Is My PCOS Causing My Infertility?

PCOS causes many cases of infertility. In fact, 90-95% of women who have ovulation-related infertility have PCOS, and many only learn of their diagnosis when they seek infertility help. 

Here at Daniel Rostein, MD, FACOG, the Oak Brook, Illinois, infertility-focused medical practice of elite board-certified OB/GYN and fertility specialist Dr. Daniel Rostein, we focus on uncovering the cause of your infertility and providing solutions to help you build your family. 

In this blog, we focus on PCOS and how it affects fertility, and we’re also including some of the different ways we treat PCOS. 

How PCOS affects your fertility

PCOS is often asymptomatic, so you may have experienced the effects of the disorder without feeling physical symptoms. Many women first learn about their PCOS diagnosis when they come to us for a fertility evaluation. 

Some of the different ways that PCOS connects to infertility include:

• Irregular menstrual cycles
• Hormone imbalance, inhibiting egg development and release (ovulation)
• Too little uterine lining, which can stop an egg from attaching
• Ovary thickening, which can disrupt ovulation

Essentially, PCOS can disrupt all aspects of egg development, ovulation, and attachment, which makes it very difficult to get pregnant in many cases. 

Some women with PCOS experience symptoms like acne, major weight gain, and male pattern hair loss. 

Even if you’re able to get pregnant naturally, having PCOS means you need to take extra precautions during pregnancy. 

With PCOS, you’re at a higher risk of miscarriage, gestational diabetes, and preeclampsia, and you’re more likely to need a Cesarean (C-section). So, we recommend close monitoring during pregnancy to give you extra protection against these complications. 

What you can do about PCOS-related infertility

The first step in addressing your infertility is confirming that PCOS is the culprit. We take a comprehensive medical history and perform a physical exam, blood tests, and ultrasound imaging to help diagnose PCOS and confirm the problem.

When you know the problem — in this case PCOS — you can tackle it using a customized approach. Our team helps you make lifestyle changes, including managing your weight and exercising, that can help control PCOS and restore your ovulation. 

Research shows that even moderate weight loss can help restore fertility in women with a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or higher. 

You may need medication that helps you resume regular menstrual cycles and ovulation if lifestyle changes aren’t adequate on their own.

While these measures are successful for many women, some may need another approach, such as reproductive surgery called ovarian drilling. This procedure essentially tunnels through the rigid outer layer of the ovaries (caused by hormone imbalance) and reduces testosterone overproduction to make it easier for you to conceive a baby.

When there’s a reproductive problem, there’s always a solution. At Daniel Rostein, MD, FACOG, we’re here to help you explore all your treatment options and conceive a baby. To get infertility help for PCOS, call our office or reach out online today.