Many women with PCOS will be treated by a specialist doctor. If your symptoms are very mild and you're not trying to get pregnant, you may not need to see a specialist. But if your symptoms are bothering you, or you are having trouble getting pregnant, you may need to see:

It's possible for your symptoms to change over time. Things that alter the balance of hormones in your body can affect your symptoms of PCOS. So, being pregnant or taking some drugs can change your symptoms.

 

 

 

 

 

Source:
Hill KM.
Update: the pathogenesis and treatment of PCOS.
The Nurse Practitioner. 2003; 28: 8-23.

 

 

 

 

 

¹

Your hormones also change when you reach

 

 

 

 

 

menopause
When a woman stops having periods, it is called menopause. This usually happens around the age of 50.

 

 

 

 

 

menopause. But we don't know whether this affects your symptoms of PCOS. There hasn't been much research.

Weight is often a major problem for women with PCOS. About half of all women with PCOS are very overweight (obese).

 

 

 

 

 

Source:
Hill KM.
Update: the pathogenesis and treatment of PCOS.
The Nurse Practitioner. 2003; 28: 8-23.

 

 

 

 

 

¹ Some doctors think this is because many women with PCOS have problems controlling the amount of sugar in their blood (see long-term problems, below).

Your body mass index compares your height with your weight. Doctors usually say that people with a BMI of 25 or more are overweight. People with a BMI of 30 or more are obese.

Having PCOS can be upsetting. One study found that women with PCOS are less satisfied with their sex lives than other women, and worry more about whether their partner finds them attractive.

 

 

 

 

 

Source:
Elsenbruch S, Hahn S, Kowalsky D, et al.
Quality of life, psychosocial well-being and sexual satisfaction in women with PCOS.
Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism. 2003; 88: 5801-5807.

 

 

 

 

 

² Women were most concerned about unwanted body hair and their weight.

Many women with PCOS feel anxious or depressed about their condition.

 

 

 

 

 

Source:
Elsenbruch S, Hahn S, Kowalsky D, et al.
Quality of life, psychosocial well-being and sexual satisfaction in women with PCOS.
Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism. 2003; 88: 5801-5807.

 

 

 

 

 

² If you are feeling anxious or depressed, talk to your doctor. There are treatments that can help. To read more, see Feeling depressed in our section on depression.

About three-quarters of women with PCOS have some difficulty getting pregnant.

 

 

 

 

 

Source:
Patel SM, Nestler JE.
Fertility in polycystic ovary syndrome.
Endocrinology and Metabolism Clinics of North America. 2005; 35: 137-155.

 

 

 

 

 

³ But that doesn't mean you won't be able to have children. Many women with PCOS are able to have children, either with or without fertility treatment. For more information about fertility treatment, see our section on Fertility problems.

If you're overweight, losing just a small amount of weight can start your ovaries releasing eggs regularly (ovulating). About half of overweight women with PCOS who lose weight start ovulating again.

 

 

 

 

 

Source:
Patel SM, Nestler JE.
Fertility in polycystic ovary syndrome.
Endocrinology and Metabolism Clinics of North America. 2005; 35: 137-155.

 

 

 

 

 

³

You may need to lose about 5 percent to 10 percent of your bodyweight. So, if you weigh 200 pounds, you'll need to lose about 10 pounds to 20 pounds. But even losing less weight than this helps some women.

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

⁴ To read more, see Losing weight.

But this doesn't help women who aren't overweight. You may need fertility treatment with drugs or surgery.

About 8 in 10 women who take a drug called clomiphene (brand name Clomid) start ovulating. And about 4 in 10 get pregnant without any further treatment.

 

 

 

 

 

Source:
Patel SM, Nestler JE.
Fertility in polycystic ovary syndrome.
Endocrinology and Metabolism Clinics of North America. 2005; 35: 137-155.

 

 

 

 

 

³ If clomiphene helps you, you may be able to get pregnant within a few months of starting to take it.

Unfortunately, women with PCOS are more likely to have a miscarriage in the first three months of their pregnancy. For a woman who doesn't have PCOS, the risk of a miscarriage is about 10 in 100 to 15 in 100. For a woman with PCOS, the risk is about 30 in 100 to 45 in 100.

 

 

 

 

 

Source:
Patel SM, Nestler JE.
Fertility in polycystic ovary syndrome.
Endocrinology and Metabolism Clinics of North America. 2005; 35: 137-155.

 

 

 

 

 

³

The risk seems to be higher if you are overweight. Some studies have shown that women are less likely to have a miscarriage if they are taking a medicine called metformin when they get pregnant.

 

 

 

 

 

Source:
Patel SM, Nestler JE.
Fertility in polycystic ovary syndrome.
Endocrinology and Metabolism Clinics of North America. 2005; 35: 137-155.

 

 

 

 

 

³ But there's not much reliable research about this yet.

Many women with PCOS have problems with the way their body controls the amount of sugar (glucose) in their blood. The amount of sugar in your blood is controlled by the hormone

 

 

 

 

 

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. Women with PCOS seem to need more insulin to control the amount of sugar in their blood than other people. This is sometimes called insulin resistance.

This means women with PCOS are at more risk of developing

 

 

 

 

 

diabetes
Diabetes is a condition that causes too much sugar to circulate in your blood. It happens when your body stops making a hormone called insulin (type 1 diabetes) or when insulin stops working (type 2 diabetes).

 

 

 

 

 

diabetes.

 

 

 

 

 

Source:
The Rotterdam ESHRE/ASRM.
Revised 2003 consensus on diagnostic criteria and long-term health risks related to polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS).
January 2004. Available at http://humrep.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/short/19/1/41 (accessed on 18 August 2009).

 

 

 

 

 

⁵ Diabetes is a condition where your body can't control the amount of sugar in your blood properly.

Between about 1 percent and 10 percent of women with PCOS get diabetes. And between 10 percent and 35 percent of women with PCOS have some trouble controlling the amount of sugar in their blood.

 

 

 

 

 

Source:
The Rotterdam ESHRE/ASRM.
Revised 2003 consensus on diagnostic criteria and long-term health risks related to polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS).
January 2004. Available at http://humrep.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/short/19/1/41 (accessed on 18 August 2009).

 

 

 

 

 

⁵ Doctors sometimes call this impaired glucose tolerance.

Diabetes and problems dealing with sugar are more likely if you're overweight. But some women with PCOS get diabetes even if they are slim.

 

 

 

 

 

Source:
The Rotterdam ESHRE/ASRM.
Revised 2003 consensus on diagnostic criteria and long-term health risks related to polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS).
January 2004. Available at http://humrep.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/short/19/1/41 (accessed on 18 August 2009).

 

 

 

 

 

⁵

Your doctor may suggest you have a test to see if you have diabetes or impaired glucose tolerance. To find out more about diabetes and the treatments you can get, see our section on Diabetes.

Most people with diabetes have a higher long-term risk of some health problems. For example, people with diabetes may be more likely to have

 

 

 

 

 

heart attack
Doctors call a heart attack an acute myocardial infarction (or acute MI). This is the name for the damage that occurs to the heart muscle if it isn't getting enough blood and oxygen because a branch of the coronoary arteries is blocked. During a heart attack, you may have pain or heaviness over your chest, and pain, numbness or tingling in your jaw and left arm.

 

 

 

 

 

heart attacks and

 

 

 

 

 

stroke
You have a stroke when the blood supply to a part of your brain is cut off. This damages your brain and can cause symptoms like weakness or numbness on one side of your body. You may also find it hard to speak if you've had a stroke.

 

 

 

 

 

strokes. But we don't know if this is true for women who get diabetes because of PCOS. There's no evidence that women with PCOS are more likely to have heart attacks or strokes, or to die earlier than other women.

 

 

 

 

 

Source:
The Rotterdam ESHRE/ASRM.
Revised 2003 consensus on diagnostic criteria and long-term health risks related to polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS).
January 2004. Available at http://humrep.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/short/19/1/41 (accessed on 18 August 2009).

 

 

 

 

 

⁵

Some doctors think that women with PCOS who don't have many periods may have a slightly bigger risk of getting cancer of the lining of the womb. That's because if you don't shed the lining with regular periods, it may get thicker. Some doctors think that if this happens, the cells may grow out of control and cause cancer. But we don't know for sure that women with PCOS have a higher risk of this type of cancer. There's not been much research.

 

 

 

 

 

Source:
The Rotterdam ESHRE/ASRM.
Revised 2003 consensus on diagnostic criteria and long-term health risks related to polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS).
January 2004. Available at http://humrep.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/short/19/1/41 (accessed on 18 August 2009).

 

 

 

 

 

⁵

 

 

 

 

 

Source:
Niwa K, Imai A, Hashimoto M, et al
A case-control study of uterine endometrial cancer of pre- and post-menopausal women
Oncology Reports 2000/1; 7: 89-93

 

 

 

 

 

⁶

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