From LOSING IT! With Jillian Michaels
Tuesday, November 03, 2009
You Can Master PCOS
I want to share a serious condition with you today that you may not know about: Polycystic ovarian syndrome, or PCOS, is the number-one cause of female infertility. Women with this common (one in ten premenopausal American women have PCOS) hormonal condition don't ovulate or menstruate regularly but often don't learn the reason for their irregular periods until they seek help for infertility. However, girls as young as 11 have also been diagnosed with PCOS — and they typically find out when they develop severe acne or excessive facial hair.
A combination of two hormonal dysfunctions — insulin resistance and excess androgen (male hormone) — are seen in women with PCOS. What comes first? No one knows for sure. But one thing is certain: Women who have PCOS start to experience a lot of collateral damage from their condition. Their symptoms include: abdominal obesity, infertility, thinning hair on the head, higher LDL (lousy cholesterol) and lower HDL (good cholesterol), acne, dandruff, skin tags, excessive snoring/sleep apnea, and overall weight gain or difficulty losing weight. Some of these are merely a hassle, but the long-term health concerns of PCOS are something to take seriously: Women with PCOS are up to seven times more likely to suffer from a heart attack than women without the condition. Pregnant women who have it face a steeper rate of miscarriage, gestational diabetes, preeclampsia, and premature delivery. More than 50 percent of women with PCOS will develop prediabetes or diabetes by the time they're 40. PCOS is not curable, however managing your symptoms will not only help you feel better right now, it will also reduce your likelihood of developing these serious complications.
If you suspect that you have PCOS, make an appointment with an endocrinologist and ask to have your androgen level checked as well as your blood glucose for signs of insulin resistance. In addition, here are some other things you can try to make the symptoms more manageable:
- Monitor your blood sugar: Even if you're not diagnosed with diabetes, it's a great way to keep tabs on how your diet influences your insulin response. Also, when women with PCOS used higher-protein/lower-carb diets to lose weight, they reduced their blood sugar, lowered levels of free androgens, and maintained a healthy HDL.
- Lose that 10 percent: Dropping 10 percent of your weight can make your menstrual cycle more regular and improve your body's insulin sensitivity.
- Quit smoking: Smoking jacks up your blood pressure and heart rate, raises testosterone, cortisol, and other adrenal hormones, causes insulin resistance, and messes with your ovarian function — in other words, it makes every aspect of PCOS worse.
- Stick to organic dairy: Insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1) stimulates the production of certain skin cells that can plug skin ducts and lead to acne. While no link has been proven between cows treated with growth hormones and PCOS, those cows do produce milk with higher levels of IGF-1.