Pregnitude: A First-Line Natural Treatment for all Women with PCOS
Don’t let the name of this product fool you: Pregnitude is a myo-inositol (MYO) supplement for all women with PCOS, not just those looking to get pregnant. Before I tell you why and my experience with it, I want to briefly discuss what MYO is and how it can improve PCOS.
What is Myo-Inositol?
A member of the B vitamins, MYO is believed to improve egg quality and acts as a secondary messenger involved in glucose utilization. It’s believed that women with PCOS may have a defect in secondary messengers contributing to insulin resistance.
How I explain this to my patients with PCOS is this: when we eat foods, mostly carbohydrates, they get converted into glucose in our blood stream. We need the glucose to enter our cells to be used for energy. When blood glucose levels rise, a signal (imagine a doorbell is rung) is sent from the cell door to the nucleus telling it to open up. However, with PCOS, the doorbell on the cell door may be defective. This means that it takes longer for the cells to open its doors to glucose resulting in higher amounts of insulin needing to be secreted. MYO, as a secondary messenger, acts to repair the doorbell so that the cell doors open in response to glucose, resulting in less insulin needing to be secreted.
Health Benefits of Myo-inositol
MYO is one of the most studied of supplements in women with PCOS. In addition to lowering glucose and insulin levels, MYO has been shown to improve lipid and androgen levels, blood pressure and egg quality in women with PCOS. It has also been shown to aid in weight loss. A few studies even show that inositol works better than metformin for PCOS. You can read more about these benefits in our blog posts about MYO. Because of its numerous benefits, MYO should be considered as a first-line approach in the treatment of all women PCOS, not just those looking to get pregnant.
About Pregnitude
Now let me tell you why I like Pregnitude (and now Ovasitol, the combined myo and d-chiro inositol supplement). Pregnitude is a tasteless white powder that gets dissolved in water. Each dose of pregnitude contains 2 grams of MYO and 200 mcg folic acid and comes in individually sealed packets. This makes it convenient to take on the go which will increase consistent use. Other than MYO and folic acid, there are no more ingredients, artificial colors, gluten, or sugars added. Compared to some other supplements marketed to women with PCOS, Pregnitude is affordable at $39/box (60 packets, at least a one month supply). Pregnitude is distributed by Everette Labs and has been used in Europe for years as INFOLIC.
Personally, I was thrilled with the results of taking Pregnitude (at the PCOS Nutrition Center, we don’t recommend a product unless we’ve used it). At my last physical, I discussed taking Pregnitude with my doctor. I had initial blood work done to check my cholesterol and glucose and then took 2 packets of Pregnitude (the recommended dose) each day for 3 months. I didn’t alter my diet, exercise or supplement use.
During this period, I experienced bouts of low blood sugar. My doctor recommended I decrease my metformin by 500 mg and I never experienced low blood sugar again while taking Pregnitude. Lean women with PCOS or those that don’t have severe insulin resistance may not need the full dose of MYO at 4 grams/day. If you are planning on trying Pregnitude, you may want to start out with one packet per day (2 g MYO) for a week to see how you respond.
After 3 months, I repeated my blood work and am pleased to share the results with you: my HDL (the “good” cholesterol) went up 5 points and my CRP went down 1 point. I also saw improvements in glucose as measured by HA1C. An unexpected surprise was that my hair was thicker. Not bad for only 3 months! I plan on continuing with Pregnitude and will get blood taken again (Septemeber 2013) to further assess any improvements in my health. I am also assessing data on clients using Pregnitude and will update on both.
Side Effects
Besides the possibility of low blood sugar, myo inositol is well tolerated. High doses of MYO may have additive effects when taken concurrently with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) and selective serotonin norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor (SNRI) antidepressant medications. You should use caution when combining high doses of MYO with St. John’s Wort or other herbal products or medications that may reduce blood sugar (such as metformin, byetta). Taking Pregnitude with food may minimize low blood sugar.
Check out my follow up 6 month review of Pregnitude!
Disclosure: I received a complimentary box of Pregnitude.
Let us know! Have you tried myo inositol? What have been your experiences?
References
L. Ciotta et al. Effects of Myo-inositol Supplementation on Oocytes Quality in PCOS Patients: A Double-blind Trial. European Review for Medical and Pharmacological Sciences, 2011.
Venturella R et al. Assessment of the modification of the clinical, endocrinal and metabolical profile of
patients with PCOS syndrome treated with myo-inositol]. Minerva ginecologica. 2012;64(3):239-243.
Costantino D et al. Metabolic and hormonal effects of myo-inositol in women with polycystic ovary
syndrome: a double-blind trial. Europ review med pharm sci. 2009;13(2):105-110.
Gerli S et al. Randomized, double blind placebo-controlled trial: effects of myo-inositol on ovarian
function and metabolic factors in women with PCOS.Europ rev med pharm sci. 2007;11(5):347-354.
Unfer et al. Myo-inositol rather than D-chiro-inositol is able to improve oocyte quality in intracytoplasmic sperm injection cycles. A prospective, controlled, randomized trial. Europ review medpharmacol sci. 2011;15(4):452-457.
Papaleo E et al. Myo-inositol in patients with polycystic ovary syndrome: a novel method for ovulation induction. Gynecol Endocrinol. 2007;23(12):70
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Comments (10)
Christine Soto
September 20, 2013 at 8:15 pm
I have been taking it off and on for a year. I haven’t noticed anything other than my sugar cravings have gone away. I haven’t lost any weight due to this supplement. However, I did stop taking it a couple weeks here and there, and there were missed doses in between so that also could be a strong factor.
AF
September 30, 2013 at 8:15 pm
I took Pregnitude for a year. I have decided to stop taking it because (besides a slightly better mood) I did not notice much difference. It did not help with weight loss or hair growth. I am now on 2000mg metformin and have decided to try it on its own. I will begin taking Pregnitude again if after 6 months or so I begin to notice mood changes or sugar crashes, as this would be a sign it had been helping. (fyi… I was not trying to get pregnant)
Maria
November 16, 2013 at 8:15 pm
I started taking it about 2 weeks ago because my cycles are so strange. I don’t think I ovulate. I really did not want to use birth control pill so I ordered the pregnitude. 2 weeks after taking pregnitude I got my period which made my cycle 30 days. I had no cramping but more of a normal period. 7 days before I got my period I had cramping on both of my ovaries which I don’t know why. So far I’m really happy because I want to loose weight, stop loosing my hair and also help with hirutism. I only been taking one packet a day. I plan on increasing to 2 packets and see what happens. I wish I would of knows about this 7 yrs. ago when I had my twins and I had gestational diabetes.
Angela Grassi
September 25, 2015 at 8:16 pm
I notice how in most of these comments the wrong perception about not only pregnitude, but myo-insotol is being displayed. Pregnitude( Myo-insotol) is NOT a weight loss supplement, it brings balance to the body by helping the body to NOT be resistant to insulin which in turn enables our cells to take in glucose (sugar) stopping adipose (fat) storage. Weight loss begins and is maintained in the kitchen and is complimented in the gym.
Secondly I notice how in most of these comments the women are giving up so quickly because they don’t see or feel what they perceive to be a difference. The human body can be very deceiving. After years and years of the body being out of order in sickness and disease, it is unrealistic to expect the body to come into alignment or proper order overnight. There is a
term referred to as the healing crisis meaning the body will
present the same symptoms of sickness even though it’s on its
way to healing, so don’t give up so easily give your body the time
it needs to adjust. My body and hormones are coming into proper order and alignment. I’m on my way to getting pregnant! Pray to God and do your research ladies I can’t stress that enough. While on my journey to healing and getting pregnant I have become a personal trainer, massage therapist, and nutritionist. NEVER QUIT!
Khulood
October 30, 2015 at 8:16 pm
i started taking pregnitude on 21st august and period started on the 25th august. i stopped pregnitude for 5 days because i needed to get my HSG done and was on medication. the intervals between each of my period is of 10 days only. i feel like whenever i stop pregnitude for 2-3 days my periods come back. i have PCOS but never have i had my periods come in this early. my periods before pregnitude was around a 36 day cycle. please somebody guide me through and let me know if it is pregnitude thats causing my periods act crazy. thank you in advance
Lisa Chavez
January 18, 2016 at 8:16 pm
I heard about this product a year ago anba few days ago my friend gave me the box (she and I have pcos) well happy to say I got my period naturally today after 4 days of using it …been trying to get pregnet since I was in my early 20a now I’m 32 I have noticed I do have a lot of gas (burping) and bloating but read that its a side effect and I read a lot of woman are using it to loose weight I don’t think it will work for that …its to help with menstral cycle and ovulate,..I will post if I get pregnant fingers crossed …oh and by the way the box said maybe by the 3rd month of taking it it can happen so keep your heads up cysters if any info or want to chat about pcos go ahead and text me 9568987616
Pearly H.
August 12, 2016 at 10:05 pm
i have a sever case of pcos ive been trying a long time to have a baby, i started pregnitude a month and a half ago i am also on a prenatel and metformin 1500mg daily. The doctor just gave me provera today to start my period because i still wasnt having one she waited to see if i would start on my own 4 months and nothing with a negative preg. test. i have read it takes time with the pregnitude so im hoping things will look up i want a baby more then anything.
Esther
July 28, 2018 at 5:56 pm
Can an IVF patience take pregnitude after transfer of embryo ?
Angela Grassi
August 7, 2018 at 3:55 pm
yes, but you may want to consider Ovasitol to pregnitude which we prefer https://www.pcosnutrition.com/product/ovasitol/
MsAlexander
September 29, 2020 at 12:21 am
I had my period 9/16/20 and went off 9/21/20 then I started taking the pregnitude and first 2 days I saw egg white discharge but the next day I started spotting. And I’m trying to understand what’s going on because during the week I supposed to be ovulating I never start spotting. And I’m worried that taking this may have messed me up worse then wat I was . Because i wasnt able to tell when I ovulated and now that I seen signs of it , I started spotting.