PCOS FAQs

You may feel helpless, overwhelmed, devastated, defeated and hopeless. We understand. You are not alone in this journey. You are now joining us and the millions of other women worldwide that have been given the diagnosis of PCOS. Approximately 6-10% of all women in child-bearing age have, too, have PCOS. This may sound overwhelming but we promise, there is hope! There is a way to take back the control over your own body again and not let yourself fall victim to PCOS's tight control. You can heal your body, your mind and your spirit. PCOS Balance provides a full-woman approach to Mastering the Balance of PCOS through PCOS Education, Health Coaching,  PCOS-Friendly Menus and Self-Care tips. We will walk with you to get you back on your feet, find balance again and embracing and loving your life and yourself again (and keep it that way!)! PCOS is a devastating diagnosis, BUT you don't have to fall victim to it forever! Let's go on this journey together and remember that journeys are never easy, but we are here every step of the way. Get acquainted with our website and all of the great things we offer to get you finally feeling balanced! Begin to feel EMPOWERED and let's do this together!

First and foremost, PCOS is not just infertility, even if temporary infertility. There are SO MANY MORE ways that PCOS affects our lives than infertility. Numerous times, we've spoken to women that have PCOS, and their doctors have convinced them it's simply just a fertility problem, they're prescribed a pill of some sort and booted out of the office. PCOS is SO MUCH more than just infertility...Do not let your doctors convince you it's "just" a fertility problem. Now that we've put that out on the table, let's get down to the basics. PCOS is an acronym for Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome. It is characterized by the presence of many cysts on our ovaries hence "Poly" meaning many, "Cystic" meaning cysts, "Ovarian" meaning ovaries and "Syndrome" meaning a group of symptoms that are specific to a particular disorder. Although many doctors give a very superficial rundown of what PCOS is and how it's affecting us, commonly prescribing us a pill to "control symptoms" and usually telling us to "lose weight", we are the only ones that truly understand what it means to have PCOS. PCOS causes an array of physiological and psychological symptoms such as:

• Easily gaining weight
• Difficulty losing weight
• Infertility
• Painful, irregular (oligomenorrhea) or lack of (amenorrhea) menstrual cycle
• Depression
• Anxiety
• Intense mood swings
• Thinning or loss of hair on head (balding patterns)
• Hirsutism (excessive male-patterned hair growth)
• Irresistible carbohydrate cravings
• Eating disorders (binge or bulimia)
• Fatigue
• Foggy-brain
• Low sex-drive

One, or many, of these symptoms may have been the reason you sought professional help. Each of us have an individual profile of our symptoms, but we all can agree that they are torturous. PCOS has and will hijack your life, but there comes a point where you CANNOT allow it anymore.

You've most likely be suffering the effects of untreated PCOS for a while, however, the complications become more severe the longer you go without treating yourself. Aside from the major symptoms of PCOS, untreated PCOS can greatly increase your risk of:

• Diabetes Type II
• Heart disease/CAD (Coronary Heart Disease) due to increased visceral fat and Diabetes Type II
• Endometrial, ovarian, liver, pancreatic, colon and breast cancer
• Obesity which leads to many additional complications
• Fatty liver
• Gal bladder malfunction
• High blood pressure
• Poor mental health/mental wellness

In most women, most of these complications are preventable when treated, but most, once developed, cannot be undone. For example, Diabetes Type II and CAD are forever.

Our PCOS bodies are different which is why we need to take special care of ourselves, pay particular attention to our diet, make sure we get movement, get enough sleep and manage our stress levels. Take a look at the Education section to get a breakdown of what is really going on in our bodies and what you can do about it! Knowledge is POWER!

No...unfortunately, at this point in time, PCOS is not curable. It is a condition in which we manage, not cure, however, we can do a very great job at managing. Do remember though, no matter how much you will be tempted to return to old habits when you are feeling much better believing  you have "cured" yourself, you cannot...This is a very real diagnosis, so take your time to grieve, but remember, everything we offer on this website will help you manage it exceptionally well! There is so much hope to get your body and your life back! There are researchers out there that have been studying PCOS, but there is still a very long way to go, and sometimes, a lot of varying and contradictory conclusions. With a the support of an ACE FITNESS Certified Health Coach, a PCOS-friendly eating plan, education about why you're doing what you're doing, more quality sleep and stress management, you can reduce your symptoms drastically leading to a much happier and healthier life. You DESERVE to feel happy again.

Being women, our bodies are exceptionally complex. That being said, our PCOS is obviously exceptionally complex as well. It doesn't take a single approach to heal your body; it takes a combination for overall wellbeing.  Here is the best beginning approach:

1. Understand your PCOS Body (you can learn all about it here)
2. Eat a PCOS-Friendly diet and reduce PCOS-Harming foods
3. Get more movement
4. Take care of your mental health and get mental help if you need it (you will find mental health resources here)

At your core, your true being, you are NOT PCOS; you are an incredible, beautiful, strong, independent woman, and we truly want you to find her again.

ack in 1935, two gynecologists named Irving F. Stein and Michael Leo Leventhal noticed that there were women that were presenting before them that had a variety of symptoms such as acne, obesity, oligomenorrhea (absence of ovulation for longer than 40 days) and excess hair growth all within the second and third decades of their lives. This is when PCOS was first recorded in history and was, at that time, called Stein-Leventhal Syndrome. These men were the first to associate cysts on the ovaries with anovulation (lack of ovulation), which certainly set the foundation for PCOS.