Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS)  – Stacey

Profile:

• 27-year-old female
• Married
• Works at a bank
• No children but trying

Symptoms:

• No period for six months.  Stacey and her husband are trying to get pregnant.  Because she has not had a period, it hard for Stacey to know when or if she is ovulating
• Facial hair on chin, jaw and a little on her neck
• Acne
• Multiple cysts on both of her ovaries
• When she uses an over the counter ovulation kit, it never shows the “happy face” or positive ovulation
• Weight gain, she can gain weight very quickly and easily
• Irritable
• Pelvic pain and cramps when she does get a period
• Hair loss on the head

Lab Testing: 

PCOS Plus Panel
PCOS Basic Panel

Treatment Ideas:

Multifactorial process

• Lifestyle
• Dietary modifications
• Supplementation
• Possibly BHRT bioidentical hormone treatment

Polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) like it sounds, has multiple cysts on the ovaries.  As you can see Stacey has PCOS. She has been to her Gyn doc and gotten an ultrasound. Which showed multiple cysts on both her ovaries.  Her ovaries on the ultrasound looked like a “string of pearls”, which is classic for PCOS. Her doc only recommended putting her on birth control pills.  But Stacey doesn’t want to go on birth control pills. She has been on them before and didn’t like how she felt. Also, Stacey wants to get pregnant.

In PCOS women are making cyst after cyst in their ovaries instead of ovulating.  But that is not only part of PCOS. There are a lot of hormonal imbalances that create a lot of symptoms as you can see in Stacey’s case.  Stacey had her blood work done and she had both high testosterone and DHEA-sulfate. These are considered androgens and that is what was causing the irritability, acne, hair loss on her head and the growth on her face.  She also had high FSH (follicle stimulating hormone) and LH (luteinizing hormone).

Her LH level was double her FSH level. This is also common in PCOS, seeing a 2:1 or more ratio of LH to FSH. Her estradiol level (estrogen) was on the lower side and she had no progesterone.  This hormone profile is super common in PCOS. The goal with Stacey was to reduce her androgens and try and get her ovulating. We did this by way of lifestyle, supplementation, and BHRT specifically designed for her symptoms, goals and her hormone profile.

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