POLYCYSTIC OVARIAN SYNDROME OR PCOS
Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) is a common hormonal disorder frequently linked to obesity and often the underlying causation of fertility problems for severely overweight women. For many years, the connection between obesity and PCOS was poorly understood; luckily, over the past decade, medical science has developed a much better understanding of the intertwined linkages between the body’s hormonal balance, insulin processing, and infertility, and along with this understanding has come better solutions as well. We now know that metabolic surgery does far more than simply enable aggressive and rapid weight loss. In fact, metabolic surgery successfully alters the body’s metabolism, correcting the hormonal imbalance at the root of PCOS and allowing most women to conceive on their own without further infertility intervention! If you are severely obese and have been struggling with infertility, metabolic surgery has the power to truly change your life for the better!
Dr. Wiljon Beltre and his warm, caring staff at The Center for Metabolic and Obesity Surgery in Maitland, Florida understand the devastating impact that infertility can have on your emotional health and the undue negative pressure it can put on your relationships and family life. As a Board Certified, fellowship-trained bariatric surgeon, Dr. Beltre believes in offering cutting-edge surgical solutions to break the link between obesity and PCOS; for many obese individuals who have also been diagnosed with PCOS-related infertility, metabolic surgery is the safest, most effective way to correct the hormonal and metabolic imbalances underlying PCOS, achieve significant weight loss, and reverse the devastating limitations of infertility, allowing you to enjoy the healthy, happy family life you have wanted for so long.
POLYCYSTIC OVARIAN SYNDROME (PCOS) AND ITS CONNECTION TO OBESITY
Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) is a hormonal imbalance which causes the growth of an abnormal number of follicles (often called “cysts”) along the outer edge of enlarged ovaries. Believed to be caused when the ovaries produce excess amounts of male hormones known as androgens, PCOS often leads to weight gain, irregular ovulation and menstrual cycles, acne, abnormal facial and body hair growth, thinning scalp hair, and infertility. Numerous factors are thought to trigger this improper hormone production, but researchers now believe that one of the primary causes of PCOS is the production of excess insulin, which leads to insulin resistance and inhibits the body from using insulin effectively. Excess insulin in the body can drive the increase in abnormal hormone production.
For many years, it was believed that obesity itself caused PCOS. Recent studies are now demonstrating that the link between obesity and PCOS is not that clear-cut. For some women, PCOS is one element of a larger medical complication of obesity called metabolic syndrome, because obesity does alter the body’s ability to produce and use insulin. Then, PCOS in turn reinforces obesity by inhibiting effective weight loss. However for many women, PCOS may be the root cause of their obesity: by inhibiting the body’s normal insulin-processing mechanisms, PCOS can cause significant weight gain and prevent weight loss. Thus, for these women, correcting PCOS requires more than just losing weight; it requires regulating the body’s ability to produce and process insulin correctly and restoring the proper hormonal balance, thus enabling both effective weight loss and successfully reversing infertility.
HOW WEIGHT LOSS CAN RESTORE FERTILITY
In the past, PCOS was treated as a reproductive disorder, and rather than addressing the underlying endocrine imbalance, women were encouraged to treat their infertility with traditional fertility treatments that focused on regulating ovulation and forcing conception. Many medical practitioners now recognize that the side effect of PCOS—infertility—will be more effectively reduced if the root cause of PCOS is addressed. It is now believed that PCOS is best treated by decreasing insulin levels, which in turn reduces the amount of androgens the ovaries produce. Even modest weight loss of 5-7% of body weight can help, but unfortunately, the existence of PCOS may inhibit effective weight loss through diet and exercise alone.
Weight loss surgery offers a safe, highly-effective surgical solution to PCOS and its side effect of infertility. By changing the way in which the body processes and absorbs food, and decreasing the production of intestinal hormones, metabolic surgeries such as gastric bypass and sleeve gastrectomy reset the body’s normal metabolic balance and trigger hormonal changes that drastically alter insulin production and processing, effectively countering PCOS through hormone regulation as well as significant weight loss.
While metabolic surgery offers full restoration of fertility for many women, it is critical that women wait at least 12 months after surgery (preferably 12-18 months) before getting pregnant, to allow weight loss to stabilize and ensure proper nutrition and weight gain during pregnancy.
CONTACT THE CENTER FOR METABOLIC AND OBESITY SURGERY
At The Center for Metabolic and Obesity Surgery, located in Maitland, Florida, we offer a proven, multifaceted approach to bariatric surgery that will empower you to achieve your weight loss goals, improve your health and appearance, and rebuild your self-confidence. Led by esteemed Board Certified surgeon Dr. Wiljon Beltre, one of the only fellowship-trained bariatric surgeons in Central Florida, we specialize in the latest cutting-edge procedures for safe, effective surgical weight loss coupled with a dedicated support team of caring, experienced specialists who will stand by your side to support you throughout your entire weight loss journey. Significant weight loss is not easy, but with the help of with our confidential consultation process, the surgical skill and experience of our medical team, and the advice and guidance of our on-going support network, we can help you achieve the lasting weight loss success you have been dreaming about.
If you are tired of the endless rounds of fad dieting and fruitless exercise regimens and think you may be ready for weight loss surgery, or if you would like more information about how weight loss surgery at The Center for Metabolic and Obesity Surgery can improve—potentially even resolve—some obesity-related health problems such as Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome, contact us today for a free, individual consultation. We look forward to helping you start your weight loss journey today! Call 321-499-6505 or Click Here to Schedule a Consultation.
DISCLAIMER: Metabolic surgery involves a lifetime commitment to significant lifestyle changes, and is not for everyone. Individual results differ depending on each patient’s medical history and willingness and ability to adhere to the weight loss program specified by Dr. Beltre. As with all surgical procedures, all forms of metabolic surgery carry the risk of complications and side effects; additional details about potential complications, side effects, and other risks will be provided to you by Dr. Beltre during your pre-surgical consultations.
