What is Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome and Why Women Should Be Informed

As a woman who does not have regular menstrual cycles, I was concerned. But when I read that some women with irregular cycles cannot birth children I was kind of scared because even though I had made the choice to not have children I knew that the future was a tricky thing and I might someday meet someone I want to have children with, so I went to my doctor and was told about a condition called Polycystic Ovary Syndrome. I also learned that PCOS is not just an infertility problem with women and can lead to other symptoms that are potentially fatal.

In the past PCOS has been viewed as an infertility problem. Not so anymore. Women with other symptoms such as acne and weight gain were told to exercise and eat less. That is was another one of those teenage problems. But PCOS is dangerous and often deadly if not diagnosed and even then treatments may cause more problems. And it's on the rise.
PCOS was first described in 1935 and named Stein-Levinthal Syndrome. At that time, doctors noticed tiny cysts covering ovaries and thought it just affected ovaries, causing excess body hair, irregular menses, infrequent ovulation, and follicles (cell in ovary containing ovum from which egg is released during ovulation) that did not develop but became multiple cysts.
PCOS affects 6%, or millions of premenopausel woman, teenagers, and prepubescent girls. Hormonal balance of PCOS can wreak havoc throughout the brain and body. It greatly increases a woman's risk of multiple health problems, starting in her early teens.

Some Symptoms:
By age 30, half of all women with PCOS have blood sugar problems with either impaired glucose regulation, producing too much insulin, or insensitivity to the your own body's insulin, or full blown diabetes.
Women with PCOS have greater risk of heart disease that can appear as early as their late 20's, early 30's.
Women ages 39-49 who have PCOS are four times more likely to have a heart attack then women who do not have PCOS.
Women with PCOS have a higher risk at younger ages of uterine and breast cancers.

Some symptoms:
Rapid weight gain, often without a change in food intake.
Excess facial and body hair.
Hair loss.
Severe acne, often cystic acne with pimples that become like boils.
Irregular menstrual cycles, or none at all.
Difficulty getting pregnant or frequent miscarriages.
Mood problems, such as anxiety, agitation, depression, and mood swings.
Insomnia. Restless sleep or trouble falling asleep.

What causes PCOS?
No one really knows what causes PCOS, but we can link factors that cause disruption of normal hormonal production such as:
Genetic factors
Environmental factors, exposure to pesticides and other endocrine disrupting chemicals
Excess insulin production related to obesity induced insulin resistance.
Excess intake of amino acids
Medications that increase prolactin.

In conclusion, many doctors do not know what to look for when treating PCOS, or do not even know how to treat it. Your best bet? Go to an Endocrinologist who specializes in endocrine disorders, although they do not really focus on the ovary (Egg producing reproductive organs found in female organisms). If they do not work on that part of the body, ask them who does and seek treatment immediately. Although I must warn you, some treatments for PCOS can harm more that they help down the road