Most women know their own bodies very well, with great insight into its ebbs and flows. But how well do you know your ovaries? Without them our lives and our bodies would be very different indeed. Here are some fun and interesting facts on your body’s most vital reproductive organ.

Most women know their own bodies very well, with great insight into its ebbs and flows. But how well do you know your ovaries? Without them our lives and our bodies would be very different indeed. Here are some fun and interesting facts on your body’s most vital reproductive organ.

They change sizes.
Unlike a lot of your organs, your ovaries aren’t static in size; they actually change a lot over the course of your cycle and the course of your lifetime. Month to month, your reproductive powerhouses (which are about three to five centimeters in length normally) will fluctuate as they do their thing, releasing an egg each month. “With ovulation and the likely formation of a small cyst that comes along with it, the ovary can grow a little in size,” says Alyssa Dweck, MD, assistant clinical professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. “But that’s only temporary.” Those small changes stop when you go through menopause. Once your ovaries officially go out of commission, they’ll literally shrivel up (fun!).

They Affect Acne

Have acne that is difficult to treat? This may indicate a problem with your ovaries, especially if you experience other symptoms such as menstrual irregularities, weight gain and thinning hair. In particular, this might mean that you have a condition called polycystic ovarian syndrome or PCOS. Although the name implies the presence of multiple cysts in the ovaries, you do not need to have this to have PCOS.

You may still have the syndrome if you do not ovulate and have high levels of androgens, or male sex hormones. As you already know, the ovaries do produce male sex hormones naturally, but in the case of PCOS, the amount produced is way too high.

Feeling Ovulation

If you’re lucky, or unlucky depending on how you look at it, you might feel something that is called mittelschmerz which is a sensation of pain upon ovulation. It’s usually felt on the side of your abdomen over the ovary that ovulated. In most women who feel this, the pain goes away within a day or so. In yet others, the pain can last for days and can even be debilitating.

Many women who experience this might take pain medications to help relieve the discomfort. However, the only known way to prevent it is to take with birth control pills, which pretty much just stop ovulation for as long as you’re taking it.

Sources: Baby Gaga 

Medical Insurance For Expats In Singapore    GET A QUOTE