What is PCOS?
In honor of September, PCOS awareness month, I wanted to discuss the basics of POCS. PCOS stands for polycystic ovary syndrome. It is most often diagnosed when you meet at least two out of three criteria called the Rotterdam criteria. You may be experiencing:
Irregular cycles (typically around 8 or less cycles per year)
Hyperandrogenism – a fancy term for having more testosterone than other women or people with ovaries
a) either by checking a blood test and having higher than typical levels
b) or having symptoms like excessive hair growth on the face, chest, back etc. significant acne or hair loss at the temple or crown of your head
3) Polycystic appearing ovaries, ovaries that have more structures called follicles than other people.
PCOS can be associated with other issues like diabetes and may be related to insulin resistance since this signaling is important for the ovary. Some people with PCOS may be of a higher weight than their counterpart. Cholesterol levels may be higher. Sometimes people with PCOS may also have a higher risk of depression.
PCOS is more common than you may think and affects between 5-10% of women globally.
When you aren’t trying to get pregnant, the biggest health issue that I caution patients about is to make sure that they are ovulating regularly. If they aren’t, they should be taking progesterone regularly to protect the uterus from uterine cancer.
For people that are trying to get pregnant, it can be much harder to time intercourse or insemination (for same sex and single folks), when you don’t ovulate regularly.
If your menstrual cycles aren’t regular, it is important to find out why. Even if periods are no fun, they tell us something about the health of our hormonal system.
Treatments depend on one’s symptoms and goals. Treatments may involve lifestyle modifications, birth control pills or cyclic progesterone, an intrauterine device, or medications letrozole.
Reproductive endocrinologists, general endocrinologists and ob/gyns should know how to diagnose and treat PCOS but it is helpful to ask in advance if it is something your provider is comfortable managing.