Hi, I'm Erika of the PCOS personal trainer and I want to quickly go over some
symptoms of PCOS. Many of these you already know,
so we're going to focus on some symptoms that patients and even physicians often
overlook and my goal here is to give you information so that you can work with
your healthcare team to get the absolute best treatment possible.
Now the most common symptoms that are going to get you a diagnosis or treatment
are missing your period , infertility, hirsutism, acne,
and unexplained trouble losing weight or easily gaining weight.
Now I've been working exclusively with women who have PCOS since 2014 and I can
tell you as a coach and a personal trainer who's worked with hundreds of women,
that there are a few symptoms that even your physician might not be addressing
in your checkups. The first is fatigue.
Now you know you have a problem with chronic fatigue.
If you find yourself more days than not,
thinking my life would be so much better if I had more energy or you might even
find yourself jealous of people your age who have more energy.
Those are good signs of fatigue is a problem for you,
and the symptom of fatigue can be a sign that you have an underlying thyroid
condition, sleep apnea,
or unaddressed insulin resistance that needs work through either medical or
lifestyle modifications.
And so addressing those now could greatly improve the quality of your life and
reduce some of the other symptoms that come along with fatigue.
The next symptom is acne and versa. Now, acne in versa,
is not normal. PCOS hormonal acne.
It is actually painful boils often in your armpits and groin area.
They're like these little marble size bumps and they are very, very painful.
And they don't go away very often.
In fact people who have them often avoid working out,
which is a huge bummer if you have PCOS and you want to work out and you have
these painful boils that are keeping you from doing so because the act of moving
around and sweating aggravates your condition. The good news is,
is that there are treatments for acne and versa, both lifestyle and medical.
So bringing it up with your physician so they know that you have this and not
just classic PCOS acne is critical to improving the quality of your life.
And the third and final symptom I want to talk about is belly fat.
Even if you're at a healthy weight or you're actually kind of on the skinny
side, if you have a tendency to gain fat around the middle,
it could be a sign that you are insulin resistant.
Even if you're not testing for it on a blood test yet,
you may want to start taking steps to address insulin resistance before it
becomes a problem that shows up on like a diabetes screening.
Ways you can do that are taking supplements like inositol or NAC.
And of course you could look into taking metformin,
which is a prescription drug for insulin resistance.
Strength training also helps with insulin resistance.
And of course there are dietary measures and different diets that you can do to
improve a belly fat insulin resistance.
And just a special note that if you are experiencing fatigue and a tendency to
gain weight around your middle, that usually to me is a dead giveaway,
that you have some insulin resistance issues that should be addressed sooner
rather than later because you're probably on the road to having a,
a problem down the road. So just go ahead and, and start addressing them now.
Be proactive.
If you have a symptom that you feel like your physician is not addressing or
helping you out with, or you just want to share with other women,
maybe some experiences you had, please, please,
please leave a comment below about the PCOS symptom that bugs you the most.
And if you are looking for extra help with PCOS and addressing some of these
symptoms, there's a link below.
Click on the link below and sign up for my symptom action plan.
It'll give you some advice from experts I've met along the way on my PCOS
journey to help improve the quality of your life and get the treatment and care
you deserve from your physicians.