The Best Natural PCOS Support
The supplement of choice for many women who struggle with PCOS is myo-inositol. It is used to treat acne, to treat fatigue, and to aid in losing weight.
In addition, it is used by women who are seeking to restore normal menstrual cycles and by women who are seeking to become pregnant. If you are looking for natural PCOS support, then you will find great value in this article.
What is PCOS?
There is a common misconception that because PCOS refers to “polycystic ovarian syndrome” every woman who has PCOS must have ovarian cysts.
Actually, many women who have ovarian cysts do not have PCOS and many women who have PCOS do not have ovarian cysts. PCOS is really more about the “syndrome” that is caused by metabolic dysfunction in the ovaries.
PCOS is not an easy diagnosis for your doctor to make, but it is even more puzzling to many women who have it. My friend Angie gave me permission to share her story (although not her real name).It is typical of women who have PCOS. It goes like this:
The First Puzzling Symptom Angie Had With PCOS was Fatigue.
She felt tired all the time, but she could not figure out why. Scheduling more time for sleep did not help. Turning off all her electronics at 9 p.m. and going to bed did not make her feel any more rested.
Twenty-seven years old and the chief financial officer of a thriving construction company, she was making great money and enjoying her job, but it was a major struggle to enjoy her life.
Angie’s fatigue continued for about a year when she started noticing she was growing a mustache. She ate a healthy diet and went to the gym regularly but she was gaining weight.
This weight wasn’t stacking on her thighs or hips. She was developing a beer belly like her husband’s. Her hair was falling out. She had cravings for sweets and was thirsty all the time.
Furthermore, she lost her temper on the job too many times and nearly found herself unemployed. That was when she finally went to her doctor and learned she had both type 2 diabetes and PCOS.
But she did not have ovarian cysts. She immediately wanted to know more about PCOS and to find out if there was a natural PCOS support.
The Most Consistent Feature in PCOS is Elevated Levels of Testosterone.
Testosterone levels help doctors recognize the disease. The underlying hormonal imbalance in PCOS, however, is elevated levels of insulin. Problems with blood sugar levels in younger women can even serve as a kind of early warning system for PCOS.[7]
It is important to understand that there is nothing about PCOS that is a woman’s fault.
A woman will not get PCOS because of eating the wrong foods. In addition, eating too much sugar does not cause PCOS.
And you don’t get PCOS if you did or did not use a particular kind of contraception or a particular brand of the Pill. The easiest way to explain PCOS is that your ovaries are overprotective of their eggs.
The Ovaries Are Uniquely Insensitive to Insulin
You have probably heard of the concept of insulin resistance. This is a mechanism by which cells in most of your body can shut down receptors for insulin to keep from being flooded by too much sugar.
The fact that you have insulin resistance does not necessarily mean you have been eating too much sugar.
The problem can be that your cells do not have the ability to respond to insulin. It is a problem in your genetics, not in your diet. This is a problem that D-Chiro Inositol helps correct, and one of the reasons why it is an essential factor in natural PCOS support.
But more about that in a moment. Unlike other parts of your body, your ovaries do not have the ability of becoming insulin resistant.
They will always absorb sugar from your bloodstream, no matter how low or how high your blood sugar levels may go.
As a result, this property gives your ovaries the ability to protect your eggs and your future children, even if you experience times of famine and deprivation. But it can give you problems if there is always an abundance of food.
But the Ovaries are Very Sensitive to Myo-inositol and D-Chiro Inositol
The ovaries cannot resist insulin, and what they do with the glucose they absorb from the bloodstream depends on two “second messengers,” Myo-inositol and D-Chiro inositol.
Myo-inositol tells ovarian cells they need to make the hormones the ovaries need. D-Chiro inositol tells ovarian cells they need to store or burn sugar.
In addition, D-Chiro inositol tells cells all over the body to take sugar out of the bloodstream and store it or use it. However, myo-inositol can’t, for instance, tell your sinuses to start making testosterone.
Myo-inositol and D-Chiro inositol have the same chemical formula C6H12O6. They only differ in the way the atoms in the molecule are oriented.
If myo-inositol were a bug with six antennae, four antennae might be pointed up and two might be pointed down.
If D-Chiro inositol were a bug with six antennae, three might be pointed up and three might be pointed down.
The reason it makes a difference that the atoms of myo-inositol and D-Chiro inositol are arranged differently is that they “grab” onto other chemicals differently as they are transformed into the enzymes the ovaries need.
Myo-inositol tells the ovaries to make hormones, starting with testosterone. D-Chiro inositol tells cells all over the body to take glucose out of the bloodstream and use it.
But if you have lots and lots of insulin in your bloodstream, myo-inositol will be too “busy” responding to insulin to be transformed into D-Chiro inositol. As a result, your ovaries will keep getting the message to make hormones, in a sequence of chemical steps that produces testosterone first.
Therefore, insulin is an important factor to be aware of for people in search of natural PCOS support.
The More Insulin Your Pancreas Makes, the More Testosterone Your Ovaries Make.
The more insulin your pancreas makes, the more fat stays locked inside fat cells. As you gain more and more weight, clinical trials show, your ovaries have less and less ability to transform the myo-inositol that spurs testosterone production into the D-Chiro inositol that helps your ovaries use glucose in healthy ways.[8]
Furthermore, the more fat stays locked in your fat cells, ironically, the more they “aromatize” your excess testosterone into estrogen.
The unfortunate result is not that your testosterone levels go down. Rather, your ovaries just keep on making more and more testosterone.
However, your fat cells make sure that your estrogen levels are too high, too. And when your estrogen levels are too high, it is as if you were stuck in the first half of your menstrual cycle. Your body makes abundant amounts of follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), the hormone that predominates in the first half of your menstrual cycle.
Therefore, it fails to make enough of the luteinizing hormone (LH) that surges just before you ovulate.
The good news is that products that contain myo-inositol and D-Chiro inositol in the right ratio can help your body reverse the hormonal imbalances that cause infertility and the symptoms of PCOS.
If you are looking for a natural PCOS support, then you probably want to be taking a myo-inositol supplement with d-chiro inositol in it.
What’s the Value of Providing Myo-inositol and D-Chiro Inositol in a Ratio of 40 Parts of MI to just one part of DCI?
Studies show that Myo-Inositol and D-chiro-inositol work best when they are provided in the right ratio. Myo-inositol works primarily in the ovaries to normalize testosterone production.
D-chiro Inositol works all over the body to normalize responses to insulin.[5] Both work together to change a complex interrelationship of hormones.
As a result, medication, diet, and exercise can make more of a difference in woman’s fertility. It can also make a difference in your male partner’s fertility because men benefit from taking myo-inositol with D-Chiro inositol too. In addition, it can support pregnancy.
Both work together to relieve a variety of troublesome symptoms in women who have PCOS. Combining these two together has a powerful effect as a natural PCOS support.
What Are Evidence-Based Expectations for Using MI Plus DCI?
Some products that contain Myo-inositol plus D-Chiro inositol do not work as well as they should because they do not provide the right ratio of Myo-inositol to D-Chiro inositol. The surprising discovery about inositol treatment has been that the ovaries can over-respond to D-Chiro inositol the same way they over-respond to myo-inositol.
Too much D-Chiro inositol can cause a shortage of myo-inositol, creating a hormonal imbalance in the opposite direction.[9]
The solution to this problem is not necessarily changing the ratio of myo-inositol to D-Chiro inositol in the product itself. It’s choosing the right delivery vehicle for the product.
Powders interact with the acid environment of your stomach. Capsules interact with the alkaline environment of your small intestine. Powders you mix up in water or juice are broken down before the body can absorb them.
When you take capsules instead of powders, your body gets myo-inositol and D-Chiro inositol in the ratio it needs. When choosing a natural PCOS support, it is a good idea to find a supplement with this ratio to take on a daily basis.
There are Other Advantages of Taking Your Inositol in Capsules Rather Than in Powders.
First of all, there’s less mess. And you’re more likely to get all of the product you paid for. In addition, empty bags sometimes come off the production line. Sure, the product maker will refund your money or replace the product, but you don’t have this problem when you take inositol in capsule form.
Probably more importantly, a clinical trial shows that smaller doses of myo-inositol plus D-Chiro inositol provide a longer-lasting supply of inositol to the ovaries.[10]
You don’t want to take your daily dose of inositol all at once. You want to take it in at least two doses per day for best results. It’s easy to take one capsule at a time. It’s a lot more trouble to mix up a powder.
You naturally take the amount of inositol you need when you use a product that is in capsules, but it is more work with a powder. Therefore, we recommend myo-inositol capsules for your natural PCOS support.
There are Also Some Simple Lifestyle Changes that can Affect how well Myo-Inositol Plus D-Chiro Inositol Works for You:
To maximize the effects of myo-insitol with d-chiro-inositol as a natural PCOS support, there are some simple life changes you can make. If you are trying to lower your blood sugar, it’s important to keep up your hydration.
The enzymes myo-inositol makes combine glucose with water to take it out of circulation and safely store it as fuel for your muscles.
- If you are trying to lose weight, don’t forget to reduce your fat intake and to increase your exercise. Diet and exercise work hand in hand with D-chiro-inositol.
- And if you are a couple trying to get pregnant, it’s important for both partners, male and female, to take myo-inositol plus D-chiro-inositol.
Why Should Men Hoping to Become Fathers Take Myo-Inosotiol with D-Chiro Inositol?
A clinical trial with 109 men aged 18 to 50 who had been diagnosed with asthenozoospermia, sperm that lacked “swimming ability,” found that taking myo-inositol increased the chances that their partners would get pregnant.
A significant improvement in sperm motility was reported in 85.32% of the men in the study.[11]
Another clinical study found that myo-inositol was especially helpful in men who have unusually thick, viscous semen.[12] And a third clinical study found that myo-inositol supplementation helped men who had oligoasthenospermia, a combination of few sperm and sperm with poor motility, enough to make a difference in the outcome of in vitro fertilization.[13]
The more a couple has invested in improving fertility, the more likely myo-inositol plus D-Chiro inositol is to help.
Inositol Supplements can Make a Measurable Difference in Correcting the Hormonal Imbalances that Underlie PCOS.
They support the resolution of acne, the reversal of male-pattern hair growth and hair loss, success with weight loss diets, menstrual regularity, and fertility.
They are supplements for both women and their male partners seeking to become pregnant. People who want to become parents need inositol.
And as it has been shown here, the combination of myo-inositol and D-Chiro inositol is one of the best natural PCOS support options.