The disorder polycystic ovary syndrome is considered one of the most prominent causes of infertility in women (PCOS). It's a hormonal issue that affects the reproductive organs. Your ovaries are enlarged in size and shape during PCOS. These larger ovaries may contain several small cysts containing immature eggs.
PCOS affects between 4% and 20% of women between the ages of 15 and 44, or during the reproductive years. Most women discover they have PCOS in their twenties and thirties, when they have difficulty becoming pregnant and see their doctor.
–NCBI
PCOS can affect anyone after attaining the age of puberty. Obesity and having a mother, sister, or aunt with PCOS may increase your chance of developing the condition.
What is PCOS or Polycystic Ovary Syndrome?
Millions of women suffer from polycystic ovary syndrome, a hormonal condition. All bodies require both "male" and "female" hormones to function properly, but a woman with PCOS has an excess of the male hormones. This causes issues with your ovaries: you may have irregular or no periods, and you may develop cysts in a "string of pearls" appearance. Infertility is also commonly caused by PCOS.
PCOS can’t be cured, but can be treated
Symptoms of PCOS
PCOS symptoms include the following:
- Disruptive menstrual cycle: Women with PCOS may experience missed periods or have fewer periods (fewer than eight in a year). On the contrary, they might have periods that happen every 21 days or even more frequently. Some PCOS patients stop having periods.
- Extensive Facial Hair Growth: Excessive hair on the face, chin, or other areas of the body where males normally have hair. This is known as "hirsutism." Up to 70% of PCOS women suffer from hirsutism.
- Acne: Face, back and upper chest.
- Hair Loss: Male-pattern baldness is characterised by thinning hair or hair loss on the scalp.
- Weight Fluctuation: Gaining weight or having difficulties decreasing weight
- Skin discoloration: Notably around neck creases, in the groyne, and beneath the breasts
How PCOS Can Get You In More Trouble?
Yes, research have discovered correlations between PCOS and pregnancy or other health issues, such as:
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Diabetes: Before the age of 40, more than half of PCOS-affected women will develop either diabetes or prediabetes (glucose intolerance).
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High blood pressure: Compared to women of the same age without PCOS, women with PCOS have a higher risk of high blood pressure. Heart disease and stroke are mostly caused by high blood pressure.
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Bad cholesterol: LDL (bad) cholesterol levels are frequently higher and HDL (good) cholesterol levels are lower in women with PCOS. Your risk of heart disease and stroke increases if you have high cholesterol.
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Sleep Apnea: This is the stage of sleep disruption when breathing pauses are brief and frequent. Obesity and overweight are common in PCOS patients, which can result in sleep apnea. Your risk of diabetes and heart disease is increased by sleep apnea.
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Anxiety and Depression: Among women with PCOS, anxiety and depression are prevalent.
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Endometrial Cancer: In extreme cases, women with PCOS due to issues with ovulation, obesity, insulin resistance, and diabetes (lining of the uterus or womb) can develop endometrial cancer.
*Researchers are unsure if PCOS causes any of these issues, whether these issues cause PCOS, or whether there are other disorders that cause PCOS and other health issues.
Hormonal Differences
- PCOS causes a woman's body to produce more androgens than usual. Because men have much higher levels of androgens than women, these are typically thought of as male hormones.
- Androgens play a significant part in the formation of male sex organs and other masculine characteristics.
- Androgens are often transformed into the hormone oestrogen in women.
Ovulation Problems
- High quantities of androgens interfere with the growth of your eggs as well as their regular release. This is known as ovulation.
- If a healthy egg is not released, it cannot be fertilised by sperm, resulting in infertility.
- PCOS might cause you to miss or have irregular menstrual cycles. This might be one of the earliest indications that you have a condition, such as PCOS.
PCOS TREATMENT: CAN PCOS BE CURED?
If you have PCOS, you have different possibilities to improve your chances of pregnancy.
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Shedding pounds: If you are overweight or obese, improving your fertility while decreasing weight via good food and regular exercise might help your menstrual cycle become more regular.
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Medical Care: Your doctor may recommend medication to help you ovulate, after ruling out other factors that may be contributing to your infertility and that of your spouse.
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IVF: If medication does not work, IVF may be a possibility. In IVF, your egg is fertilised in a lab with your partner's sperm before being implanted and growing inside your uterus. IVF provides greater pregnancy rates and better control over your risk of getting twins and triplets than medication alone (by allowing your doctor to transfer a single fertilised egg into your uterus).
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Surgery: Surgery is a possibility as well, but often only after all other treatments have failed. Women with PCOS have enlarged ovaries in their cortex, which is likely to contribute to the inhibition of spontaneous ovulation. A few holes are drilled into the surface of your ovary during ovarian drilling surgery utilising lasers or a small, heated needle. Ovulation is often restored after surgery, but only for 6 to 8 months.
Can Homoeopathy Treat PCOS?
The homoeopathic approach to treatment can successfully treat polycystic ovarian syndrome. A very safe and side-effect-free therapeutic option for polycystic ovarian syndrome is homoeopathy. Depending on the circumstances, a different homoeopathic remedy may be needed to treat the disease at its source. When prescribing a homoeopathic remedy, a patient's physical and mental health are both carefully examined. The full recovery from PCOS requires time and cannot be anticipated in a short period of time. Complete monitoring of the patient's changing symptoms as well as regular clinical follow-ups are necessary.
How Lifestyle Change Can Impact PCOS Symptoms?
Hormones might be impacted by weight increase in certain women. In turn, if you're obese or overweight, decreasing weight might aid in restoring the balance of your hormones. It may be possible to improve the predictability of your menstrual cycle by losing 10% of your body weight. This ought to aid in conception.
In general, leading a healthy lifestyle that includes eating well, exercising frequently, quitting smoking, reducing stress, and managing diabetes and other medical disorders should increase your chances of getting pregnant.
Remember to work closely with your doctor to help control PCOS if your period isn't coming when it should or you've already received a diagnosis. Additionally, see a fertility doctor if you wish to become pregnant.
To Conclude,
If you wish to become pregnant but have PCOS, you should work with a physician who specialises in reproductive medicine. A specialist in fertility is another name for this kind of physician.
A specialist will help ensure that you receive the proper dosage of medications, assist with any issues you may be having, and arrange for routine examinations and ultrasounds to determine how you are doing. (An ultrasound machine produces pictures of the interior of your body using sound waves). It's a painless process that allows you to monitor your baby's growth and development.
