The Functional Medicine Approach to PCOS: Beyond Birth Control and Metformin
Polycystic ovary syndrome affects roughly one in ten women of reproductive age, making it one of the most common hormonal conditions in the world. Yet despite how widespread it is, most women with PCOS leave their doctor's office with one of two prescriptions: birth control pills to regulate their cycle, or metformin to manage blood sugar. Sometimes both. These medications can offer short-term symptom relief. But they do not address why PCOS developed in the first place. And for many women, symptoms return the moment they stop taking them. At Innate Integrative Medicine, we take a different approach. As a Functional Medicine Doctor in Dallas , Dr. Amy Shah works to understand the underlying drivers of PCOS in each individual patient, because PCOS is not a single condition with a single cause. It is a hormonal syndrome with multiple possible root causes, and the treatment needs to match the pattern. What PCOS Actually Is (and What It Is Not) PCOS is diagnosed when a woman meets a...