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Smoking and Tobacco

Smoking and Polycystic Ovarian Disease

03/18/2002

Question:

Is there a connection between smoking, PCOS, and diabetes type 2? I`m a young woman who wants to quit smoking. I have in the past and it seems whenever I do quit, I lose a pile of weight and some of my PCOS symptoms diasappear. Unfortunately, the same chemicals that cause a person to be addicted seems to wreck my insulin levels which gives me a terrible physical response when trying to quit and especially the older I get the harder it is to quit. I need real help I can`t find information anywhere.

Answer:

I cannot find any information on a link between smoking and PCOS; of course, there is a strong link between PCOS and diabetes. Perhaps the levels of stress hormones epinephrine and cortisol shift dramatically in you with smoking cessation, and this is the cause of the shifts in insulin levels. Please consult a physician to help you with this; congratulations on your efforts to quit smoking!

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Response by:

Jerry Friemoth, MD Jerry Friemoth, MD
Associate Professor
College of Medicine
University of Cincinnati