PCOS which is short for Polycystic Ovary Syndrome is one of the major causes of infertility worldwide. Is there a cure for PCOS?
A recent study showed that close to 70% of the women with PCOS don’t even know that they have it which means that they have not even be diagnosed.
If a medical condition is so serious as to be the major cause of infertility in women in the world, then it is only fair that we know more about it like the causes, the symptoms, diagnosis, tests, the treatments and also the home remedies.
If you want to know more about PCOS, what to do if you are diagnosed, and how to cure PCOS, then stick with me as we will be addressing everything you need to know about the condition in this post.
WHAT IS PCOS?
PCOS is an abbreviation for Polycystic Ovary Syndrome.
And it is pronounced /Pee-Cee-Oh-Ess/ by some people and /Pee-Cos/ by other people.
The long form is basically pronounced /Polly-Sis-Tick-Oh-Vary-Sin-Drome/.
The name is derived from the meaning of its four (4) different parts being Poly, Cystic, Ovary & Syndrome and we’ll be looking at that below.
- Poly means “many”
- Cystic is derived from the word cysts which are “tiny sacs filled with fluid”.
- Ovary is a reproductive organ in the female body where eggs and hormones are produced.
- Syndrome is a combination of different symptoms or diseases.
Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) is a medical condition that affects the hormonal levels in an adult woman of child-bearing age.
This causes the affected woman to either have increased male hormones (androgen) and/or have menstrual periods that are irregular in the sense that they are either infrequent or prolonged.
SYMPTOMS OF PCOS
There are different signs and symptoms of PCOS.
But to be sure that you have PCOS, you need to be experiencing two of the three symptoms I will be listing below in the least.
- Excess Androgen: Androgen is a male hormone and when you have excess of this male hormone, you will begin to develop lots of hair on the body and even facial hair. You will also be experiencing acne development and also baldness that is associated with the male folk. The hair situation is also known as hirsutism.
- Irregular Periods: Almost all the women with PCOS experience periods that are irregular. It is either prolonged or infrequent. This is a very common symptom and shouldn’t be hard to detect. If you have PCOS, you might have less than 9 periods in total in a full year as opposed to 12.
- Polycystic Ovaries: If you have PCOS, you might have large ovaries that also consist of follicles that surround the eggs. This causes the ovaries to function abnormally.
EFFECTS OF PCOS
PCOS causes quite a number of health complications like Infertility for the most part, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, gestational diabetes, depression, abnormal uterine bleeding, endometrial cancer (which is cancer of the uterine lining) and also miscarriage or premature birth.
When you are suffering from obesity, you have a higher risk of experiencing a worse version of these complications.
CAUSES OF PCOS
Over time, the exact cause of PCOS has not been discovered.
But there are couple of factors that could play a significant role in its development.
- Excess Androgen: Like I mentioned earlier, androgens are male hormones, and when the ovaries produce more of these hormones, it could result in excess hair growth (hirsutism) and acne development.
- Excess Insulin: Insulin is a hormone that is produced in the pancreas that allows the cells in the body to use sugar and therefore supply the body with energy. When the body becomes resistant to the effects of insulin, the cells don’t get the chemical signal to use sugar which results in excess sugar in the blood stream causing your blood sugar levels to rise above normal which in turn signals the body to produce more insulin. Now, the presence of excess insulin in the body can trigger the production of Androgens (those male hormones we talked about…) which causes complications with ovulation.
- Heredity: Recent studies have speculated that PCOS might be hereditary. There is a chance that if any of the parents have PCOS in their genes, the child will also have PCOS. The only difference between a male carrier and a female carrier is that the males don’t experience the symptoms seeing as it is that they don’t have ovaries.
- Low Grade Inflammation: This is a situation where the white blood cells produce substances to fight infection in the body. Women with PCOS have a type of this inflammation that makes the ovaries produce androgens.
DIAGNOSIS OF PCOS
For your health practitioner to accurately diagnose you of having PCOS, you might have to be put through a number of tests.
You might also need to know your menstrual history and weight history too.
After a discussion of your history as it relates to your periods and your weight and also a physical examination of your hair growth, you might have to do the following medical tests.
- Pelvic Examination: Here, the doctor uses his eyes and hands to inspect your reproductive organ for abnormalities.
- An Ultrasound Pelvic Scan: The doctor uses technology here to check your ovaries for any cysts, uterine lining thickness and also ovary size.
- Blood Tests: You might have to get tested for your hormone levels. You might also have to do a blood sugar test & insulin test too.
TREATMENT: How To Cure PCOS
Now, let’s look at how to cure PCOS.
With PCOS, the there is no known “cure” so the major treatments focus on correcting the symptoms that bother you like infertility, obesity, acne, diabetes & hirsutism.
These can be taken care of in two different ways and most times involves a combination of both ways.
The first way involves some lifestyle changes.
You might need to watch your diet and also incorporate exercise into your daily routine.
It is known that losing body weight helps in improving the PCOS condition & also the effectiveness of the medications you’ll be taking to fix the infertility symptom.
In the case of irregular periods, your doctor might put you on birth control pills that contain estrogen and progestin so as to reduce the body production of these hormones.
That way, you have lower risk of developing endometrial cancer and you can kiss abnormal bleeding goodbye.
To reduce the excess hair growth, your doctor might recommend medical practices like electrolysis, Eflornithine, Birth control pills or Spironolactone.
There are also a couple of pills like Clomiphene, Femara, Metformin and Gonadotropins that could help you ovulate but these medications have to be taken after doctor’s consultation and prescription.
HOW TO CURE PCOS NATURALLY
1. Ensure that you maintain healthy weight levels.
Reduce your intake of carbohydrates and fatty foods.
Instead, take complex carbohydrates.
Studies comparing diets for PCOS have found that low-carbohydrate diets are effective for both weight loss and lowering insulin levels.
High fiber and low glycemic index (low-GI) diet that gets most carbohydrates from fruits, vegetables, and whole grains helps regulate the menstrual cycle better than a regular weight loss diet.
Losing just 5 to 10 percent of your body weight can help regulate your menstrual cycle and improve PCOS symptoms.
2. Exercise
3. Inositol
4. Manage Stress
HOW TO CURE PCOS MEDICALLY
1. Birth control
2. Metformin
3. Clomiphene
4. Hair removal medicines
This can rid women of unwanted hair.
5. Surgery
Conclusion (on How To Cure PCOS)
Take Charge of your Health and Happiness!
