Polycystic Ovary Syndrome: What is it and How to Treat it

Polycystic ovary syndrome is a hormonal disorder that can affect women in their childbearing years. In this article, we'll talk about what it is and how to treat it.

Hormones are very important for an athlete’s health and life in general. Polycystic ovary syndrome is one of those conditions that can have great hormonal relevance, and therefore affect the physical exercise and general well-being of an individual. In this article, we’ll explain what this syndrome is, its symptoms and its treatments.

Polycystic ovary syndrome

Polycystic ovary syndrome is a hormonal disorder that women can suffer from in their fertile years. Its causes aren’t very clear, but experts have implicated genetic and environmental factors in its origin.

Most of them believe that high levels of the Anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) and androgens during pregnancy could cause the expression of certain genes that will manifest this syndrome once puberty hits.

The symptoms of polycystic ovary syndrome

This disease has a wide variety of symptoms. Most of them are related to high levels of androgens.

Polycystic ovary syndrome takes its name from the large number of liquid cysts that form in the ovaries; however, the symptoms go much further than that. Here are some of the most frequent symptoms:

• Irregular cycles. It’s especially frequent to experience abnormally long cycles. It’s also common to have very intense cycles, with heavy and more painful bleeding.

• Polycystic ovaries. As discussed earlier, numerous cysts filled with fluid may appear in the ovaries. These cysts are visible on X-rays, as well as on computerized scans or magnetic resonance imaging. There can be so many cysts that they start to protrude over other abdominal organs, causing a lot of pain.
• Hyperandrogenism. The excess of androgens (male hormones), which is the cause of polycystic ovary syndrome, can also cause most of the symptoms. It can cause the appearance of facial and body hair, a condition known as hirsutism.
• Other symptoms can be acne and androgenic alopecia, which consists of hair loss that causes baldness in women.

Complications

This disease has a series of complications that can put the health of the patient at risk. Obesity is one of them; but diabetes, sleep apnea, high blood pressure, and non-alcoholic hepatic steatosis are especially frequent and important. Eating disorders, depression, and anxiety are also common.

Polycystic ovary syndrome treatment

The treatment for polycystic ovary syndrome is complex. There’s no specific method to treat this disease, therefore, doctors usually choose dietary measures to avoid complications and minimize the symptoms.

The main goal of treating this syndrome is to reduce insulin resistance, help the patient to lose weight and normalize their menstrual cycles. The main pillars of treatment for polycystic ovary syndrome are dietary measures, lifestyle changes, and medication.

Physical exercise and food

Physical exercise should be one of the pillars in the life of a patient with polycystic ovary syndrome. Interval exercise, which studies have shown to be very effective in reducing insulin resistance, is especially recommended.

Furthermore, these workouts help to control the patient’s body weight and speed up their metabolism of fat. On top of that, they can also help to regulate menstrual cycles. A correct diet will help us achieve this goal if we follow it along with a training plan.

Medication

In most cases, dietary measures are not enough to control the disease. The use of oral contraceptives is common since they’re capable of binding and inactivating androgenic hormones such as testosterone. This way, it’s possible to avoid some symptoms such as hirsutism and acne.

Metformin is also a common treatment to reduce insulin resistance. Statins, such as atorvastatin, are another option to reduce the symptoms of metabolic syndrome and lower blood cholesterol levels. This also helps to regularize the patient’s body weight.