PCOS
This post is dedicated to my girl L.
Before Saturday, the only thing I knew about Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) was that it was the cause of many of my blogging sisters’ frustrations and need to pursue alternative fertility options. Then one of my friends told me she was diagnosed with it.
- PCOS is the #1 cause of infertility in women.
- BUT pregnancy is possible. Just ask Our Own Creation and Marie-Baguette.
- The causes of PCOS are unknown.
- There is a strong correlation between PCOS and diabetes, heart disease and obesity. There is also an increased risk of several types of cancer.
- PCOS affects one in ten women of childbearing age.
I was disappointed with WebMD’s oversimplified statement: PCOS is a problem in which a woman’s hormones are out of balance. That’s like someone telling me my panties are in a twist when in fact my ovaries have been manually rearranged by well-meaning doctors way back when (but that’s another post altogether).
Fortunately, several women diagnosed with PCOS have come together to create forums and resources for each other. Check out PCOS for the Masses, the companion blog to the PCOS Today magazine, to see how one editor plans to bring PCOS awareness to the forefront. PCOS Matters has a brand new website and is attempting to start a forum for questions and advice related to PCOS.
And believe it or not, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services webpage on PCOS is very informative as well.
I need to know more about PCOS so I can support my friend as she has supported me in recent months. I promise to post more here as I learn.
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5 opinions for PCOS
Nicole
Oct 22, 2007 at 10:41 pm
Another very informative place is http://www.soulcysters.net. If it were not for them I do not know if I would have made it through my struggles with infertility caused by PCOS. In my opinion the best book out there for PCOS is Polycystic Ovary Syndrome by Thatcher.
Gabrielle
Oct 23, 2007 at 8:43 am
Nicole, thank you! I plan to add a PCOS blogroll here soon and will definitely add Soulcysters as a research.
And I will definitely recommend the book to my friend.
Best wishes,
Gab
kendra
Oct 23, 2007 at 1:23 pm
My sister was just diagnosed with this last week, after a diagnosis of systemic lupus last year. She is going through all the options in her head right now and is fairly devastated, this puts yet another wrinkle in her baby plans.
Gabrielle
Oct 23, 2007 at 3:06 pm
Kendra, I am so sorry to hear that. But as I told my friend, PCOS does not have to mean infertility. There are some wonderful ladies out there with beautiful babies despite their PCOS. I promise to add some stories to my blogroll as well.
Linda Harvey
Oct 24, 2007 at 2:40 pm
I just wanted to say thanks, Gabrielle, for making a mention about PCOS for the Masses (http://pcostoday.wordpress.com) and PCOS Today Magazine (http://www.pcostodaymagazine.com). I really hope these resources, and the others you mentioned, are helping women with PCOS discover ways to treat and live with the disorder. I encourage everyone to submit ideas about stories and other content for both the magazine and the blog.
Thanks again!!!
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