In the spirit of PCOS Awareness Month, we recognize that PCOS continues to be very poorly understood and treated by the medical community. Unfortunately, birth control pills continue to be the primary treatment method supplemented in some cases by Metformin.
For those with the syndrome who know all too well, this approach has a very small effect on the overall process. Without a distinct focus on the treatment of insulin resistance (insulin elevation), patients will continue to worsen over time and ultimately most will suffer many of the listed complications of PCOS.
A simple change in nutrition to dramatically reduce the insulin levels will make a dramatic difference to patients with this syndrome. This approach is the only way to truly treat PCOS and the associated problems that arise from elevated insulin.
In addition to our aggressive treatment of PCOS, we do handle patients with type II diabetes and metabolic syndrome. There exists a large number of women who may not meet the strict criteria for PCOS but still have the same insulin resistance physiology and need similar treatment.
Remember, PCOS is one of the numerous major health concerns that result from insulin resistance. After being in practice for almost 25 years, it is clear that patients don’t “read the textbook,” meaning that they don’t always have the classic symptom pattern for particular diseases. Instead, we see a variety of presentations for a particular disease process such as PCOS.
Michael D. Fox, MD
Jacksonville Center Reproductive Medicine
Advanced Reproductive Specialists