Course

Healing

Path

PCOS

Post-summit

Sos Course

Introducing The PCOS SOS Course: Your Post-Summit Path To Healing

PCOS SOS Summit

And I want to take this moment to just introduce my take on PCOS. Because PCOS is polycystic ovary syndrome. Now, when the word syndrome comes in play, what does that tell you right out the gate? That there is a whole spectrum of presentations and maybe, and the answer is yes to this, etiologies for those symptoms. So PCOS is not just one thing, and in fact it is truly a diagnosis first of exclusion. And this is really important for everyone to know. So that's a little bit about what I want to cover in this particular talk that I'm giving. I want to say, how do you even know you have PCOS and how can it be confusing or be confused with other medical conditions? So I told you PCOS is a condition of exclusion. So what are you excluding or like we call the rule outs? Okay, you have to rule out, that you have what's called acquired or late onset adrenal hyperplasia. That is a condition where an enzyme is not working properly in the adrenal gland, and that leads to the overproduction of the androgen. DHEAS, a sole produced androgen by the adrenal. No other organ including the ovary reproduces that particular hormone. And by androgen, that means it's like a male-type hormone. Now it's present in women but it produces male-type effects, like facial hair. And of course, in women, terrible, often terrible acne. But how do you know what's going on? Well, this is really for a competent, very knowledgeable doctor, whether it's an ob-gyn like myself or sometimes an endocrinologist to rule out whether you do or don't have this condition, acquired adrenal hyperplasia. But let me back up for a minute and just go over the basic criteria for getting the label initially of PCOS. Because it's a label based on just presentations and findings, not on etiologies. That's why you have to rule out other etiologies like acquired or late-onset adrenal hyperplasia. 

So it's very simple. I don't know why there's so much confusion out there in the medical world and so many women go to doctor after doctor before they actually get even a diagnosis, let alone good treatment. So to get the diagnosis you only need two, any two of the following three. And by the way, this is controversial. One of the organizations I belong to, the Androgen Excess PCOS Society, believes that androgen excess, or like an excess of male-type hormone is an essential for this diagnosis, I actually agree with them. But so there's some difference in opinions here. But generally speaking, you would have irregular cycles or maybe absence cycles and they could come every month and a half or maybe every year or every two months. So it's highly variable, so some form of irregular menstrual cycles. And then there's androgen excess. So androgen excess is excessive facial hair, we call that hirsutism or thinning of the scalp hair. that is called androgenic alopecia. And it can also be in excess of body hair. For example, in places that women normally would never get body hair like on their back or on their chest. Now, let me tell you, if you have here in those areas, it often is a sign of an adrenal problem. Okay. Women with just standard, we’ll call it standard PCOS typically do not have hair on their back or on their chest, but they may have excessive hair on their arms or legs or the bikini area more so than the average woman. Okay, so that's androgen excess. Now, it can also be thinning of the hair that I mentioned. And how is that working? Well, it's not because the hair is falling out. It's because every time they hair naturally falls out and often the growing phase of hair in women with PCOS is somewhat shorter than typical. But each time their hair naturally falls out their hair follicle shrinks a little bit. So the subsequent hair that grows out is thinner or finer. So over time you still have the same numbers of hair, but the hair themselves, each strand of hair is smaller and smaller. 

So you have in terms of hair volume, you have less hair volume. But ultimately a hair will fall out of the hair follicle and then what happens is that hair follicle literally closes over and never again will any hair ever grow out of that hair follicle. So over time, a woman with PCOS androgenic alopecia will have both finer hair, less volume, and actually fewer hairs. So this is obviously very distressing because we're talking about women in their prime. We're talking about women in their twenties and thirties and forties. Oh, my goodness. So not easy to deal with. Now, what else? What we call recalcitrant or incredibly stubborn cystic or hormonal acne typically on the jawline with deep painful cysts below the surface. And it's very difficult to treat with the typical treatment set are given by dermatologists and even Accutane, which I'll deal with, of course, much more in the program, does not have anywhere near the permanent success rate, unfortunately in women with PCOS compared to others who have, we'll call it standard teenage acne because this is a different entity, hormonal acne of PCOS. It's not the same as standard teen acne and it's much harder to treat. So androgen excess also can involve elevated androgens on blood tests. And that would typically be DHEAS and also testosterone. 

And we're going to deal much more in my course, with the differences in the adrenal side and the ovarian side. So this is just a little preview. And then the irregular cycles that I mentioned is on part of the definition. And then the other is what? PCOS ovaries on ultrasound. And this has also been somewhat controversial because like all ultrasounds have improved in quality. So now they believe is that it should be at least 20 follicles seen around the rim of the ovaries, sometimes it’s called a ring of pearls. Now, many radiologists are not even very familiar with this and they never count the follicles., so they just will often say many. You know it's not really definitive, the word many, but it gives you at least an idea when they say, and they'll often say many small follicles around the cortex or rim consistent with PCOS. So in summary, the diagnosis of PCOS is any two of the following three irregular cycles PCOS, ovaries on ultrasound, and also or androgen excess, which many of us think it should always include androgen excess. And then as well, you need to know if you get a very young teen who's recently starting to have periods like say, only in the last two to three years and you get the ultrasound, even teens who do not have PCOS will have PCOS ovaries on the ultrasounds. Think of them as training ovaries. So the ultrasound is not useful in younger teens who only are within two, three or so years of the original period that they had, what we call menarche. 

So getting back to all of these issues, we know that women with PCOS have to be eliminated from having something else before you officially get and keep the diagnosis of PCOS. So I mentioned there's acquired or late onset of adrenal hyperplasia. There are also such things as androgen-producing adrenal tumors. There is also you can have even tumors of ovaries that produce too much testosterone. Older women can sometimes have a problem where they produce excess testosterone, and it's not a tumor, but it's being produced from their ovaries often in very high quantities. So you really have to know other things that are going on in the person. Another potential problem is if you have a pituitary overproduction of a hormone called prolactin, which can actually trigger the production of androgens in the adrenal. So what am I telling you? I'm telling you that every woman with PCOS needs to have a knowledgeable physician who actually does the proper testing in order to rule out the other issues that can be confusing with PCOS. In my course, I'm going to deal with as I mentioned, the most common six issues that women with PCOS face. Skin and hair issues, as I've already touched on a little bit with the acne and loss of hair on the scalp facial hair, and body hair. What else? We're going to deal with? Mood disorders. Women with PCOS have two to four times the incidence of depression and anxiety as the average non-PCOS woman. And what else? Infertility. Women with PCOS have the highest rate of infertility. In fact, PCOS is indeed the number one underlying cause of female infertility. And I've already mentioned this, irregular cycles. 

We want to talk about why do women who have PCOS have irregular cycles, and then not just why but what to do about it naturally. I just want you to know taking birth control pills does not regulate a woman's periods. What it does is it completely shuts down her ovarian function. It's not healing her ovaries. It's taking them offline and replacing the hormones from the ovary, estradiol and progesterone with chemical sort of mimics in birth control pills, typically ethanol, estradiol, and some sort of progestin. And progestin is just a man made up word for a mimic, really a progesterone endocrine disruptor. So it's not real progesterone and it's not real estradiol and it gives the illusion of having normal ovarian function and normal ovaries and normal hormones. But in effect it's all camouflage, it's all smoke and mirrors. And of course, it can give you regular bleeding but it doesn't give you regular periods. Because to have a real period means you have to have real ovarian functioning and you have to have a real ovulation. So that's like a big deal. What I'm going to teach you in my course is how to help your ovaries to function properly, to ovulate and make those beautiful life hormones. I changed it from sex hormones to life hormones, and you'll know why when you take my course. Life hormones to help your ovaries to ovulate and make them. Because that's what a human female actually needs to be optimally healthy. And what else are we going to talk about? We're going to talk about the real huge problem. Sometimes the elephant in the room which is glucose regulation. Women with PCOS have high rates of insulin resistance. And insulin resistance is related to many problems in the body involving cardiovascular health and weight loss resistance. 

So I'm going to talk about cardiometabolic health, insulin resistance, how to diagnose it, what to do about it. And I'm going to do a whole separate program, a whole separate one of my six segments on weight. Okay. Weight is such a common problem. In fact, 80% of women with PCOS have weight loss resistance and it links of course to insulin resistance. So we're going to deal with how can you lose weight when you have PCOS. Now, I know all of you out there have heard of these new, they're really not that new, they're been around for a while. The medications that are in the category of GLP-1 agonists. So glucagon-like peptide one agonist. Now these are not the real McCoy. They're not GLP-1, they're agonist. That means agonist is a word for mimic. Okay. So it's a chemical made by a pharmaceutical company that has similar sureties to our real body produce GLP-1. Now some women are losing weight with these, I've given talks and I'm going to cover this more in my whole segment on weight loss, all about these drugs' pros and cons. But remember what the pharmaceutical industry right now is promoting is number one, if you start on these drugs, you take them for life. Now, many of you out there with PCOS are in your twenties and thirties. I have to tell you, there's no data on using such drugs for a life and the cause can be out of this world. And guess what else? You are not allowed to be on them when you're trying to get pregnant. And they expect that when you go off of them you'll just regain all the weight. So this is a challenge. 

So we're going to cover these medications and other weight loss drugs and even more importantly the natural approach to helping women with PCOS to really conquer their weight loss resistance issues, to successfully and permanently lose weight. And not just weight, to lose fat because you don't want to lose vital muscle. I'm going to tell you and teach you how you can lose fat and maintain your lean body, mass, your muscle. And not lower your metabolic rate for life, but actually helps to rev it up. Not kidding, I'm going to share all my secrets with you. So once again my course is not to be missed. I want you to know, that I have never given a course before like this one ever on PCOS. It'll be six segments, each one a separate week, and it will cover all the key issues that women with PCOS deal with and you get to submit questions. So the first round is completely live. So you get to submit questions, it will be live, you get me, you know, flaws and all, and I'm going to give it my best to deliver for you, the vital information about the whys and the what nows, the what to do’s. Including pharmaceuticals, surgical approaches, and the expanded therapeutics that I have access to as an integrative physician, including nutraceuticals, herbals, mind, body medicine, fitness, exercise, nutritionals. I have all of that in my therapeutic toolbox and I will share it all with you. So please, please, if you care about your future as a woman with PCOS join me for my course. It's going to be something that in addition to this summit, I certainly expect it'll be life transformational. I hope you will take me up on my offer and I'll get to see you soon.

<h6>Felice Gersh, MD</h6>
Hi. I am Dr. Felice Gersh, the host of the PCOS SOS Summit. I thank you from the bottom of my heart for caring enough about taking charge of your own health, to have access this summit and hopefully listen to all or many of my amazing guests whom I had the pleasure of interviewing. Now, many of you may be thinking. But what does Dr. Gersh think about all of this, and what is her approach to PCOS and how can I learn more from her? You know, I loved and enjoyed all of her guests, but I only got a smidgen of information from her directly. I mostly learned from her amazing guests. Well, I decided that I need to put my $0.02 and then some into a program. A special course that I have designed just for you. It is going to be a six-part amazing course that is going to do a deep dove into the six key issues that women with PCOS face. And even if any of those issues are not ones that you are dealing with, I can assure you there'll be so much information in general, Because as many of you know as integrative medicine and functional medicine teaches, everything in the body is interconnected with everything else. So if you take steps to help one thing, the collateral is you’re helping other things. So no matter what your issues with PCOS may be, because it is a spectrum., I can guarantee that there will be much that you can gain in terms of knowledge and benefit from my six-part course.

https://d1tnc8rqovg0h0.cloudfront.net/2023+Summit/PCOS+SOS+Summit/Transcripts/2023_PCOS_SOS_SUMMIT_Mini+Talk+Day+1+Transcript+File.pdf

Felice Gersh, MD is a multi-award winning physician with dual board certifications in OB-GYN and Integrative Medicine. She is the founder and director of the Integrative Medical Group of Irvine, a practice that provides comprehensive health care for women by combining the best evidence-based therapies from conventional, naturopathic, and holistic medicine. For 12 years, she taught obstetrics and gynecology at Keck USC School of Medicine as an Assistant Clinical Professor, and she now serves as an Affiliate Faculty Member at the Fellowship in Integrative Medicine through the University of Arizona School of Medicine.
Felice is a prolific writer and lecturer who speaks globally on women’s health and regularly publishes in peer-reviewed medical journals. She is the bestselling author of the PCOS SOS series and her latest book, Menopause: 50 Things You Need to Know.

Introducing The PCOS SOS Course: Your Post-Summit Path To Healing

Felice Gersh, MD

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Felice Gersh, MD