Customer Reviews

The Savvy Woman's Guide to PCOS (Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome): The Many Faces of a 21st Century Epidemic....And What You Can Do About It

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This is the book I wish I had read fifteen years ago. Dr. Vliet thoroughly explains the multiple causes and complex hormonal activity that can cause PCOS, without ever condescending to the reader or filling her with despair. The informational dump can get a little overwhelming at times, but it's a complex subject. (I was so enthusiastic to see some real explanations of the nutty hormonal behaviour my body was manifesting that I tried to read it all in one go.) Dr. Vliet offers a recommended series of tests, explains what normal and atypical results are, makes suggestions for dealing with uncooperative doctors, and explains the various hormonal treatment options available. Rather than just suggesting diet and exercise treatments like so many other PCOS books, she presents additional options for those of us who didn't find diet and exercise to be sufficient remediation. I particularly appreciated the extended treatment of common additional conditions -- I had no idea that my heart problems were related to my endocrine system, or that my asthma medication could be throwing me out of balance, or that offset cortisol cycles could explain my trouble getting out of bed in the morning. After having read this book, I feel armed with enough scientific information to work with my doctor to more precisely pinpoint my hormonal levels, and to work to restore them to normal. Thank you, Dr. Vliet!

Why is it that everyone overweight is assumed to be eating too much of the wrong foods? Or just plain pigging out? That isn't always so! Sometimes it is your hormones so out of whack that your body reacts badly. It isn't just food!
Finally, here's a book that lays out the entire spectrum of PCOS.
The Savvy Woman's Guide to PCOS is written for the patient to understand her options, as well as how to get help-what to look for, what are treatment options, what works and what makes matters worse. It can also be used by the medical community as a guide to treatment. So often patients are treated for so many varied symptoms, the entire person isn't considered. This generally makes the patient worse, not better.
Think of a bread mix: each ingredient is balanced to bake a perfect loaf. If the balance becomes haphazard-too much water, too little flour, not enough salt, for example-you don't have bread, you have mush.
The most galling issue regarding PCOS-the medical community is almost entirely ignorant of the disease! It is rare to find a doctor who even tries to diagnose it, much less treat it. That leaves women who suspect they have PCOS to educate themselves-and their doctors. They shouldn't have to continue to suffer due to medicine's ignorance.
The Savvy Woman's Guide to PCOS is a great step forward in the education process.

The best PCOS book I have found! Dr. Vliet has such a wealth of knowledge when it comes to hormones and especially PCOS. This book is laid out beautifully which makes it easy to find the information you are looking for. I own a library of books on PCOS and now only use this one, she really knows her stuff.

Too few doctors know about PCOS. As Elizabeth Vliet explains, it is a diagnosis that tends to fall between the cracks of various medical specialties. Yet it's a serious condition that makes life miserable -- and can even cause infertility and worse -- for women suffering from it.

I know, because my daughter, who is 17, has PCOS. I have known something like this was wrong with her for most of her life, and I have spent years reading, consulting physicians, worrying, trying to find help for her. Even the pediatric endocrinologist we consulted years ago told us nothing was wrong.

By the time I had read Dr. Vliet's book, I had figured out (by myself) my daughter's diagnosis, but finally, with this book, I have information about it and a direction for treatment. I know what to ask doctors, and I know enough to actually give them ideas for treatment (many don't know where to start!) My daughter is finally getting the treatment she needs. She's feeling so much better. I shudder to think of what would have happened to her if we hadn't discovered and treated this condition.

The book has a huge amount of information in it -- like an "Everything You Need to Know about PCOS, but Didn't Know Whom to Ask." It can be overwhelming, but I'm glad that Vliet didn't try to dumb it down for the consumer market. I NEED the information in this book in order to work with my daughter's doctors, because they know so little about PCOS (even when they think they do).

Dr. Vliet's expertise, experience, and knowledge are clearly first-rate. There are other things written about Syndrome X, pre-diabetes, and hormone problems, but this book is definitive, based on good science and written by a doctor who truly knows her stuff.

The dangers of this condition aren't just discomfort and weight gain -- they include infertility, diabetes, heart disease, and severe depression. "The Savvy Woman's Guide" should be required reading for anyone who has symptoms of PCOS.

I am newly diagnosed with PCOS, and I found this book to be very informative. This book is written by a doctor, but it does not contain a lot of medical jargon. This book gave just enough information to help a lay person understand. Also, I found information in this book easy to locate due to each chapter having subtitles. This book covers all aspects of PCOS from the initial diagnosis of PCOS to finding ways of coping with it. I have done some research on the internet, but I found this book to have person specific information rather than one general explanation. I also found hope in reading about different woman with different situations, scenarios, and solutions. To me this made the book seem more personable. This book also helps woman ask the right questions to diagnose and treat PCOS. Great read, it could hardly put this book down, and since I bought it I have used it as a reference.

At the early age of 8 my daughter started to exhibit the signs of PCOS. Marked weight gain,(despite proper diet and lots of excersise) concentration problems in school, fatigue, wanting to sleep during the day when she got home from school, and after eating. The weight was beginning to effect her self image. I made and appt. to address these concerns with her Pediatrician. She told me nothing was wrong and to start eating right and excersising more. Hello...we were doing that already, that's why I'm in here, that's why I'm concerned. Still not satisfied, I decided to go to the top. I made an appointment to take her to one of the top Pediatric Endocrinologists in Dallas. Same response. I was truly disappointed but suspected there was still a health problem. I thought it was her thyroid since it runs in the family. One day I was searching the internet for sights about my daughters health issues and stubbled upon Dr. Vliets practice. It appeared her patients were primarily menopausal women but her philosophy about thyroid treatment attracted me so I made an appointment for my daughter who at the time was 9. That was the most important appointment of my daughters life. It changed her life. Dr. Vliet told us she suspected that my daughter was suffering from PCOS. She also wanted to check thyroid antibodies. All the tests concluded that my daughter was suffering from PCOS and a hypothyroid condition. That was a turning point for us. It took away all the guilt associated with the weight gain. My daughter knew it wasn't her fault, (like all the other doctors lead her to believe) she was helpless against this disease without the proper treatment. Instead of PCOS controlling her, now she has been controlling the PCOS. I can't tell you the difference it made in her not only physically, but emotionally as well. If your daughter suffers from abnormal weight gain despite proper diet and excersise, I urge you to read this book. If you see any similarities between the symtoms in the book and your daughter you can change her life as well.

Dr. Vliet's newest book is a super addition to the others! As a sufferer of PCOS, I found this book to present a thorough understanding of the condition, filled with medically sound advice. She exposes the common practice of doctors prescribing mood-stabilizers for womens emotional problems, instead of checking blood hormone levels. She discusses the various diagnostic tests that should be performed, as well as drug therapies, including important information on oral contraceptive and Hormone Replacement Therapy. (I have my own mixed views on the use of OC's for PCOS due to the blood clot risks, but can appreciate her approach and reasoning behind recommending them, though they are certainly not for every woman). Also recommended, are sensible alternative/nutritional approaches, along with advice on overcoming the emotional effects of the disorder. I really connected with the patient stories. Overall, this book is a validating, holistic approach to treating the complexities of PCOS. I highly recommend it to patients, and their physicians.

While this book does provide good information, I think that you can do better. Most of the book is written almost as an advertisement for the author's own PCOS clinic. She spends so much time touting how wonderful that she is that it is hard to read the book. It also made me wonder how accurate the information is, or if she just wanted to brag on herself and her clinic. If you get this book do not make the mistake I did and also order "Its my Ovaries, Stupid!" by the same author. They books are almost exactly the same. I recommend "The PCOS* Protection Plan: How to Cut Your Increased Risk of Diabetes, Heart Disease, Obesity, and High Blood Pressure" by Colette Harris.

This book is an incredibly thorough guide to PCOS, albeit from a very allopathic perspective. Vliet is clearly an expert in the realm of hormonal reproductive disorders. However, I wish it contained more info regarding pregnancy and breastfeeding and on alernative and holistic treatments. It also is the type of book that could stand to have an index.

This book answered questions that I didn't even know were related to PCOS. I now have a list of different test I want the Doctor to run to see if I can remedy some of my symtoms. I also realized why my insulin spike after I started taking Mircette BCP but my doctor at the time said it would help with some of my symptoms and instead it made me 20 times worse. But now that I am informed I can do something about this.