What You Need to Know about PCOS and Infertility

Infertility is one of the biggest issues that couples have been facing for a long time. Infertility is the failure to get pregnant after a year of unprotected intercourse. Although a lot of people have had the displeasure of undergoing such an ordeal, it is still unclear at times what is the cause of this unfortunate experience. However, studies have uncovered quite a few that could be the cause of such. One of them is a medical condition called Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome or PCOS. Also referred to as Stein-Leventhal Syndrome, PCOS and infertility is a condition that affects up to fifteen percent of the women within reproductive age in society today. Among all the women who are diagnosed with polycystic ovarian syndrome, forty to eighty percent of them will have a problem with fertility. The reason for this wide statistic is that polycystic ovary syndrome is a complex metabolic syndrome, with multiple factors that can interfere with fertility.

Way back then, PCOS and infertility was thought to be an anatomical anomaly which prohibited ovulation because of a thickened coating that formed in the ovaries. A woman with PCOS does not have a normal and regular menstrual cycle and ovulation cycle as well. However, nowadays it has been discovered to be caused by an imbalance in the hormones. The lack of ability of some women who are afflicted with polycystic ovary syndrome to generate and release an egg cell is because of a multifaceted network of multiple hormone imbalances. The hormones that are usually involved in PCOS include estrogens, progesterone, luteinizing hormone, insulin, androgens, and follicle stimulating hormone, adrenal hormones, prolactin and thyroid hormones to name some. All of these hormones influence each other in one way or another. There are a few other signs and symptoms that you may find in a patient who is afflicted with PCOS and is therefore having infertility issues. These include obesity, skin tags and acanthosis nigricans, which is a dark and velvety patch that can usually be found on the inner thighs or neck.

While PCOS and infertility are serious conditions, it is not nearly as impossible as it was before to have a baby. With all the advances in modern technology these days, experts in the field of medicine and reproductive sciences will be able to help prescribe a regimen or treatment that you can participate in and make use of to aid you to have a baby.