PCOS and Infertility

Polycystic ovarian syndrome, or PCOS, it is a common cause of infertility in women. Up to 15% of women who are of childbearing age can have PCOS and infertility. It’s caused by hormonal imbalance, and women with PCOS normally don’t have regular menstrual cycles. Of course, “normal” varies between women, but in general, women ovulate approximately 2 weeks before a menstrual cycle would begin. This doesn’t happen with any regularity when one has PCOS.

How is PCOS diagnosed?

Two of the three following criteria normally must be met to be diagnosed with PCOS:

  • Menstrual cycles are abnormal
  • Ovarian ultrasounds display many small follicles
  • Elevated levels of male hormones are present, as determined by blood testing and/or examination

Other common characteristics of PCOS include obesity, skin tags, or something called acanthosis nigricans, which is characterized by velvety, dark patches on the neck or inner thighs.

Treating PCOS

If you have been diagnosed with PCOS and infertility, the first thing you should do is make a visit to your family practitioner. If you are overweight or obese, losing weight through a low carbohydrate diet and exercise program may be all you need to get pregnant. That’s because obesity makes you more resistant to insulin, and that as well as higher glucose levels are a major factor in PCOS and infertility.

If losing weight is not enough to mitigate the problem so that you can become pregnant, your doctor will probably refer you to a fertility specialist. One of the medications the fertility specialist may recommend is something called metformin. Metformin helps regulate your menstrual cycle, and has an additional benefit in that it helps suppress hunger as a side effect; in turn, this can help you lose weight. Dosages for metformin usually begin at 500 mg and are then increased up to what is usually a maximum of 1500 mg until a regular cycle begins.

If medications like metformin don’t help you become pregnant when you have PCOS and infertility, along with diet and exercise to reduce obesity, insulin resistance, and other pregnancy-limiting factors, your doctor may prescribe Clomid for you. Clomid induces ovulation because it encourages release of follicle stimulating hormone, or FSH. This can help you get pregnant.

If Clomid does not help you get pregnant, other fertility medications may also help with follicle stimulation, egg release, and ovulation. The danger with using fertility medications that stimulate follicles, of course, is that you may overly stimulate your ovaries, which can lead to multiple pregnancies. In fact, this is a major reason it’s not altogether uncommon today for women to have multiple pregnancies, such as being pregnant with 3, 4, 5, 6, etc., babies at once. Of course, this is dangerous to both mother and children, so these and other fertility drugs must be prescribed at the lowest dose possible to ensure no more embryos implant than the mother can carry safely to term. Therefore, with PCOS and infertility, it is important to work with reputable, prudent fertility experts so that your pregnancy will be safe and healthy for both you and your baby or babies.