The Mental and Physical Side Effects of Living with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome

The Mental and Physical Side Effects of Living with

Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome

Excerpt from original article

By Lorraine Mann

Approximately one in 40 women (or 6.8 million women in the USA) has it.  At least 30% of women have some symptoms of it.  It is called “Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome” or “PCOS” (also referred to as Stein-Leventhal syndrome, polycystic ovarian disease, or hyper androgenic chronic anovulation).  These are frightening words to a woman who has just heard them for the first time in a two-minute phone call from her OB/GYN office.  After being told that I have PCOS, and researching the facts and figures, I am left deliberating with myself…if this is such a “common” occurrence, why do I feel so naďve?  How many women have even heard of Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome?

I was told I have PCOS a couple of years ago by what I felt was an inconsiderate nurse just doing her job. When I asked for details, she gave me none; she just told me that it was a common problem, and the doctor would prescribe something.  That wasn’t good enough for me.  I was frightened.  I am not a doctor with extensive knowledge of the vast number of disorders that plague the human race day after day.  So, resorting to what I know best, I pushed the power button on the computer.  I went boldly surfing into cyber space, scanning any page I could find on the subject, trying to educate myself on the facts and figures, the treatments and the side effects.    When skimming the list of side effects associated with PCOS, I mentally checked the ones I knew I had, but the ones I confirmed formed an extremely short list.  I learned that a woman can have just one of these symptoms and still have PCOS.  Many indicators appear on the surface to be irrelevant, including: irregular or absent periods, lack of ovulation, weight gain, hirsutism (excess body hair, which tends to worsen over time), insulin resistance (now thought to be the root of PCOS rather than a symptom), acne, male-pattern balding, multiple small cysts on the ovaries, acanthosis nigrans (darkening of the skin under the arms and breasts and at the nape of the neck).  I had two symptoms on this list, which included lack of ovulation and irregular and absent periods.  I remember being prescribed Prometrium (to regulate my cycles) when trying to conceive my daughter, and since I gave birth to her three years ago, I have suffered with irregular and absent periods.