Polycystic Ovary Syndrome

Excess insulin can cause ovaries to make extra androgen hormones, so it may be a trigger for polycystic ovary syndrome in some women. However, experts are not sure that insulin is always the root of the problem. Genetics and the way that some of the body's glands are programmed (the ovaries, the pituitary gland, and the adrenal gland) also play a role in causing this disease. Women with recurrent seizures are more likely to develop polycystic ovary syndrome. This might happen because repeated seizures affect the brain's hypothalamus and pituitary gland, which regulate the production of reproductive hormones.

Symptoms

Polycystic ovary syndrome usually does not cause symptoms before mid-puberty, when the ovaries begin to produce hormones in significant amounts. Women then can have some or all of the following symptoms:

• Menstrual periods that are infrequent, irregular or absent

• Difficulty getting pregnant

• Obesity (in 40% to 50% of women with this condition)

• Acne

• Hair growth in the beard area, upper lip, sideburns, chest, the area around nipples or the lower abdomen along the midline

• Darkened, thickened skin, sometimes appearing similar to velvet, in the armpits

• High blood pressure, high blood sugar or a cholesterol problem