Atlas27
New member
This is my story, experiences, and thoughts. Please don't take offense to anything as that's not the point of this. I also share a lot of details which may be TMI for some but these are simply things that I would want to know and while I wouldn't be able to share this info in person, anonymity online has its perks. I also feel that female data/info is always lacking and so I hope my experience may be useful for women.
I'm female, early 30s, was diagnosed with PCOS in my late teens.
I'm aware that everyone has different experiences/symptoms with PCOS (yes, I know they updated the name but this is what I still call it). In my case, I mostly just had issue with my cycle - missed cycles, and being late. I didn't suffer from acne or hirsutism or ovarian pain. I was put on bc to help combat the issue. I took Alesse for for about 6 months in uni but didn't like how it made me feel so I discontinued. I haven't taken any bc since. I was able to manage the above issues with fitness, diet and supplements (Inositol). I've also always had bloating and water retention issues and very recently learned that these are PCOS symptoms as well. This is going to sound silly, but I didn't realize that I suffered from these issues or what they actually were. Bloating is just one of those things that meant you were temporarily big in the midsection and because I was constantly in that state, I didn't realize that I suffered from it. I always just assumed that I was fat in the midsection area. I have friends who say things like "let's take pics before we eat and get fat" and I never understood what they meant because my stomach never really changed even after eating, it was always just big and there. I didn't understand it because I've always been active, was in track from elementary school but I've always had pudginess in my midsection. Despite my active lifestyle and diet, I feel that I've always had some extra fat. last year, I did a DNA methylation test and that pretty much confirmed that my metabolism is terrible and my body is a hoarder and doesn't like to let anything go easily. So the PCOS issues plus my natural genes have made things difficult. BTW when I say I recently discovered bloating I mean I discovered it like a month ago after I went through a tesa cycle. I also have a lot of food sensitivities in North America and that probably doesn't help. When I'm in Europe, my stomach shrinks but whenever I come back to Canada, it just blows back up.
I wanted to take Tesa to address the pudgy belly. I researched tesa itself to learn about side effects and what to expect. To prepare, I aligned it with my cycle to reduce water retention. The week before, I also started having daily electrolytes, and kept this up through the cycle. I did a 12 week tesa cycle. I was also on MOTS-C and KLOW during the cycle. My tesa dosage started at 0.5mg for about 2 weeks and then I moved up to 0.75 mg for another 2 weeks until I settled at 1mg for the majority, I went up to 1.5mg for the last 2 weeks. I had chatgpt keep a daily log for me on dosage, ISR, and how I was feeling. In the mornings I did a ring test (I used a ring that normally fits perfectly to see if there was a change). My fingers did swell up a bit an then held steady at that level of swelling. During the last 2 weeks when I upped the dose, the swelling increased as well. I had a lot of water retention in my abdomen as well, it peaked at about week 4 -6. These weeks were brutal, it was like 3 inches over my waist (my usual is 0.5-1 inch). I was just big and uncomfortable, couldn't even wear a bra. Thankfully it came down to about 1.5 inches when I hit around week 7 and then stayed there. There was an increase when I upped the dose but not as dramatic. A few weeks after discontinuing tesa, I mostly went to baseline and didn't really see a difference. I feel that I don't actually have a lot of visceral fat and this was also around the time that I came to understanding what bloating actually is. I know I probably sound like a complete idiot but you live and learn. I also learned that those that suffer from PCOS shouldn't take secretagogues like tesa because they can worsen insulin resistance. So overall, my tesa journey actually taught me a lot and I'm glad I went through it.
I'm currently on reta (1mg/week, split over 2 days) and when I started I was taking CJC 1295 (no DAC) daily to help preserve muscle mass. I started lifting during my TESA/MOT-C/KLOW cycle, that went very well and I didn't want to sacrifice my muscle mass. Since learning about PCOS and secretagogues though, I've altered my dosage of CJC and now take it twice a week (very small doses like 150 mcg) to get a little extra boost but not be counterintuitive to my body. Reta is also causing bloating but it's not as bad as the tesa water retention.
I'll leave it there as this is a very long post. Happy to answer any questions. Yes, I know I'm an idiot, you don't need to tell me that LOL
I'm female, early 30s, was diagnosed with PCOS in my late teens.
I'm aware that everyone has different experiences/symptoms with PCOS (yes, I know they updated the name but this is what I still call it). In my case, I mostly just had issue with my cycle - missed cycles, and being late. I didn't suffer from acne or hirsutism or ovarian pain. I was put on bc to help combat the issue. I took Alesse for for about 6 months in uni but didn't like how it made me feel so I discontinued. I haven't taken any bc since. I was able to manage the above issues with fitness, diet and supplements (Inositol). I've also always had bloating and water retention issues and very recently learned that these are PCOS symptoms as well. This is going to sound silly, but I didn't realize that I suffered from these issues or what they actually were. Bloating is just one of those things that meant you were temporarily big in the midsection and because I was constantly in that state, I didn't realize that I suffered from it. I always just assumed that I was fat in the midsection area. I have friends who say things like "let's take pics before we eat and get fat" and I never understood what they meant because my stomach never really changed even after eating, it was always just big and there. I didn't understand it because I've always been active, was in track from elementary school but I've always had pudginess in my midsection. Despite my active lifestyle and diet, I feel that I've always had some extra fat. last year, I did a DNA methylation test and that pretty much confirmed that my metabolism is terrible and my body is a hoarder and doesn't like to let anything go easily. So the PCOS issues plus my natural genes have made things difficult. BTW when I say I recently discovered bloating I mean I discovered it like a month ago after I went through a tesa cycle. I also have a lot of food sensitivities in North America and that probably doesn't help. When I'm in Europe, my stomach shrinks but whenever I come back to Canada, it just blows back up.
I wanted to take Tesa to address the pudgy belly. I researched tesa itself to learn about side effects and what to expect. To prepare, I aligned it with my cycle to reduce water retention. The week before, I also started having daily electrolytes, and kept this up through the cycle. I did a 12 week tesa cycle. I was also on MOTS-C and KLOW during the cycle. My tesa dosage started at 0.5mg for about 2 weeks and then I moved up to 0.75 mg for another 2 weeks until I settled at 1mg for the majority, I went up to 1.5mg for the last 2 weeks. I had chatgpt keep a daily log for me on dosage, ISR, and how I was feeling. In the mornings I did a ring test (I used a ring that normally fits perfectly to see if there was a change). My fingers did swell up a bit an then held steady at that level of swelling. During the last 2 weeks when I upped the dose, the swelling increased as well. I had a lot of water retention in my abdomen as well, it peaked at about week 4 -6. These weeks were brutal, it was like 3 inches over my waist (my usual is 0.5-1 inch). I was just big and uncomfortable, couldn't even wear a bra. Thankfully it came down to about 1.5 inches when I hit around week 7 and then stayed there. There was an increase when I upped the dose but not as dramatic. A few weeks after discontinuing tesa, I mostly went to baseline and didn't really see a difference. I feel that I don't actually have a lot of visceral fat and this was also around the time that I came to understanding what bloating actually is. I know I probably sound like a complete idiot but you live and learn. I also learned that those that suffer from PCOS shouldn't take secretagogues like tesa because they can worsen insulin resistance. So overall, my tesa journey actually taught me a lot and I'm glad I went through it.
I'm currently on reta (1mg/week, split over 2 days) and when I started I was taking CJC 1295 (no DAC) daily to help preserve muscle mass. I started lifting during my TESA/MOT-C/KLOW cycle, that went very well and I didn't want to sacrifice my muscle mass. Since learning about PCOS and secretagogues though, I've altered my dosage of CJC and now take it twice a week (very small doses like 150 mcg) to get a little extra boost but not be counterintuitive to my body. Reta is also causing bloating but it's not as bad as the tesa water retention.
I'll leave it there as this is a very long post. Happy to answer any questions. Yes, I know I'm an idiot, you don't need to tell me that LOL
