It’s dif­fi­cult to tell if you have poly­cys­tic ovar­i­an syn­drome (PCOS) on your own un­less you know ex­act­ly what to look for. Let us get a bet­ter un­der­stand­ing of PCOS and how you may get it.

While the di­rect cause of PCOS is un­known, it is thought to be re­lat­ed to ab­nor­mal hor­mone lev­els. In­sulin is a hor­mone pro­duced by the pan­creas to con­trol the amount of sug­ar in the blood. High lev­els of in­sulin can cause the ovaries to pro­duce too much testos­terone, which in­ter­feres with the de­vel­op­ment of fol­li­cles and can dis­rupt ovu­la­tion.

PCOS may al­so be hered­i­tary. If you find that you have a his­to­ry of women in your fam­i­ly with the con­di­tion, the risk of de­vel­op­ing it is of­ten in­creased. While a di­rect ge­net­ic link has not yet been made, the in­creas­ing like­li­hood sug­gests that there may be a ge­net­ic link.

Ac­cord­ing to an ex­cerpt tak­en from health­line.com, here are a few symp­toms that you can look out for:

Ir­reg­u­lar pe­ri­ods

A lack of ovu­la­tion pre­vents the uter­ine lin­ing from shed­ding every month. Some women with PCOS get few­er than eight pe­ri­ods a year.

Heavy bleed­ings

The uter­ine lin­ing builds up for a longer pe­ri­od of time, so the pe­ri­ods you do get can be heav­ier than nor­mal.

Hair growth

More than 70 per cent of women with this con­di­tion grow hair on their face and body — in­clud­ing on their back, bel­ly, and chest. Ex­cess hair growth is called hir­sutism.

Ac­ne

Male hor­mones can make the skin oili­er than usu­al and cause break­outs on ar­eas like the face, chest, and up­per back.

Weight gain

Up to 80 per cent of women with PCOS are over­weight or obese.

Male-pat­tern bald­ness

Hair on the scalp gets thin­ner and fall out.

Dark­en­ing of the skin

Dark patch­es of skin can form in body creas­es like those on the neck, in the groin, and un­der the breasts.

Headaches

Hor­mone changes can trig­ger headaches in some women.