Instead, they can undergo fertility therapy with other drugs
A Mysterious Ailment
canada goose coats on sale Nov. 27, 2000 By the age of 40, Lahle Henninger says she’d had only five naturally occurring menstrual periods in her entire life. She’s since had more, but https://www.haydar-furniture.com only with the help of hormone supplements. For years, this Virginia mother of four also suffered from excess facial and body hair, severe acne, and tremendous weight gain. What was causing such bodily mayhem? None of the nearly 20 doctors she consulted could come up with a diagnosis, let alone a solution. canada goose coats on sale
Then, at 27, she sought help for a minor sinus infection. When Henninger told her doctor about canada goose outlet black friday sale her other problems, “She looked at me and said, ‘You can’t go two years without a period; that means something’s wrong.’” The doctor ordered blood tests, a sonogram to check Henninger’s ovaries, and the opinion of an endocrinologist. One week later, Henninger received the diagnosis: polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS).
uk canada goose outlet The story gets worse: Researchers are now finding that women with PCOS are at higher risk for diabetes, heart disease, uterine cancer, and high blood pressure. For example, researchers reported in the January 1999 issue of the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism that these women are canada goose outlet phone number three times more likely to develop diabetes. At an annual meeting of endocrinologists this past June, researchers presented evidence suggesting that PCOS speeds the development of heart disease. women of reproductive age suffer from this often devastating condition. uk canada goose outlet
The mystery of PCOS
What accounts for the lack of periods and other symptoms? Women with PCOS have excessively high levels of male hormones, such canada goose parka outlet as testosterone. The result: Henninger’s facial hair and the 278 pounds circling her midsection the “apple shape” associated with a propensity for heart disease. Testosterone overload can also lead to infertility or recurrent miscarriages, male canada goose parka outlet uk pattern hair thinning, and sometimes multiple cysts on the ovaries. And, as evidenced by the irregular periods, women with PCOS don’t regularly ovulate.
Canada Goose sale Researchers, however, have yet to uncover why these symptoms surface in the first place. One clue is that PCOS tends to goose outlet canada run in families, says Futterweit, a clinical professor of medicine in the division of endocrinology at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City. Canada Goose sale
canada goose uk black friday He hypothesizes that brain signals responsible for regulating reproductive hormones could be misfiring, or the ovaries and adrenal glands could be making the hormones incorrectly. “There’s not even a universal consensus on the definition of the syndrome,” she says. “There is a sense, among physicians, that you know it when you canada goose outlet location see it.” canada goose uk black friday
canada goose factory sale That doesn’t mean that getting the right diagnosis is easy, however. On the contrary, without one test canada goose stockists uk to definitively diagnose PCOS, getting answers remains difficult. Many times, doctors end up pointing to PCOS when they’ve exhausted other possibilities, says David Ehrmann, MD, an associate professor of endocrinology at the University of Chicago. canada goose factory sale
“To some extent, it’s a diagnosis of exclusion,” he says. “You have to exclude canada goose outlet online a number of conditions that can masquerade as PCOS.”
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Once doctors have finally arrived at the diagnosis, women like Henninger have yet another long road ahead to find the right treatment.
Many doctors, like Ehrmann, design a treatment plan for each patient, depending on the woman’s symptoms and her age and stage of life. They may begin by suggesting a regular exercise regimen and a low fat, low carbohydrate diet for weight canada goose outlet in chicago loss. For women who are markedly overweight and have irregular periods, Futterweit sometimes prescribes metformin, a diabetes medication. It helps the body’s cells become more sensitive to insulin’s signal to convert sugars into energy. This insulin insensitivity is often associated with PCOS.
uk canada goose To normalize the body’s hormones, doctors usually recommend oral contraceptives along with a medication that counteracts male hormones. Women who want to get pregnant wouldn’t take these medications. Instead, they can undergo fertility therapy with other drugs or try in vitro fertilization. uk canada goose
Canada Goose Outlet While the condition requires lifetime management, Futterweit says, women can indeed go on to live a normal life. Henninger, now a member of the board of directors for the Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome Association, lost 138 pounds after going on a low carbohydrate diet for 13 months. Her diabetes, cholesterol levels, and high blood pressure are all under control. Canada Goose Outlet
canada goose black friday sale And after fertility treatments didn’t work, she and her husband, who was her high school sweetheart, began a family together by adopting cheap canada goose three children. Then, in 1998, they were handed the surprise of their lives: Henninger found out that she was pregnant. “We weren’t even trying,” she says canada goose black friday sale.