Heavy and irregular periods are a common symptom of PCOS, so many treatments are aimed at regulating your menstrual cycle. These treatments usually involve medication that can raise progesterone levels while decreasing androgen production. As long as you're not trying to get pregnant, your doctor may recommend the use of low-dose birth control pills, especially if these pills contain a combination of synthetic estrogen and progesterone. With the added dosage of these "female" hormones, the "male" hormone androgen is decreased. Your body also gets an occasional break from the production of estrogen, thereby minimizing abnormal bleeding and reducing the risk of endometrial cancer. Birth control pills can also clear up any excessive acne caused by PCOS. If you cannot take birth control, your doctor may prescribe progesterone treatments, which you'll take for 10 to 14 days a month. This treatment can regulate your menstrual cycle and protect you against endometrial cancer, but it will not affect androgen levels in your body. PCOS often reduces fertility in women, making it more difficult to get pregnant. If you are trying to get pregnant as a PCOS patient, your doctor will likely prescribe some form of treatment that can improve ovulation. Clomiphene citrate is an oral anti-estrogen medication. You can take it at the beginning of your menstrual cycle to limit the amount of estrogen produced by the body. The lower level of estrogen in your body is often enough to stimulate ovulation. Gonadotropins are follicle-stimulating hormones and luteinizing hormones that are injected into your body. They're also effective, but since they are more expensive than clomiphene citrate, they tend to be used less frequently. Moreover, these injections raise your risk of becoming pregnant with multiples (twins, triplets, etc.). If standard treatments do not work, your doctor may ask you to consider the use of in vitro fertilization. Metformin is a medication usually used to treat type 2 diabetes, but there is strong evidence suggesting that it often helps with PCOS symptoms, as well. Note that the FDA does not formally approve of metformin as a treatment for PCOS. The medication can improve the way your body uses insulin, thereby regulating blood sugar levels in your body. It can also lower the presence of male hormones in the body. As a result, abnormal hair and acne slows, your menstrual cycle can become more regular, and your ability to ovulate may return. Additionally, some research suggests that metformin can assist a diet-and-exercise weight loss routine to produce better results. If you want to control PCOS symptoms related to the excess of androgen hormone in your body, your doctor may prescribe an anti-androgen medication. These medications are usually used to clear PCOS-triggered acne and decease excess hair growth. Spironolactone, a diuretic originally used as a treatment for high blood pressure, can reduce androgen levels. Your doctor will likely take occasional blood tests to monitor your blood potassium levels and kidney functions if you take this medication, though. Finasteride is a medication men take for hair loss, but for women, it can be used to lower androgen levels and decrease excessive hair growth. These medications are often used alongside contraceptives since they can cause birth defects. Eflornithine is a topical cream that can block the effects of androgen on the skin, which can slow facial hair growth in women. Decreasing your androgen levels should slow down or stop excessive hair growth, but if you need to remove unwanted hair before your androgen treatment takes effect, there are a few things you can do to target it directly. Ask about laser hair removal. Hair follicles are targets and destroyed by small laser beams. Check into electrolysis. An electric current is applied directly to the hair root, and targeted hair is permanently destroyed as a result. Learn about depilatories. These are prescription and non-prescription chemicals that are applied to the skin beneath your unwanted hair. The chemicals burn away the hair. At home, you can also use waxing, shaving, tweezing, and bleaching to keep unwanted hair under control. For women with PCOS who are trying to get pregnant but do not respond to traditional fertility treatments, your doctor may recommend this outpatient surgery, instead. The surgeon will make a small incision in your abdomen, through which he or she will insert a laparoscope (a small tube with an even smaller camera attached to the end). The camera takes detailed images of your ovaries and pelvic organs. Through additional small incisions, the surgeon will insert a surgical instrument that can use electric current or laser energy to burn holes in the follicles alone the surface of your ovaries. Since a small portion of the ovary will be destroyed, you may develop some scar tissue. The procedure can lower male hormone levels and induce ovulation for a few months, however. If you are morbidly obese and cannot lose weight through ordinary means, your doctor may recommend bariatric surgery, more commonly known as "weight loss surgery." To be morbidly obese, your BMI must be more than 40, or more than 35 if you have an obesity-related disease. After the surgery, you will need to follow through with healthy lifestyle changes to maintain or further decrease your change in weight. This includes the diet and exercise changes you would usually put into place when attempting to lose weight.

Summary: Regulate your menstrual cycle. Improve your body's ability to ovulate. Check into diabetes medications. Attack excessive male hormone. Target unwanted hair directly. Ask your doctor about laparoscopic ovarian drilling. Learn about bariatric surgery.

For this method, you will need an empty cylindrical container, electrical tape or masking tape, construction paper, crayons or colored pencils (optional), two pencils (optional), and tissue paper (optional). For the container, you can use a coffee container, a popcorn tin, or an aluminum can. This is going to be the base of the drum, so look for a container that is clean and in good condition. This is going to form the top of the drum, which needs to be sturdy and firm. Try to put at least one to three layers of tape on the top of the can and criss-cross the tape tightly to make the drum more durable. he can. Then, cut the construction paper so it will fit around the container snugly. Tape the paper in place and trim away the excess paper. Or, let your little one decorate the drum using markers, crayons, or paint. You can also cut out shapes from other construction paper and attach them onto the side of the drum. Crumple up a piece of tissue paper on the end of a pencil. Wrap masking tape or electrical tape around the tissue ball so it is secured to the pencil. Repeat this method on another pencil. Now it is time to have some fun with your drum or let your toddler play with it to make sure it will withstand a drumming session.
Summary: Gather your materials. Criss-cross strips of tape over the top of the container until it is completely covered. the paper by wrapping it around the can. Decorate the drum. Make a pair of drumsticks. Test the drum.