NBC NEWS – After nearly a century of disagreements over what, exactly, defines the condition, as well as a lack of research, PCOS is still poorly understood.
Every morning, Jeni Gutke swallows 12 pills. In the evening, she takes 15 more, then another before bed.
She also takes an injectable medication once weekly, and two other medications as needed.
Gutke, of Joliet, Illinois, has polycystic ovary syndrome, or PCOS, and the medications and supplements help the 45-year-old cope with migraines, high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol, anxiety and depression that come with the complex hormonal condition.
Not one of Gutke’s medications are technically “PCOS drugs.” The Food and Drug Administration has not approved a medication specifically for PCOS, which is often linked to infertility, irregular or missed periods, weight problems, and other debilitating symptoms.
“It gets very messy to try to identify one treatment that’s going to work for everybody.”
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Gutke’s array of medications is typical of how many of the estimated 5 million women in the U.S. diagnosed with PCOS deal with it.
“It’s such a vast syndrome that affects everything from your head to your toes,” she said. She was diagnosed with endometrial cancer — another risk linked to PCOS — at age 37.
After nearly a century of disagreements over what, exactly, defines the condition, as well as a lack of research, PCOS is still poorly understood.
The symptoms vary so widely that any single drug would be unlikely to help all patients, said Dr. Heather Huddleston, a reproductive endocrinologist at the University of California, San Francisco and director of UCSF’s PCOS Clinic.
Women with PCOS and the doctors who care for them say they want better options — treatments for the condition’s root causes rather than bandages for individual symptoms.
“The symptoms are so varied that any single drug would be unlikely to help all patients, doctors say.”
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Even as calls for better treatments grow, the lack of investment in PCOS research has limited doctors’ ability to help their patients …