September is Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) awareness month! A lot of women are familiar with PCOS but there are also a lot of women who aren't! If you are one of those women who aren't, please read below.
(PCOS) is a health
disorder that often affects a woman’s ability to ovulate and conceive.
Somewhere around one in ten women of reproductive age have been diagnosed as
having PCOS in the U.S.. Some young women will receive this diagnosis during
their teenage years but many women will not realize that they in fact have
this disorder until they try to get pregnant, and can’t. While the cause of
PCOS has not as yet been identified, several factors do seem to play a role,
including family history, ethnic origin and genetics.
PCOS is technically a hormonal imbalance, embarked by any two of the following three characteristics: overproduction of androgen's (male hormones); irregular menstrual cycles; and an ultrasound demonstrating polycystic appearing ovaries. While women have some level of male hormone in their systems, many women with PCOS produce an overabundance of them.
The overabundance of male hormone is thought to create many of the symptoms associated with PCOS. While symptoms vary from woman to woman they often include:
- Few or no menstrual cycles
- Heavy bleeding during menstruation and/or very long periods of light bleeding during menstruation
- Multiple cysts on ovaries, as seen on an ultrasound
- Hirsutism
- Male pattern baldness or thinning hair
- Acne and oily skin
- Overweight, or trouble controlling weight
- Upper body obesity, with weight unevenly distributed around the abdomen
- Skin tags or boils
- Depression or mood swings
- Repeat miscarriage, or pregnancy loss
- Infertility
- High blood pressure and/or high cholesterol, particularly in women who are overweight
- Sleep apnea
- Regular menstrual periods without simultaneous ovulation
Many women find that altering their diet and exercise habits can be highly effective in the management of PCOS. Dietary changes that may help include:
Optimize Your Eating Plan
- Remove white flour products and other high glycemic foods from your diet
- Choose healthy carbohydrates like fruits and vegetables that are low glycemic
- Eat a protein with each meal to slow down the glucose response in the blood
- Completely eliminate ALL types of sugar from your diet. Read labels and learn to recognize all of sugar's names i.e... corn syrup, dextrose, fructose, maltodextrin, maltose, rice syrup, sucrose, treacle, and turbinado
- Optimize a supplementation program that includes vitamins, minerals and herbs such as cinnamon. This information must be shared with your physician, if you will be concurrently pursuing infertility treatment.
Create a Balanced Exercise Program
- Cardiovascular training that works the large muscles of the body, making the heart and lungs stronger, and supporting weight loss
- Weight training or other forms of resistance exercise, such as body bands
For many women these lifestyle changes will prove to be highly
effective not only while conception is being attempted, but for life.
PCOS, like every other diagnosis of infertility, is affected by
the never ending tick of the biological clock. For women who wish to conceive
sooner rather than later, in particular for those over the age of thirty, the
combination of adherence to a healthy lifestyle centered upon low carbohydrate
intake and exercise, coupled with the support of assisted reproductive
technology, can be highly effective. If you decide to implement the addition of
herbs into your diet, you should inform your physician prior to beginning
treatment, or taking any medications. Be smart, be proactive, and be healthy.
For women with PCOS, this can translate into becoming a mommy.
I hope this article was informative and helpful! I personally do not know of anyone suffering from PCOS but thought I'd educate myself for my health and to possibly help others! So educate yourself, your family and your friends about PCOS....your knowledge just may help someone!
Until next time and as always...Thanks for checking out my blog: TwithTally!
