PCOS Shortcuts - The Easy Way!
You’ve just been diagnosed with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) or maybe you’re suspicious that you have this disorder. You’re in good company - some studies estimate that up to 20% of women worldwide have PCOS. So what do you do? You start googling of course! No shame - we all do it, but pretty soon you feel super overwhelmed by all the conflicting information. How much protein to eat? What type of exercise is best? Should you take inositol, chromium, Vitex, etc.? And how does this impact your fertility?
That’s why you’re here - I’m so glad you found this article because it’s going to help you understand key shortcuts that can help you focus on the essentials of healing PCOS. Let’s get started!
What is PCOS?
PCOS is best defined as a group of symptoms that primarily affects ovulation and hormone levels. The main symptom is irregular periods - your cycle should be around 28 days long, but with PCOS this can be much longer - I’ve seen it be as long as 50 days or more! A very long period means you likely aren’t ovulating - your body isn’t releasing an egg mid-cycle.
Other symptoms that can happen in PCOS include hirsutism - excessive hair growth on unexpected places like your chin, cheeks, belly and nipples - acne, weight gain, bleeding for a longer time on your period and infertility. In practice, I’ve also seen significant premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) associated with PCOS - this is when you experience severe anxiety, irritability and depression in the week leading up to menstruation, which typically resolve a few days into bleeding.
PCOS is essentially a problem with ovulation leading to an imbalance in other sex hormones like testosterone and progesterone.
What makes dealing with PCOS more challenging?
Now that you have some basics about PCOS - let’s talk about why it seems so difficult to successfully treat.
First of all, there is widespread disagreement about how to diagnose PCOS. Even the name is misleading - you would assume that in order to be diagnosed with PCOS you would need to have multiple cysts on your ovaries found at an ultrasound. Not true. You CANNOT diagnose PCOS via ultrasound. Let’s say that again - an ultrasound does not diagnose PCOS. Ovaries are not static creatures - they change depending on where you are in your cycle and whether ovulation occurred that month. Having multiple ovarian follicles - sacs that secrete hormones and have the potential to release an egg - is completely normal. Polycystic ovaries can occur with PCOS, but can also occur in other situations - even in completely healthy women.
“PCOS cannot be diagnosed by ultrasound”
Secondly, there are several different types of PCOS. They include insulin-resistant, post-oral contraceptive pill (OCP), inflammatory and adrenal PCOS. What this means is that PCOS can look completely different for different people! We tend to think that PCOS only happens in someone who is overweight, has abnormal hair growth and irregular periods. But this is only one type of PCOS - in my practice, I’ve seen PCOS in completely different patient populations. The challenge with treatment is that you need in-depth investigation into what type of PCOS you have in order to pick the right treatment strategy. What works for one type, will not work for another.
Another reason PCOS feels so overwhelming is that there are so many treatment suggestions. A simple google search brings up strategies like inositol, chromium, Vitex, cinnamon, NAC, omega-3s, Vitamin D, berberine…..You can easily wind up on a dozen supplements with zero success and way less money in your wallet. Western medicine offers a completely different route that includes oral contraceptives, intermittent progestins, metformin and infertility treatments. How are you supposed to know your best way forward? Remember - finding the right treatment depends on getting the right diagnosis. Your ideal treatment strategy will vary depending on what your individual labs say - google cannot understand your unique set of health concerns.
Key PCOS Strategies - Shortcuts to Success!
You understand some PCOS basics, you see that some of the challenges involve inaccurate diagnoses and non-targeted treatments. So let’s get to the shortcuts to make healing from PCOS easy for you:
In-Depth Blood Work: in order to properly diagnose PCOS there are some key labs you should have.
Fasting blood sugar and insulin OR a 2-hour insulin glucose challenge test - assesses for insulin resistance, a key underpinning of PCOS. This is NOT the same as doing a fasting blood sugar on its own - you must get an insulin level.
Hormone Testing -
Cycle Day 3 = estradiol, FSH, LH, free testosterone, progesterone, androstenedione
Cycle Day 21 or 7 Days Post-Ovulation = estradiol, progesterone, DHT, DHEAs
High sensitivity C-Reactive Protein (hsCRP) - detects levels of persistent inflammation
Full Thyroid Panel - TSH, free T3, free T4 and anti-TPO
Vitamin D
Cholesterol panel
Liver function test
Accurate PCOS Diagnosis: your labs will help you understand which subtype of PCOS you have. I love this flowchart from Dr. Lara Briden, ND which helps guide you to which subtype is most appropriate.
3. Targeted Treatment Plan: once you have accurate labs and a working diagnosis for a PCOS subtype, you can then move on to creating a targeted, effective treatment plan. You cannot get results without the first two steps - labs inform the diagnosis which then leads you to the most effective treatment strategy. Instead of throwing a bunch of different supplements at the problem not knowing what will work, do the investigation first and then you’ll understand how to move forward. Most likely, you will need to work with a healthcare professional experienced in PCOS to create the most successful treatment plan for you.
Next Steps - Take Action!
So there you have it - you’ve got the basics about PCOS, understand why it feels so challenging to get answers and have your new list of shortcuts to achieve success. What do you do now? My suggestion is to find a healthcare practitioner in your area that has a lot of experience supporting PCOS. You’ll get results faster if they can order blood work too. If you live in Alberta, you can book online with Dr. Kate below.
PCOS is 100% treatable, but the biggest shortcut to getting results quickly is understanding how your particular body works and targeting treatment strategies to address the root cause.