I was diagnosed with PCOS (2017) almost a year after I got married. My husband and I wanted (and still do want) children but with my cycles being so long and not knowing when I ovulate I took to the doctor’s advice of using birth control to regulate my periods and started using metformin. She gave me a short lecture saying it was either take the metformin and exercise or she couldn’t help me.

I had a lot of nausea with the metformin and it caused my blood sugar to regularly drop so low that sometimes I would feel like I was possibly going to pass out. And I was making sure to take it as prescribed. So I stopped taking the metformin and went rogue and got a new OBGYN (but not until I lost the weight first...but even then, there was still no viable help from her even though I did the other half of what I was told to do).

I am by no means a doctor and only proceeded with the process that I did out of personal convictions.

I have struggled with my weight on and off ever since I was about 9 or 10. A few years ago I lost 75lbs within a 10-12 month period and was able to keep it off until I got really sick mentally and had to be hospitalized. Then COVID hit and I pretty much gave up on trying to do anything about my weight.

I got a new OBGYN who prescribed me some progesterone to force my cycles to start but I didn’t feel right about taking those either after a while, but I did use them for 3 or 4 cycles. I thought maybe changing the way I ate would definitely do it. I made myself follow through on changing my eating habits to be primarily plant based.

It was difficult at first but it got easier as my tastebuds changed. I still enjoy some meat and dairy every once in a while when I crave it. I have seen a huge change in my mental health...BUT, it’s like my body knows when that 28th day hits and my lining hasn’t shed and I become extremely hormonal and snappy for like two months straight, until my period decides it wants to come.

Working out never seemed to help force my periods to start naturally. Even when I lost a lot of weight, my cycles were still jacked up and I would get one about every 60-70 days.

I looked online to figure out what the link was, if any, between mental health, PCOS, and what the body needs to help mature the follicles into actual ovum to cause ovulation. When I put it all together with information I got from my doctor in high school, I decided to try taking Magnesium, Vitamin D, and Zinc. I took the dosages I thought would be therapeutic for my body for 3 days. I started spotting either later on the third day or early on the fourth day; the day after that my cycle started!!!

I also started using OvuSense around the time I decided to take the vitamin supplements and noticed that I had a spike in my BBT temperature for two days and then a major drop on the day I started spotting.

I DO NOT advise doing this without first talking to a doctor to make sure that you aren’t taking something that could cause you harm. I have had previous diagnoses of being Vitamin D deficient and also tend to crave a lot of chocolate and sweets (can be a Magnesium deficiency). I chose to take Zinc on a whim because it can be low in people with depression and other psychiatric illnesses but I have no idea what my regular zinc levels were to determine if I actually was zinc deficient.

In short...

...and talk to a physician that is willing to listen and have good bedside manner and not just write you prescriptions and shove you out of their office. Your reproductive health is much more valuable than that 😘