What is PCOS?

Since September is all about spreading awareness of PCOS, I figured that every Wednesday for this month, the topics will be about PCOS because this is my first year participating since I was diagnosed with it in December of 2019!

Not many people know what PCOS is and I was honestly one of those people who haven’t heard of it before.

Before I got diagnosed with it, I was looking up my symptoms on Google and it led me to PCOS every single time. I did have to research what it was and I felt like maybe I had it, but I didn’t want to jump to any conclusions… turns out, I ended up being right.

According to Mayo Clinic, Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome is a hormonal disorder that is common in women of a reproductive age.

The symptoms a woman can have are:

Irregular periods – some women go months of not having their period and other women get their period, but it’s usually painful.

Excess Androgen – If a woman has an elevated level of testosterone, she might see excess facial and body hair, which is called hirsutism, hormonal acne, and thinning of hair.

Polycystic ovaries – A woman does not have to have cysts on her ovaries in order to have PCOS.

Doctors really don’t know the exact cause of PCOS because there isn’t a lot of research about it and that honestly needs to change because more and more women are getting diagnosed with it. 1 in 10 women have PCOS.

They say PCOS is heredity, but I don’t know anyone that is blood related to me that has this. You can read more about the causes of it here.

There are also a lot of complications of PCOS and it includes:

Infertility – there are some women who have a difficult time having a baby and other women are able to get pregnant with having PCOS

Gestational diabetes

Miscarriages or premature birth

Type 2 diabetes

Sleep apnea

Depression, anxiety, and eating disorders

Endometrial cancer

Those are just a few complications of PCOS.

PCOS can’t really be cured. Doctors suggest going on birth control or spironolactone, which is used for high blood pressure. Doctors believe that birth control will fix everything, but it simply acts as a band-aid. When you decide to come off of it, the symptoms you had will come back or even come back even worse than before you were on birth control.

I haven’t been on birth control for PCOS and if you’re new here, my goal is to balance my hormones naturally without being on birth control and I’m trying inositol now to see if that helps me. I will be addressing what I have struggled with physically and the symptoms I have had in next week’s blog post!

Here are some posts on Instagram that has more information about PCOS:

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One of most frustrating and confusing things about PCOS, is how it diagnosed. Based on the Rotterdam criteria (which is the most commonly recognised diagnostic criteria) you MUST have to have 2 out of the 3 to be diagnosed with PCOS: ⁣⁣ – Delayed ovulation or menstrual cycles – High androgens levels (shown via a blood test or through symptoms such acne, hair loss, hirsutism) – Polycystic ovaries ⁣⁣⁣ 🩸 Although these are the most common methods used to diagnose PCOS, there are some other blood tests which may be helpful for a PCOS diagnosis (In graphic). They may also be useful to identify which 'type of PCOS' you have, potential triggers (ie sugar, stress etc), and in ruling out other conditions which may present similar to PCOS. 🚨I also want to highlight that sometimes if your results are in the 'NORMAL' range, that doesn't necessarily mean they are 'OPTIMAL' so if you think something doesn't add up or you still feel there is an underlying issue consider taking your results to another health practitioner to interpret! 👉🏼 YOU are 100% within your rights to ask blood work, and knowing which ones you want will definitely show how invested you are in it! If your health practitioner still refuses (like mine did 🙃) change practitioners, or say you are happy to pay for it yourself. When I was finally diagnosed with PCOS my doctor used a combination of the above blood tests, presentation of acne/ hair loss and absent periods to confirm PCOS. When I took my blood tests to my naturopath to look at she could see that not only was my testosterone through the roof but many of my other hormones were less than ‘optimal’ (but still considered normal by general GP standards). Learning to understand them made it much easier to track my progress! 🙌 For my PCOS gals, did your health practitioner use any of these blood tests, ultra sound, physical symptoms or a combo for your diagnosis? 🤷‍♀️ . . #pcostowellness #beyourownavocate #pcosdiagnosis #rotterdamcriteria #pcostips #pcosfacts #fertility #menstrualcycle #menstruationmatters #acne #hairloss #testosterone #fertilityawareness #fertilityawareness #pcosawareness #pcoscysters

A post shared by Brigitte Warne PCOS awareness (@pcos_to_wellness) on Aug 24, 2020 at 1:34pm PDT

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PCOS. How were you diagnosed, what was your experience like? Did you know I saw 5 different doctors until I was finally diagnosed with PCOS. (And only after I cried and begged her to run some test on me!) 😓 The first four doctors didn’t even mention the possibility of PCOS, and even worse didn’t even bother to run any tests to see if there was any issues. So I could sit here being really annoyed that it took me so long, and so many doctors to get diagnosed, OR I can actively do something about it and continue to advocate for PCOS awareness and push for change within the medical system. I really believe that the more we talk about PCOS (and acknowledge the many different faces it has!) the more likely we will be able to identify symptoms from a much earlier stage AND empower women to make more educated and informed decisions about the different approaches, treatments and practitioners to allow them to manage their symptoms and THRIVE. So please share, save, tag whatever we have to do keep the conversation going! WHOS WITH ME?! #Cysterhood 🙌💕 #pcostowellness . . .. . . . . #educationispower#staystrong#beyourownadvocate#pcosbaby #pcosfacts #fertility #hormonalacne #acnetreatment #plantbased #pcosfacts #pcossymptoms #pcostips #clearskin #plantbasedpcos #pcos #pcosawareness#pcoswarrior #infertility #acnecure#pcosweightloss #infertilityawareness #pcoscysters #pcosdiet #cyster #polycysticovariansyndrome #pcostreatment #cysterhood #fightpcos

A post shared by Brigitte Warne PCOS awareness (@pcos_to_wellness) on May 15, 2020 at 2:37pm PDT

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Generations of patients have inherited polycystic ovary syndrome (#PCOS), which causes reproductive and metabolic health problems for millions around the world.  Though the disorder was first described in 1935, its cause remains mysterious and our government @nihgov invests less than 0.1% of funding to help researchers find answers! Its time for change! Come join in all things #pcosawareness this September for #pcosawarenessmonth Follow @pcoschallenge to get involved

A post shared by Ashley Levinson CMA, CST, CSFA (@pcosgurl) on Aug 26, 2020 at 6:51pm PDT

Follow @pcoschallenge on Instagram for more information about PCOS and how you can get involved to spread awareness about PCOS for September!

 I am so excited to recommend products that I love so much to the Kylie’s Corner & More family! The only products I have so far is the Hope necklace and natural makeup products. I want to point out that I will receive a small commission if you order anything from Salted Avenue or 100% Pure when you shop through my links. I want to always be transparent and honest to you guys. You will be supporting me when you purchase something through the link below. I truly appreciate you for supporting me and even if you don’t purchase anything, I still appreciate you so much. This blog wouldn’t be the same without you here! 

For those of you who are new here, I was diagnosed with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) in December of 2019. I have been documenting everything that I have been through and experienced – from discussing my symptoms before I knew what was wrong, all the way to what I am doing now to help my body. My goal is to balance my hormones naturally without taking birth control. I want to give other women with PCOS hope that birth control isn’t the only option. All of the details about My PCOS journey Pinterest board can be found here.

Thank you so much for stopping by on the Kylie’s Corner & More blog! If you would like to, you can purchase your personalized, signed copy of Kylie’s Corner and a complimentary bookmark I designed, here! Kylie’s Corner is a devotional for anyone who is in High School and up – you can read more about Kylie’s Corner. I talk about beauty in God’s eyes, society, anxiety, and so much more in the Kylie’s Corner book. If God has someone on your heart that you feel the need to give this inspiring book to, please listen to Him. The individual may need to hear the words God put in my heart at the time when I wrote the Kylie’s Corners that are in this book.

I still have copies of Kylie’s Corner available!

“I’m here to spread awareness of PCOS since it is PCOS Awareness month of September because not many people know about what PCOS is because there is not a lot of research about it.”

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