DO YOU HAVE PCOS OR AMENORRHEA?
The main symptom between the two that get people confused is the loss of one’s period.
However, the two couldn’t be any more different.
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Hypothalamic amenorrhea is a stress issue. It can be caused by over exercise, under eating, some form of stress on the body (whether it be physically or mentally) such as gut infection, injury, heavy metal toxicity, psychological stress and so forth.
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PCOS on the other hand is a metabolic issue, an inflammatory and blood sugar dysregulation that affects women’s hormones. Conversely, it can also come on from being on the birth control pill, or other forms of stress on the body.
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Symptoms of the two vary if we go beyond the missing period link.
1️⃣With PCOS, you can actually still have a period, but it can become irregular or you can stop ovulating, with HA, you just lose your menses all together.
2️⃣With PCOS, you may develop cysts (more on this below) on your ovaries, with HA it’s rare , and in fact it may be normal for women.
3️⃣Elevated androgens can be a diagnosis of PCOS, where as with HA, most hormones are downregulated.
4️⃣High fasting insulin, which is a sign of insulin resistance is popular among those who struggle with PCOS, where as with HA, you’ll most likely have low fasting insulin. This is why many women with PCOS gain weight.
5️⃣A thickened uterine lining is another distinguisher between the two, for with HA, your estrogen is too low to build a uterine lining.
6️⃣Lastly, by testing the ratio between one’s luteinizing hormone to follicle stimulating hormone is a good indicator on whether one is dealing with PCOS or HA. High LH to FSH is linked to PCOS, where as low LH to FSH is paired with HA.
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In order to get a diagnosis for HA, one must have a minimum of 3 months of their period missing, and should look into having their fasting insulin tested and their hormones checked.
As for PCOS, the way of going about a diagnosis is about the same, for you can’t diagnosis a patient via ultrasound regarding the polycystic ovaries. The reason for this is because those ‘cysts’ are follicles/eggs, which could be normal for many women to have a higher amount of, especially younger women.