Cysterhood: Part One

I have spoken a lot about Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) in this blog and I have had a few questions come up about it. Mainly WHAT IS PCOS? PCOS affects up to 10 percent of women. It may be genetic since women with PCOS are likely to have a mother or sister with PCOS however no women in my family seem to suffer from it besides myself. Most women who are determined to have PCOS are diagnosed after unsuccessfully trying to get pregnant yet many women are never diagnosed.

PCOS is caused by an imbalance of a woman’s sex hormones which may lead to:

• Irregular periods
• Skin problems such as acne and skin tags
• Darkening of the skin around the neck and armpits
• Thinning hair
• Increased hair growth on the face and body
• Cysts in the ovaries
• Obesity
• Trouble getting pregnant

The exact mechanism by which this imbalance occurs is a constant area of debate. It likely has to do with high levels of insulin and blood sugar. This high level of circulating insulin causes the body to produce more male hormones (androgen). I can pretty much look at a woman and determine if she has PCOS since I have spent so much of my life researching it and living with it. That said, the singer Jewel has PCOS and I would have never guessed.

The next few posts I am going to examine PCOS in more depth. If 1 in 10 women suffer from this, that means at least a handful of you reading my blog are affected. My hope is if I share what has worked for me that it can change someone else’s life for the better.