Poly and Me: A Personal Account of Living with PCOS

PCOS is a confusing illness known by several names: polycystic ovaries, sclerocystic ovarian disease, polycystic ovarian disease (PCOD), Stein-Leventhal Syndrome, and polycystitus. PCOS is the condition's most common moniker, but even it tells only part of the story. "Polycystic ovarian" refers to the numerous ovarian cysts some women with PCOS experience, but PCOS has many symptoms—some easily detected and some not—that manifest themselves differently in different women.

While one woman may suffer overtly from most of the symptoms, another woman may suffer from only a few less obvious symptoms and never be properly diagnosed. Many women are diagnosed with PCOS only after seeking medical assistance to conceive.

• Irregular periods
• Heavy/prolonged periods
• Absent periods
• Ovarian cysts
• Irregular or absent ovulation
• Hirsutism (excess facial/body hair)
• Alopecia (male-pattern hair loss)
• Insulin resistance
• Weight problems
• Adult acne
• Skin tags
• Acanthosis nigricans (brown skin patches, often found on the nape of the neck)
• High cholesterol levels
• High blood pressure
• Exhaustion and/or lack of mental alertness (especially at end of day)
• Decreased sex drive
• High levels of "male" hormones such as androgens, DHEAS, or testosterone
• Infertility
• Decreased breast size
• Enlarged clitoris (considered rare)
• Enlarged ovaries
• Enlarged uterus
• Migraines (less recognized, not well studied)
• Depression (may be caused by hormonal imbalances or as a result of suffering symptoms which adversely affect self-esteem)

Twenty-five women suffering from PCOS may produce 25 different sets of symptoms with varying degrees of severity. No wonder it's so confusing! One doctor told me she suspected that I might have PCOS, but she doubted it for a while because I did not have the excess facial hair and skin problems so many PCOS women she'd seen have (just call me "Plucky" and handy with a make-up case). In fact, my body type threw her off because she'd seen PCOS women who were overweight, but all of them had the smaller breasts. I was overweight, but my bra size is not small. What I've learned is that you can't tell a PCOS sufferer by sight. Whether you're aware of the fact or not, you probably know a woman with PCOS.