Signs and Symptoms of PCOS
Human body is a very complex thing. It can suffer from weird kind of diseases. It is possible that you are suffering from a serious disease but you don’t even know about it because it will start affecting your health when you gets older. You don’t even know the names of so many diseases and yet you are feeling good because you are actually ignoring the signs and symptoms which you may have been facing. If you are a female, you need to be more cautious as females are more prone to diseases as compared with males. PCOS is one such disease which can seriously affect your health if not taken care of properly. In this post, we are going to share all the sign and symptoms of PCOS which you must know.
What is PCOS?
PCOS stands for Polycystic ovarian syndrome and it a medical condition in which a woman faces imbalance in her female sex hormones. Basically, the level of estrogen and progesterone goes out of order and it leads to changes in menstrual cycle, growth of ovarian cysts and fertility. PCOS cause trouble in getting pregnant and it also hampers the cardiac functions of the body.
PCOS is very much common as 1 in 20 women suffers from PCOS. 1 in 20 women of childbearing age also suffers from PCOS and it can also occur in girls as young as 11 years old. It is a serious disease with over 5 million women suffering from it in US alone.
What causes PCOS?
Before going into sign and symptoms of PCOS, we need to understand what exactly causes PCOS. Despite so much advancement in medical field, the exact cause of PCOS is still unknown. However, most of the doctor consider hormonal imbalance and genetics as the main causes of PCOS. Women are more prone to suffer PCOS if their mother or sister also has the disease.
Another contributing factor in PCOS is overproduction of hormone known as androgen which is a male sex hormone produced by a female. A lady suffering from PCOS produces more than normal androgen which affects the development and release of eggs during ovulation and thus resulting in pregnancy complications. Many researchers believe that high level of insulin can also cause PCOS.
What are the signs and symptoms of PCOS?
Now coming to the main point of the post. There are many sign and symptoms of PCOS which can be easily understood. Few of them are:
- Irregular Periods: This is the most common sign of PCOS. If you are not having your periods for a long time of more than 35 days, there are high chances that you are suffering from PCOS. Irregular periods or failure to menstruate for more than four months is a sign of PCOS. If you are facing very light or very high periods, it can be a case of PCOS.
- Infertility: If you are not being able to get pregnant or your eggs are not getting stable, it is a sign of PCOS. Not getting pregnant due because of not ovulating is the common symptom of PCOS.
- Hirsuitsm: It is a condition where a women starts getting hairs on the face and chest. If you are noticing increased hair growth on your face, stomach, chest, back, thumbs or toes, it can be a sign of PCOS. It happens due to the over-production of male sex hormone, androgen.
- Oily Skin: Too much oily skin with dandruff and acne can also be considered as a sign of PCOS.
- Thinning of hairs: If you are facing thinning of hairs or pattern baldness, it is due to the androgen which can cause PCOS. Patches of skin on body parts like arms, neck and breasts that are black or dark brown in color is a clear sign of PCOS.
- Sudden Weight Gain: If you are feeling sudden weight around your waist or you are gaining weight at rapid speed, it can be a case of PCOS.
- Other common sign and symptoms of PCOS are pelvic pain, anxiety, depression and sleep apnea.
If you are facing any of these sign or symptoms, you should consult your doctor as soon as possible. Remember, prevention is better than cure.
