What is PCOS?

So, since I am just starting this blog, I figured I would explain different elements of my life. I am starting with the biggest obstacle I am hoping to overcome this year. Yes, it is the start of the new year, and I know that New Year's resolutions are popular. However, this journey is far more than a New Year's resolution for me. I have been living for 20 years with Poly Cystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS), and I have come to realize in recent years that it has taken over my life more than I ever admitted. I have tried, and failed, so many times to loose weight and get healthier. But now I am determined once again to finally make it a reality. Therefore I am sharing my journey in hopes that maybe I will inspire even one other person to keep going and not give up. Learn from my mistakes, and failures, and just keep going with me! We can beat this together!

PCOS is a condition that affects a woman's hormones. Typically we produce higher levels of male hormones then is normal. As you can imagine, this can cause all kinds of problems for us. Most known symptoms include irregular menstrual cycles, infertility, and ovarian cysts. However, there are so many more problems PCOS causes that can make life miserable. Such as weight gain, trouble losing weight, depression, extreme fatigue, hair loss, excess facial hair growth known as hirsutism, mood swings, acne, headaches, very painful periods, joint and muscle pain, muscle fatigue, and a general feeling of being unwell 24/7, just to name a few. Un-treated PCOS can also cause heart disese, high blood pressure, diabetes, and liver and kidney issues. That is why it is important to never give up!

I am not an expert on all the science and facts about it all. I understand it all, and can explain it in conversational tones, but for those that would like more formal explanations, I will post some links to credible sources about PCOS. It is important to read it all and understand the science of it and the "why" if you haven't already.

The next post I will share my personal experiences with PCOS.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The "D" Word

Let's talk about the "D"word. You know the one I'm talking about. That dreadful little four letter word that even has the word "die" built right in? Yep. Diet. I have come to loathe the word diet. Why? Because it carries such a negative connotation. Going on a diet is something people dread having to do. It is something no one looks forward to. We view being on a diet as punishment, as a sacrifice, as a chore. It's no wonder it is so hard to stick to a diet if it seems like such a terrible thing! Personally I also tend to connect the word diet to be just about losing weight. And while I would like to lose weight, I am finally at a point in my life where it is so much more than that. I want to be healthy, and being the ideal weight doesn't mean you're automatically healthy. There are those lucky skinny people out there with a great metabolism that can eat whatever they want and stay skinny. But that doesn't make them healthy. Their food choice...
Read more

Fatigue, Weight Gain, and Chin Hairs, Oh My!

Living life with PCOS. I suffer from almost all of the symptoms I mentioned in the last blog article. It started with developing irregular periods out of the blue when I was 23. Doctors didn't really know yet what PCOS was, so for several years, I either had no periods at all for several months at a time, or a period that was heavy and lasted for a month at a time with not a lot of answers. It wasn't until my husband and I decided to start trying for a baby that I got serious about figuring out what was going on. Long story short, I was finally diagnosed with PCOS, and was just told to lose weight and it would reverse itself. If only it was that easy. I tried for years to lose weight and failed. I know now, that it is extremely hard to lose weight with PCOS. I tried so many different diets and would stick to them religiously and work out. I would never lose weight and sometimes I would even gain weight despite all I did. And I have to tell you, it gets pretty hard to stick with...
Read more

Organizing Chaos

Hi all! So in my description for the blog, part of it says "Living life with PCOS and Chaos..." and in my first post I had mentioned I would share stories of trying to organize my life and calm the chaos in addition to PCOS and diet things. Well given all of our current situations be "quarantined" there has been new chaos added to all of our lives that none of us could have predicted. Working from home, helping my son with school work from home, missing and worrying about my students, trying to stay up to date on everything happening every day, processing all of the fears and worries of what is and what may be, trying to shield my son from too much reality so he doesn't get stressed but also finding teachable moments to balance it out, seeing and learning about new deaths every day, and reading so much negativity on social media and the news. These are all things that have added to my already existing chaos, and I know you all are experiencing them too. Don'...
Read more