10/22/2015
The hardest thing about losing weight when you have a disease process like that of Polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) is knowing that you are doing everything right but your body is working hard against you. PCOS is an endocrine disorder that makes your reproductive system act like it is diabetic even though the rest of your body is healthy and normal.
Common Factors are:
Excess insulin. Insulin is the hormone produced in the pancreas that allows cells to use sugar (glucose) — your body's primary energy supply. If you have insulin resistance, your ability to use insulin effectively is impaired, and your pancreas has to secrete more insulin to make glucose available to cells. Excess insulin might also affect the ovaries by increasing androgen production, which may interfere with the ovaries' ability to ovulate.
Low-grade inflammation. Your body's white blood cells produce substances to fight infection in a response called inflammation. Research has shown that women with PCOS have low-grade inflammation and that this type of low-grade inflammation stimulates polycystic ovaries to produce androgens.
Heredity. If your mother or sister has PCOS, you might have a greater chance of having it, too. Researchers also are looking into the possibility that certain genes are linked to PCOS.
With complications that include:
Type 2 diabetes
High blood pressure
Cholesterol and lipid abnormalities, such as elevated triglycerides or low high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, the "good" cholesterol
Metabolic syndrome — a cluster of signs and symptoms that indicate a significantly increased risk of cardiovascular disease
Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis — a severe liver inflammation caused by fat accumulation in the liver
Infertility
Sleep apnea
Depression and anxiety
Abnormal uterine bleeding
Cancer of the uterine lining (endometrial cancer), caused by exposure to continuous high levels of estrogen
Gestational diabetes or pregnancy-induced high blood pressure
