, is a hormonal imbalance that occurs in about 10-15% of women.
PCOS, which has no cure, can increase your risk of other health conditions.
However, treating the symptoms is critical to a woman’s long-term health.
Most women, like Meagan Sea, are diagnosed in their 20s and 30s.
“I was tired all the time. Depression was one of the main symptoms, gaining weight after eating healthy, swelling up so easily, and then the hair started to come,” Sea explained.
Sea’s PCOS symptoms:
- Depression
- Weight gain
- Unwanted hair growth
- Thinning hair on the head
- Acne
- Fatigue
- Bloating
Oftentimes, women of reproductive age are told these symptoms are normal. However, Sea knew they weren’t normal for her.
“I was like, okay, well, everybody says your body is never the same after having a baby,” she said. “These symptoms have been lingering way too long... I got a blood test done, and my testosterone levels are very high. So that’s how they were able to catch on.”
PCOS causes reproductive hormones to become imbalanced. The hormone imbalance can cause irregular menstrual cycles, which can lead to infertility and an even bigger underlying threat.
“Let’s say someone, for example, has not had a period for six months. That lining is not shedding,” said Dr. Megan Pallister, Kelsey-Seybold Clinic OB/GYN. “When the lining of a uterus thickens, you can have abnormal cells grow and you can actually end up with endometrial cancer. These are patients who have long-term untreated PCOS. That is a real concern for those patients.”
Other health complications that increase due to untreated PCOS include:
- Diabetes
- Insulin resistance
- Hypertension
- Obesity
Testing for PCOS can be as simple as a blood test or an ultrasound.
Treatments include:
- Lifestyle changes to manage weight
- Diet (some suggest the Mediterranean diet)
- Insulin-resistant medications can help irregular periods
- Medications with hormones (like birth control) may help control acne or hair growth
If you don’t want to take birth control, Dr. Pallister said there are other treatment options.
“You don’t actually have to be on birth control. You can be on progesterone, what we call cyclically. So, it’s only 10 days out of the month and it’s not going to prevent pregnancy,” Pallister said.
“It’s a very frustrating process to kind of just figure out what’s going on,” Sea said. “With the help of dieting and with the help of kind of taking care of your body, like walking exercises here and there, just kind of living a healthy life is going to help you through this and kind of help reduce those symptoms tremendously.”