Medical Practitioner, Dr. Idris Giwa Throws Light On This Common Cause Of Infertility In Females And Management
A Lagos-based medical practitioner, Dr. Idris Giwa, has identified Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome as a common cause of infertility in females, and menstrual irregularities in female adolescents and other women of reproductive age.
Dr Giwa, who spoke at the Estate Youth Parliament health talk, on Sunday, in Lagos, described PCOS as a common condition among young menstruating females and women of reproductive age, News Agency of Nigeria, NAN reports.
Polycystic ovary syndrome is a hormonal condition, and is by far one of the most daunting issues for women to handle when it comes to fertility problems.
PCOS affects around 10 million people worldwide. Since it involves the hormones related to reproduction, it can cause many different frustrating and uncomfortable symptoms.
Fatigue, increased facial and body hair, thinning of the hair on your head, acne, painful periods and ovulation, mood changes, headaches, sleep problems and, of course, infertility are all possible symptoms of PCOS. It also changes the way your body uses insulin.
A lot of people experience weight gain and extreme difficulty losing weight, but you don’t have to experience unexplained weight gain to have PCOS. Many people experience multiple ovarian cysts, but some actually don’t. PCOS is complicated.
According to the expert, although the condition could not be cured, it could be managed effectively, if detected early with increased chances of fertility.
“Lifestyle changes like doing physical exercises, working on reducing central or truncal obesity, with dietary changes, such as reducing high cholesterol and fatty diets, can reduce its prevalence.
“Also, for those who have PCOS complicated by diabetes, low sugar is very important. The prevalence in Nigeria is about 12.2 per cent.
“It is not an infectious condition, but caused by hormonal imbalance and hence has no vaccines against it,”
he said.
ALSO SEE: September Is PCOS Awareness Month: See Expert Advice On Getting Pregnant Despite The Odds
If a patient was treated effectively, such a patient could bear children after treatment, Dr Giwa said, adding that the treatment depended on the age of the woman and the desire to get pregnant (need to induce ovulation).
“The first step to dealing with it is by losing weight and doing physical exercise, as well as reducing high cholesterol or fatty diet. Losing about 5 to -15 per cent of weight in obese women can help with restoring the normal menstrual cycles
“Avoiding smoking; other interventions include birth control pills to normalise menstruation, reduce acne or pimples and hirsutism,”
he added.
He said that about 8 to 20 per cent of women have PCOS, and was a lifetime condition that could not be cured but managed.