Let’s take a look at an average woman of 25 years. She studies in a renowned university far from home. She is coping up the huge syllabus with less sleep and irregular diets. Recently she’s missed a period, that worried her a little. She waited till next month only to experience severe menstrual bleeding and excruciating pain. Meanwhile she found out blackish discoloration in neck, weight gain and lethargy. This scenario is nowadays experienced by most young women. This is a new epidemic of modern stressful life, PCOS.
What is PCOS?
PCOS or Polycystic ovarian syndrome is an association of jeopardized metabolism and hormonal dysregulation. It’s a bidirectional interplay where causes and effects are bound in a vicious cycle. To put it in simple way, due to stressful life style, less sleep, improper dieting, hormonal activity gets hampered. As a result, maturation of ovarian follicles get arrested and numerous cysts are formed in ovary. These events cause further hormonal disarray. Menstruation gets irregular and painful. Inflammation ensues in multiple system. Overall metabolism gets jeopardized.
The Real Threat is Elsewhere
Painful and irregular menstruation, lethargy are just the tip of the iceberg here. This metabolic dysfunction and Inflammation ultimately leads to insulin resistance. Which means in spite of having adequate insulin, body cannot utilize it. This leads to diabetes, high cholesterol and acanthosis nigricans (blackish discoloration of neck and armpit). Hormonal changes leads to infertility, complicated pregnancy, risk of tumors in ovary and uterus, and even damage to thyroid. The ensuing hypothyroidism further accelerates aforesaid damages.
How to Control PCOS?
Lifestyle management is the cornerstone of treatment here. Reducing stress, adapting to a balanced routine with adequate sleep and healthy food habits is the mantra to combat PCOS. However, this is much easier to say than done. Besides, once diagnosed, you have to take some prophylactic medications to set your menstrual cycle in its normal rhythm and keep diabetes at bay.
Final Note
PCOS is an offspring of our post modern era lifestyle. Running behind our ambitions and continuously acting naive to lifestyle hazards, we’ve forgotten how to live a balanced life. Once we resume this, ruling out PCOS is just a matter of time.
