Last Friday I went to my Dr and got some not so great news, I have PCOS or Poly Cystic Ovary Syndrome.
PCOS is a hormanal imbalance caused by the body producing to many androgens (male hormones like testosterone). It is very common and getting diagnosesed more and more, about 1 in 15 women have it.
Symptoms tend to be mild at first. You may have only a few symptoms or a lot of them. The most common symptoms are:
- Acne.
- Weight gain and trouble losing weight.
- Extra hair on the face and body. Often women get thicker and darker facial hair and more hair on the chest, belly, and back.
- Thinning hair on the scalp.
- Irregular periods. Often women with PCOS have fewer than nine periods a year. Some women have no periods. Others have very heavy bleeding.
- Fertility problems. Many women with PCOS have trouble getting pregnant (not worried about this for the moment).
- Depression.
The body may also have a problem using insulin, called insulin resistance. When the body doesn’t use insulin well, blood sugar levels go up and over time, this increases the chance of developing Type 2 diabetes. Need I say, NOT GOOD!
There are varying degress of PCOS and the hormonal imbalance can be caused by a number of different variables, it is part of what makes it hard to diagnose despite how common it is.
There is “good” news though, the main treatment, outside of birth control to regulate hormone cycles and fertitly meds for those trying to concive, is just healthy eating and exersise to lose weight. The bad news is that PCOS often makes it hard to lose weight and gaining weight worsens the symptoms of PCOS.
On the upside the type of lifestyle changes I need to make I am already working on, the no sugar challenge couldn’t have come at a better time as it is some thing that I am going to have to adopt on a permanent basis.
If anyone has any info regarding PCOS, personal success stories, advice, support, I am definitly in need of it and I will share what I find as I go along with you here.
6 Comments
9 December, 2008 at 9:12 pm
[...] main derailer was a diagnosis from my Dr that I have PCOS. I went into more detail about it over at my health blog. So I have spent the weekend, when I generally get most of my project stuff worked on and pictures [...]
10 December, 2008 at 5:30 am
A friend of mine who started our old knit group has PCOS, too. You might look her up.
6 January, 2009 at 1:12 am
I was diagnosed last year with pcos i have very unusual mentrual cycles. I never know when im going to have one and when im not . But the bad thing for me is i am trying to get pregnant and i have been trying to lose weight sometimes it feels impossible. BUt i keep trying my dr put me on metformin it helps with the cysts and the insulin resistance.
6 January, 2009 at 4:15 pm
Thanks for your story! my Dr wants to get me on Metformin, whatever you do don’t give up; try another Dr if you can’t get what you need from the Dr you have. I am currently not TTC , I can only imagine how frustrating that must be, I hope things improve for you, if anything you are not the only one struggling.
26 March, 2009 at 10:58 pm
I have the same problem as you……”I was diagnosed last year with pcos i have very unusual mentrual cycles. I never know when im going to have one and when im not . But the bad thing for me is i am trying to get pregnant and i have been trying to lose weight sometimes it feels impossible. BUt i keep trying my dr put me on metformin it helps with the cysts and the insulin resistance”.
10 April, 2009 at 9:49 am
Anyone who is searching for polycystic ovarian syndrome treatment advice then this blog posting is useful for them.