Researchers looked at more than
8,500 women from five European countries. They found that about one in seven
women between the ages of 25 and 42 had irregular periods. These women were 58
percent more likely to have asthma than women with regular periods. Lead
researcher, Dr. Cecilie Svanes, a pulmonologist in the Department of Thoracic
Medicine at Haukeland
Hospital, in
Bergen,
Norway, sees a link between
asthma and PCOS. She states that future studies may lead to treatment of asthma
with diet and other lifestyle changes in an effort to balance hormones. A second
study by Svanes’ team found that women with hormonal imbalances were more likely
to have poor lung function.
The take away lesson? Treating
PCOS with diet and exercise could lead to improvements in asthma control. On a
personal note, I have found that my asthma and allergies are greatly improved
since I have gotten some of my PCOS symptoms under control. For most of my life
I could count on a month of misery each spring and fall as the grasses and trees
bloomed. I also had asthma attacks when exposed to cats, mold, cut grass, or
almost anything else you could make airborne. Today I live comfortably in a
house with 2 cats and I have not had severe seasonal allergies in three
years.
