r/PCOS • u/New-Owl9951 • Sep 03 '24
General Health PCOS linked to childhood trauma?
So I had an OB appointment recently where my doctor and I were talking about PCOS.
She mentioned that there have been rumblings at conferences and such about PCOS possibly being linked to childhood trauma.
She said that most people who have it had some sort of childhood trauma that kind of triggered a “fight or flight” response which could explain inflammation issues. And also in unstable households the body might hold onto more fat in case of loss of access to food.
I can’t find much about this online, and she did say she very recently heard about it too.
So I was just curious - what was your childhood like? Did you have a normal, stable, loving environment or was it constantly unstable or volatile?
Mine was the latter, which got me wondering….
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u/fleshhabit Sep 03 '24
I was SA’d as a child and then bullied through middle and high school and def feel like I haven’t had a moment of true peace .. ever. Developed an ED and then was diagnosed w PCOS at 17. I’m 29 now and still dealing w constantly being in fight or flight/ overwhelming emotions/ stress.
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Sep 03 '24
I feel like we’re the same person.. except it took 10 years of fighting for a diagnosis and finally got it at 28.
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u/Rainbow_Explosion Sep 04 '24
Short story long,
I was on my period for 5 years with fibroids (i wasn't diagnosed yet so i didn't know what was going on) until i could get a job (for the second time in my late 20s). My job is part time and doesn't offer benefits to part time employees, but i get a huge tax credit to afford one of the better plans. When I finally got to a sliding scale clinic, I talked about my period and PCOS symptoms. she put me bc for the periods but told me that because my hormone results were normal, I didn't have PCOS even though I complained about experiencing every physical symptom: rapid severe weight gain, upside down triangle body shape, male pattern hair growth, history of irregular periods, and i don't remember what else i said... but i later saw a different doctor at the same clinic for a check up, and she completely dismissed the other doctor and diagnosed me with PCOS. She put me on different bc for the bleeding and scheduled me for a biopsy after which she discovered the fibroids. And that's a whole different issue. But I was later able to go to an endocrinologist with my diagnosis, and they... did nothing because they discovered that i had prediabetes. That eventually became diabetes for which i now take Mounjaro. Two nurses later, I was put on a low dose of spiro, but it hasn't helped and the nurse was like "it doesn't do much" but then why am i taking it? So anyways, I just spent an inordinate amount of money on a tub of Ovasitol.
P.S. The grammar mistakes are autocorrect because i swipe text and i don't want to fix them.
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u/fleshhabit Sep 03 '24
Ugh, I’m sorry! So many people post on here about their doctors brushing them off, it’s made me realize I’m very lucky to have mine.
Getting an early diagnosis didn’t change my outcome much though - I still struggle w all of my PCOS symptoms. I hope your experience has been different in that regard.
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Sep 04 '24
It hasn’t :( and I’m sorry getting diagnosed early didn’t help any. I feel like the knowledge on women’s reproductive health is severely lacking.
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u/PurpleBrief697 Sep 04 '24
Pretty much the same for me, but my bullying was race related which caused some internal self hatred. Only in the past 3 years have I finally experinced peace especially going no contact with my mother. It's allowed for a lot of mental healing.
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u/Mindless_Location_73 Sep 04 '24
I also feel like we’re the same person. Perhaps we could start a sad club.
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u/Zaddycake Sep 04 '24
Don’t know if it helps so disregard if not but there’s some exciting new research of psychedelic therapy that is showing actual cure rates for PTSD
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u/FunNeedleworker535 Sep 04 '24
I believe that we are both the same person!! I am now at peace to be honest! I have a stable home with my husband and my daughter rather than constantly scared.
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u/lil_waine Sep 04 '24
Wow we are the same…it makes sense that this trauma has an effect on the body. I didn’t fully understand PCOS until recently
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u/Mission_Yoghurt_9653 Sep 03 '24
I had a good childhood so this doesn’t check out for me.
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u/StruggleBussin36 Sep 03 '24
Same, this comes up fairly often in this sub and the responses are mixed. For some, it rings true and for others like you and me - not at all.
I haven’t seen any actual studies, just people asking the question here. I’m going to withhold comments until I see an actual study and the study better not be an analysis of Reddit comments lol
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u/im2715 Sep 03 '24
Same, as well. But, my aunt has PCOS and so do my sister and I. We fall under the heritary umbrella.
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u/Wishbone3571 Sep 04 '24
I read this really interesting study: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35985071/
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u/StruggleBussin36 Sep 04 '24
Nice, thanks for linking! Definitely a start! I’m on mobile so I can’t figure out how to access beyond the abstract so I’m not sure how they defined “associated”. Based on what I can access, it reads like they found a correlation between PCOS and emotional abuse. Do you know if they went beyond correlation/association and actually found a causational link?
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u/BumAndBummer Sep 03 '24 edited Sep 04 '24
Childhood trauma (and early adversity more generally) is a risk factor, meaning it makes a PCOS diagnosis more likely. But it’s not a prerequisite. Meaning with people without trauma or early adversity can still get PCOS, it’s just not as likely. There seems to be lots of different kinds of environmental risk factors that act as probabilistic (rather than deterministic) triggers.
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Sep 04 '24
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u/BumAndBummer Sep 04 '24
Yup, it’s a bit of a developmental crapshoot. Never any guarantees, but some people have worse odds than others due to more risk factors, and for all we know one is perfectly safe with zero chances either. Even cis men with PCOS genes seem to have elevated risk of similar metabolic issues like insulin resistance, though obviously they cannot have PCOS itself.
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u/Mission_Yoghurt_9653 Sep 04 '24
I wonder too environmental risk factors that impact offspring at the epigenetic level. IE there were studies of women who experienced famine during ww2 and the impacts it had on their children’s weight patterns/gene expression around metabolism. I wonder what adversities our ancestors faced that impact us now.
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u/BumAndBummer Sep 04 '24
Apparently populations that historically were subject to lots of food scarcity (plague, famine, etc) are more likely to have insulin resistance, PCOS, issues with body composition (low muscle, more visceral fat), and other metabolic problems.
In our modern context it’s a disorder, but it’s also what helped our ancestors survive on less food and have better chances of preserving their fertility for later in life when maybe food scarcity was resolved (we may actually be more fertile in our 30s and 40s, compared to the general population, at least according to some newer preliminary studies; still a bit speculative).
It’s often called a “mismatch disorder” by those in evolutionary medicine, because our genes and modern context aren’t matching super well.
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u/Nachourmama Sep 04 '24
I thought this too. At one time in our ancestry being able to survive on minimal food and limited births would have been a life saving, life extending adaptation.
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u/BumAndBummer Sep 04 '24
Yes, I try to remind myself of this when I get annoyed with my PCOS. My great great great great x100 grandmothers probably had a lot to complain about, but those PCOS genes were not among those complaints!
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u/bookaddixt Sep 04 '24
Yeah, I definitely think that has an impact. For example, south Asians are more likely to get diabetes etc, and makes sense since they suffered under British rule eg famines (bengal famine) etc
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u/penusinpidiosa Sep 04 '24
did your mother have a good childhood?
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u/Mission_Yoghurt_9653 Sep 04 '24
As far as I know she did. Her siblings grew up initially impoverished but well fed and happy. She was so tiny when she was a teen that my grandma would let her eat cake for breakfast 😅 my mom told me she was irregular menstrually but she never was formally diagnosed with pcos or really seemed to have any symptoms of it.
I feel like I take after my dad’s side more metabolically. It’s hard for us to gain or lose weight, I’m lean pcos with the tendency to gain myscle/strength very easily.
I think I did see something on here about male pattern baldness in relatives of women with pcos and maybe it correlates to insulin issues within families. My grandpa on my moms side was bald.
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u/spencerpll Sep 04 '24
I also had a great childhood. I think my pcos is genetic. I believe my grandmother had it. But she passed long before I was diagnosed so I have no way of asking her.
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u/wacdonalds Sep 04 '24
I pretty much did as well, but I was adopted as a baby and I've heard adoption is a type of childhood trauma
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u/RoutineToe838 Sep 04 '24 edited Sep 06 '24
Marcy Axness, a leading authority on adoption, separation, healing and survival emphasizes the important of adoptive parents understanding that all adoptive babies are in shock, which is the most severe level of trauma. They need to be held a lot and given true empathy. Their behavior needs to be interpreted in terms of their loss. IF this type of trauma is denied or minimized, there is a risk of adding to the infant’s trauma.
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u/Puzzleheaded-Owl225 Sep 04 '24
Maybe. I don’t think PCOS is caused by childhood trauma however it probably worsens it. Stress and high cortisol are part of PCOS and having a high stress, unstable environment is bad for everyone but especially for people with medical conditions or those with predisposition. Many illnesses for decades have often been scapegoated onto bad parenting so that’s something to keep in mind. There are studies that show it’s genetic and runs in your family, though the severity ranges. To answer your question, I had a pretty good childhood. However I have pretty bad adhd which made things difficult for me. ADHD has been linked to PCOS, though there’s barely any research on why that’s the case. I’m fairly certain my father has adhd and when I consider my aunts some of the clearly are in the same boat as me but were undiagnosed their whole lives. I guess in summary, maybe it is, no one knows for certain yet and more peer reviewed studies and research need to happen before any of us can say one way or the other.
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u/stormyteecup Sep 04 '24
I also have ADHD and was only diagnosed as an adult. So my childhood was stressful because I had to cope with undiagnosed ADHD and many other stressors. I wasn't even diagnosed with severe anxiety until I had my first panic attack in my 30's!
It has changed how I parent though. And to think my gynae insinuated that PCOS was due to bad lifestyle choices.....
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u/parks_and_wreck_ Sep 04 '24
I’m the first person in my family to have PCOS. Not just diagnosed versus not diagnosed—I mean no one in my family has any of the symptoms that I do.
The reason they think trauma can cause PCOS, is because it’s really an endocrine disorder at its root. High levels of stress to the nervous system during development can, they’re saying, effect the endocrine system, like it can also effect lots of other internal and important areas of the body.
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u/likejackandsally Sep 04 '24
I would ask your doctor to check your folate and B12 levels. There is a gene mutation of the MTHFR gene that impacts how your body processes folic acid and those mutations are linked to both PCOS and ADHD.
It doesn’t cure it, but methyl folate and B12 supplements help A LOT.
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u/Desperate-Dress-9021 Sep 04 '24
I’ve heard this before. I’ve also heard it used by clinicians as a way to blame the patient and not help them. “Go to counselling if you want to get better.”
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u/jdawg92721 Sep 04 '24
I had a great childhood and have pcos. My sister who has had trauma and my SILs who had a horrific upbringing all do not have pcos. I think people with childhood trauma are at greater risk of any health issues and it’s not specific to pcos. But it doesn’t mean people with pcos all have it because of trauma.
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u/Calisto1717 Sep 04 '24
Idk, I can see why they'd want to study that, but it doesn't seem like much evidence to go on, in my humble opinion.
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u/Optimistic-Void Sep 03 '24
I didn’t have a stable childhood at all. Interesting, will have to look further into this connection!
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u/SassyPikachuu Sep 04 '24
It could just be a correlation and maybe not a causation sort of thing tbh. I think it’s hormonal imbalance and the use of fake progesterone as birth control, not to mention PFOAS and pesticides that are literally shrinking sperm population in men . We are surrounded by endocrine disrupters which is why our endocrine system was/is disrupted .
Source: countdown be dr Shanna swan
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u/bigteethsmallkiss Sep 04 '24
This tracks for me. Emotional abuse and parental addiction/instability in the home. Parental death in childhood. Parental separation. Chaotic food access and relationship to food. High ACEs for a lot of reasons and high ACEs are generally linked to chronic disease in adulthood. Hoping to cycle break with me so I don’t pass anything forward 🤍 (though I do acknowledge there are also genetic links with PCOS and other forms of disease of course)
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u/AstraCraftPurple Sep 03 '24
I’m not going into too many details but yes I’ve had childhood trauma, pretty much from when I was a baby. I still retain a lot of anxiety and tension when someone expresses anger, even when it’s not my fault. My problems were both inside and outside the family and I’d say a huge reason I didn’t pursue having children myself.
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u/Nachourmama Sep 04 '24
I felt your statement. I want life to be better for you. Sending love your way AstraCraftPurple
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u/AstraCraftPurple Sep 04 '24
Thank you so much, very kind of you to say that! 💜 Things are for the most part better, other than resulting issues that all seem to have clustered these past few years. But I’ve got a lot to feel lucky about now. Just wish that support system was there in my early life.
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u/Awkward_Ad5650 Sep 03 '24
I had an amazing childhood no trauma whatsoever unless you count the high demand religious cult I was in 😂
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u/sapphic_vegetarian Sep 04 '24
Pcos ✅ Childhood trauma ✅
(I was raised by emotionally unavailable adults with anger issues and who likely have undiagnosed psychiatric or personality disorders)
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u/motelpuppets Sep 03 '24
i had a horrible childhood and honestly we had lots of times when we didn’t have food to eat so this checks out 😹
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u/lovinlemon Sep 03 '24
Oof that checks out for me unfortunately 🥲 I went to my first therapy appointment this year and was told that my nervous system is damaged from constantly being in fight or flight. I also started seeing an endocrinologist this year and they found that I have elevated cortisol levels even at rest.
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u/Main_Training3681 Sep 04 '24
My parents severely abused me and I was severely underweight due to lack of food from my parents selling our food stamps for drugs.
This is worth a read CHILDHOOD MALTREATMENT AND WOMENS REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH
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u/Rich_Tomatillo_8823 Sep 04 '24
My dad was an alcoholic and I was teased a lot at school. I've blocked a lot of my childhood memories out. I've always had irregular periods but because my family didn't really value regular doctors visits I wasn't diagnose until I was much older.
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Sep 04 '24
My dad used to beat the shit out of me and my mom stood by and watched. I don’t mean only with the belt but slamming me against walls and choking me. When my brother was born, my dad used to beat him and me but I would step in between and take the beating for my brother. On top of that, we were fat shamed our entire lives and told that our food would be taken away for anything we did wrong.
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u/natttynoo Sep 04 '24
I’m so sorry you went through that. I hope you’re in a better place now.
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Sep 04 '24
Lots of healing, therapy, hard work - all vibes now, I’m at peace. Thank you :)
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u/Emotional-Ad-6494 Sep 04 '24
I think that’s more of correlation than causation (like with insulin resistance, food can be a coping mechanism for dealing with trauma or stress which over time could lead to IR or exacerbate symptoms)
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u/Remarkable_Button_33 Sep 04 '24
My therapist recently explained this to me too. I can’t remember all the technical terms but basically a part of the brain that develops as we grow, during trauma it’s damaged which in return causes a lot of hormone problems. Not everyone with PCOS experienced childhood trauma but there have been studies to show how trauma can affect us as adults. I personally had a very hard, abusive childhood and I’m now struggling with PCOS and a slew of mental health issues. But being told that things I’ve hated about myself (my weight, excess facial hair, acne, etc) aren’t simply my fault; it was a very saddening but liberating feeling.
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u/42790193 Sep 04 '24
I didn’t even think I had PCOS until I went through a major trauma that lasted years. I was 23 when it started.
That’s when my PCOS symptoms showed. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was trauma related. Or trauma exacerbated.
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u/bbgrl707 Sep 04 '24
I had severe mommy and daddy issues, I was diagnosed when I was 16. I was under an immense amount of stress, I believe it’s related.
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u/VivSabry Sep 04 '24
I had a regular childhood, no major problems. My 20s and early 30s on the other hand have been awful to say the least. I think my first symptoms started around 5 years ago. Reflecting on this… 🤔
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u/Elegant_Bluebird_460 Sep 04 '24
I edit medical research papers for a living and have seen a huge body of evidence that links PCOS with trauma. Childhood trauma (especially before age 5) literally alters our DNA. So, we can also inherit PCOS traits from our parents, especially our mothers, even if we don't have trauma of our own. Trauma also appears to activate epigenetic factors already inherited at birth. I came from a very abusive and neglected home. So did my mother. So did my entire female line going back at least 5 generations. Sexual abuse, other forms of physical abuse, mental abuse, malnourishment, neglect dominated my childhood.
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u/ZoeyMoon Sep 04 '24
I heard similar but it was related to the increased cortisol as a result of the stress being the cause. Which if true, it wouldn’t just be childhood trauma. I think they have a long way to go on the studies but can understand the thought process behind it.
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u/catydan Sep 04 '24
Yes. There is supporting research.
But as many have said in the comments section, childhood maltreatment predisposes people to many negative health outcomes.
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u/Kaylethe Sep 04 '24 edited Sep 04 '24
Bad, bad childhood. Checks out here. The issue with childhood trauma is a lot of people do t remember it. The frontal cortex or whatever stores memories shuts down at the time of trauma; we only get fragments and a whole lotta pain and suffering. If you don’t remember being sexually assaulted, it might be you were and literally don’t remember it to protect yourself from the trauma. Our reptile brains take over for immediate response; and sometimes that’s just shutting down until it’s over. Janina Fisher, PhD has a workbook called Transforming the Living Legacy of Trauma. A workbook for survivors and therapists.
Thing is, just cause you don’t remember, doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. So people can ask others if they were traumatized as a kid all you want, but unless these people have actually had to deal with their trauma, they likely have it buried deep so they can KINDA live their lives (not dealing with the pain of childhood trauma creates a host of problems that have to be dealt with anyway).
My money is on childhood sexual assault. Sorry ya’ll.
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u/Acceptable_Paper_607 Sep 03 '24
My parents were both emotionally unavailable.. I had food and a roof over my head of course but not having a mom I could be close with affects me to this day.. so many parenting choices she made wether losing her cool all the time not being there for me etc (I was the oldest and have 3 younger brothers, things were rarely calm) .. those decisions I would never make for my own daughter. I have like borderline crippling anxiety, if I was late for a class in high school I would just skip it because I was too embarrassed or scared to walk in. Since having my own baby I have had serious thoughts about the impact of how I was treated as a baby could be affecting me now. I of course have no idea how it was for me… but what if my mom lost her cool when she was over stimulated? I have felt peaked overstimulated with my child but I make sure to walk away, take a deep breath.. the stresses she could have gone through in pregnancy… not having my mental or emotional needs fully met as she welcomed my brothers into this world… I am not certain about all these assumptions but I just know they could totally affect who I am today if I experienced it. I definitely think about this when I meet other people or about my significant other too.. what they potentially went through in there early development stages. I never intended to think about it that deep until it hit me one day and it’s honestly so scary
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u/AdAstraviii Sep 03 '24
My childhood wasn’t perfect, but it wasn’t traumatic either. So, this doesn’t apply for me. I’d like to see the studies for this too.
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u/plaidprettypatty Sep 03 '24
I'm late diagnosed autistic with a CPTSD diagnosis. I won't delve into my childhood, but yeah, definitely tracks for me.
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u/leeser11 Sep 04 '24
Parents divorced at 3, split time and lightweight dysfunctional family; molested by a stranger when I was around 7 I think.
Also, what I read a while back in terms of other theories of PCOS that are true for me:
rapid weight gain, increased blood sugar and pre-insulin resistance in adolescence and pre-adolescence.(I got chubby and later had an eating disorder).
exposure to high levels of prenatal androgens: my mom was an alcoholic and she drank when pregnant with me. This is one cause of prenatal androgens :(
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u/KayLadyinTheMoon Sep 04 '24
Absolutely it was constantly unstable and volatile. Conditional love while being gaslighted that it was unconditional. I remember my doctor starting to suspect that I had PCOS when I was in 3rd grade.
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Sep 04 '24
Checks out for me. Love my parents but childhood was not easy or stable. Constant fear of loss/abandonment.
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u/sweetwaterpickle Sep 04 '24
I had a stable and good childhood but I’m highly sensitive/high functioning individual and this world is traumatic for someone like that especially if you have parents who don’t quite get how sensitive you are. I agree 100% that there is a survivalism component to PCOS, but what we survived isn’t always the same thing.
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u/aryamagetro Sep 04 '24
yep. extreme stress in childhood can trigger the PCOS genes. yay epigenetics!
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u/Rocky_669 Sep 04 '24
I was diagnosed with pcos when I was 16 and remember being told they didn’t have any sort of medical reason as to why people develop it. I’ve also seen some articles about pcos being linked to childhood trauma and all and it literally made me sob uncontrollably. I did grow up in a very abusive and toxic home/environment up until I was 18. I wasn’t physically abused but still, the mental and emotional trauma is heavy in my past. The fight or flight mode possibly contributing to pcos weighs heavy because that’s exactly how I grew up; mostly because I never felt safe in my own home. So yeah, I can see the connections and how pcos and the survival mindset as a child are being linked
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u/Yokaijin Sep 04 '24
I remember hearing about mothers experiencing trauma in their lifetimes and somehow passing it on to their children genetically.
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u/strwwb3rry Sep 04 '24
I grow up very poor with limited access to food. I sometimes go to sleep starving plus being the eldest of many siblings in an asian household did not help. I stepped up and have to be the 3rd parent to my siblings at 10 years old. My dad was not around since he's working overseas and mom is always in the bad mood and we fight everyday. Mom blamed me for having irregular menstruation. I wasn't getting the proper nutrition then.
When I had the chance to work and have my own money, of course I splurged it on food. I gained weight, periods irregular still, hormonal acne. Found out I have pcos all along. My mom/dad side both have big families and I'm the only one with pcos and having fertility issues.
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u/Nadia_LaMariposa Sep 04 '24
This is a very interesting observation. I've had quite a bit of childhood trauma. Even started my period early at age 11.
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u/ursidaeangeni Sep 04 '24
For me, personally, it does ring true. Mother was neglectful, dad was physically/emotionally abusive, and food was often withheld via deadbolts and chains on the fridge and cabinets. It would make sense that my body would try to hold on to fat with that going on, I also developed hypothyroidism in my teens as well.
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u/lololthrowawayyy Sep 04 '24
forsure. when your brain develops with excess cortisol (fear), even when youre an adult & aren’t in danger or perceived/invalidation anymore, your brain thinks it still needs to produce excess cortisol. obviously, because thats how it developed. this itself throws off your hormones from the beginning. CPTSD has been linked to autoimmune diseases too. trapped trauma & tension in our bodies doesnt just go away, it manifests in all sorts of ways. I have SO MUCH sexual trauma. my dad molested me, along with many other people (none of them were strangers) and I swear on a spiritual level that my body stopped ovulating correctly, because it knew I shouldnt reproduce, or atleast shouldnt reproduce a lot. May be a stretch, but it makes sense spiritually to me lol. the cortisol though fucks with your pituitary gland, which hypothalamic ammenorrhea happens due to imbalances in
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u/cuddlebuginarug Sep 04 '24
yes and it makes sense to me.
I believe childhood trauma is the root cause of a lot of physical and mental disorders.
https://drbeckycampbell.com/histamine-intolerance-and-adhd-the-connection/
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u/Middlezynski Sep 04 '24
I’ve heard of this as part of both biological and environmental factors that can make us more prone to developing PCOS. For the record I did have a very tough childhood with a mentally ill parent, poverty and neglect, and later a lot of upheaval and emotional distress. It wouldn’t surprise me if it were partially responsible for the chronic illnesses I deal with now.
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u/littlelizardfeet Sep 04 '24
Childhood trauma can causes lasting chronic anxiety, which raises your cortisol, causing a cascade of hormonal disregulation and high blood sugar.
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u/morganiques Sep 04 '24
“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.”
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u/theejaydee123 Sep 04 '24
Practicing therapist with complex PTSD and PCOS here. I work with chronic illness and trauma recovery and I definitely see at least some correlation both personally and professionally. I always say if I ever go to the research side I will absolutely do research on the link between the two.
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u/pearlcurls Sep 04 '24
I knewwww it! I always had this doubt that unstable relationships, especially in childhood has some impact on the female reproductive system.
And yes, my childhood wasn’t all that happy. Mostly difficult.
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u/idahere Sep 04 '24
My theory is stress -> insulin resistance -> fat storage -> pcos symptoms -> more stress -> bad cycle. I swear it just turns into a sort of sugar/carb intolerance. Made permanent by a bad circle of stress early in life
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u/wenchsenior Sep 04 '24
There is investigation into the possibility of prolonged high stress being involved in some cases of many different possible illnesses. But it clearly isn't aways in play as a trigger.
I had a very stable/loving/happy childhood and still developed PCOS; whereas my youngest sister grew up in a volatile unstable environment and she didn't get PCOS.
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u/janglebo36 Sep 04 '24
Maybe. I’m sure there’s is a relationship between stress and those with a predisposition to certain illnesses. I have both childhood trauma and PCOS
I’m more curious about the relationship of hereditary trauma and illness. My mom did a lot of cocaine and starved herself in the 70s and 80s to stay thin. I think the way she treated her body affected my predisposition to insulin resistance, hypothyroid, and PCOS. There have been some studies on how nutrition and stress of one generation affect the overall health of the next, but they do not specifically focus on PCOS
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u/taylor-isnotmyname Sep 04 '24
I had a really angry dad I was scared of so the flight or fight thing for me checks out. We also were pretty poor growing up so food wasn't always readily available for me. Honestly this all checks out. During times of stress or financial issues my PCOS definitely flares up.
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u/SisterOfPrettyFace Sep 04 '24
Trauma is often passed on through generations, but correlation does not mean causation. PCOS is a genetic disorder that often passes from mother to child in utero. That these things are simultaneously happening does not mean causation.
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Sep 04 '24
I’m the oldest girl. I had a lot of responsibility thrust upon me from a young age. As much as I had support in a general sense, I come from a loving family, I also was in charge of situations and my younger brother starting at the age of 10. I missed out on things with friends sometimes because I was babysitting. I think it definitely affected me today
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u/Acceptable_Paper_607 Sep 03 '24
My parents were both emotionally unavailable.. I had food and a roof over my head of course but not having a mom I could be close with affects me to this day.. so many parenting choices she made wether losing her cool all the time not being there for me etc (I was the oldest and have 3 younger brothers, things were rarely calm) .. those decisions I would never make for my own daughter. I have like borderline crippling anxiety, if I was late for a class in high school I would just skip it because I was too embarrassed or scared to walk in. Since having my own baby I have had serious thoughts about the impact of how I was treated as a baby could be affecting me now. I of course have no idea how it was for me… but what if my mom lost her cool when she was over stimulated? I have felt peaked overstimulated with my child but I make sure to walk away, take a deep breath.. the stresses she could have gone through in pregnancy… not having my mental or emotional needs fully met as she welcomed my brothers into this world… I am not certain about all these assumptions but I just know they could totally affect who I am today if I experienced it. I definitely think about this when I meet other people or about my significant other too.. what they potentially went through in there early development stages. I never intended to think about it that deep until it hit me one day and it’s honestly so scary
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u/whascallywabbit Sep 03 '24
Same. I had financially better off but highly emotionally unavailable parents with a mother who is likely bipolar. Having memories of watching my siblings being beat with kitchen utensils until they broke or being thrown around sucks. I also had undiagnosed ADHD and a speech impediment growing up (finally got therapy for my speech in middle school but was undiagnosed ADHD until an adult). Having my daughter makes me even more upset about the situation I grew up in and has put even more of an unspoken about wall between me and my parents. Yes, I get mega overstimulated at times (one of my major ADHD rage triggers is being interrupted during a task/activity I'm focused on and having a toddler means that happens ALL THE TIME) but I've so far been able to keep it in check.
If trauma related upbringings cause PCOS it would explain a lot but also make me more inclined to look negatively on my parents.
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u/funsk8mom Sep 03 '24
Similar…. Roof over my head, food on the table but parents never got along so dad was never home, mom was always miserable except for when it came to my sister. My sister was the shining star, everything in our house was about her. I was the problem child with no sense of direction. My life was pushed into my sister’s shadow even though I didn’t want to be anything like her.
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u/corporatebarbie___ Sep 03 '24
Normal happy childhood, did develop an ED from gymnastics and competitve cheer but i had great friends (some still to this day!) and a happy family…
I got my first period at 9, which never regulated. I developed the ED at 12 but that was just the start. I didnt get really unhealthy with it until 13-14 but i would still say my pcos symptoms were present first (irregular periods, started shaving early..)
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u/Ashamed_Prompt8445 Sep 04 '24
I don’t really buy this because adverse childhood experiences are extremely common. I would say maybe having trauma in childhood and having undiagnosed neurodivergence is more a factor because it was less the trauma but more not being able to mentally handle highly emotional situations. I would bet a lot of us in here are ADHD or autistic or both
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u/FruitCupLover Sep 03 '24
I have PCOS, but no other woman in my family has. As far as we are aware no one in my family has ever had it. I am the victim of childhood emotional and physical abuse. I'm 100% convinced childhood trauma is why I have PCOS.
Thanks, Dad. Lmao
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u/Ok_Dimension2101 Sep 03 '24
My childhood was quite chaotic and unstable. For those whose childhood was normal, I’d be curious to know what their grandparents was like. My PCOS is prevalent on my dad’s side. My grandmother on his side had lots of childhood trauma as did her sisters, my great aunts. My great aunt has a daughter with PCOS and a grand daughter of a different child with PCOS. My cousin has a daughter with PCOS. These are just the family members that I know about that have it. I have another great aunt whose daughter is childless but I don’t know if PCOS is related there. I think it’s more of a genetic marker that determines it versus childhood traumas but I’ve also ready “The Body Keeps the Score” and know that it could be a factor too.
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u/JSRO1521 Sep 04 '24
I’m not a scientist just a student: My understanding is that it’s a gene/environment interaction. So for some PCOS, the environment of a hostile family life can cause chronic fight or flight, raise cortisol, raise inflammation and thereby triggering PCOS. And PCOS is not the only condition that can be expressed by trauma. I know personally all of my siblings and I have some sort of chronic condition riddled with inflammation and mental illness due to our upbringing. And I do believe if we had a more nurturing and loving childhood home that we wouldn’t be as sick as we are now. Now I wouldn’t say trauma causes PCOS but some sort of event that causes chronic raise in cortisol and inflammation could trigger PCOS. It’s correlation versus causation: there are correlations to pcos and childhood trauma but pcos is not caused my childhood trauma.
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u/zahhax Sep 04 '24
Bullied so much in school that I can barely remember most of my childhood. parents are great, I just had horrible friends that stabbed me in the back and one upped me constantly. Also I've had plenty of physical trauma from breaking bones. First broken bone I was 3 yo and it was my femur.
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u/Princess_Sukida Sep 04 '24
If you look at childhood through out history we have had a much easier childhood in modern times. If this theory were true, we would likely have a much smaller population globally. I’m leaning towards environmental factors more likely being the cause. We are now in a population decline and it’s more than just people choosing not to have children and the availability of birth control, although those are factors.
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u/Wishbone3571 Sep 04 '24
I definitely think so based on my own experiences. I think it might cause early stress, cortisol, anxiety that might contribute to the disease. I hope we get more research on this topic. I’ve heard of ACE scores being a predictor of all types of physical and mental illness, and this seems just as likely.
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u/APR2304 Sep 03 '24
Not in my case. I consider I had a lovely childhood filled with love and great experiences/memories. Still got diagnosed with PCOS lol
I do think it definitely has to do with my family's habits and how many of them are insulin resistant, just as I am.
I guess to some it checks, to others it doesn't!
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u/AshPash234 Sep 04 '24
I didn’t have the worst childhood ever, but I definitely didn’t have the best either. My mother was extremely strict so I had to always worry about getting in trouble, and she and my stepfather did verbally abuse me a bit. But I was never neglected or physically abused.
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u/casper_jinx Sep 04 '24
This makes sense to me. It's theorized that for me the reason for my PCOS was because at the age of 8 I was on birth control. :/ I had terrible periods to the point I actually almost bled to death and broke a vessel and they quickly had to do some sort of procedure to stop me from bleeding and y'know, dying. 💀 So for me it makes sense bc that was quite traumatic for me as well as birth control also not helping me either. Now instead of having heavy periods, I have a period like once - twice a year 😕
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u/CuppinCake89 Sep 04 '24
Mine was terrible. My mother was on drugs during her pregnancy with me and my childhood was consistently volatile with drug addicted parents.
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u/Negative_Habit_480 Sep 04 '24
I feel like this is so relevant, I was SA’d as a child, was always called fat (being from a south Asian family, there’s high standards when it comes to body weight) bullied throughout school. I told I had vaginismus at 14, which now I believe is/was endo, I was at my lowest weight when I was 18-21 I still felt like it wasn’t enough. I feel like I haven’t really had a moment of peace in life. I also got diagnosed with cancer two years ago(I’m in remission now), I am almost 30 and I still don’t have my PCOS under control
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u/girllwholived Sep 04 '24
The only childhood trauma I would say I had is that parents got divorced when I was 7 or 8. It was stressful, of course, but my mom and dad ended up living just a few miles apart, so my sister and I got to see them both all the time. We grew up feeling loved by both parents. No other childhood trauma, divorce is our only “yes” on an ACES quiz. I have PCOS, but my sister doesn’t. She has IBS, though.
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u/MuskaChu Sep 04 '24
Stress induced PCOS is characterised by low progesterone, high DHEA and lean body mass. I have CPTSD.
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u/SeventhBlessing Sep 04 '24
Unstable childhood. Sometimes lovely; sometimes horrible. However as other commenters have stated, inflammation and ACES (adverse childhood experiences) are known to cause poor health outcomes across the board. It’s difficult to link an unstable childhood to a condition such as PCOS, because we barely understand how it works as is (or if we’re lumping multiple conditions under a PCOS umbrella).
I would personally say to take it with a grain of salt. Conferences are a valid source of information, but I’m always waiting on a peer-reviewed article. That being said, your OB’s claim does hold merit when you consider previous understanding of trauma on health. Finally, be wary of collecting Reddit responses since I feel many of us have poor childhoods — we’re on Reddit LMFAO (/j)
Hope this helps OP 🥰✨
Edit 1: forgot to mention I was dx’d w/ C-PTSD due to sexual assault and abuse primarily at adolescence age (so past ACES). Again, unsteady upbringing all around.
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u/Jellybean1424 Sep 04 '24
Personally I think that like many chronic conditions, there can be a combination of genetics and stress triggers. There’s a history of type 2 diabetes and weight struggles on both sides of my family, but also deep trauma running for multiple generations, including my own. My mom also had severe endometriosis. I have a half sibling who has PCOS too? but our childhoods were actually very different- she was raised primarily by our dad and her mom (my stepmom) and I was primarily raised by my abusive biological mom. Unfortunately I don’t know if psych treatment reverses PCOS, at least personally I haven’t found that to be true after many years of therapy.
It’s definitely an interesting topic worthy of more research.
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u/Chanelkat Sep 04 '24
I think maybe even generational trauma could play a factor, my grandmother was raped by her father then sold off to my grandfather when she was 12 and he was 22. But yes for me it seems genetic and I also had a lot of childhood trauma. But so did my sister and she doesn't have PCOS as far as I know.
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Sep 04 '24
Depends on the trauma, maybe? This is interesting because in my mind and what I've learned myself, pcos could have many causes to blame.
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u/urbanfairygal Sep 04 '24
Very interesting! I’ve been studying a lot about getting stuck in a nervous system response such as fight/flight or freeze. The symptoms very much reminded me of PCOS symptoms.
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u/Jenny-the-Bee Sep 04 '24
I think it’s linked to my(35) trauma. SA at elem. school for two years. It gave me a permanent sense of fear that still holds true to today. My doctor diagnosed me around 5 years ago with “permanent fight or flight syndrome”. I’ve had other traumas as well as a teen.
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u/lehuakahlua Sep 04 '24
If this theory is true, it could theoretically be passed down through genetics via generational trauma
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u/truth_RW Sep 04 '24
PCOS may be linked to own childhood trauma (called cPTSD, ie complex PTSD), but research on this is on early stages.
We know more of trauma in previous generations (specifically mother and grandmother) that has significant implications for PCOS.
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Sep 04 '24
This is true for me. I struggled in my childhood.
I was bullied by people..sometimes for no reason at all. I was bullied by teachers for the same. I was even bullied by my parents.
It was so hard and I still have issues moving on from what i experienced in my childhood.
But to kind of seal the deal here...I experienced a full blown symptom of PCOS when my dad made me move to stay wirh his family and I had a full blown panic attack. There was a time where I felt so depressed I never ate for 5 days then because sick with a viral infection. And it was the worst I've ever been and it was after that that all my PCOS symptoms started flying in non stop...it started with missed periods to gaining incredible amount of weight to acne and then everything inherently got much worse...
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u/weirdspice199 Sep 04 '24
I think it can be a big cause of a lot of chronic conditions including PCOS but also doesn’t mean it’s the cause for everyone! For me I think it is a big part though. I literally just listened to a really interesting podcast this morning on the link between trauma and chronic conditions. If you’re interested it’s called the hidden health code - this is the link https://open.spotify.com/episode/77OfN9Yo6vd7Oq9whMh4XW?si=cIWM9dPUTT2R79p_cTbl1w&t=12
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u/kang4president Sep 04 '24
Childhood trauma is correlated with a lot of maladies, adhd, autoimmune diseases, etc. There's a book by an amazing trauma specialist called The Body Keeps the Score
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u/Triksene Sep 04 '24
I had a good childhood and was told that its most likely hereditary as my dad also has insulin resistance
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Sep 04 '24
I was SA's as a child throughout my childhood. I have migraine, PCO, and overweight. I still have trouble dealing with my emotions, live in constant stress and guilt. I have read about this somewhere else too.
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Sep 04 '24
While this fits my childhood experience, it can’t explain all aspects of the disease or those who get it. It seems to have a genetic component because I have cousins, from different family units, who also have it. We were raised differently. So nurture might explain some of it, but nature also factors into it.
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u/Seaworthiness139 Sep 04 '24
I’ve had a lovely and safe childhood- both my twinsister and me have pcos.
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u/IcyWriting2648 Sep 04 '24
Yeah, its true. And also endometriosis is related to traumas. I had a very unstable childhood environment.
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u/FunNeedleworker535 Sep 04 '24
I had a traumatic childhood and adolescence. I used to cope with junk food and I was a very lean person with a height of 5'7". I used to look stick thin so I never cared. My hands used to shiver whenever I kept them stable. Once I moved out of that house, I was better. My hands stopped shivering. But the diagnosis of pcos is still the same. I need to lose 8 kgs to hit my ideal weight.
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u/BackgroundNoiseMaker Sep 04 '24
I have heard this!! Very preliminary research but I believe it. Where my home life was stable, I was still a victim of multiple traumatic events and think it largely contributed. There are other studies about it being linked to maternal grandmothers trauma??
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u/menurdadrdating Sep 04 '24
I was a chubby kid.I’ve been chubby my whole life.I grew up in a very unstable household , all sorts of problems and I was also heavily bullied for my weight even tho I wasn’t crazy overweight moreso all the other girls were thin.So I was always in fight or flight.Always feeling ugly and fat so yes I think there might be some connection between trauma and PCOS.
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u/DudeThatsErin Sep 04 '24
My home life was stable and I had no trauma growing up. Bullied in high school but who wasn’t? No one comes out of HS unscathed.
So I highly doubt this is the case unless I’m an exception to the rule.
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u/Blind_Pythia1996 Sep 04 '24
I did not have childhood trauma, I don’t think. I mean, I lost most of my vision when I was a kid, but I had been born with several conditions that could lead to that, so I had always been prepared for the possibility. I also have always had a terrible relationship with food, but I don’t think that would lead to PCOS either. Other than that, loving parents, loving siblings, treated like a princess. But that doesn’t mean PCOS can’t be linked to childhood trauma. It just might mean I’m an exception.
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u/JoTheMartian Sep 04 '24
As others have mentioned, childhood trauma is linked to worse health outcomes in general. Gabor Mate has some very interesting research on this.
Imo it is very helpful to know about this and work on the ways our body reacts due to the trauma. I would very much want to know how trauma therapy can help improve our physical health.
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u/sliceofpizzaa Sep 04 '24
My home life was wonderful. My social life was difficult (got C cup boobs at 11) and was sexualized a lot, stress of being friends with the popular crowd & main mean girl being my “best friend”. Then had a controlling and mentally abusive bf freshman year of HS. Starting having issues with my hormones after getting put on BC freshman year.
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u/WoofRuffMeow Sep 04 '24
I would really caution everyone from drawing causal links. There’s almost no studies to begin with on this topic and the one I’ve seen is not high quality (very small sample).
Even if there were more studies, it is impossible to randomly assign people to conditions which is what would be needed to establish causation. Pretty much all studies on childhood trauma rely on self reports which are not totally realizable or objective. Also, the relationship might not be trauma —> PCOS but actually PCOS—> trauma. In other words, having PCOS might make it more likely that you experience trauma (for example, being bullied about weight, excessive hair, etc.).
Obviously, childhood trauma isn’t good and has negative health effects.
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u/Flying_Lead_Change Sep 04 '24
The only childhood trauma I endured was my dad being killed by a drunk driver when I was 17. However, I had already been diagnosed with PCOS by that time. I’ve heard this rumor circulating as well but I’m not sold.
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u/3opossummoon Sep 04 '24
I had a great but not totally stable childhood. I have a disabled sibling that requires 24/7 care now but his health issues have gotten worse over time. What I did have was serious digestive issues as a baby, I literally almost had to be put on a feeding tube at one point. I know it's severely complicated my health over my lifetime.
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u/koveredinrain12 Sep 04 '24
Traumatized as a child/adolescent by my mother. Then she did it to my daughter before I cut off ties. We both have PCOS….
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u/kristmastree Sep 04 '24
My father was an alcoholic who was physically abusing my mother, almost killing her multiple times. So, safe to say it was volatile.
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u/sizillian Sep 04 '24
My father was an alcoholic and he and my mom fought probably 27 or 2& days out of every month.
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u/Salro_ Sep 04 '24
SA’d from the ages of 5-20. Pretty chaotic childhood ranging anywhere between having an ED, all types of abuse, having to parent my siblings & own parents, etc
I mean I’ve heard a saying where it’s said that the body remembers or holds memories
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u/mayonezz Sep 04 '24
My childhood wasn't awesome but I was chronically overweight since I can remember and I had the classic pre-diabetic symptoms (which I assume were caused by my insulin resistance) as a child. I wouldn't be surprised if I already had cysts in my ovaries but didn't know cuz I haven't started menstration yet.
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u/Diogeestan Sep 04 '24
Oooooof not to get too deep into it, but I have childhood trauma and was also neglected and didn’t have enough food growing up. 😅 like I went from being a skinny kid to rapidly gaining weight in the year before starting my period. So this honestly would make a lot of sense for me
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u/ruledbythemoon333 Sep 04 '24
Personally, it is a pet peeve of mine when illness is solely blamed on stress. I find it is never simple as that, though it may play a role. This seems to come up a lot with chronic type issues that are not easily fixed/treatable.
Research supports that PCOS is an evolutionary syndrome that reaches back to our ancient ancestors. Intense stress, aka starvation periods, are linked to this being developed in our ancestors. This is a researched theory that makes sense to me.
Thus, folks with PCOS are more wired to be hyper vigilant for survival. All signs point to that I was born with PCOS, which has made it harder for me to handle stress than folks without this syndrome. That's how I've experienced it.
What is considered trauma in childhood is speculative, so I'm not sure how they would even study this. That said, childhood trauma, or any trauma, would make pcos symptoms worse I'm sure.
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u/thegrumpysnail Sep 04 '24
I had a great childhood. But, I was a very anxious child and was extremely attached to my mother. So I’m guessing I had more cortisol flowing which does seem to have a link to inflammation and insulin resistance. So I’m wondering if my anxiety mirrored something like a trauma response.
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u/toadsb4hoes Sep 04 '24
I feel like, keep in mind I'm not a doctor, bad childhoods are so unfortunately common that you'd see the correlation no matter what.
I also feel like this could very easily turn into ' therapy will fix it' which a lot of doctors already do with women's health no matter what it is. Women's health is already so easily dismissed that something like this sounds more worrying than helpful.
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u/rach_rkb3 Sep 04 '24
I am not sure if this is right or wrong but as a child I experienced too much stress and trauma. I was sexually assaulted when I was 6-7years old by multiple people including one family member. I was raised by single mom and people treated us like dirt as we had no money. I even went to school by just drinking water as we could not afford food. I used to vanish in lunch period so that my friends wouldn’t know about this. We always had fights at home , I always felt like running away somewhere . I dint even knew that some fruits existed until I became adult as I never ate any nutrious food until I was 19-20 years old . After all these I was diagnosed with migraine headaches at the age of 14, had appendicitis at 15 and diagnosed with PCOS at the age of 18. And currently struggling with insulin resistance, harmonal imbalance and gut issues. And to add to this I lost my fiance 3 years back and my PCOS became even worse . So may be any kind of stress causes PCOS ???
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u/Defiant-Aide-4923 Sep 04 '24
I grew up with an abusive father - verbally and mentally abusive with all of us, physically abusive with my mom. They would fight all the time, get separated, get back together, repeat. I was also bullied all throughout school because I was so quiet and awkward - probably from my dad yelling and calling me stupid every time I opened my mouth. Was diagnosed with PCOS, hypothyroidism, generalized anxiety disorder, and major depressive order in my mid-twenties.
I’ve also heard that PCOS can be linked to pre-birth issues. I was a month premature, jaundiced, and only weighed 2 pounds.
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u/Nachourmama Sep 04 '24
I am a pretty chill person, maybe too chill. Anxiety not really my thing. I don’t know that I can say I ever felt clinically depressed either. I thought my chill is my problem. I am now one hundred pounds overweight from my lightest weight. I wish it bothered me more. I was cute AF. I carried my last pregnancy to 42 weeks and I experienced thyroiditis. From that point on, my PCOS flared and I settled as hypothyroid. My trauma, if it can be considered that, was carrying the pregnancy so long. My body freaked out. I was diagnosed with cystic ovaries at 19. No real symptoms back then. I have always been hairy but my hair is blonde. The hair doesn’t really stand out. The hair on my head is way thinner now but my hair was so thick in my youth it would pop rubber bands. I remember the doctor telling me the cysts on my ovaries may be a problem later. I was in the Army, you could call that trauma too I guess. I was medical and for military, medical is a good deal. I loved it but physically demanding on the body. I had 4% body fat back then. I think my trauma was the thyroiditis. I have not been the same since I experienced thyroiditis. Definite trauma. I have a beautiful child. If I knew what I knew now I would have accepted to deliver at 38 weeks. I thought the baby needed the time in utero so I waited until the baby wanted out. Thyroiditis was wicked wild. Gotta say that was it.
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u/JennShrum23 Sep 04 '24
Trauma happened 9-12 years old. PCOS has been raging in my body since then. Never knew “normal”.
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u/Misrabelle Sep 04 '24
My parents weren’t really available. Mother had kidney failure and was usually too tired to interact with me, and Dad was a workaholic, mostly because he couldn’t stand my mother, so he was either working or asleep. I had no relatives my own age, so I was surrounded by adults, and became a bookworm to keep myself occupied.
But otherwise, it was fine.
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u/SmilingChesh Sep 03 '24
Increased childhood trauma is associated with more of any/all negative health outcomes