With September being polycystic ovary syndrome awareness month, it is highlighting a condition impacting one in 10 women.
The condition occurs when the ovaries produce an abnormal amount of androgens, or male sex hormones, that usually are present in only small amounts.
Dr. Marcietta Wilson-Coleman, an OB-GYN at Mercy Health – Lorain Hospital, said the impact can manifest in many ways from delayed or the absence of menstrual cycles to hair forming on the face in a pattern similar to males.
These symptoms often are misunderstood, and only about 25 percent of sufferers are diagnosed, Wilson-Coleman said.
In American culture, the disease runs parallel to the cultural stigma attached to obesity.
“So, if you have a lot of facial hair, chest hair and then you’re morbidly obese, then those people tend to not be treated as fairly as everyone else in our society,” Wilson-Coleman said. “Because most people don’t know about the disease, so they’re looking at them as in a negative light as opposed to looking at them as a person who has a medical condition.”
For individuals suffering from the condition, she said it was a nature-versus-nurture type question with individuals with a family history of obesity and poor dietary habits being at higher risk for developing polycystic ovary syndrome.
While the syndrome is not technically genetic and has no known cure, diet can play a role.
“It increases your risk for cardiovascular disease and fatty liver disease,” Wilson-Coleman said. “So, in that instance, most people who have PCOS have a higher incidence of becoming diabetic.”
Conceiving still is possible with polycystic ovary syndrome, she said.
It’s a big misconception that the disease actually causes infertility, noting the differences in how it manifests for some people, the doctor said.
“It doesn’t really cause infertility, so people often will think that because they have PCOS, they cannot have children, and yeah you can,” Wilson-Coleman said. “The thing that you should be moving toward, is a normal body weight.
“And once the body weight has come into our normal area, then usually, those people will ovulate because they will have regular cycles.”
In the community, Wilson-Coleman said helping women get access to healthier food and find ways to healthily lose weight and maintain it, will encourage healthier cycles.
Food deserts in lower-income areas pose challenges in encouraging healthier lifestyles, she said.
Not having proper cycles can increase risks for more serious complications.
“So, when they are not, then that unopposed estrogen puts women at increased risk for endometrial cancer,” Wilson-Coleman said. “So it’s important that a woman’s menstrual health is identified by her primary care physician or identified by her gynecologist and that is addressed.
“No one really wants to have a cycle, but we still have to have it to keep that uterus healthy. So things that we could do to help people to have more cycles, is getting them to have a healthy weight.
“It’s going to be beneficial to the general population, because we know that the risk factors for diabetes and hypertension things that catapult our medical industry, as far as, the risk factors for debt and disease and complications on the hospital.”
