{"id":718,"date":"2014-03-06T23:14:01","date_gmt":"2014-03-06T23:14:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/victoriancosmetic.com.au\/?p=718"},"modified":"2022-02-08T16:26:23","modified_gmt":"2022-02-08T05:26:23","slug":"polycystic-ovarian-syndrome-pcos-is-there-a-cure-how-can-we-help","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/victoriancosmetic.com.au\/polycystic-ovarian-syndrome-pcos-is-there-a-cure-how-can-we-help\/","title":{"rendered":"Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS). Is there a cure? How can we help?"},"content":{"rendered":"

What is Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS)?<\/span><\/h3>\n

Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS)\u00a0is a metabolic syndrome that is diagnosed in 5-10 percent of women in Australia. Symptoms of PCOS can manifest at any age, ranging from childhood to adolescence to even later in life.<\/span><\/p>\n

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a common condition characterised by menstrual abnormalities and clinical or biochemical features of hyperandrogegism. What does that mean? Essentially too many androgens or “male hormones” circulating in the female body.<\/p>\n

PCOS occurs when the endocrine system is out of balance, causing ovulation disturbances by making them rare and irregular whilst also causing other major changes in the body.<\/p>\n

It is currently not well understood why PCOS affects hormones to such a degree. Hormones are chemical messengers that trigger many different processes including hunger, growth of hair\/skin\/nails, energy production and many more functions. Often, the job of one hormone is to signal the release of another hormone and so an imbalanced endocrine system can wreak havoc on critical processes within the body.<\/p>\n

One hormone change can trigger another, which can trigger another and so on.<\/p>\n

For example:<\/p>\n

When sex hormones function normally, the ovaries produce a tiny amount of male sex hormones (androgens). With sufferers of PCOS, they start producing an elevated and abnormal number of androgens. This rise in androgens signal the ovaries to slow production down, causing fertility issues in many cases and causes the sufferer to become more prone to acne breakouts, and excessive facial and body hair.<\/p>\n

Sufferers of PCOS may experience difficulty controlling blood sugar, due developing symptoms of insulin resistance. This can make weight loss very difficult, and weight gain an almost certainty. When the body cannot use insulin well, blood sugar levels can become difficult to control causing major changes in hunger, appetite and metabolism. Over time, elevated insulin levels can increase your chances of developing diabetes.<\/p>\n

The causes of PCOS are related to genetics and lifestyle, which lead to excess male-type hormones and insulin resistance in the body. When the body\u2019s insulin is not as effective as it should be, the body compensates by producing more insulin. Elevated insulin levels trigger rapid weight gain and can signal an increase in male hormones which disrupt the normal ovulation cycle, causing eggs in the ovary to stop mid-way through development. On an ultrasound screen, these look like small cysts within the ovary. The eggs do not ovulate, leading to some of the PCOS symptoms.<\/p>\n

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What are the symptoms of\u00a0Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS)?<\/h3>\n

Women with PCOS may suffer from a variety of symptoms and also have a variety of different physical signs, all of which can be due to a number of different causes.<\/p>\n

PCOS is a hormonal disorder with a collection of metabolic, reproductive and psychological effects. The symptoms of PCOS are caused by fluctuations in hormone levels and there may be one or more causes for the hormone fluctuations.<\/p>\n

Symptoms can include any or all of the following:<\/p>\n