PCOS is a very common reason why women of childbearing age have difficulty getting pregnant. The abbreviation stands for Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome, and means that the woman has many small cysts on one, or both, ovaries.
A woman who menstruates less than four times a year and wants to get pregnant can contact a gynecologist for help and the woman does not need to have tried to get pregnant for a year first, which is otherwise normal.
What symptoms can PCOS cause?
- Some women with PCOS have no symptoms at all.
- acne
- gains weight easily
- or excessive abnormal hair growth on the face or chest
- very rarely, or never, menstruate. Due to high testosterone levels (male sex hormone), the eggs do not develop enough to lead to ovulation.
This makes it difficult for a woman to know when she is most fertile; and ovulation tests are usually not helpful, and are not recommended for women with PCOS.
So what can you do to improve your chances of getting pregnant? If you know you’re a few pounds overweight, losing weight can be a good start.
Women with PCOS may also benefit from giving their diet a service review. Maybe try eating according to, for example, the KISS (Clinical Insulin Lowering) or LCHF diet principles. They recommend, among other things, slow carbohydrates before fast ones, as well as more protein, fat, fish and variety in the diet in general. With water.
The treatment given by a doctor depends on the symptoms of the individual woman, but most often she receives drug treatment with hormones to reduce the amount of testosterone in the body. Or estrogen and progestin are administered to affect the hormonal balance in this way.
Testosterone affects weight, and weight in turn affects testosterone. So if you are overweight and want to reduce your testosterone levels, losing a few pounds may be enough to reduce testosterone. The reduction in testosterone causes ovulation to become more regular or start again. Weight loss can also reduce body hair.
Read more about LCHF and other weight loss methods at www.diet.se
