What is PCOS?
PCOS is an endocrine system disorder affecting women in their reproductive years.
Symptoms of PCOS
PCOS is a syndrome disease defined by a collection of signs and symptoms.
- Irregular or missing menstrual periods
- Infertility
- Excess or unwanted body or facial hair growth
- Thinning hair on the scalp
- Weight problems, often including weight gain around the waist
- Skin problems, including skin tags, darkening skin and acne
Causes of PCOS
- Poor diet leading to deficiency in protein and micro nutrients like Folic acid, Vit D, Magnesium, Zinc etc
- Stress causes hormones
- Pollution – plasticizer BPA mimics endrogens in the body
- Lack of exercise causes hormone imbalance, obesity
- Obesity < — > PCOS
- Genetic
Typical Endocrine Profile of a PCOS female
HEALTH RISKS ASSOCIATED WITH PCOS
There are several health risks associated with PCOS like
- Type 2 diabetes
- Infertility
- High cholesterol
- Elevated lipids
- Sleep apnea
- Liver disease
- Abnormal uterine bleeding
- Increased risk of endometrial cancer, gestational diabetes, pregnancy-induced high blood pressure, heart attacks and miscarriage
- High blood pressure
- Obesity possibly leading to issues with low self-esteem and depression
- Metabolic syndrome
- Nonalcoholic fatty liver (steatohepatitis)
Treatment – history & new developments
- Lifestyle modification is the first step which includes
- Proper diet especially protein rich preferably plant protein and fruits/vegetables which are rich in micronutrients.
- Exercise
- Proper sleeping pattern
- As most PCOS women also had insulin resistance, Metformin was initially tried and still widely used. It works partly but is not the solution.
- Then myo-inositol 1-2 gm/day became popular in combination with d-Chiro-inositol. Some Pharma cos mislead with 40:1 ratio whereas D-chiro-inositol is not that important in curing PCOS.
- Vitamin supplements like folic acid, Vitamin D etc were given with m-inositol which gave improvements but could not reverse PCOS in most cases.
- Birth control pills to regulate menstruation
- Androgen-blocking medications
- Topical anti-hair-growth medications
- Other excess hair treatments
- Treatments for hair loss
- Acne treatments
- Removal of other skin problems
All above just treated symptoms or partially reversed BUT mostly did not reverse the PCOS completely.