What is Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS)?

What is Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS)?

PCOS or Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome is one of the main causes of infertility in women, and so PCOS and infertility are closely related. The body creates more insulin that is necessary, causing the body to produce too many male hormones or androgens. Usually women who experience this will have a tolerance to insulin in their body and eventually end up with diabetes.

Over the course of a woman's menstrual cycle, numerous follicles form in the ovaries, each of these containing an egg. As the menstruation process unfolds, a single follicle remains to form an egg to be used during ovulation. LH levels will rise causing the egg to break as it matures, which causes ovulation. Women usually do not produce enough female hormones for ovulation due to PCOS, since it does not make it possible for eggs to mature. Some of these follicles form cysts that resemble a string of pearls when viewed on an ultra sound. These cysts are follicles that were not able to develop. Progesterone is not produced, so the uterus's wall does not have a thick lining because ovulation hasn't occurred.

One of the symptoms of Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome is no period or an irregular one. As women age, PCOS and infertility get worse, but every woman is different; they may ovulate oddly or not at all. Five to ten percent of women in their childbearing years have PCOS. A lot of women are not even aware that they have this condition. Only 25% are ever diagnosed. PCOS varies with each individual woman some only suffer from an irregular period, whereas others have more severe symptoms like growth of hair on back, chest or face, obesity, thinning hair on head, type 2 diabetes, acne, or pelvic discomfort.

PCOS affect the way a woman is able to conceive because of the body's inability to ovulate on its own. Different methods can be used to make it possible. Some can lose the weight to treat their PCOS. This can sometimes help raise hormone deficiencies. Sometimes drugs need to be introduced to improve insulin absorption. For women who do not suffer from diabetes, this is a safe way to proceed and it will not lower the blood levels. Clomid or other fertility drugs are used to help to treat the infertility associated with PCOS. This drug blocks the estrogen receptors in the brain, causing it to think that the levels are low. By having low estrogen levels, it triggers the body to make more FSH and LH; these two components help the body to ovulate. This procedure only has a 30 to 40 percent turnover rate for a successful pregnancy.

IVM or in vitro maturation allows for other options to become pregnant. During this process, eggs are harvested early in a woman's ovulation cycle, and then they are matured in a laboratory to be used for future fertilization. The other option is to have IVF or in vitro fertilization treatments, which is the process of implanting harvested eggs into the woman's uterus; this is useful in women who do not respond well to drug therapy.

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