What is PCOS? [PCOS AWARENESS MONTH]

September is PCOS awareness Month, we've all seen the Ice bucket challenge for ALS, now let's see some teal for PCOS!!!!

PCOS or Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome that effects the hormones in a woman's body and can cause infertility among other symptoms and side effects. Most women with PCOS have cysts on their ovaries, Insulin Resistance(leading to a pre-diabetic diagnosis and causing difficulty with weight loss and irregular cycles), as well as an increase in testosterone(this causes: acne, and excessive hair growth). PCOS often times prevents women from ovulating, making natural pregnancy difficult, but also leads to a higher risk of gestational diabetes and miscarriage upon conception.

Why should we be aware of the syndrome? Because it effects 1 in every 10 women and is the leading cause of infertility. No one is sure what exactly causes PCOS, and there is also no cure. There are only medication to treat the symptoms (medication that PCOS's patients can be on for the rest of their lives(such as metformin for the high insulin levels)). Women with PCOS, like its sister disease endometriosis, are often discarded as just "not trying hard enough" when in reality this is a very real disease with very real symptoms that leave women with empty wombs and broken hearts. PCOS is a disease, this is why it is not possible for us to just "relax and get pregnant" like we hear regularly. Sadly diseases that cause infertility are RARELY covered by insurance, often times the only thing insurance companies will fund is the tests to find out if there is a problem not the necessary procedures to assist with producing a child(IVF, IUI, etc). You would think that since this disease effects so many people that there would be more awareness, sadly PCOS and diseases like it lead the individual to feel shame. Many women do not want to talk about their fertility issues out of fear of being judged, many have decided to hide the fact that they are unable to do the one thing women were placed on this earth to do...reproduce. There should be no shame in infertility! There should be awareness, acceptance, and mostly HELP! So please, repost this blog, share it with friends and family, let people know that we don't want to suffer in silence anymore! We want to be heard and we want to be able to have a chance at having a child without spending $20,000+ on a maybe.