You are not in this alone. Offering help and support for women with PCOS.
Understanding
PCOS
(c) Copyright 2004-2009 Julie Renee Holland. This site is for educational purposes only and is not intended to replace medical advice. Please see a doctor.
Understanding PCOS (polycystic ovary syndrome) can be confusing. PCOS is the result of a complex interplay between the various hormone systems in the body. While the chemistry can be confusing, understanding the basics of PCOS is pretty straightforward. There are three main ways that PCOS affects the body:
*
Insulin Resistance
* Hormone Disruption
* Inflammation
Insulin Resistance
Insulin is the hormone that acts like a key to help blood sugar move into your cells. Insulin uses receptors to help glucose (blood sugar) move into cells, kind of like multiple keyholes on each cell. When you eat your stomach and intestines digest food and change it into glucose. Your pancreas produces insulin to help move the glucose into cells. If you eat starchy or sugary foods, your blood sugar rises very quickly and your cells are bombarded with too much blood sugar. Your body then produces extra insulin to help move this glucose into the cells quickly to avoid damage to your body.
If this happens regularly, your cells start producing fewer "keyholes" or insulin receptors so they won't get stuffed with glucose. This is known as "insulin resistance" (IR). Fat cells continue to absorb glucose as fast as they can, while your muscles and organs may not get enough. All this insulin clears the excess blood sugar out of your blood and into your fat cells very quickly. This can lead to feeling hungry, even while you are gaining weight since your fat cells are being well fed but your glucose may be uncomfortably low within a short time after eating.
Once your cells become resistant to insulin, your pancreas then needs to produce even more insulin to get glucose into the important cells. Over time your pancreas can become exhausted and even quit producing insulin all together. This is how diabetes develops, and the resulting low insulin levels can lead to damage to organs and nerves due to excessively high blood sugar levels.
Not all women with PCOS have insulin resistance. Insulin resistance is also very hard to diagnose. Yes, there are common tests that doctors do that can diagnose insulin resistance. More often than not, women tell me that they had severe symptoms for years before anything showed up on a test. If you have problems that indicate IR, it is a good idea to start improving your diet and exercise programs without waiting for things to get worse.
Signs of insulin resistance include gaining weight around your middle, hormonal problems, and/or symptoms of reactive hypoglycemia (hypoglycemia after eating) such as headaches, shakiness or hunger within an hour after eating. Research shows that even PCOS sufferers with no outward signs of insulin resistance respond well to insulin-sensitization drugs such as metformin.
Hormone Disruption
Excess insulin is turned into androgens in your body. Androgens are the precursors to several hormones including testosterone and estrogen. While all women have small amounts of testosterone, women with PCOS tend to have higher levels of testosterone. Excess testosterone leads to thinning hair, masculine body hair, adult acne, and can cause emotional issues as well. Women with PCOS also tend to have more estrogen than progesterone since progesterone is produced after ovulation. Women with PCOS ovulate later or less frequently than women with typical cycles.
Women with PCOS typically have cycles that are longer than 35 days. A woman with PCOS can have regular but long cycles or she may have irregular periods happening as infrequently as 6-18 months or more apart.
When the ovary is constantly bombarded with insulin and excess hormones, the normal egg-development process is disrupted. Under normal conditions the ovary produces several egg-follicles each month. One of these follicles will become dominant and the others will subside. The dominant follicle produces an egg. In a woman with PCOS this cycle is stopped before one follicle becomes dominant. These developing follicles then form small cysts on the ovary. Over time, these cysts become more and more numerous, resulting in the common "string of pearls" appearance that a polycystic ovary has in an ultrasound. Many women with PCOS have no cysts on thier ovaries and many women with normal cycles do have cysts.
Inflammation
Whether inflammation is the cause of PCOS or a symptom is still somewhat in debate. My feeling, based on the numerous studies linking PCOS, heart disease, diabetes and other diseases with inflammation is that PCOS is caused by inflammation throughout the body. We are all familiar with what inflammation looks like on the skin. Redness, itching, and swelling are common symptoms of inflammation on the skin. When inflammation is hidden in the body it can manifest as hardened arteries, rheumatoid arthritis, heart disease, diabetes, asthma, thyroid disease and other auto-immune disorders. There is mounting evidence that PCOS may be an auto-immune disorder.
So how do you treat chronic inflammation? Hidden inflammation is caused by the typical Western diet that is high in starchy and sweet foods, inflammation increasing oils such as soybean oil, stress, lack of sleep and lack of exercise as well as environmental pollutants. We can't control everything in our lives, but finding ways to change your diet, get more exercise and reduce stress all make a huge difference in PCOS symptoms. You may also want to consider herbs and supplements that reduce inflammation.
* Hormone Disruption
* Inflammation
Insulin Resistance
Insulin is the hormone that acts like a key to help blood sugar move into your cells. Insulin uses receptors to help glucose (blood sugar) move into cells, kind of like multiple keyholes on each cell. When you eat your stomach and intestines digest food and change it into glucose. Your pancreas produces insulin to help move the glucose into cells. If you eat starchy or sugary foods, your blood sugar rises very quickly and your cells are bombarded with too much blood sugar. Your body then produces extra insulin to help move this glucose into the cells quickly to avoid damage to your body.
If this happens regularly, your cells start producing fewer "keyholes" or insulin receptors so they won't get stuffed with glucose. This is known as "insulin resistance" (IR). Fat cells continue to absorb glucose as fast as they can, while your muscles and organs may not get enough. All this insulin clears the excess blood sugar out of your blood and into your fat cells very quickly. This can lead to feeling hungry, even while you are gaining weight since your fat cells are being well fed but your glucose may be uncomfortably low within a short time after eating.
Once your cells become resistant to insulin, your pancreas then needs to produce even more insulin to get glucose into the important cells. Over time your pancreas can become exhausted and even quit producing insulin all together. This is how diabetes develops, and the resulting low insulin levels can lead to damage to organs and nerves due to excessively high blood sugar levels.
Not all women with PCOS have insulin resistance. Insulin resistance is also very hard to diagnose. Yes, there are common tests that doctors do that can diagnose insulin resistance. More often than not, women tell me that they had severe symptoms for years before anything showed up on a test. If you have problems that indicate IR, it is a good idea to start improving your diet and exercise programs without waiting for things to get worse.
Signs of insulin resistance include gaining weight around your middle, hormonal problems, and/or symptoms of reactive hypoglycemia (hypoglycemia after eating) such as headaches, shakiness or hunger within an hour after eating. Research shows that even PCOS sufferers with no outward signs of insulin resistance respond well to insulin-sensitization drugs such as metformin.
Hormone Disruption
Excess insulin is turned into androgens in your body. Androgens are the precursors to several hormones including testosterone and estrogen. While all women have small amounts of testosterone, women with PCOS tend to have higher levels of testosterone. Excess testosterone leads to thinning hair, masculine body hair, adult acne, and can cause emotional issues as well. Women with PCOS also tend to have more estrogen than progesterone since progesterone is produced after ovulation. Women with PCOS ovulate later or less frequently than women with typical cycles.
Women with PCOS typically have cycles that are longer than 35 days. A woman with PCOS can have regular but long cycles or she may have irregular periods happening as infrequently as 6-18 months or more apart.
When the ovary is constantly bombarded with insulin and excess hormones, the normal egg-development process is disrupted. Under normal conditions the ovary produces several egg-follicles each month. One of these follicles will become dominant and the others will subside. The dominant follicle produces an egg. In a woman with PCOS this cycle is stopped before one follicle becomes dominant. These developing follicles then form small cysts on the ovary. Over time, these cysts become more and more numerous, resulting in the common "string of pearls" appearance that a polycystic ovary has in an ultrasound. Many women with PCOS have no cysts on thier ovaries and many women with normal cycles do have cysts.
Inflammation
Whether inflammation is the cause of PCOS or a symptom is still somewhat in debate. My feeling, based on the numerous studies linking PCOS, heart disease, diabetes and other diseases with inflammation is that PCOS is caused by inflammation throughout the body. We are all familiar with what inflammation looks like on the skin. Redness, itching, and swelling are common symptoms of inflammation on the skin. When inflammation is hidden in the body it can manifest as hardened arteries, rheumatoid arthritis, heart disease, diabetes, asthma, thyroid disease and other auto-immune disorders. There is mounting evidence that PCOS may be an auto-immune disorder.
So how do you treat chronic inflammation? Hidden inflammation is caused by the typical Western diet that is high in starchy and sweet foods, inflammation increasing oils such as soybean oil, stress, lack of sleep and lack of exercise as well as environmental pollutants. We can't control everything in our lives, but finding ways to change your diet, get more exercise and reduce stress all make a huge difference in PCOS symptoms. You may also want to consider herbs and supplements that reduce inflammation.
(c) Copyright 2004-2009 Julie Renee Holland. This site is for educational purposes only and is not intended to replace medical advice. Please see a doctor.