The Hemp Connection [Search results for psychology] 

From inCYSTER Karen Siegel…contact information for her Houston clinic is listed below.

"Yes. Another reason to keep encouraging the fish oil supplementation."

Public release date: 16-Dec-2009

Contact: Public Affairs Office
public.affairs@apa.org
202-336-5700 202-336-5700
American Psychological Association

New study links DHA type of omega-3 to better nervous-system function
Deficiencies may factor into mental illnesses
WASHINGTON — The omega-3 essential fatty acids commonly found in fatty fish and algae help animals avoid sensory overload, according to research published by the American Psychological Association. The finding connects low omega-3s to the information-processing problems found in people with schizophrenia; bipolar, obsessive-compulsive, and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorders; Huntington's disease; and other afflictions of the nervous system.

The study, reported in the journal Behavioral Neuroscience, provides more evidence that fish is brain food. The key finding was that two omega-3 fatty acids – docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) – appear to be most useful in the nervous system, maybe by maintaining nerve-cell membranes.

"It is an uphill battle now to reverse the message that 'fats are bad,' and to increase omega-3 fats in our diet," said Norman Salem Jr., PhD, who led this study at the Laboratory of Membrane Biochemistry and Biophysics at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.

The body cannot make these essential nutrients from scratch. It gets them by metabolizing their precursor, α-linolenic acid (LNA), or from foods or dietary supplements with DHA and EPA in a readily usable form."Humans can convert less than one percent of the precursor into DHA, making DHA an essential nutrient in the human diet," added Irina Fedorova, PhD, one of the paper's co-authors. EPA is already known for its anti-inflammatory and cardiovascular effects, but DHA makes up more than 90 percent of the omega-3s in the brain (which has no EPA), retina and nervous system in general.

In the study, the researchers fed four different diets with no or varying types and amounts of omega-3s to four groups of pregnant mice and then their offspring. They measured how the offspring, once grown, responded to a classic test of nervous-system function in which healthy animals are exposed to a sudden loud noise. Normally, animals flinch. However, when they hear a softer tone in advance, they flinch much less. It appears that normal nervous systems use that gentle warning to prepare instinctively for future stimuli, an adaptive process called sensorimotor gating.

Only the mice raised on DHA and EPA, but not their precursor of LNA, showed normal, adaptive sensorimotor gating by responding in a significantly calmer way to the loud noises that followed soft tones. The mice in all other groups, when warned, were startled nearly as much by the loud sound. When DHA was deficient, the nervous system most obviously did not downshift. That resulted in an abnormal state that could leave animals perpetually startled and easily overwhelmed by sensory stimuli.

The authors concluded that not enough DHA in the diet may reduce the ability to handle sensory input."It only takes a small decrement in brain DHA to produce losses in brain function," said Salem.

In humans, weak sensorimotor gating is a hallmark of many nervous-system disorders such as schizophrenia or ADHD. Given mounting evidence of the role omega-3s play in the nervous system, there is intense interest in their therapeutic potential, perhaps as a supplement to medicines. For example, people with schizophrenia have lower levels of essential fatty acids, possibly from a genetic variation that results in poor metabolism of these nutrients.

More broadly, the typical American diet is much lower in all types of omega-3 than in omega-6 essential fatty acids, according to Salem. High intake of omega-6, or linoleic acid, reduces the body's ability to incorporate omega-3s. As a result,"we have the double whammy of low omega-3 intake and high omega-6 intake," he said.

###
Article:"Deficit in Prepulse Inhibition in Mice Caused by Dietary n-3 Fatty Acid Deficiency"; Irina Fedorova, PhD, Laboratory of Membrane Biochemistry and Biophysics, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, National Institutes of Health; Anita R. Alvheim, PhD candidate, Laboratory of Membrane Biochemistry and Biophysics, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, National Institutes of Health, and National Institute of Nutrition and Seafood Research, Bergen, Norway; and Nahed Hussein, PhD and Norman Salem Jr., PhD, Laboratory of Membrane Biochemistry and Biophysics, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, National Institutes of Health; Behavioral Neuroscience, Vol. 123, No. 6.

(Full text of the article is available from the APA Public Affairs Office)

Norman Salem Jr. can be reached at nsalem@martek.com or at (443) 542-2370 (443) 542-2370. He was with the National Institutes of Health until 2008, when he became the chief scientific officer and vice president of Martek Biosciences Corp. in Columbia, Md., an ingredient supplier of DHA. He states that he and his co-authors conducted this research while with the NIH.

The American Psychological Association, in Washington, D.C., is the largest scientific and professional organization representing psychology in the United States and is the world's largest association of psychologists. APA's membership includes more than 150,000 researchers, educators, clinicians, consultants and students. Through its divisions in 54 subfields of psychology and affiliations with 60 state, territorial and Canadian provincial associations, APA works to advance psychology as a science, as a profession and as a means of promoting health, education and human welfare.
--
Karen Siegel, MPH, MS, RD, LD, LAc
Acupuncture & Nutrition Clinic
9660 Hillcroft, Suite 202
Houston, TX 77096
713/721-7755 713/721-7755
www.AcupunctureandNutritionClinic.com
or
www.Karensclinic.com

We've been blessed in a wonderful way!

inCYST friend Rebekah Rawlins Rocheleau is working on graduate studies in psychology and has decided to devote her project to a PCOS-related issue. She asked if I'd be involved in reading the project and providing feedback so I guess you can say we've embarked on our very first research endeavor.

So many thanks to Rebekah for helping us get established as a center devoted to PCOS research.

Rebekah's project will be looking at factors that motivate and demotivate women with PCOS when it comes to taking action and changing behavior.

I'm especially excited about this focus because I'm convinced that one of the biggest barriers to women with PCOS pursuing health is not that there is not information available for them to capitalize on. Rather it is about the reasons why they do not utilize this information on a regular basis in order to better their situation and their fate.

We'll be sure to keep you posted!

Thanks again, Rebekah! So excited to be involved!

If you'd like some help keeping those resolutions, and making 2010 a year of positive change, check out some of the counseling opportunities available from some of our inCYSTers!

Ann Arbor, Michigan
Terrie Holewinski (University of Michigan Medical Center) will be offering a"Gaining Control of PCOS" workshop on January 18th and 25th, as well as February 15th and 22nd, March 23rd and 30th, April 19th and 26th. The cost is $138 dollars for two 1 1/2 hour group sessions and a 1/2 hour individual dietitian consultation.

For more information women call 734-998-5679
Austin, Texas
Christine Marquette has two offers: (1) Through the end of January she is offering a 10% discount for all"new" clients on any of her services (packages and individual appointments), (2) she is offering Inherent Technology's DNA kit for weight management for $110 while supplies last. You can read more about the kit at http://www.inherenthealth.com/our-tests/weight-management.aspx

West Los Angeles, California
Gretchen Kubacky, Psy D (psychology) is offering a free in-person half hour consultation with prospective clients to determine if we're a good fit.

Phoenix, Arizona
Monika Woolsey (me) is offering a 10% discount on any consultation scheduled before the end of the month.

I thought that while Amber is blogging her journey, I'd follow up with posts explaining my part of the discussion.

Regarding the"hubs" story. This is not at all uncommon and I'm so glad Amber shared that changing her own behaviors is going to involve relationship change as well. When you decide to do ANYTHING differently in your life, you create change for others. Understanding the psychology of social change is important for long term success in change of any kind, if you plan to maintain it.

My favorite analogy for any kind of social system, be it a family, work environment, club, church…whatever, is that it is exactly like a pile of pick up sticks. Remember that game? The goal is to gradually remove a stick from a pile without disrupting the structural integrity of the pile.

Before you decided to make changes on behalf of your PCOS, you were a pick up stick in one, two, maybe several different piles. Your attitudes, your routines, and your choices…all supported the structure of those piles of sticks. When you decided to make changes…in essence, you pulled yourself out of the pile, which rendered the structure of that pile a lot more fragile and susceptible to collapse.

The remaining"sticks" in the pile, when you decide to no longer be part of the support, have two choices: (1) they can shift to create a new structure of support, (2) they can pull you back in to your original position to support the old way of doing things.

The knee-jerk reaction in a system where one but not all"sticks" have identified a need to change…is number 2. It's the quickest way to reduce awareness of the nonproductive nature of the system. Get the changer to stop changing, just do things the comfortable way, and we can all live in peace, right?

Bottom line, many of us are in comfort zones where we don't really think too much about what we're doing. Because if we did, how it would feel to be aware of our choices and taking responsibility for them…would totally suck.

(I see it all the time on our Facebook page, anytime I post a statement likely to create awareness that part of the dilemma of PCOS may be due to unproductive personal choices, we lose followers. So why do I keep at it? Because it's at the point of the discomfort of awareness that opportunity for true change is most likely to occur. I fail our fans if I only tell them what they want to hear just to keep our numbers high.)

How many of you allow yourself to be pulled back in to an unhealthy system, just to keep the peace?

Another point of awareness when someone in a system decides to make a change, is that the person who has been identified as the"problem" needing to be"fixed", is no longer allowing that kind of finger pointing to happen. Awareness is created that it takes a village to create, and maintain, unproductive living choices. Systems like this often have one identified person on who all of the problems within the system are channeled into one point of focus. It's so much easier for a family or a group of friends to look at, analyze,"help" a person who is struggling with their weight, than it is to look at some of the less concrete problems with the system.

How many of you allow your weight to be the focus of family conversations?

I've been doing this work for 30 years. It's almost a given part of the process. Someone decides to make changes…they get a"diet" from me, they start to follow it and see success…and then they disappear from my office. If I track them down and chat about where they've been, it almost invariably has to do with not having the energy to push back against the spouse who's bringing home ice cream, the family member who makes a fuss when seconds are politely declined, the friends who are not willing/able to create social activities based on interests other than food.

If your choice is to be alone and healthy…or amongst loved ones and living with PCOS, I can, for the most part, understand, why many of you have trouble changing.

Hang in there. Look at what Amber said. The changes were resisted at first, but hubs eventually came on board and is actually enjoying the process.

Just because the old pile of pick up sticks worked, doesn't mean it was the best way to pile the sticks. I mean, if staying in that pile means you increase the risk of collapsing it altogether because your mortality pulls you out of the pile…for good…in a way that you can no longer be a part whatsoever…

Research shows that people who hang with healthy people are healthier themselves. Maybe the reason the old pile of pickup sticks needs to collapse is so you can create a new one with new players. There's never going to be room for it if you hang on to the old one.

…I think it's worth it to negotiate TV eating, exercising, all the things you need to do for your family as well as you, to keep your system alive and healthy for many years to come.

I was just on a website for a local naturopathic physician who specializes in women's health and reproduction. She is well known in our area for her success with challenging conception situations. I love to refer to this particular naturopath because she is so skilled and compassionate.

I'm pasting some excerpts from her testimonials page.

"It was hard to hear from the MD's that I would not have a baby unless it was in-vitro…"

"I was told I was facing early menopause and may need an egg donor to conceive a child. When faced with paying more than $14,000 out of pocket per IVF attempt, which offered a 20% success rate and no guarantees, enough was enough."

"My reproductive endocrinologist told me I had little or no chance of conceiving a child. He told me if I wanted to try to conceive with my eggs, we should do IVF immediately, even though we had less than 10% chance of success."

These are all women who became pregnant when they decided to not listen to that advice and seek help elsewhere.

I hear these stories too. Sometimes I have a very hard time with the reproductive industry, despite the miracles they've created, because they often seem to prey on the desperation that can develop when a baby isn't easily created. They can make you feel like the problem is that something is wrong with YOU.

In many cases, the real problem to the doctor is that you're not giving him/her your money quickly enough!

What other service would you be willing to spend so much money for with so little guarantee of success?

I am so excited about what inCYST is learning and the success stories we've been able to be a part of. But what I'm still trying to understand is the psychology of the infertile woman. I offer classes for $15 apiece. That's about the cost of a copayment. That's a smoking deal compared to an in vitro procedure. Sometimes I even do them free of charge. But women I invite, often politely tell me, thanks but no thanks, I've made an appointment with my fertility doctor. I'll try that first.

One woman recently shared that even though she paid for the class and didn't show, she decided to go through in vitro. She ended up having to quit her job, because she could not manage the stress of the treatment along with her work responsibilities. She's pregnant, now, which is the good news. But she's financially challenged, to the point where she's asking me for free help. I'm not sure if that is success or not? And at that point, whose responsibility it should be that a $15 resource has become too expensive?

If you have two choices for earning money, one being interest in a bank account and the other being money won playing blackjack in Las Vegas…and you politely tell the banker thanks but no thanks, I'll bring you my Vegas winnings and I'll earn interest on that…and you lose your shirt in Vegas…do you think the bank is going to give you money to put in a savings account? Probably not. You have to make good decisions in advance.

It seems to me that the most important time a nutritional tuneup should be considered is precisely WHEN you've decided to invest in IVF. If it were me, I'd want to be absolutely sure that the environment I am giving my physician to work with when being paid to help me, is the healthiest, most balanced, most receptive to successful conception and pregnancy. What better preparation for success could you offer your reproductive system than nutritional health?

I know there is a huge difference between what you'll get in an inCYST consultation vs. what a physician provides. We're definitely going to ask you to make some changes. We're here to support, to encourage, and to point you to ways to make the new changes livable. Unlike a physician's visit, where most of the hard work is done by the doctor, we will ask YOU to do some things. We don't believe anything is wrong with you. We believe that life on planet Earth has its stresses, but if you learn how to manage them, hormones cooperate. Very simple.

We're not an"either-or" kind of choice, at all. We are not the only answer out there, and we are not ever going to eliminate the reproductive endocrinology industry. In fact, I think there are a lot of opportunities, when working together, for us to help increase some of those dismal percentages I quoted so the doctors have higher success rates as well!

Just a note, a friend just e-mailed me to tell me that this very topic was featured on the Today Show today. I Googled the website for the Fertile Soul, the program featured in their segment. Even their fees are high--as much as $12,500 for a couple to attend. I want to reassure anyone coming to this blog looking for help, I want to help people, and I do need to pay my bills, too, but our program is not about depleting anyone financially. Our one day couples spa program is only $350.

It just seems to me like when you have a choice between paying several hundred dollars and several thousand dollars, and you're seeing indications that the least expensive option may actually work, that you'd start low and work up the pay scale, if and only if needed.

I'd love it if this post inspires you to think differently. Sometimes medicine works and sometimes it creates miracles. But sometimes medicine has its limits. Why not try an inCYST provider or class or retreat and see if it gets you going in the right direction?

Three different clients in the last two weeks have expressed the same inspiration independently of each other, so I figured I'd let them inspire me on this blog topic.

Each of these women expressed that once they stopped mentally fighting with themselves over their diagnosis, stopped focusing on how badly they're feeling, and started prioritizing their self-care, they began to lose weight and feel better.

Up until the point that they had this moment of inspiration, they were fighting against the disease, feeling sad and angry because of the diagnosis, and much of the time, interfering with their own potential to succeed at feeling better.

Here's the deal.

1. Your PCOS is not going to go away. You can fight with it for the rest of your life. You can draft an encyclopedia's worth of reasons why you shouldn't have to be asked to make different food choices, get out and walk on your lunch break, go to bed a little earlier, set boundaries with your husband. You can even complain about the dozen doctors who don't get it. But the whole time, you'll be stuck in a body that is even more tired, frustrated, and depressed than it already is. Unfortunately, you can't just go jump into a newer, upgraded model. The model you have to learn to work with…is the one that you were given.

2. Accepting that you have PCOS is ABSOLUTELY NOT accepting defeat. I hear in a lot of comments that many of you feel that by accepting your diagnosis, you're failing, that somehow being stubborn and fighting back, and demanding more money be devoted to research and the development of a cure…is the most productive path you can take. Have you considered the psychology of this argument? That until a cure is found, you've committed yourself to not taking care of yourself and unloading choices that make it even harder for you to function normally and enjoy TODAY? It seems to me that now that you've discovered you have PCOS, you have an extra special reason to be treating yourself a little more proactively, so that if and when that day of a cure does arrive, your body is in the absolute best condition it can be in, ready to respond to this new treatment.

Acceptance is actually a stage in the grieving process. If you've ever lost a loved one, you likely know how sometimes you fight to keep the memory of that loved one in your presence out of fear that if you stop fighting, stop feeling sad, stop wrapping your day around the sad thoughts, you've let go and lost the person forever. It's not really that way. When you accept the loss, you just put them in a place in your heart and spirit where they still have your love, but you have room for new and different experiences that they do not share with you.

Accepting that you have PCOS is a lot like learning that if you have curly hair, you need a different kind of hair conditioner than someone with straight hair. Now that you know how your body works, what makes it feel badly, what helps it to feel better, you have an opportunity to make choices that drive you more often toward feeling better.

You can still be a PCOS advocate, you can still fight for more and better research, you can still research your disease. Only you're feeling a whole lot more energetic in the process.

Oh, by the way, I'm willling to bet…even if a cure is found, it's not going to be any kind of vaccination that allows you to eat Fritos and Twinkies ad lib without consequence. You're still going to have to prioritize self-care in order to see progress. Just sayin': )

I encourage you to think about whether or not fighting against yourself and pushing away all of the possible choices that could help you to feel better isn't part of why you're not feeling better?

It's ok to accept. A diagnosis. Help. Support.

Thanks for coming and using this blog as a part of your personal PCOS acceptance plan.

Hello everyone, we have so many new people coming to us through Twitter and Facebook, asking what our diet and exercise recommendations are, and then when they come, they are faced with a tremendous task of plowing through hundreds of blog posts I promise I will better organize in 2012…I thought I would summarize what we stand for and what we don't stand for.

If you ever hear differently from anyone in our network, I do need to know. The goal of building a network is to know what our non-negotiables are that we all stand for, and then let each individual network member use their creative talents to make it happen in your life.

Here goes.

1. We do not believe in a one-size-fits-all diet, exercise, or lifestyle prescription for PCOS. That means that while some of you may learn that you are gluten intolerant, we do not recommend that all women with PCOS refrain from eating gluten. While some of you may benefit from running, others may find that another form of activity is going to work better. We believe in creating a set of recommendations that are personally relevant to your own situation, biochemistry, likes, and dislikes. We are not out to create an army of Stepford cysters!

2. We do not advocate for any one type of diet. We choose to honor your own personal food religion, be it vegan, Paleo, low glycemic, raw…whatever…and assist you with understanding what choices you need to make that honor both your food religion and your biochemical nutritional needs. It's about how to be complete, not which is the best way to be complete. Only you know what works best for you.

3. Put another way, we do not advocate for eliminating large categories of foods (gluten-containing, dairy, meat, cooked) unless we see that there is a genuine, medically-indicated reason for doing so.

4. We believe that PCOS does not respond to extremes of any kind. Extreme calorie restriction, extreme exercise participation, extreme dependence on medication, extreme dependence on supplements. Managing your PCOS is entirely about balance in all of those departments. Our job is to show you how to achieve that balance.

5. We believe that nutrition and exercise can be as counterproductive to your health as not pursuing them. Overzealous dieting and overtraining are as harmful to your hormone balance as are overeating and not exercising. Anyone who tells you that you're simply not dieting hard enough or not exercising hard enough…has not taken the time to study what PCOS is about, and they are running the risk of encouraging you to layer yet another inflammatory condition on top of the tangled hormone web that is already in place. We will never endorse that approach.

6. Some things we do know: Women with PCOS tend to be vitamin D deficient, they tend to have an imbalance in dietary omega-6's and omega-3's, and they often have food sensitivities. But those are factors that can be clinically tested. Your physician can do the vitamin D testing. The omega-3 balance is a home-administered test we can set you up with at inCYST. Food sensitivities can be tested as well, through one of the many inCYSTers who is also LEAP-certified.

7. We believe that PCOS is a generalized inflammatory syndrome. But each woman's core source of inflammation is completely unique and different than every other woman's. We encourage that you invest in a comprehensive consultation to help determine what factors are most important for you. If you try to follow every piece of advice that every person on the Internet tries to give you…you're going to be able to follow it for about 3 days before you run out of money, time, and energy. We're here to help you sort through the information and decide which is relevant to your personal situation.

8. We believe that the main issue is not that there is not information to help your case, but that for whatever reason, you've given up on believing that it can work for you. We're committed, through our research institute, to understanding the physiology and psychology of that resignation so we can work to break through it and motivate you to try things that actually work. (We've knocked a lot of women up! I promise!)

I know there's no secret recipe here, but that is because everyone's recipe is different. Just like my mother's potato salad has bacon and mayonnaise in it, and I adjust mine to include turkey bacon and Greek yogurt…you each are going to have your own recipe for success. To settle for a blanket recommendation, is to accept that you are not unique and special. We simply do not believe that.

Hope this helps, and I hope you take advantage of the incredible knowledge and expertise of the experts who have taken the time to learn as much as they can about PCOS so they can help you chart your course through the haze and maze.

I'm firming up the schedule for the next few weeks on our Blogtalk Radio Show,"Healthy Planet, Healthy Hormones". The primary topics will always be to the right for easy reference if you forget. If you can't attend live, the recordings will always be in our archives, and you can listen at your leisure. All shows are on Monday mornings at 9 am Pacific time.

What's Cookin' at Green Mountain? is our newest regular feature. We'll check in each week with the fabulous chefs at the resort which hosts a twice-a-year PCOS event. They're always up to something delicious!

Designer, community market organier, and Central Slope owner Michael Keele has great info in store for his half of the segment. Stay tuned for details!

September 13--Living Lean With PCOS
One of the most common search terms for our blog is"lean pcos". So we're well aware that you lean women with this disorder need more information and support. We'll be talking to actress and singer Haviland Stillwell about her experience with this situation. Haviland isn't one to let a little thing like chronic disease stop her from anything…and I think you'll be inspired by her story. (If you are in the NYC area, Haviland has an album release party on September 12. Click on her link for more information.)

September 20--Overcoming Fish Phobia
No matter how much we encourage you to eat fish, we still hear hesitation in your voices. Chef Nancy Banner of The Holistic Kitchen will be chatting with us and sharing some easy ways to become more fish confident.

September 27--In the Mood to Be Well
Dr. Gretchen Kubacky is in the house! You all love her practical and humorous insights into hormones, mood, and behavior, and we'll be checking in to see what's new in the world of psychology.

Do you have an idea for a program? Shoot it our way for consideration!

If you're a fan of Gretchen Kubacky, PsyD, you know she's educational and great listening. If you're not, here's your opportunity to change that!

Dr. Gretchen's upcoming webinar contents and registration information include:
--screening clients for PCOS and other health and endocrine disorders
--physical and psychological presentations of PCOS
--common comorbidities
--how PCOS-prevalent hormones affect the brain and the development of mood disorders
--why coordination of care is so critical
--preferred treatment methods
--what to expect during the course of treatment
--psychotherapist self-care
--additional resources

In addition to her psychology training, Gretchen lives with both PCOS and diabetes; her first hand experience helps bring a compassionate perspective to this challenging and often overlooked aspect of PCOS.

You may listen to this webinar separately, or register for the entire PCOS professional training. Information can be found either on our Facebook page, or at www.afterthediet.com/AftertheDietWorkshop.htm.

Nonprofessionals are more than welcome to participate!

You’ve no doubt noticed the onslaught of pharmaceutical company sponsored advertising flooding television commercials and magazine inserts. You can hardly glance at the media without hearing about side effects such as 36-hour erections (okay, we don't have to worry about that one!), loose, oily stools, nausea, cramping, bouts of mania, and unexplained bleeding. These same ads proclaim the medication’s benefits even more loudly – freedom from migraine headaches, depression, obesity, and erectile dysfunction. The message seems to be that there’s a pill to fix anything that ails you. Sometimes it seems like every kid you meet is on ADHD medication, and half your friends are on some form of anti-depressant – and it’s true that these medications are prescribed with far too much ease and far too little deep consideration. Yet on the other side, there’s a backlash from those who claim that the body is a self-regulating mechanism; that diet, supplements, and yoga can cure anything up to and including cancer; and that all drugs (prescription medications) are poisons that disrupt the system.

As a psychologist treating primarily patients who are dealing with a chronic or acute illness or medical condition, particularly PCOS and other endocrine disorders, my interest in pharmaceuticals relates to both the psychotropics (medications used to treat mental conditions) as well as the medications prescribed by my patient’s physicians to address the physical symptoms of their conditions. Very few of us actually want to be on medication, but there’s a special stigma still associated with the medications we use to treat our brains. People report feeling weak, broken, damaged, crazy, and worse when it’s suggested that psychotropic medication might be helpful in addressing their depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, or other condition. Consequently, they often refuse to try the very medication that provides them with the support they need so that they can really achieve something meaningful in their psychotherapy.

The truth is that the mind and body are inseparable, and many mental disorders have a biological base – there is literally a chemical imbalance in the brain, and it can be helped with medication. Just like insulin helps the diabetic, or synthetic thyroid replaces thyroid hormone for someone with hypothyroidism, medications that enhance neurotransmitter functioning can fill in the gaps in brain functioning. Non-pharmaceutical approaches such as nutrition, supplements, and mindfulness meditation practices can be useful, but are often not inadequate, or work too slowly. They require dedication and persistence to work, and many patients suffering from a period of depression or facing significant stressors may not have enough time to implement these methods. Sometimes the"medication" you need to consider is something non-pharmaceutical — Chinese herbs, Sam-E, or St. John's Wort, for example.

My perspective is that medication can serve as a support for the brain while you’re learning better coping skills, allowing the brain to rebalance, and getting relief from your worst symptoms. Yet we continue to demonize Big Pharma as money-grubbing, disrespectful of natural processes, and potentially harmful when it is true that even natural substances can be harmful or fatal – to the patient who is allergic to peanuts, a taste of peanut butter may be far more harmful than a large dose of a medication, and in fact, it’s medication that may save that person’s life. For me personally, medication is always a last resort (unless I've got a serious infection, or acute pain, in which case, I say"bring on the meds — and pronto!"). If my clients are stable enough, I also support their trying other things first. But I feel like Big Pharma's part of my tool box — there when you need it, and I'm quite grateful for it when it lifts someone out of a long-term depression, alleviates suicidality, or decreases life-disrupting levels of anxiety.

Similarly, with pain, the old way of thinking is that you should suck it up, suffer, power through – anything but take painkillers. As it turns out, your body heals faster, your anxiety is lower, and there’s a lower incidence of depression when patients take painkillers as prescribed. For a limited time and a specific use, doesn’t it seem reasonable to use every tool at your disposal? I want my patients to feel better sooner rather than later, so we often have discussions about their ideas about taking medication, whether it’s for a medical or psychological condition. If you automatically reject the idea of medication, especially the psychotropic medications, I invite you to examine your attitudes to see if they’re outdated, impractical, self-destructive, or just flat-out wrong. As always, I advocate taking a proactive stance as a patient, whether that’s in your doctor’s office or the psychotherapist’s consultation room. Perhaps you’ll find that the enemy of wellness lies more within your own mind than in the face of Big Pharma.

Gretchen Kubacky, Psy.D. is a Health Psychologist in West Los Angeles, a member of the inCYST Network, and a frequent speaker and author on issues related to health psychology, women's health, PCOS, and other endocrine disorders. If you have questions for Dr. Gretchen, have a topic you'd like to suggest, or would like to learn more about her practice, please visit her website at www.drhousemd.com.

Several years ago, I watched an interesting interview with a psychologist, who talked about the personalities of the people who survived being in the World Trade Center on September 11. He said that in a stressful situation, people tend to do one of three things.

1. They act now and think later.

2. They hesitate, look around at what others are doing, and eventually come up with a course of action.

3. They freeze and do nothing.

Most of the people who survived September 11 were in the first category. Based on the phone recordings and interviews with survivors, this psychologist concluded that about half of those in category 2 survived. We all know what happened to those in category three.

I have seen this exact psychology in action this week, with the post about the new myoinositol supplement, Pregnitude.

I received quite a few emails from"1ers", those who ordered the supplement or scheduled an appointment with their physicians to discuss how it could fit into their treatment plan.

I received even more emails and comments from"2ers" who did not take the time to click through to the article with all the details, instead asked a lot of questions even though they already had the answers. Many wanted me to reassure them that if they tried this…it was going to work. I didn't get the vibe that many of these women took the initiative to make the appointment or the purchase.

And even though I didn't hear from the"3ers", I could see their inaction in the fact that the majority of the women who received the announcement did not click through to learn more.

Late yesterday my cousin sent me the photo posted above. It really expresses my sentiments. You know I want to help you. I want very, very much to help you.

I just can't leave that burning building for you.

Won't you at least consider upgrading from a 3 to a 2? I bet if you read that information you might find something useful and helpful.

We know that about 10% of women have PCOS (recently, some sources say 20% of women). About 20% of women also have irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), which is characterized by abdominal pain or cramping; a bloated feeling; gas (flatulence – aka, farting); diarrhea or constipation — sometimes even alternating bouts of constipation and diarrhea; and mucus in the stool. But a recent study indicates that about 42% of women with PCOS also have IBS – more than twice as many of the women who don’t have PCOS. As if that’s not enough, gastrointestinal irregularities can be caused by:

• Menstruation (those hormones surging will slam your gut, as well as your mood);
• Travel (unusual schedules, foods, or water supply);
• Stress and anxiety (ever have to go running for the toilet right before a big test, or a job interview?);
• Too much alcohol or caffeine;
• Side effect of medications, particularly metformin when it’s first introduced. Many women also report bowel disruption from birth control pills;
• Irregular eating habits – oddly spaced meals, excessive carbs, which can be constipating (remember the BRAT diet – bananas, rice, applesauce, and toast – for diarrhea);
• Wheat, dairy, soy, or other food sensitivity or allergies; and
• Undiagnosed celiac disease (inability to tolerate the gluten most commonly found in wheat).

In other words, if you’ve got PCOS, there’s an excellent chance you also struggle at least intermittently with some sort of gastrointestinal distress. The effects can range from mildly embarrassing and uncomfortable (a little gas, some cramps) to wildly humiliating and awkward, up to and including bowel accidents while out in public, urgency that brings your condition to the attention of friends or family members, acute pain from chronic cramping, and fear of having an undiagnosed serious illness. These problems can cause or contribute to social anxiety and depression.

From a health psychology perspective, there are many things that can be helpful in managing gastrointestinal distress. Chief among them:

• Improved diet (consult with your doctor or dietician about your specific condition), or shifting the content/balance of your diet – this may also help with mood;
• Medications, extra fiber, or supplements to help regulate the bowels (again, consult with your doctor or dietician about what’s best for you specifically);
• Daily meditation, or other stress reduction techniques, such as yoga or Tai Chi;
• Talk therapy to reduce the stress and anxiety that triggers an attack of IBS; and
• Hypnotherapy is also recognized as an important treatment for IBS.

While these symptoms may be embarrassing, and even seem shameful, it’s important to know that you don’t have to suffer from them. They are not normal and, while they may not be entirely curable, there are many effective ways of managing or reducing them to a point where you’re no longer self-conscious about going out of the house. Treatments usually result in fairly quick improvements, so there’s no reason not to try implementing some changes. Here’s to your healthy gut!

Reference:

Dig Dis Sci 2010 Apr;55(4):1085-9. Epub 2009 Aug 21. Polycystic ovary syndrome is associated with an increased prevalence of irritable bowel syndrome. Mathur R, Ko A, Hwang LJ, Low K, Azziz R, Pimentel M. Source: Department of Obstetrics/Gynecology, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA, USA.

Gretchen Kubacky, Psy.D. is a Health Psychologist in private practice in West Los Angeles, California. She specializes in counseling women and couples who are coping with infertility, PCOS, and related endocrine disorders and chronic illnesses.

If you would like to learn more about Dr. HOUSE or her practice, or obtain referrals in the Los Angeles area, please visit her website at www.drhousemd.com, or e-mail her at Gretchen@drhousemd.com. You can also follow her on Twitter @askdrhousemd.

We're accumulating quite a team of exercise experts here, and I wanted to be sure you knew who you could go to for help with your own fitness program. It was when working on my master's degree in exercise physiology that I developed my own interest in hormones, so it's always been important to me to have great go-to people in this area for our fans.

Here they are!

Stacey Frattinger is a registered dietitian with two bachelor's degrees, one in psychology, the other in clinical dietetics. She is also a Certified Health Fitness Specialist. Stacey also lives with PCOS, and understands the struggles associated with nutrition and physical fitness that the diagnosis brings. If you are interested in working with Stacey (she is located in Reno, Nevada), visit her website for more information on the services offered.

Sally Hara, of Kirkland, Washington, is a registered dietitian, exercise physiologist, and certified diabetes educator. She is a contributing author to the American Dietetic Association’s 4th edition Sports Nutrition; A Guide for the Professionals Working with Active People, the official Sports Dietitian and Diabetes Educator to the type 1 diabetic athletes of the Sports and Diabetes Group NW, and the official nutrition coach for AdventX, an outdoor adventure fitness training company in Seattle. She will soon be doing a training webinar for inCYST on the topic of Sports Nutrition for PCOS. Personally, Sally enjoys endurance bicycling and has completed the Seattle to Portland bike ride 4 times (and counting) as well as several century rides. I opted for an action shot because as I write this, Sally is on a training ride, wth her local Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF), in the pouring rain, for the upcoming Tour de Tucson. Here is her website for more information about how to contact her.

Sarah Jones started out as inCYST's very first intern, has completed the inCYST training, and is our network's very first registered yoga teacher. She has been teaching the yoga component of our current workshop series at Metta Yoga. Sarah is currently completing her nutrition studies at Arizona State University. If you'd like to practice yoga with Sarah, please visit Meta Yoga's website for her current schedule. Sarah is helping me put together a special inCYST training for registered yoga instructors. Stay tuned!

Christine Marquette has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Dietetics with a major in Nutrition from the University of Texas and is also a registered dietitian and certified Health Fitness Specialist (HFS). Christine walks the walk (or should I say runs the run)! She is a practicing vegan and an avid runner, having completed over 6 marathons and dozens of 5Ks, 10Ks, half marathons, and other distance races; and is an assistant coach with Austin Fit marathon training program. She is also a sprint distance triathlete. Christine's practice is in Austin, Texas.

Me (Monika Woolsey) I have degrees in both nutrition and exercise physiology. I managed the exercise testing laboratory my final year of graduate school, and I've worked in fitness centers at Apple Computer and Stanford University. I've also consulted with Olympic and professional athetes. My interest in hormones got started when I researched menstrual cycle abnormalities in elite female figure skaters; that study was the foundation for my work with PCOS. I am an eclectic athlete, not necessarily competetive in any one sport, but I love to move! That wasn't always so, as I struggled with weight as a child and it wasn't until college that I realized I had athletic ability. My photo montage shows me on top of a 14,000 foot peak n Colorado, cross country skiing, finishing a half marathon training run, and getting my butt kicked by Craig in his bootcamp fundraiser. Looking forward to taking tennis lessons very soon! I practice in Phoenix, AZ and Santa Monica, CA, and can be contacted at monika at afterthediet dot com for consultations.

As you can see, our team has a breadth and depth of knowledge and experience with all kinds of exercise. Please take advantage!

There’s been a great deal of attention lately to the practice of “positive psychology,” which focuses on optimism, gratitude, and creating hopefulness. Some of us are optimists by nature, while some are pessimists. Either can be learned, and there are some advantages to each approach. Personally, I veer toward the optimistic side, which informs my clinical practice. Quite often, when people seek therapy, they are feeling hopeless, helpless, and not even remotely optimistic. They’re depressed, anxious, and out of sorts. If they’ve got PCOS, there’s a good chance that their moods are more easily affected by stress than those of other folks. They don’t know how to handle what’s going on in their lives effectively. The smallest stressors send them out of synch. If they are, by nature, the pessimistic type, they often feel validated in their suffering. They believe that they deserve to feel bad, that life isn’t fair, and that there’s very little that can be done to improve things. And yet, they show up. I see the act of showing up as an act of bravery, and the indicator that there is some hope to be found, even if it’s hidden away. What I look for is the tiniest hint – a mere pinprick of light in an otherwise bleak landscape – that indicates a positive potential lies inside my client. It may take some digging, and perhaps some persuading and negotiating, but if we can find just the tiniest thing to be positive or hopeful about, it is encouraging, and it’s something we can build on in their therapy. Sometimes I have to plant a few seeds and it takes a very long time for those seeds to germinate. In the therapy, I keep watering the seeds, fertilizing them, and cultivating the ground until it’s fertile enough to support their growth. Sometimes, the ground is weak, under-nourished, or even toxic from years of damaging abuse, violence, depression, and unhealthy relationships. That may mean that I need to hold hope for the client until she can hold it for herself. My relentless optimism, a double-edged sword (because sometimes I mainly see the good where there is a great deal of bad) is a tool here. Clients occasionally wonder, given what they present to me, how I could possibly find a bright spot in any of it. I’m not sure precisely how I do it, but I guess that it comes from having an intention of finding hope, and a keen eye for the openings. Years of practice tells me that it works. When you’re frustrated to the ends of the earth and back, and you really can’t believe that anything will ever change, and you’ve got a list of dark, negative things that you’re focusing on, you’ll continue to identify with the pessimistic aspects of yourself. But if you can find that one tiny seed, and focus on it every day, it will begin to grow. Your mood and attitude are like the sunshine that every garden plot needs. Remember though that darkness is a necessary part of the germination process. The sun doesn’t have to shine on a seedling all day long to make it do its thing. You don’t either. Gretchen Kubacky, Psy.D. is a Health Psychologist in private practice in West Los Angeles, California. She has completed the inCYST training. She specializes in counseling women and couples who are coping with infertility, PCOS, and related endocrine disorders and chronic illnesses. If you would like to learn more about Dr. HOUSE or her practice, or obtain referrals in the Los Angeles area, please visit her website at www.drhousemd.com, or e-mail her at AskDrHouseMD@gmail.com. You can also follow her on Twitter @askdrhousemd.

(Note from Monika: Dr. Gretchen will be offering counseling from our Santa Monica office. She has a few spaces left in her"pay what you can" introductory offer for Friday, September 16. If you're interested, email monika at afterthediet dot com for more information)

One of the purposes of the “Mental Health Monday” feature of this blog is to acquaint you with some of the psychological aspects of PCOS, and how mental health issues are impacted by the condition. There are also coping skills, insights and ideas about ways to help yourself, and education about how to create change.

You may have some vague symptoms that seem like something a therapist would know about, but you’re not really sure when or if it’s appropriate to have a consultation or session with me or some other health psychologist or therapist. My specialty, health psychology, focuses on medical conditions and how they impact our mental well-being.

PCOS causes or contributes to a variety of mood disorders, and can either mask or mimic some other physical conditions. It can be challenging to sort out which symptoms came first, and what your treatment priorities are. Here are some of the symptoms you may be experiencing that indicate a need for psychological evaluation and treatment, and that may be connected to your PCOS:

• Difficulty sleeping, or sleeping far too much
• Physical aches and pains
• Unexpected weight gain or weight loss
• Uncontrollable food cravings, especially for carbs
• Panic attacks, or anxiety attacks
• Feeling jittery all the time
• Mood swings
• Thoughts of suicide
• Constant irritability
• Trouble relating to other people
• Isolating yourself
• Pain issues that don’t seem to be connected to injury
• Feeling overwhelmed
• Difficulty coping with your diagnosis
• Having a new diagnosis
• Infertility issues
• A recent loss
• History of trauma, domestic violence, or other acute stressors
• Developing complications, such as diabetes

Additionally, you may want to receive education about PCOS and related mental health issues, identify a medical and psychological treatment team or plan, and work on developing coping skills and strategies for managing your PCOS. These are all things that health psychologists do, and that could be part of your reasons for consulting a health psychologist.

It can be scary to contemplate calling a psychologist, but at the same time, simply taking the first steps to get help may also result in improvement. Knowing that you’re doing something good for yourself, and that there ARE experts who can help, will often jump-start the healing process. You may be inspired to improve your self-care practices. You may also start practicing the self-care skills that you have, but haven’t been using often enough.

In a future “Mental Health Monday” post, I’ll address what actually happens in a therapy session, so you can learn more about what to expect, if you haven’t already experienced therapy.

Gretchen Kubacky, Psy.D. is a Health Psychologist in private practice in West Los Angeles, California. She specializes in counseling women and couples who are coping with infertility, PCOS, and related endocrine disorders and chronic illnesses.

If you would like to learn more about Dr. HOUSE or her practice, or obtain referrals in the Los Angeles area, please visit her website at www.drhousemd.com, or e-mail her at Gretchen@drhousemd.com. You can also follow her on Twitter @askdrhousemd.

I am continuously struck by the immense quantity of health, nutrition, and medical advice that is offered to us by not only our physicians, but on television, the internet, and from personal trainers, friends, and well-meaning strangers. Additionally, there are no quality controls on the internet, unless you go to select, peer-reviewed sites. Even seemingly legitimate sources may disperse faulty information.

I had the dubious privilege of attending a corporate wellness training recently, in which the educator advised people to substitute honey for sugar, and sea salt for salt, because “the honey is good for your health, because it’s natural, and the sea salt is just evaporated ocean water.” I was thinking about how crazy that is, when honey is a known cure for low blood sugar and salt is, well, SALT, regardless of the source. Sure, they both have some beneficial trace minerals, but if you’re watching your sugar or sodium intake, you’ve got know you’re still eating sugar and salt.

If you are being conscious and conscientious about your health, you may find yourself suffering from a serious case of information overload, in addition to the original problem. We simply cannot absorb all of this information, nor should we. Information overload looks like:

• Hundreds of backlogged e-mails from WebMD, the Mayo Clinic, Dr. Weil, and a host of other experts;

• Stacks of clippings, magazine articles or issues, or books related to health topics;

• Fear, frenzy, and distress when you see or hear another piece of health or nutrition advice, or a medical warning is issued on the news; and

• Avoidance of such material, as well as physicians and other healthcare providers.

My frustration with this situation made me think about the fact that I know so much about nutrition, medicine, and psychology, and have a critical perspective on all of it – but if you’re new to nutrition, or having a medical or psychological diagnosis, you can easily get a lot of misinformation. And when misinformation from one source collides with correct information from another source and even more misinformation from yet another source, the net result is chaotic and the bottom line is, you may get frustrated and give up trying to get educated or get well.

I suggest asking a trusted physician or dietician for two or three of their favorite, reputable sources of health information and using those exclusively. Random internet searches are liable to lead you into chat rooms, hucksters, and juicy-sounding but inaccurate tidbits. Do yourself a favor and limit the information overload. Doing so will help reduce the kind of stress that contributes to inaction, insomnia, and a host of other symptoms, both mental and physical.

Gretchen Kubacky, Psy.D. is a Health Psychologist in private practice in West Los Angeles, California. She has completed the inCYST training. She specializes in counseling women and couples who are coping with infertility, PCOS, and related endocrine disorders and chronic illnesses.

If you would like to learn more about Dr. HOUSE or her practice, or obtain referrals in the Los Angeles area, please visit her website at www.drhousemd.com, or e-mail her at AskDrHouseMD@gmail.com. You can also follow her on Twitter @askdrhousemd.