very sweet and answered some of my questions. She said that ovaries of a person with PCOS have a certain look- they are enlarged with dots in a pearl shaped pattern. She said that my ovaries and everything looked great and that she is almost certain that I do not have PCOS. She told me that the gyno will probably put me on birthcontrol to regulate things. I wish that there was a more natural approach to treating hormonal imbalance. I don't want to live my whole life on chemical hormones. I think it is strange that I would have these issues if physiologically everything is fine. I will talk to my gyno tommorow and let you all know what happens.Originally Posted by zoebird
excessive soy consumption can cause thyroid problems that could lead to a similar situation. also, perservatives of different sorts as well--if you eat a lot of processed food.
i would start by cutting out all soy products in your diet and consuming a whole-foods vegetarian diet.
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I'm not even sure anymore. I've heard that a vegetarian diet can affect your hormones, but I've also heard that it can't. It is hard for me to eat a balanced diet because I don't eat gluten and my family is omni, so alot of days I live on beans and nuts, which is not balanced. Another factor in this whole thing is vitamin D. I do not absorb vitamin D well and have to be on a few thousand international units daily or my vitamin D levels go way down. I was tested in the spring and I almost had no vitamin D in my body. I took 50000 IU twice weekly for a few months and my period returned in 6 weeks. I had another one 5 weeks or so later and then went down in my dose of vitamin D and my period stopped. I then went up again in my vitamin D dose about 4 weeks ago. My period actually retured last week which was 3 weeks from when I changed my vitamin D dose. It was also the day after I stopped being vegetarian. I stopped last Friday. It is what is best for me and my family right now. My gynocologist thinks I have PCOS although my sonogram was fine, and I feel like I might do better on a lower carb diet. They want to put me on birth control but as I said in a previous post, I really want to solve this naturally, if I even have PCOS. I started the South Beach Diet today with my mom, as I hear it helps PCOS. Wow... I'm so confused about all of this...Originally Posted by eggplant
Here is an interesting article on this subject from The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition: http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/full/70/3/549S#SEC6
The author's conclusion is: "Although healthy, weight-stable, vegetarian women consuming self-selected diets did not experience more menstrual disturbances than did healthy, weight-stable nonvegetarians, population studies are needed to address the question at the broadest level."
In other words, there's no indication as of yet that vegetarianism alone affects a woman's menstrual cycle.
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