I have read that PCOS is a syndrome with symptoms of diabetes. I don't have high blood pressure or anything...but I know that PCOS involves insulin and how your body uses it.

What is the difference between PCOS symptoms and Diabetes? Is PCOS something that could TURN into Diabetes, or does it just mock some of the symptoms?

Can someone clarify this? I'm a newbie but it's hard to answer questions for my family and my own questions! Hee hee.

Thanks! CD

PCOS is "prediabetes" although you can have both too. Diabetes type 2 GENERALLY (but not always) does not effect reproductive areas and other hormones like PCOS does. This is where the "having both" comes in. Yes, PCOS, LEFT UNTREATED, leads to diabetes...er gives you a much higher risk of developing it. When you keep the PCOS treated, the risk lowers.

Hopeful:

Thanks for replying. Do you mean by PCOS, "left untreated", are you referring to medication, or weight loss, etc?

CD

Medication and/or diet. Diet can slow it down but not inhibit it from aging. Medication can stop its aging and sometimes reverse it.

Not everyone who has pcos is at risk for diabetes, because not everyone who has pcos has insulin resistance. It is the pcosers that have insulin resistance that need to be treated. My insulin resistance did turn into diabetes, and I am now on medication and a low carb completely sugar free diet.
Your doctor can find this out easily by doing a blood test on you to check if you have insulin resistance.

The subject is a little hard to understand at first, but here is what I know.....

Insulin resistance, meaning your body ends up producing excess insulin that goes unused in the metabolic process, can lead to diabetes in this respect - your pancreas will lose sensitivity and your body will not produce ENOUGH insulin. Kind of like it wore out from producing so much.

In my case, my insulin is not extrememly high, but higher than normal and my doctor likes to keep tabs on it. My HbA1c levels have always been normal, as well as my glucose. These are three things that should be monitored regularly if you are insulin resistant. Once the HbA1c goes out of whack, that's the first sign of something being wrong in terms of diabetes. HbA1c, basically, is a 6-week indicator of blood sugar levels. If you have family history of diabetes, it's important to get these tests. Of course, the main goal is to get the insulin level under control so that it doesn't get to this point.

I hope this makes sense.