Polycystic Ovary Syndrome ( PCOS )

Polycystic Ovary Syndrome ( PCOS ) Hi Guys do you want to know about PCOS . Then this article is for you because in this article I will tell you about PCOS. Many people commented to know about this disease. So I thought to make a article and if you read this article till the end you will get answers to many questions. 

PCOS is a huge problem for many of today's reproductive women. From every 6 to 7 women, 1 woman is going through polycystic ovarian syndrome  . ...and... for this many people go the doctor for consultation. 

1.Normal Cycle 

For this, it is foremost important for you to understand the normal cycle fully so you can get what is going on during PCOS. Normally what is happening is every month some eggs in our ovaries start to mature...and...when they slowly grow, after 14, 15 days of periods egg ruptures and follicle is released. This is called ovulation. Chances of pregnancy are high at this time. 

And if pregnancy doesn't happen, your periods come in the next 2 weeks. And in this way your cycle depends on two hormones of your pituitary gland, FSH and LH are those hormones.This is how your normal cycles goes.

2.PCOS Cycle

What happens in PCOS is that many eggs start to mature but they never approach full maturity and thus egg is not released from follicle. That means ovulation isn't happening. 

Because of this your pregnancy is affected and your periods get upset as well. ...and... if we look at the ovaries, ovaries become enlarged, and if we look through ultrasound scan, 

we can see small cysts on ovaries and some cells of ovaries start making male hormones which are called androgens. Hence their level rises in your body

which causes a lot of the symptoms of PCOS .

3.Causes of PCOS

If we look at it's causes, a lot of factors play a part. The biggest factor is hereditary.

Meaning, if your mother, sister or your aunt, all have PCOS going on, then there is high chance of it being carried into new daughters. Furthermore, if your family has history of diabetes, that is also a factor. Obesity, another factor for PCOS, which is a very big problem nowadays because girls have a very sedentary lifestyle and attention isn't given to exercise, rather spend time on mobiles or computers. Junk food adds to the problem as well. Both these things add to obesity. Insulin resistance can result due to obesity.

What is insulin resistance? 

Normally, when we eat carbs it is converted into glucose and that glucose is absorbed into the blood and pancreas makes insulin. Insulin acts on the cells and thus cells absorb glucose and we utilize it as energy.

But,when there is insulin resistance, this insulin can not act on cells properly. Hence blood glucose level rises as well as insulin levels and your glucose and fat metabolism messes up and you start storing extra fats.

4.Signs and Symptoms of PCOS

If we come towards signs and symptoms of PCOS, it depends at what stage the patient is visiting the doctor. Suppose,if we talk about young girls, they come to the doctor due to irregular periods. 75 percent it is due to period problems that patients visit doctors. What are those period problems? Some one has very less periods, there is only spotting, or someone gets late periods, or someone gets delays of 2 or 3 months, and have very heavy flows. Due to this,their whole system gets upset. 

Other than this,Some girls come, due to obesity, and some girls come due to excessive hair growth on their body. 

For example, excessive hair on face, you have to thread them repeatedly, or you get excessive hair on your arms or on your belly.

Married women visit doctors,when after marriage they are having troubles conceiving. 

So in all these cases, when the doctor takes detailed history, she gets to know a lot of things. She may even get some tests done on you, which may include some hormonal tests like checking FSH and LH levels and also testosterone levels. 

Your doctor may also advise pelvic ultrasound, but only 30-40 percent cases show small cysts in ovaries. Sometimes ovaries can be seen completely clean.

5.Treatment of PCOS

The treatment of PCOS mainly resides on maintaining weight. Because, as soon as your weight reduces, ovulation will start regularly which will resolve your period issues and those who want to conceive will have lesser difficulty. 

What can you do for weight reduction? 

Follow 2 things strictly,

one:

take good care of your diet, take more protein and less carbohydrates. If you want to take carbohydrates,take unprocessed flour, brown bread or

use other things like these that have more fiber.Other than this,reduce junk food,leave sugary and bakery items,...and...stay away from oily foods. 

Two:

exercise, you do not have to do low intensity exercise, like slow walking on roads while gossiping, such exercise will not affect patients having PCOS. You will need vigorous exercise. Almost 30 minutes to 1 hour, you have to tire your self. You can jog, or ride a bike or play high exertion sports. Your exercise should be exerting enough to make you go out of breath and make you feel like you burnt many calories.

...and...If you are not married, your doctor can put you on family planning pills because it has combines hormones which balance your hormones. Moreover, some people are given metformin to reduce insulin resistance. 

On the other hand if we take married women, who are trying to conceive, for them too it is most important to control their weight. Still if ovulation does not happen normally then to start ovulation your doctor can give you some medicines like Clomid etc.

...and...so you use them for some cycles, if still your issue persists, then your next option is In Vitro fertilization (IVF). If some people still have problems, then your last option is surgery. 

In surgery, laparoscopic diathermy is done in which some parts of the ovaries is destroyed.

This is done because, the male hormone that is being produced is reduced and then after 2-3 months, ovulation in patients start and they can conceive. 

Note that, with PCOS women do conceive, its not that women don't conceive at all with PCOS. But when they do conceive, they have to take a lot of care. 

Because firstly,they have a high chance of miscarriage or premature labor, or gestational diabetes can occur.So you have to take special care.

6.Long Term Complications of PCOS.

There are some long term complications of PCOS. 

First and foremost is diabetes. Then there is heart disease because blood pressure is increased and cholesterol is increased in lipid and chances of stroke increase. 

Other than this, you can develop endometrial cancer, meaning the inner wall of the uterus, which is called endometrium, cancer can develop there. 

I hope you got a lot of information about polycystic ovarian syndrome ( PCOS ) from today's article Take care of yourselves. Thanks you