October 5th, 2012
Did you know some women do not have polycystic cysts yet suffer from one or more PCOS symptoms? The latter are huge in range and can include excess facial and body hair, skin conditions, menstrual irregularity and infertility, thyroid problems and chronic fatigue?
Conversely, many women have cysts on their ovaries but don’t suffer from the symptoms of PCOS. As many as 25% of the female population are thought to have polycystic ovaries, though only around half of them are diagnosed with PCOS symptoms.
This confusing state of affairs is why it’s so important to learn as much as you can about PCOS and polycystic ovaries, relate that information to the way you feel, personally, and then ask your doctor for advice if you think you may be suffering from either condition.
Fortunately, PCOS and polycystic ovaries are reversible.
May 29th, 2008
By Fighting Back in Colorado
“Hey, look! The fat lady is trying to lose weight!”
This remark changed my life.
As I crunched along the gravel path that loops around the park near my downtown apartment I took in the scenery, couples picnicking on the lush grass, goofy Labradors bounding after sticks thrown by their owners, proud young parents pushing baby strollers. It was a perfect spring day! Until I rounded the first corner of the park: “Hey, look! The fat lady is trying to lose weight!” Jarred by the loud remark, I came to stop and spotted the source, about fifty feet away was a group of young boys carrying skateboards. Dozens of retorts raced through my mind.
“They’re just kids,” I finally told myself, and kept walking. Once my anger wore off, a flood of forgotten feelings came rushing back to me, the persistent taunts from schoolmates and the ongoing loneliness I felt as an overweight child. I have struggled with my weight my entire life. Once I hit puberty I ballooned to 275 pounds. At 5’4”, I was considered what I now know is morbidly obese.
During my adult years I managed to keep my weight just under 200 pounds, but only with extreme measures like diet pills, and weeks of nothing but protein shakes. I exercised regularly, though it was often difficult because of persistent fatigue. It was at this point in my life the cruel remark affected me so deeply.
Heading home, I vowed to learn more about obesity discrimination. What is being done to educate the public? What are the consequences of being obese in today’s society? I also vowed to become healthy, to stop focusing on society’s approval or disapproval of my weight and start focusing on my well-being.
During my research I uncovered shocking statistics. Studies in the International Journal of Obesity report that weight discrimination, especially against women, is increasing in U.S. society — and in some cases is even more prevalent than rates of discrimination based on gender and race. Reported discrimination based on weight has increased 66 percent in the past decade, up from about to 12 percent of U.S. adults. (About 17 percent of men and 9 percent of women reported race discrimination.)
Among severely obese people, about 28 percent of men and 45 percent of women said they have experienced discrimination because of their weight.
There are two types of weight discrimination: institutional and interpersonal. Institutional discrimination involves healthcare, education, and workplace situations. I personally experienced this when I was denied individual health insurance by a well-known provider because of my “height/weight variation.” The web site cswd.org reports that workers who are heavier than average are paid $1.25 less an hour. Over a 40-year career, they will earn up to $100,000 less before taxes than their thinner counterparts (Baum, 2004).
Interpersonal discrimination is what I experienced that day in the park.
“Weight discrimination is a very serious social problem that we need to pay attention to,” says Rebecca Puhl of the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale University. Puhl believes weight discrimination will not decrease until attitudes change and laws begin addressing it.
No federal laws against weight discrimination exist. Michigan is currently the only state with an anti-size discrimination law on its books, though the Massachusetts Legislature held hearings last month on a proposed law. San Francisco joined Washington, D.C., and Santa Cruz, Cal., as the only cities with bans on weight discrimination.
Like so many suffering from obesity, I had an undiagnosed health condition.
I now know I have Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS), a metabolic disorder that affects women. PCOS causes weight gain and a myriad of other symptoms: unwanted facial hair, irregular periods, depression, and even infertility. I’ve learned to eat in a way that stabilizes my blood sugar (imbalances in insulin are the root cause of the disorder), take the right combination of vitamins and supplements, and have joined numerous online support groups for PCOS sufferers. I am now a healthy 145 pounds.
I urge anyone who is obese to diligently research common underlying causes: pre-diabetes, metabolic syndrome/syndrome X, insulin resistance, hypothyroidism, and subclinical hypothyroidism.
There are many advocacy groups fighting to end weight discrimination like The Council on Size and Weight Discrimination, and the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance.
November 30th, 2007
by Angi Ingalls
PCOS in ConnecTion
When you live with endometriosis, you expect pain at the most inopportune times. Once I was walking down the aisle of a store and was immediately impeded by sharp stabbing pains in my leg and vagina. Imagine me leaning against a display of paper towels trying to regain composure; now imagine most of them all on the floor and my ‘whatever’ expression.
Sometimes I’d be sitting at work, doing my job and it would hit – in the middle of a phone conversation – and would find the phone hanging from my desk. Once I bumped into someone I hadn’t seen in awhile, literally, from the immense amount of pain that took my legs away. The expression on that woman was priceless. She didn’t know what to do or say. “Well, next time I see you, I promise, no concussion.”
I wonder how many other women with endometriosis have to keep on hand some witty comebacks for times like these, i.e. “Oh, man, sorry, I was so mesmerized by your presence it threw my feet off their train of thought.” I mean, how do you recover from something like that while saving face and protecting the other person from feeling awkward? Ok, I have my note pad and pen in hand…. I’m ready and listening!
As a women with endometriosis (Stage 1), I can empathize with women who share this diagnosis. Not only do I suffer with endometriosis but I also have some residual nerve pain from a past episode with Shingles. I live with pain, partially from the Shingles, that is amplified by my endometriosis. In my case it was discovered during a laparoscopy in 2001 that my endometriosis has attached itself to my uterus, rectum and nerves around my vagina as well as some other nerves leading to other areas of the body. During the laparoscopy I also had an ovarian drilling and all of the endometriosis removed. I am happy to say that I had no excess pain for a few years.
But, slowly over the years, I have returned to my previous state.
Endometriosis is a serious disease that develops in 5-20% of reproductive age women [1] and many women with PCOS also suffer from endometriosis. The severity of the disease does not determine the amount of issues one might have. Endometriosis is a disease that affects each person in a different way. There are four stages of endometriosis: stages 1 to 4, referring respectively, as minimal, mild, moderate and severe. Your staging does not determine the amount of pain that you may feel. Women in any stage can experience no pain at all or mild to severe pain.
Not only can endometriosis create pain, it can increase scar tissue that can affect the function of reproductive organs such as the fallopian tubes and ovaries, increase issues with cysts as well as other surrounding structures including the bladder and bowel. Endometriosis can even leave the reproductive area and attach itself throughout the body.
There are a few options [2] and like dealing with PCOS, with every patient, treatment success varies. It is important to do all of your homework and research on what might be or what might not be an option for you. Also, consider how these treatment options may affect PCOS. Having both endometriosis and PCOS may be difficult to deal with and not yet completely understood but with the power of information and a doctor well-educated in both of these conditions, you can come out a better, healthier you.
Angi Ingalls; PCOS in ConnecTion
Guest PCOS writer
pcosinct@yahoo.com
Educator for over 18 years
Diagnosed in 1985 at 12, living with PCOS since 1981
DISCLAIMER: The information contained in this article/reply and the Insulite Labs website is for the sole purpose of being informative. Information obtained is not and should not be used or relied upon as medical advice. Always seek the advice of your physician, nurse or other qualified health care provider before you undergo any treatment, take any medication, supplements or other nutritional support, or for answers to any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.
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[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endometriosis http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endometriosis
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endometriosis#Treatments; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endometriosis#Treatments; http://www.endometriosis.org/treatment.html http://www.endometriosis.org/treatment.html
