Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) affects 10 percent of American women, is the most common endocrine cause of infertility and serious weight gain in young women, and can lead to increased risk of teenage diabetes, heart attacks and strokes in young mothers, and early onset breast and uterine cancers. Sounds scary, right? But the truly scary fact is that many PCOS sufferers are completely unaware they have it. Given its wide-ranging symptoms that separately can be attributed to many and varied ailments, most women spend many frustrating years seeking individual treatment for symptoms as diverse as excess body hair, acne and infertility, all the while remaining oblivious to the underlying, and much more dangerous condition.
So What is PCOS?
Also known as Stein-Leventhal Syndrome or Polycystic Ovary Disease (PCOD), PCOS is a health problem that can affect a woman’s menstrual cycle, fertility, hormones, insulin production, heart, blood vessels, and appearance. It is one of the leading causes of infertility in women, and although it has been an identified health condition for 75 years, its cause is still unknown.
What are the symptoms of PCOS?
Women with PCOS have these characteristics: high levels of male hormones - also called androgens - which can lead to symptoms of excessive hair growth, including facial hair, and/or thinning of the scalp hair. They may have acne, high blood pressure, elevated insulin levels, insulin resistance or diabetes, and may be carrying excess weight, particularly around their mid-section. They have an irregular or absent menstrual cycle, which in turn leads to fertility issues, and they may or may not have many small cysts in their ovaries.
How is PCOS Treated?
As PCOS sufferers do not all experience the same symptoms, there is no “blanket” treatment for the syndrome, but once PCOS as been identified, the particular symptoms can be collectively treated to maintain and improve the health and well-being of the sufferer. This may mean several forms of treatment from several different health care professionals, and requires good communication between patient and doctors to ensure all treatments are compatible and ideal.
The increased levels of androgen present in PCOS sufferers can trigger a slowing or disappearance of the menstrual cycle, leaving women with PCOS unable to become pregnant. Fertility treatments such as anti-estrogen, or in more serious conditions gonadotrophin, medications to trigger ovulation are the primary treatments. Women not seeking to conceive are often placed on low dose combined estrogen and progesterone contraceptive pills to decrease androgen production and relieve the body from the effects of constant estrogen. This treatment helps to correct abnormal bleeding and reduces the risk of endometrial (uterine) cancer. Another treatment is progesterone-only contraceptive pills, taken for 10 to 14 days of the menstrual cycle, which can help correct abnormal bleeding and reduce the risk of endometrial cancer, but do not reduce androgen production.
These treatments, however, can have negative side effects of their own.
With new scientific evidence drawing links between use of the contraceptive pill and anxiety and depression, the use of female hormones in the treatment of excessive androgens may bring about additional undesirable symptoms in women already looking for relief.
For those seeking a different treatment for PCOS, alternative medicine that aims to rebalance the body’s hormonal system may be a solution. Acupuncture is used to rebalance the body’s energy flow and the Chinese herb gui zhi fu ling wan is used in the treatment of abnormal menstrual cycles. In naturopathic medicine, treatment focuses on helping the liver function more optimally in the hormonal balancing process.
Western herbal medicine uses phytoestrogen
and phytoprogesteronic herbs, such as blue cohosh (Caulophyllum thalictroides) and false unicorn root (Chamaelirium luteum), as well as liver herbs, like dandelion (Taraxacum mongolicum), to work toward hormonal balance. Vitamin supplements with antioxidants, including zinc, and vitamins A, E, and C, are also recommended.
Obesity or excessive weight gain due to PCOS can lead to many negative health effects, including diabetes and heart disease. Medical experts have targeted weight-loss in women with PCOS as one of the most significant self-help actions sufferers can take to improve not only their health, but aid in the relief of PCOS symptoms. A weight decrease of only 5 percent of total body weight is associated with decreased insulin levels, increased fertility, reduced hirsutism and acne, and lower free testosterone levels.
The PCOS Diet Book: How You Can Use The Nutritional Approach to Dealing with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome
, offers practical information to sufferers with advice on diets for boosting fertility, preventing diabetes, and heart disease, breaking out of the cycle of emotional eating, and nutritional supplements and herbal remedies. Similarly, New Glucose Revolution Guide to Living Well With PCOS written by Dr. Jennie Brand-Miller, author of the New York Times bestseller The New Glucose Revolution, the authoritative guide to the glycemic index, shows how eating a low-GI diet can help alleviate symptoms including weight gain, excessive hair growth, irregular menstrual cycles, fatigue, infertility, hypoglycemia, acne and mood swings.
Living With PCOS
Although the treatments for PCOS seem simple and straightforward when written in black and white, living with PCOS can be difficult and stressful. Many women seek explanations for their symptoms, only to be turned away by doctors who do not take their complaints seriously, or who explain away their symptoms as simply “modern life”. In particular, excessive hair growth and acne are symptoms which have been labeled “purely cosmetic” by doctors either not familiar with or not willing to look deeper at what these symptoms might be pointing to. Abnormal menstrual cycles, particularly in teenage sufferers of PCOS, have similarly been labeled as variations on a normal cycle, and women reporting particularly long and/or painful periods have been treated with skepticism or disbelief. Because of the wide variation of symptoms this syndrome exhibits, doctors may not be able to recognize the link between them, and may exclude PCOS as a possibility.
If you believe you may have PCOS and are looking for answers, you should consult a medical professional to either confirm or rule out PCOS. Diagnosis of PCOS can be made through a combination of checks and tests involving taking a medical history, physical examination, hormone level testing and ultrasound.
For more information on PCOS, visit:
Soul Cysters
Find a Doctor
Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome Association
