Our Strategy For Treating Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS)

After my last post on Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS or PCO), a reader from Arizona emailed us and said: “My doctor prescribed metformin for me and my periods came back after 5 months of no periods!! It also is helping me lose some weight. Keep in mind, I am overweight, hypertensive, and have slightly elevated cholesterol. Ugh!”

Let’s focus on her two implied questions. First, why did her periods return when she started taking metformin? Second, why she has lost weight? As we address those two questions, you’ll learn more about our treatment strategy for PCO at Seasons Women’s Care.

As I explained in my last post, PCO is characterized by

• High insulin levels and insulin resistance
• High androgen levels (think testosterone)
• Irregular cycles (due to anovulation)

Additionally, many women gain weight.

At Seasons we focus on alleviating these three areas without introducing any side effects. You work with the body, the body will work for you! Let’s go over them one at a time.

Elevated Insulin

Elevated insulin is the result of poor insulin sensitivity, or insulin resistance. The most commonly prescribed insulin medicine used today is the drug metformin. This is a diabetes medicine that improves insulin sensitivity and reduces the liver production of glucose. Metformin can also be associated with significant gastrointestinal side effects, though.

Metformin isn’t the only treatment to reduce insulin resistance. Alpha-lipoic acid also works, and it doesn’t have the side effects associated with metformin.

However, the easiest way to improve insulin resistance is through weight loss. You read that right. Merely losing weight will result in improved insulin sensitivity. At Seasons, we help all women with PCOS to lose weight through nutrition.

One final note about insulin. High insulin levels appear to be a primary factor in testosterone production (discussed below) because insulin binds to specific receptors in the ovaries that augment testosterone production.

Our strategy at Seasons: We work to improve insulin resistence and lower insulin levels, using weight loss, Lipoic acid, and metformin (if necessary).

Elevated Testosterone

Many drugs today are prescribed to lower testosterone. These include spirinolactone, finesteride, cyproterone acetate, dexamethasone, Lupron, flutamide, and finesteride. These are big drugs, and they can have big side effects.

At Seasons, we attack the cause at the source: lack of progesterone and elevated insulin.

OK, this part is a bit technical. Progesterone dominates the last two weeks of a cycle, following ovulation. When you don’t ovulate, your body lacks progesterone. When your progesterone levels decrease, your body stimulates more testosterone production. Raising progesterone levels again can reduce the stimulation to the ovaries for more testosterone production.

Even more important for most women, progesterone lowers the testosterone to dihydrotestosterone conversion. This will reduce the facial hair, hair loss, and acne so commonly associated with PCO.

Progesterone also improves a women’s estrogen dominance (high estrogen to progesterone ratio), and thus improves weight loss.

Our strategy at Seasons: We work with your body to lower testosterone levels more naturally by addressing the root causes of decreased progesterone levels and elevated insulin levels.

Irregular Cycles

Irregular cycles are a hallmark of PCOS. They are, however, just a symptom of the hormone problem. A woman’s uterus will only do what her body tells her to do. You might call the uterus a “Yes, Ma’am” organ. This is why removing a woman’s uterus won’t fix the problem.

The problem is hormone imbalance: high testosterone, high insulin, and low progesterone. When we add progesterone back in, we can address the high testosterone and the low progesterone problems. Additionally, we help women eat better and encourage them to eliminate their exposure to environmental toxins. This helps a woman lose weight, and it helps her body’s insulin sensivity and estrogen dominance.

Now, what about birth control pills? Most of your friends are probably on birth control pills to treat PCOS. Birth control pills do correct the cycle issues, but they replace a hormone imbalance with a hormone overload. This can be a big band-aid with dangerous consequences.

Of course, band-aids aren’t solutions. But we’re more concerned about the consequences of long term birth control. It has been shown to increase your chances of breast cancer and weight gain.

Our strategy at Seasons: When we treat PCOS, we look to the root causes, not quick fix band-aids. Treating the causes—high testosterone, high insulin, and low progesterone—results in long-term solutions that restore your overall health.

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Look Good. Be Happy. Be Healthy.

You remember that song from the late 1980s by Bobbi McFaren—“Don’t Worry Be Happy”? I actually sang that song in a skit at a family reunion one time. Not one of my favorite memories, but I really like the song.

Because it’s good medical advice. The more we worry, the more we experience stress, the more our health suffers as a result.

Spas Help Give Women Confidence

That’s why Season’s Womens Care includes two Spas. We have Seasons Medical Aesthetics and Spa here in Ruston, and we work with It’s Permanent Aesthetic Clinic in Monroe. Both spas exist to give a woman confidence.

We want you not to worry. Be happy.

A lot of women really worry about their physical appearance—especially starting in their thirties, forties, and fifties. That’s not a problem we feel like we can ignore at Seasons Women Care clinics.

As a doctor, I focus on women’s health and wellness, of course, but I want my patients to be their all-around best selves. In our image conscious society, this means that I need to help them with their appearance as well.

We are a visual society. When a woman looks in the mirror, she wants to feel beautiful. For many women, that’s a big part of what makes them feel feminine.

Happiness Is Healthy

From a health stand point, we want women to be confident. We want them to be happy because happiness is healthy.

So a woman looks in the mirror and wants to see herself as beautiful. What if she doesn’t? What if she sees wrinkles, sagging skin, dry skin, acne, hair? Many women can’t get past the image in the mirror. They don’t feel beautiful. Sometimes, as a result, they don’t feel good about themselves either.

A woman who doesn’t feel good about herself is not going to be happy. And that’s not healthy. Being unhappy is unhealthy.

If you’ve ever been to a spa, you know that they are really good at giving you confidence and making you feel happy. When you feel happy and confident, your stress is lower and you are healthier.

And that’s a very good thing. In fact, it almost makes me want to sing. But I’ll keep you happy and let Bobby McFarin sing for you instead:

Who needs Hormones?

Who needs hormones? The answer is: not everyone. Some need hormones, and some don’t. Additionally, a need for hormone therapy is not unique to women. Men can benefit from hormone therapy as well.

If you have symptoms of hormone imbalances, then hormone replacement therapy may be right for you. However, a “one size fits all approach” is never appropriate. Each individual’s hormone needs are as unique as his or her thumb print.

Hormone testing will help determine the specific hormone imbalances and direct treatment.