You might find having polycystic ovary syndrome upsetting. It can make it harder to have children. Some symptoms, like unwanted body hair, can be embarrassing. But you're not alone. Lots of women have this condition. And there are some good treatments that can help.

PCOS is sometimes called polycystic ovary disease.

Hormones are chemicals your body makes. They control all sorts of things that happen in your body. The hormones that are affected by PCOS help to control:

Several hormones are made in your ovaries. Your ovaries are two small organs in your abdomen. They are part of your reproductive system. They're connected to your uterus by tubes called fallopian tubes. The hormones that your ovaries make are called estrogens, androgens and progesterone. The amount of hormones your ovaries make is affected by other hormones, which are made by a gland near your brain.

As well as making hormones, your ovaries release eggs. Usually, your ovaries release one egg a month. This is called ovulation.

If you're healthy, the levels of hormones in your body go up and down as you go through your

 

 

 

 

 

menstrual cycle
A woman's periods are part of her menstrual cycle. This is the regular monthly pattern of events that causes an egg to be released from the ovaries so a woman can get pregnant and causes the bleeding that happens if she does not get pregnant.

 

 

 

 

 

menstrual cycle. When your hormones are at a certain level, your ovaries release an egg. The egg travels toward your uterus. If you have sex around this time, sperm can fertilize the egg. The egg then attaches itself to the wall of your uterus and grows into a baby. But if you don't get pregnant, the thick lining of the wall of your uterus breaks down, and you have a period.

The hormones in your body all affect one another. For example,

 

 

 

 

 

insulin
Insulin is a hormone that helps your body use glucose, a type of sugar that gives you energy. Insulin keeps your levels of glucose steady. It also helps glucose get into your cells from your blood. People who have diabetes do not have enough insulin or do not react to insulin strongly enough. This leads to too much glucose in their blood.

 

 

 

 

 

insulin is a hormone that controls how much sugar (glucose) you have in your bloodstream. But the amount of insulin in your blood also has an effect on the amount of androgens your body produces.

 

 

 

 

 

Source:
Ehrmann DA.
Polycystic ovary syndrome.
New England Journal of Medicine. 2005; 352: 1223-1236.

 

 

 

 

 

¹ Androgen hormones affect your sex drive, your skin, the way your hair grows and how much energy you have.

If you have polycystic ovary syndrome, some of the hormones in your body are out of balance.

 

 

 

 

 

Source:
Ehrmann DA.
Polycystic ovary syndrome.
New England Journal of Medicine. 2005; 352: 1223-1236.

 

 

 

 

 

¹ Usually, the hormones that affect your period go up and down through your menstrual cycle. If you have PCOS, they may stay at the same level instead.

 

 

 

 

 

Source:
Hoyt KL, Schmidt MC.
Polycystic ovary (Stein-Leventhal) syndrome: etiology, complications and treatment.
Clinical Laboratory Science. 2004; 17: 155-163.

 

 

 

 

 

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This means that the parts of your body that are controlled by these hormones may not work the way they should. Your ovaries may not release eggs regularly. So you don't get regular periods. This can make it hard for you to get pregnant.

As well as affecting your periods, hormones affect lots of other things your body does. Androgen hormones can change fine hairs on your body into longer, thicker hair, like the hair that grows on your head, in your armpits or in your bikini area. Women with PCOS sometimes have slightly raised levels of androgens. This can cause thicker hair in unwanted places.

Androgens can also make the pores in your skin produce more oil. This can give you pimples (acne).

 

 

 

 

 

Source:
Rosenfield RL.
Hirsutism.
New England Journal of Medicine. 2005; 353: 2578-2588.

 

 

 

 

 

³

PCOS also seems to affect the way your body responds to a hormone called insulin. Insulin affects the amount of sugar in your blood and the way your body uses energy. Having a lot of insulin can also make you produce more androgens.

Doctors think that your hormones are likely to have been out of balance right from when you first started to get your periods. But you might not notice it for a few years, because young girls often have irregular periods at first.

 

 

 

 

 

Source:
Ehrmann DA.
Polycystic ovary syndrome.
New England Journal of Medicine. 2005; 352: 1223-1236.

 

 

 

 

 

¹

Women with PCOS often have small fluid-filled swellings (cysts) on their ovaries. That's how polycystic ovary syndrome gets its name. Polycystic means with lots of cysts. Doctors don't know exactly why some women get these cysts.

Often, putting on weight can make the symptoms of PCOS more noticeable. Doctors don't think that having PCOS makes you overweight, but women with PCOS often find it very hard to lose weight.

 

 

 

 

 

Source:
Ehrmann DA.
Polycystic ovary syndrome.
New England Journal of Medicine. 2005; 352: 1223-1236.

 

 

 

 

 

¹

We don't know why some women get polycystic ovary syndrome. But it seems to run in families. So, the

 

 

 

 

 

genes
Your genes are the parts of your cells that contain instructions for how your body works. Genes are housed on chromosomes, structures that sit in the nucleus at the middle of each of your cells. You have 23 pairs of chromosomes in your normal cells, each of which has thousands of genes. You get one set of chromosomes, and all of the genes that are on them, from each of your parents.

 

 

 

 

 

genes you inherit from your parents may play a part.

 

 

 

 

 

Source:
Richardson MR.
Current perspectives in polycystic ovary syndrome.
American Family Physician. 2003; 68: 697-704.

 

 

 

 

 

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