PCOS Magazine

I’ve been amazed as-of late at the sheer amount of attention PCOS is receiving on Facebook…and the number of fans of PCOS Magazine. I want to say thank you SO much for your continued interest.

As this magazine is a personal passion, fed by the wonderful writing and perspectives of some absolutely FABULOUS contributing writers (Angela Grassi, Holly Amarandei, Suzy Reyes, Sasha Ottey, and more)…well, let me just say this, it takes a lot of work to produce. I’m not complaining one bit. That’s the thing about it being a passion.

This said, life has thrown a couple of curveballs lately and it’s made it hard to concentrate on the magazine. I’m a little late getting the latest issue out to everyone, and I want to apologize for that. The upcoming issue will be out soon, most likely before May 1, and I promise to you that it will provide a great deal of great information!

PCOS Magazine is a group effort, essentially. We are always looking for new writing talent/voices, people who have design or ad sales experience, and more. If you have a talent, the readers of PCOS Magazine will probably benefit from it. Please let us know how you would like to get involved.

Tomorrow night, Wednesday, Dec. 16, PCOS Magazine Editor/Publisher Linda Harvey

will be interviewed by Sasha Ottey of PCOS Challenge.

Here’s the announcement! Please call in and ask a question!

PCOS Magazine invites its readers to visit the new FREE-TO-READ version of the entire magazine. Using the great online-magazine technology created by Issuu, PCOS Magazine readers can find the latest issues in a number of different locales: The PCOS Magazine blog; the PCOS Magazine homepage; or at Issuu! While you’re there, subscribe! You’ll be the first to know anytime a new issue is posted!

Two of the most intensive jobs of starting a magazine are finding content and procuring advertisers.

I’ll admit this…the first issue was short. This next issue (which will be out shortly) will be longer. To keep up with this trend, here at PCOS Magazine, we need help! I don’t like short, and I know you, as readers, like more pages and more content. Who doesn’t?

Do you have a background in journalism? Do you like to write? Do you have a unique story idea that you’d like to develop into a story and then contribute? If so, then we want to hear it!

Also, more advertisers means more premium content. We need advertising sales gurus who are willing to work on commission (at least staring out) to help PCOS Magazine add more advertisers to its repertoire. You have the background? Contact the editor!

The September/October issue of PCOS Magazine is live and available at Magcloud. To keep overhead costs low and give you the best magazine possible, PCOS Magazine is using something called print-on-demand. When you order your copy or copies of PCOS Magazine, it is printed at that point and sent to you by MagCloud.

Virtual copies and subscriptions are a few days away, and we’ll make an announcement here when that option is ready.

In this issue are some great articles about the nutritional needs of teens with PCOS by Angela Grassi of PCOS Nutrition, an introduction to the inCYST Network and Monika Woolsey, and relevant diabetic information you might not have known about. Holly Amarandei talks to us about learning to love exercise, and there’s a great article about dealing with the long-term emotional effects of chronic illness.

Let us know what you think! We’d love to hear your comments on this issue, and if you have ideas for the November/December issue, contact us!

Angela Grassi, a licensed dietician headquartered in Haverford, Pennsylvania, has been a regular columnist published in PCOS Today Magazine. She has focused her entire practice on the service of women and girls with PCOS. Earlier this fall, she completed and published her new book, “The Dietician’s Guide to Polycystic Ovary Syndrome.” I have written a review about her book, which will be published in an upcoming issue of PCOS Today Magazine, but I am going to preview it here as well. Her book, as I describe in my review, is well worth the purchase price…for both professionals working with PCOS clients, as well as women with PCOS. Here’s the review. Please feel free to comment on it, and visit Angela’s site to learn more about her practice.

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In 2001 when I was originally diagnosed with PCOS, I had already scared myself silly into watching what I ate, had started walking, and was well on my way to losing almost 60 pounds. By 2003, I had lost the majority of those 60 points and felt great. I really like how I looked. My social life (ok, my love life) took on a vigor that it never had.

In 2004, I was then diagnosed with fibromyalgia, a chronic illness of pain that attacks joints and muscles, leaves those with it exhausted. The simple act of 30 minutes walking around a trail has been known to leave me wiped out for two days afterwards. With this diagnosis, the pain, the exhaustion came back with all the pain. I gained very ounce of weight back.

I saw my general physician this week. He asked me to start testing my blood sugars once a day. What hit me the hardest was when he said “I’d suggest diabetic education, but….you have to want to make it a part of you.” I realized that I’d given up on my health. Here I am, focused on publishing this magazine (and being successful at it) about PCOS, and yet I know for a fact that I’d previously started winning the war against it with diet and exercise. It’s like I hit my 30s and said “screw it.”

With the fibro, I have just grown tired. Not only that, I’ve grown afraid of exhausting myself any futher than I already constantly am. My wonderful fiance gives me hell on a regular basis if I try to hide behind the fibro symptoms. He’s right…I try to use it as a crutch.

All-in-all this still leaves me scratching my head. How in the world am I supposed to fight the PCOS symptoms if I sometimes feel like I can barely move? If just the act of walking down my hallway makes my knees pop, my shoulder ache, and my body screaming at me to put my feet back up and not get up.

I wonder what other women with the similar set of issues do to deal with this?