Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome : Causes, Symptoms And Diagnosis

By Author: Suborna Fermi
Total Articles: 27
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Polycystic ovarian syndrome is a condition of women, affecting hormone levels during the reproductive years. With this disease, a woman’s ovaries produce undeveloped or partially developed eggs. And all these undeveloped eggs become fluid-filled cysts overtime.

As a consequence of the fluid-filled cysts, your ovaries generate a huge amount of androgen hormone (Male hormone). This eventually leads to irregular menstrual cycles, infertility issues, weight gain, and other several health issues.

While this disorder is very common in women, there are a lot of women who are not aware of the dangers this disease may cause. Here is detailed discussion regarding the causes, symptoms, diagnosis and treatment of Polycystic ovarian syndrome.

What are the causes of PCOS?

What causes PCOS is still unknown to the doctors. However, they believe there are some factors for which the ovaries produce too much androgen hormone and immature eggs. These factors include both genetic and environmental factors. The possible factors are:

Heredity: Some research has found that PCOS might be related ...
... to genes. In simple words, it has been found that women who have PCOS have a family history of this disorder.
Insulin resistance: Insulin is a hormone produced by the pancreas, and 60% of women who Are suffering from PCOS have insulin resistance. IIn simple words, their body cells cannot use insulin efficiently.
As a result of this, your body then produces too much insulin, and too much insulin induces the excess production of androgen hormone. The sign of insulin resistance is weight gain, increased appetite, and dark patches on the skin.
Low-grade inflammation: in the response to injury or infection, the white blood cells produce a substance, and this is called low-grade inflammation. Several conditions can cause inflammation. But patients with PCOS suffer from long term low-grade inflammation.

What are the effects of PCOS on your body?

We all know that PCOS mainly affects the reproductive organs, but it also affects other organs of the body.

Infertility: PCOS disrupts a woman’s usual menstrual cycle which makes it difficult to get pregnant. Also, this disorder increases the chances of pregnancy complications.
Endometrial cancer: The chances of having endometrial cancer is more likely if you have PCOS. In the time of ovulation the uterine lining sheds, but PCOS patients fail to ovulate every month which results in the thickening of the uterine lining. And the thickening and proliferation of the uterine lining which increase the chances of Endometrial cancer.
Heart disease: Having PCOS can increase your chance of having high blood pressure and cardiovascular disorders. Many studies have shown that PCOS increases triglycerides levels, blood pressure, inflammatory markers, and atherosclerosis. And all of these conditions highly increase your chance to get heart disease and stroke.
Diabetes: If you have PCOS it is more likely that your body is not using the glucose properly, and this results in high blood glucose level as well as high insulin production. And having high blood glucose levels can contribute to developing diabetes overtime.
Metabolic syndrome: Metabolic syndrome is also known as syndrome X. Around 70% of women are overweight or have obesity, and having obesity and PCOS at same time increases your chance of metabolic syndrome. Metabolic syndrome changes include high triglycerides level, high blood pressure, high blood glucose level, low HDL level, and increased abdominal weight.
Sleep apnea: PCOS can cause persistent pauses in your breath at night which can create interruption in your sleep. Also, sleep apnea is extremely common in PCOS patients who are overweight.
Depression: PCOS not only can affect your physical health, it can also affect your mental health as well. Researchers have not found out what is the exact connection between depression and PCOS. But several studies have found that 30-50% of women with PCOS are suffering from depression and anxiety in comparison to women who do not have PCOS.

What are the symptoms of PCOS?

Some may notice the symptoms at the time of their first menstrual period, while others may discover that they have this disorder after facing problems getting pregnant. The general symptoms of PCOS are:

Irregular menstrual cycle
Heavy bleeding during menstrual
Acne
Excess body hair in the neck, belly, face and groin area
Hair loss
Male pattern baldness
Obesity
Dark velvety patches in the neck
Sleep disorder
Trouble in conceiving
Depression

If you are having any of the following PCOS symptoms, then go for the PCOS blood test immediately.

How is PCOS diagnosed?

Your doctor would ask you if you are having symptoms like missing period, acne and weight gain. Also, they would like to ask you about your medical history. Then, they would perform a pelvic exam to check if you have any problem with your reproductive organs.

After that he or she would suggest PCOS profile test to check your male hormone levels, cholesterol levels, insulin levels and triglyceride levels. The PCOS test price is very reasonable, and will help the doctors find out if you are at risk of having diabetes and heart disease.

You will also need to have an ultrasound. This will help the doctors to understand the size of your ovaries, the thickness of your uterus and whether you have any cysts or not.

So those are all the symptoms, causes, complications and diagnosis of PCOS. No matter how severe the complications can be, always remember all of the PCOS complications are preventable. Millions of women are currently suffering PCOS worldwide, what you have to do is maintain a healthy lifestyle. Because it is scientifically proven that having an active lifestyle and healthy diet helps in reducing the symptoms and complications of PCOS.

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