Dear Ricky,
Dear Shirley,
Dear ChaChaHeels,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

Happy New Year to everyone!

with the start of the new year I am starting a new thread.

Christmas was great, the holiday was relaxing and I was lazy, enjoying my free time. We travelled some and visited relatives. Now everyday life has us back in its claws.

This is my current status:

I am still very much overweight, but I do not weigh myself anymore since April last year when I started working out at a gym on a more or less regular basis. Over Christmas my pants have grown a lot tighter, so my first aim is to make them fit comfortably again. My next aim is to shrink out of the pants and to finally fit in my goal pants (a very old pair of jeans in size 44). In fact, this is my very big aim for this year. When I started posting here years ago I wore size 54. So I did reduce my weight some and managed to keep the lost weight off. (I consider the little gain over the Christmas season to be fairly normal and nothing to worry about. I did not work out and enjoyed foods that I tried to avoid during the year. It is my own fault and now I have to deal with the consequence of my behavior.)

I have PCOS and I am Insulin resistant. The two things that are the most difficult on me (apart from the weight) are the hirsutism in my face and the irregular periods. The hirsutism because it looks bad and the irregular periods because I am terrified of the thought of possibly being pregnant – I do not want any children. I am seriously considering sterilisation but have not seen the doctor to talk about it, yet. So far I have been collecting information on the matter.
The periods were much more regular during the past two years as compared to the years before when I only had two to four periods each year, though.

Statistics:

Month of period/ appearance after x days/days delayed

2002: 10 periods
January/ 42/ 14
March/ 48/ 20
April/ 39/ 11
May/ 35/ 7
June/ 44/ 16
August/ 34/ 6
September/ 32/ 4
October/ 33/ 5
November/ 43/ 15
December/ 31/ 3

2003: 10 periods

Date/ Month/after x days/ days delayed
07.01.03/ January/ 28/ 0
16.02.03/ February/ 40/ 13
23.03.03/ March/ 35/ 7
29.04.03/ April/ 38/ 10
08.06.03/ June/ 41/ 13
21.07.03/ July/ 43/ 15
14.09.03/ September – only minimal traces of blood appeared
14.10.03/ October/ (85)/ (56)
17.11.03/ November/ 35/ 7
22.12.03/ December/ 35/ 7

I read many books on low-carb diets and am working hard to follow a low-carb diet as faithfully as possible. The most recent book I read was "Syndrome X".

From advice here on the forum and also from all the books I learned about supplements and I am taking the following supplements on a regular basis:

Alphabetic
Alpha-Lipoic Acid
Chromium Picolinate
Vitamin C
Zink
Vitamin E
Silymarin
CoQ10

Fish-Oil
Spirulina (irregularly)
ground flax seed (irregularly)

Because of the irregular periods and the hirsutism I am taking:

Saw Palmetto
Agnus Castus Tincture (when I am not menstruating)
Evening Primrose Oil (irregularly)

These are the Homeopathic Medications that I took since I started posting here:

Homeopathic medication/ Date
Thuja C 200/ July 13. 2001
Thuja C 200/ December 2. 2001
Thuja M 1/ March 6. 2002
Silicea/ July 3. 2002
Silicea/ July 4. 2002
Sepia C 200/ July 15. 2002
Nux vomica M1/ October 27. 2002
Nux vomica C 30 / December 22. 2002
Viburnum tincture/ January 15. 2003
Viburnum tincture/ January 16. 2003
Pulsatilla M1/ March 14. 2003
1st Dose Agnus Castus/ May 7. 2003
Thuja M 1/ May 14. 2003
Cantharis, Nat. mur. C 30/ June 17. 2003
Silicea C 30/ June 20. - 26.2003
Staphisagria C 200/ October 19. 2003 (evening)
Staphisagria C 200/ October 20. 2003 (morning and evening)


A minor physical problem (but still embarrassing) I have is dandruff.

Recently I had warts diagnosed on my feet as described at the end of last years' thread.

This morning I discovered a small open abscess in the fold under my left breast. (Abscesses were a huge problem for me for many years, but the situation has very much improved. They appear much less often and with much less pain. The acute one did not hurt at all, I discovered it only this morning and it was already emitting the infected liquid without any pain.)

Every once in a while I suffer from aphtaes in my mouth. I do nothing against them, they come and go without any treatment.

Emotionally I have mixed feelings, most of all because of my challenging job situation. Overall, however, I would say I am fairly balanced at present.

I hope I managed to give a summary of my case.

Now I will copy some recent information from my old thread to keep it available, so that maybe we can work from there (?)

ChaChaHeels wrote:
"Sorry for jumping in here, in midstream...I just caught this discussion on warts, and though Bettina seems sure that warts never appeared before on the skin surfaces, I'm sure warts and wart-like formations are part and parcel of her illness!

After all, Bettina came to us with PCOS...polyCYSTIC ovarian syndrome. Cystic formations on the inside are, in my opinion, analagous to wart or cyst formations on the outside. Could it be that these wart appearances on the feet, for the first time, might be a progression of the internal ailment out of the body?

Just a thought."

Ricky wrote:
"Cha Cha heels . I love your explanation of the warts appearing on the outside. I wonder!!"

For all the improvements that I could accomplish during the past years and that were only possible due to your generous and knowledgeable and so very patient help I am indescribably grateful. Your help has improved my life tremendously and I still have not forgotten how awful and hopeless I felt when I turned to you. I am very happy that I may be here and that you always have an open ear (more an open eye) for me and my problems. I cannot say "Thank You" often enough!

Compared to other people I am very well off and lucky, I know that. Still I would very much like to further improve my health situation with the help of diet and Homeopathy.

Bettina

[ 10. January 2004, 21:20: Message edited by: Bettina ]

Well, I think its quite clear you've come a long, long way in terms of improvements. I want to congratulate you on all your hard work and determination regarding your weight loss--taking off so much weight and keeping it off has to have some impact on your insulin reactivity, and I truly hope you'll continue to see improvements there.

It's a long process when the disease process itself has been years in the development. It's always so good to check in on your thread, Bettina, and see how well you are doing and how much more aware of your strengths and your motives you've become. I think I can see an enrichment in your life just from these changes alone. I encourage you in your terrific efforts.

__________________
Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.<br />C.G.Jung

Happy New Year and may all your wishes come true!!

Your attitude about the Christmas weight gain which we are all going through(I have been to the gym 4 times this week and my weight hasn't changed!!)is a very healthy one and I can't see you being so relaxed about it last year, so well done.

Also when I think what the abcesses under your breast used to be like we can definitely see an improvement here.

Am so pleased that you feel "fairly balanced" emotionally at the moment. This is all good stuff.

All the best
R

__________________
RSHom - Registered Homeopath

Hi Bettina,
It's good to hear from you. I echo Ricky's sentiments. You sound so much better than last year at this time.

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Shirley Reischman