Many women do experience signs of mood swings, especially near their menstrual cycle. Although everyone experiences mood swings from time to time, in conditions such as PCOS, mood swings can seem to be frequent and/or intense and can invariably affect work, relationships and overall quality of life.
Mood swings: Because of the hormonal imbalance, women with PCOS also have a higher risk for depression, anxiety and extreme or rapid changes in mood. Heavy, painful periods: PCOS can cause painful periods with heavy bleeding.
Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), a hormone imbalance that causes infertility, obesity, and excessive facial hair in women, can also lead to severe mental health issues including anxiety, depression, and eating disorders.
In examining women with PCOS, it was found that 16% of them have major depression and 2% have bipolar disorder. Depression and anxiety are more prevalent in women with PCOS than in the general population.
“PCOS is also associated with an increased prevalence of mental health disorders such as depression, anxiety and eating disorders,” said lead study researcher Adam Bonner, B.S., of the University of Alabama at Birmingham-Heersink School of Medicine in Birmingham, Ala.
Exercise helps reduce stress and release endorphins (feel-good hormones) that can help improve mood. Exercising may also be a welcome distraction from negative thoughts and improve social interaction, areas which are known to improve mood and depressive symptoms.
Some women have adrenal-dominant PCOS while other women have ovary-dominant PCOS, and many women have a combination of both. Women with PCOS have also been found to produce more cortisol at baseline than women without PCOS. This means that women with PCOS may have more sensitive stress response systems.
Treating Depression and Anxiety
The scientific literature now shows clearly that anxiety levels, psychological distress, depressive feelings, and social fears are much higher in the women with PCOS.
Compared to unaffected controls, women with PCOS had a significantly increased risk of developing bipolar disorder after adjusting for age, medical comorbidity, and different treatment options (1.05 vs. 0.12 per 1,000 person-years, HR: 8.29, 95% CI: 4.65–14.7).
There is also a long list of symptoms and disorders that are linked to PCOS such as insulin resistance, weight gain, depression, anxiety, eating disorders, body image issues, pregnancy-related complications, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, endometrial cancer, infertility, and many more.
A systematic review on anxiety and depression in PCOS concluded that “women with PCOS on average tend to experience mildly elevated anxiety and depression, significantly more than women without PCOS.” As PCOS isn't fully understood, it is difficult to identify exactly why it makes women more susceptible to mood swings.
In inflammatory PCOS, chronic inflammation causes the ovaries to make excess testosterone, resulting in physical symptoms and issues with ovulation. Signs of inflammation in this type of PCOS include headaches, joint pain, unexplained fatigue, skin issues like eczema and bowel issues like IBS.
PCOS was misnamed. Despite the fact that it's called poly "cystic" ovary syndrome, women with PCOS don't have cysts. Instead, they have tiny immature follicles that surround their ovaries. Having a misleading name has contributed to confusion regarding its diagnosis.
PCOS affects 8–13% of reproductive age women, with around 21% of Indigenous women affected. “Obtaining a timely PCOS diagnosis is challenging for women, with many experiencing significant delays with multiple different doctors involved,” as Teede and colleagues have recently published from women around the world..
Depression and Anxiety
It is widely believed that the hormonal imbalance caused by this condition affects the production of hormones and neurotransmitters affecting mood. Moreover, weight gain, excessive hair growth, and acne can be inevitable if you have PCOS which also fuels stress and anxiety.
Women with PCOS often have too high androgen levels. Researchers believe that this can throw a woman's hormones out of whack and cause low libido and low sexual satisfaction.
PCOS is a condition in which a woman's ovaries and adrenal glands produce more androgens than usual. 1 Androgens are generally considered male hormones. While all women produce some androgens, women with PCOS have higher levels of these hormones, leading to increased hair growth, acne, and weight gain.
Conclusions: Child maltreatment is independently associated with PCOS in women without psychiatric disorders. In the context of all maltreatment subtypes, emotional abuse remained associated with PCOS, suggesting its unique effect on this endocrinopathy.
Ovasitol is a supplement designed for women with PCOS and is very helpful in promoting regular periods. Plus, one study showed Ovasitol may reduce anxiety in women with PCOS as well (4).
This includes having excess amounts of androgen hormones, like testosterone, and, in some cases, a lack of progesterone. All of this can lead to brain fog, irritability, depression, and anxiety that can be severe and debilitating. It can also lead to severe mood swings, which can cause a general feeling of instability.
So far, researchers believe that there are two simultaneous links between PCOS and depressive disorders. On one side, the stress of dealing with PCOS can make depression symptoms much worse. At the same time, hormonal imbalances may also trigger psychiatric disorders or make their symptoms worse.
Recent studies have shown that women who were diagnosed as having PCOS 30 years ago have a completely normal life expectancy. An inspection of more than 700 death certificates from women with PCOS has shown that there is no excess risk of cancer in any organ or of heart disease.