Many conditions affect the female reproductive system; a primary one is polycystic ovarian syndrome or PCOS. Women with PCOS have various symptoms, including irregular periods, excessive hair growth, and weight gain – but that's not all.
Infertility is another common symptom of PCOS, making it difficult or impossible to achieve pregnancy on your own. Many women with PCOS are living through infertility and all the emotional ups and downs it comes with.
The good news is: there’s hope. At Collaborative Women's Care in Miami, Florida, Dr. Eduardo Valdes and his team offer treatments for PCOS and infertility.
Dr. Valdes carefully evaluates your body and reproductive system to determine if PCOS is the leading cause of infertility. He then offers various treatments and techniques to help regulate your cycle and assists you with infertility treatments.
PCOS is a female condition that causes numerous cysts to form on the ovaries. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office on Women's Health, PCOS affects at least one in ten women of childbearing age.
The main issue with PCOS is a hormonal imbalance that leads to various reproductive problems. Some of the symptoms of PCOS include:
The symptoms of PCOS vary from woman to woman and may change over time. Unfortunately, PCOS is a lifelong condition that we can't currently cure. However, there are steps you can take to alleviate hormonal symptoms and improve your chances of getting pregnant.
Infertility happens when you and your partner are unable to become pregnant after at least one year of unprotected sexual intercourse. If you're over the age of 35, due to advanced maternal age, infertility occurs after only six months of unprotected sexual intercourse without pregnancy.
Primary infertility occurs if you’ve never been pregnant and can't achieve pregnancy despite regular sexual intercourse. Your provider diagnoses secondary infertility when you’ve had at least one previous pregnancy but haven’t been able to conceive again.
Both men and women can experience infertility. In men, the cause is often a low sperm count, irregularly shaped sperm, or issues within the reproductive tract. Women have infertility for many reasons, including PCOS and other reproductive disorders.
PCOS is one of the leading causes of infertility in women, according to the World Health Organization. The formation of multiple cysts on the ovaries, along with hormonal fluctuations, makes it difficult to conceive naturally, even with a male who doesn't have any fertility issues.
There are several ways that PCOS affects fertility, although achieving pregnancy isn't impossible. Some of the factors that cause infertility in women with PCOS include:
Many women with PCOS don't ovulate every month, which makes it impossible to get pregnant. Anovulation is the most common reason for infertility with PCOS. You may not ovulate due to increased testosterone or because an egg doesn't mature enough for fertilization.
Hormonal imbalances are also familiar with PCOS, which may cause the lining of the uterus to be too thin for an embryo to attach to. You also make more testosterone with PCOS, which causes other issues with fertility.
If your menstrual cycle is regular you’ll typically ovulate around day 14 on a 28-day cycle – but women with PCOS don't have regular periods. If you don't have a regular cycle, it's challenging to know when you're going to ovulate to have sex to get pregnant.
The good news is that there’s help available if you want to become pregnant. Dr. Valdes offers infertility treatments like medications to stimulate ovulation and intrauterine insemination to improve the odds of pregnancy, even with PCOS.
To learn more about the treatments we offer for PCOS and infertility, call our office today at 305-200-3878 or schedule a consultation with Dr. Valdes online.
