I’ve been told by a doctor that I have PCOS and that it can be cured with either surgery or with pills. How true is that?
Before I get into it, it is important to give a brief summary of what PCOS is. PCOS stands for PolyCystic Ovary Syndrome. It is not quite clear how one gets this but it is one of those conditions that can cause your menstrual/ovary cycle to become irregular. PCOS also causes women to produce excess testosterone. This excess leads to changes such as increased hair production (eg, facial hair), acne, and deepening of the voice (as seen in men). Patients with PCOS often also have infertility problems. Some patients may also experience diabetic symptoms due to how PCOS affects the way blood sugar is digested.
Now that you’ve got the main points, it’s time to talk about treatment. Unfortunately, there is no cure for the disease. At the present time, all we can do is treat the symptoms. This does include the use of pills and surgeries. However, the best thing you can do is lose weight, if you are in fact overweight. Even a 10% weight loss can restore a normal period and make your cycles more regular. Other options that we doctors use are birth control pills to get your hormones more regular, pills to help with the release of your eggs into the uterus (aka womb), and diabetic pills to help control diabetic symptoms and keep your menstrual cycle more regular. Surgery is usually used when a woman does not respond to the initial fertility pills.
I’m suffering from Fibroids at 27. Is this normal?
Uterine fibroids are benign growths that develop from muscular tissue in the wall of the uterus (aka womb). What initially triggers the formation of a fibroid is unknown, but many factors are thought to play into it, including genes, obesity, high consumption of red meats, and of course, smoking. The reason why fibroids are even a concern is that depending on where they are growing in your uterus, they can wreak havoc. As the fibroids grow they can disrupt your menstrual cycle and cause heavier, painful, irregular menstrual bleeding. Fibroids can also lead to infertility issues.
Fibroids are very common, affecting black women 2-3 times more than white women. They are most common in women ages 30-40, but really can affect women of any age. In black women, they seem to come at an earlier age and grow more quickly. In order to diagnosis fibroids, a doctor has to view it through imaging. Once a fibroid is confirmed and felt to be the cause of the menstrual or fertility problems, your doctor can either use drugs and/or surgery to treat it.
