Thanks, KrazyKat5216 for creating such a comprehensive awareness video!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vwed2AjEn4
Friday
PCOS Awareness...More!
Thanks, KrazyKat5216 for creating such a comprehensive awareness video!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vwed2AjEn4
Monday
The *Cyster* Chronicles Joins the Social Media World!
One of the ways that PCOS can be crippling for many women battling the condition as well as their loved ones is that it can be isolating. The *Cyster* Chronicles has now taken its support into a more social realm to not only help raise awareness and understanding about how PCOS affects millions of women and those they care about, but also keep the social connections that are so important to all of us.
The *Cyster* Chronicles is now on Facebook! Join the group as you chat and keep updated with all your Facebook friends!
Sunday
PCOS Awareness
Here is some general information about PCOS compiled by MistyWitch2601...thanks for making such an educative video and sharing your story!
file:///C:/Users/Owner/Documents/Cyster%20Chronicles/PCOS_Awareness.htm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ke72_oZic4U
file:///C:/Users/Owner/Documents/Cyster%20Chronicles/PCOS_Awareness.htm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ke72_oZic4U
Distract Yourself from Difficult Emotions with Pleasurable Activities
Sometimes doing something that makes you feel good is the best way to distract yourself from difficult emotions. But remember, you don’t have to wait until you feel overwhelmed by painful emotions in order to do one of these activities. It’s also helpful to engage in these types of activities on a regular basis. In fact, you should try to do something pleasurable every day. Exercise is also especially important because not only is it good for your overall physical health, but it’s also been shown to be an effective treatment from depression in some cases (Babyak et al., 2000). Plus, exercise makes you feel good almost immediately by releasing natural painkillers in your body called endorphins.
The following is a list of over one hundred pleasurable activities that you can use to distract yourself from difficult emotions:
· Talk to a friend on the telephone
· Go out and visit a friend
· Invite a friend to come to your home
· Text message your friends
· Organize a party
· Exercise
· Lift weights
· Do yoga, tai chi, or Pilates, or take classes to learn
· Stretch your muscles
· Go for a long walk in a park or someplace else that’s peaceful
· Go outside and watch the clouds
· Go jog
· Ride your bike
· Go for a swim
· Go biking
· Do something exciting, like surfing, rock climbing, skiing, skydiving, motorcycle riding, or kayaking, or go learn how to do one of these things
· Go to your local playground and join a game being played or watch a game
· Go play something you can do by yourself if no one else is around, like basketball, bowling, handball, miniature golf, billiards, or hitting a tennis ball against the wall
· Get a massage (this can also help soothe your emotions)
· Get out of your house, even if you just sit outside
· Go for a drive in your car or go for a ride on public transportation
· Plan a trip to a place you’ve never been before
· Sleep or take a nap
· Eat a little bit of chocolate or eat a little bit of something else that you really like
· Eat your favorite ice cream
· Cook your favorite dish or meal
· Cook a recipe that you’ve never tried before
· Take a cooking class
· Go out for something to eat
· Go outside and play with your pet
· Go borrow a friend’s dog and take it to the park
· Give your pet a bath
· Go outside and watch the birds and other animals
· Find something funny to do, like reading the Sunday comics
· Watch a funny movie (start collecting funny movies to watch when you’re feeling overwhelmed with negative emotions)
· Go to the movie theater and watch whatever’s playing
· Watch television
· Listen to the radio
· Go to a sporting event, like a baseball or football game
· Play a game with a friend
· Play solitaire
· Play video games
· Go online to chat
· Visit your favorite web sites
· Visit crazy web sites and start keeping a list of them
· Create your own web site
· Create your own online blog
· Join an Internet dating service
· Sell something you don’t want on the Internet
· Buy something on the Internet
· Do a puzzle with a lot of pieces
· Call a crisis or suicide hotline and talk to someone
· Go shopping
· Go get a haircut
· Go to a spa or get a manicure/pedicure
· Go to a library
· Go to a bookstore and read
· Go to your favorite café for coffee or tea
· Visit a museum or local art gallery
· Go to the mall or the park and watch other people-try to imagine what they’re thinking
· Pray or meditate
· Go to your church, synagogue, temple, or other place of worship
· Join a group at your place of worship
· Write a letter to God
· Call a family member you haven’t spoken to in a long time
· Learn a new language
· Sing or learn how to sing
· Play a musical instrument or learn how to play one
· Write a song
· Listen to some upbeat, happy music (start collecting happy songs for times when you’re feeling overwhelmed)
· Turn on some loud music and dance in your room
· Memorize lines from your favorite movie, play, or song
· Make a movie or video with your camcorder
· Take photographs
· Join a public-speaking group and write a speech
· Participate in a local theater group
· Sing in a local choir
· Join a club
· Plant a garden
· Work outside
· Knit, crochet, or sew-or learn how to
· Make a scrapbook with pictures
· Paint your nails
· Change your hair color
· Take a bubble bath or shower
· Work on your car, truck, motorcycle or bicycle
· Sign up for a class that excites you at a local college, adult school, or online
· Read your favorite book, magazine, paper, or poem
· Read a trashy celebrity magazine
· Write a letter to a friend or family member
· Write or draw things you like about yourself on a photograph of yourself
· Write a poem, story, movie, or play about your life-or someone else’s life
· Write in your journal or diary about what happened to you today
· Write a loving letter to yourself when you’re feeling good and keep it with you to read when you’re feeling upset
· Make a list of ten things you’re good at or that you like about yourself when you’re feeling good, and keep it with you to read when you’re feeling upset
· Draw a picture
· Paint a picture with a brush or your fingers
· Make a list of people you admire and want to be like-it can be anyone real or fictional throughout history. Describe what you admire about these people.
· Write a story about the craziest, funniest, or most exciting thing that has ever happened to you
· Write a letter to someone who has made your life better and tell them why-you don’t have to send the letter if you don’t want to
· Create your own list of pleasurable activities
The following is a list of over one hundred pleasurable activities that you can use to distract yourself from difficult emotions:
The Big List of Pleasurable Activities
· Talk to a friend on the telephone
· Go out and visit a friend
· Invite a friend to come to your home
· Text message your friends
· Organize a party
· Exercise
· Lift weights
· Do yoga, tai chi, or Pilates, or take classes to learn
· Stretch your muscles
· Go for a long walk in a park or someplace else that’s peaceful
· Go outside and watch the clouds
· Go jog
· Ride your bike
· Go for a swim
· Go biking
· Do something exciting, like surfing, rock climbing, skiing, skydiving, motorcycle riding, or kayaking, or go learn how to do one of these things
· Go to your local playground and join a game being played or watch a game
· Go play something you can do by yourself if no one else is around, like basketball, bowling, handball, miniature golf, billiards, or hitting a tennis ball against the wall
· Get a massage (this can also help soothe your emotions)
· Get out of your house, even if you just sit outside
· Go for a drive in your car or go for a ride on public transportation
· Plan a trip to a place you’ve never been before
· Sleep or take a nap
· Eat a little bit of chocolate or eat a little bit of something else that you really like
· Eat your favorite ice cream
· Cook your favorite dish or meal
· Cook a recipe that you’ve never tried before
· Take a cooking class
· Go out for something to eat
· Go outside and play with your pet
· Go borrow a friend’s dog and take it to the park
· Give your pet a bath
· Go outside and watch the birds and other animals
· Find something funny to do, like reading the Sunday comics
· Watch a funny movie (start collecting funny movies to watch when you’re feeling overwhelmed with negative emotions)
· Go to the movie theater and watch whatever’s playing
· Watch television
· Listen to the radio
· Go to a sporting event, like a baseball or football game
· Play a game with a friend
· Play solitaire
· Play video games
· Go online to chat
· Visit your favorite web sites
· Visit crazy web sites and start keeping a list of them
· Create your own web site
· Create your own online blog
· Join an Internet dating service
· Sell something you don’t want on the Internet
· Buy something on the Internet
· Do a puzzle with a lot of pieces
· Call a crisis or suicide hotline and talk to someone
· Go shopping
· Go get a haircut
· Go to a spa or get a manicure/pedicure
· Go to a library
· Go to a bookstore and read
· Go to your favorite café for coffee or tea
· Visit a museum or local art gallery
· Go to the mall or the park and watch other people-try to imagine what they’re thinking
· Pray or meditate
· Go to your church, synagogue, temple, or other place of worship
· Join a group at your place of worship
· Write a letter to God
· Call a family member you haven’t spoken to in a long time
· Learn a new language
· Sing or learn how to sing
· Play a musical instrument or learn how to play one
· Write a song
· Listen to some upbeat, happy music (start collecting happy songs for times when you’re feeling overwhelmed)
· Turn on some loud music and dance in your room
· Memorize lines from your favorite movie, play, or song
· Make a movie or video with your camcorder
· Take photographs
· Join a public-speaking group and write a speech
· Participate in a local theater group
· Sing in a local choir
· Join a club
· Plant a garden
· Work outside
· Knit, crochet, or sew-or learn how to
· Make a scrapbook with pictures
· Paint your nails
· Change your hair color
· Take a bubble bath or shower
· Work on your car, truck, motorcycle or bicycle
· Sign up for a class that excites you at a local college, adult school, or online
· Read your favorite book, magazine, paper, or poem
· Read a trashy celebrity magazine
· Write a letter to a friend or family member
· Write or draw things you like about yourself on a photograph of yourself
· Write a poem, story, movie, or play about your life-or someone else’s life
· Write in your journal or diary about what happened to you today
· Write a loving letter to yourself when you’re feeling good and keep it with you to read when you’re feeling upset
· Make a list of ten things you’re good at or that you like about yourself when you’re feeling good, and keep it with you to read when you’re feeling upset
· Draw a picture
· Paint a picture with a brush or your fingers
· Make a list of people you admire and want to be like-it can be anyone real or fictional throughout history. Describe what you admire about these people.
· Write a story about the craziest, funniest, or most exciting thing that has ever happened to you
· Write a letter to someone who has made your life better and tell them why-you don’t have to send the letter if you don’t want to
· Create your own list of pleasurable activities
What are some other pleasurable activities that you like to do to distract yourself from difficult emotions??
Depressed About Excess Hair? Depression May Be Caused by Testosterone!
Serum androgens and depression in women with facial hirsutism.
Shulman LH, DeRogatis L, Spielvogel R, Miller JL, Rose LI.J Am Acad Dermatol. 1992 Aug;27(2 Pt 1):178-81.Department of Medicine, Hahnemann University School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA.
BACKGROUND: Studies on the psychopathologic aspects of hirsutism are sparse. Attempts to correlate these aspects with either the extent of the facial hirsutism and/or circulating serum androgens are virtually nonexistent. This study evaluates the psychopathologic aspects of hirsutism and correlates these findings with the extent of the facial hirsutism as well as with the circulating serum androgens.
OBJECTIVE: Our purpose was to assess the psychopathologic aspects of facial hirsutism and to determine whether any correlation exists between these findings and either the extent of the facial hirsutism or the circulating serum androgens.
METHODS: Twenty consecutive women with facial hirsutism were studied by administration of psychologic tests (DeRogatis Symptom Inventory and the Affects Balance Scale). The results of these tests were correlated with the grade of facial hirsutism as well as serum levels of total testosterone (T), biologically active testosterone (BT), free testosterone (FT), dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEA-S), and androstenedione (A-dione).
RESULTS: Significant levels of depression were found. No correlation was found between the psychopathologic measurements and the extent of facial hirsutism or serum levels of T, DHEA, DHEA-S, and A-dione. Significant correlations were found between depression and serum levels of FT and BT.
CONCLUSION: There is an increased incidence of depression in facially hirsute women and this correlates with their circulating active testosterone levels and not with the extent of their facial hirsutism.
Shulman LH, DeRogatis L, Spielvogel R, Miller JL, Rose LI.J Am Acad Dermatol. 1992 Aug;27(2 Pt 1):178-81.Department of Medicine, Hahnemann University School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA.
BACKGROUND: Studies on the psychopathologic aspects of hirsutism are sparse. Attempts to correlate these aspects with either the extent of the facial hirsutism and/or circulating serum androgens are virtually nonexistent. This study evaluates the psychopathologic aspects of hirsutism and correlates these findings with the extent of the facial hirsutism as well as with the circulating serum androgens.
OBJECTIVE: Our purpose was to assess the psychopathologic aspects of facial hirsutism and to determine whether any correlation exists between these findings and either the extent of the facial hirsutism or the circulating serum androgens.
METHODS: Twenty consecutive women with facial hirsutism were studied by administration of psychologic tests (DeRogatis Symptom Inventory and the Affects Balance Scale). The results of these tests were correlated with the grade of facial hirsutism as well as serum levels of total testosterone (T), biologically active testosterone (BT), free testosterone (FT), dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEA-S), and androstenedione (A-dione).
RESULTS: Significant levels of depression were found. No correlation was found between the psychopathologic measurements and the extent of facial hirsutism or serum levels of T, DHEA, DHEA-S, and A-dione. Significant correlations were found between depression and serum levels of FT and BT.
CONCLUSION: There is an increased incidence of depression in facially hirsute women and this correlates with their circulating active testosterone levels and not with the extent of their facial hirsutism.
Depression, PCOS linked in study
Stanford Report, June 11, 2003 Depression, PCOS linked in study
Women who have a hormonal disorder called polycystic ovarian syndrome, or PCOS, are more likely to have depression than women without the disorder, said a study by medical center psychiatrist Natalie Rasgon, MD, PhD.
The study also shows women with PCOS are depressed not only because of the symptoms, which include infertility, but also because of the disease’s underlying biology. She said the findings have prompted her to further explore whether treating depression could help reproductive problems in PCOS patients.
The research, published in the May issue of the Journal of Affective Disorders, is the first study of the link between the syndrome and depression.
PCOS is the most common hormonal disorder in women of reproductive age, affecting up to 10 percent of premenopausal women. Women with PCOS secrete excess male hormones and don’t ovulate; they may have extra body hair, acne, obesity or baldness.
"The simple, logical explanation is that if a woman is overweight and balding, she would be depressed because of that," said Rasgon, associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, but her research points to physiological links as well.
Rasgon and her colleagues are currently conducting ongoing research into the link between PCOS and depression on a larger group of women.
source: http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2003/june11/pcos.html
Women who have a hormonal disorder called polycystic ovarian syndrome, or PCOS, are more likely to have depression than women without the disorder, said a study by medical center psychiatrist Natalie Rasgon, MD, PhD.
The study also shows women with PCOS are depressed not only because of the symptoms, which include infertility, but also because of the disease’s underlying biology. She said the findings have prompted her to further explore whether treating depression could help reproductive problems in PCOS patients.
The research, published in the May issue of the Journal of Affective Disorders, is the first study of the link between the syndrome and depression.
PCOS is the most common hormonal disorder in women of reproductive age, affecting up to 10 percent of premenopausal women. Women with PCOS secrete excess male hormones and don’t ovulate; they may have extra body hair, acne, obesity or baldness.
"The simple, logical explanation is that if a woman is overweight and balding, she would be depressed because of that," said Rasgon, associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, but her research points to physiological links as well.
Rasgon and her colleagues are currently conducting ongoing research into the link between PCOS and depression on a larger group of women.
source: http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2003/june11/pcos.html
Serum Androgens and Psychopathology in Hirsute Women
Derogatis LR, Rose LI, Shulman LH, Lazarus LA.J Psychosom Obstet Gynaecol. 1993 Dec;14(4):269-82.Department of Mental Health Sciences, Hahnemann University School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA.
Twenty consecutive women referred for evaluation and treatment of idiopathic hirsutism were evaluated with regard to levels of serum androgens, degree of hirsutism, nature and prevalence of psychological symptoms, and mood and affects. Androgens measured were total testosterone, free testosterone, biologically active testosterone, dehydroepiandrosterone, dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate and androstenedione. Psychological symptoms were quantified via the Derogatis Symptom Inventory, and mood and affects were measured by the Affects Balance Scale. Results revealed very significant correlations between unbound fractions of testosterone (i.e. free and biologically active testosterone) and both symptom and mood measures of depression (r = 0.60; p < 0.01). Significant inverse correlations were also observed between unbound fractions of testosterone and positive affects measures (e.g. 'contentment' r = -0.51; p < 0.05). Correlations between total testosterone and psychological variables were non-significant in all instances. Measures of degree of hirsutism correlated approximately zero (o) with psychological symptom and mood measures in this sample. When psychiatric 'caseness' criteria were applied to the cohort, seven of the 20 women (35%) were found to be positive. Results are interpreted to suggest that depression among hirsute women appears more likely to have its basis in a deranged neuroendocrine mechanism than in psychosocial causes.
Twenty consecutive women referred for evaluation and treatment of idiopathic hirsutism were evaluated with regard to levels of serum androgens, degree of hirsutism, nature and prevalence of psychological symptoms, and mood and affects. Androgens measured were total testosterone, free testosterone, biologically active testosterone, dehydroepiandrosterone, dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate and androstenedione. Psychological symptoms were quantified via the Derogatis Symptom Inventory, and mood and affects were measured by the Affects Balance Scale. Results revealed very significant correlations between unbound fractions of testosterone (i.e. free and biologically active testosterone) and both symptom and mood measures of depression (r = 0.60; p < 0.01). Significant inverse correlations were also observed between unbound fractions of testosterone and positive affects measures (e.g. 'contentment' r = -0.51; p < 0.05). Correlations between total testosterone and psychological variables were non-significant in all instances. Measures of degree of hirsutism correlated approximately zero (o) with psychological symptom and mood measures in this sample. When psychiatric 'caseness' criteria were applied to the cohort, seven of the 20 women (35%) were found to be positive. Results are interpreted to suggest that depression among hirsute women appears more likely to have its basis in a deranged neuroendocrine mechanism than in psychosocial causes.
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