How Does PCOS Affect Fertility? The Important Details If You Want To Get Prepped for Baby
How does PCOS affect fertility? Now that you've been diagnosed with PCOS, are you asking yourself this question?
And you want to know the answer because your goal is to get pregnant. Am I right?
And knowing that you have PCOS is just the first step. Yes, it's helpful to know the reason behind why you've been having irregular cycles and inconsistent ovulation. But now you want to know what PCOS is going to mean for your fertility and chances of growing your family.
As a PCOS specialist, I'm here to help you. In fact, did you know that it's one of my biggest values to provide education about PCOS and fertility so you can understand what's going on with your hormones and your body?
Too often I meet women who have been told dismissive fertility advice (or really no advice at all!) once they are diagnosed with PCOS (yourself included?).
That's why I want to help you understand as much as you can about how PCOS affects fertility and your overall health.
And today? You are going to learn specifically how PCOS affects fertility.
Oh and if you're an action-taker and you want to know the best next step for your fertility? Make sure to read all the way to the end, I'll share that next step with you.
How does PCOS Affect Fertility?
Did you know that it's not just one thing that sets you up for fertility struggles? Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) actually affects fertility in a variety of ways.
That might seem overwhelming at first thought. But don't worry. I'm going to help you understand the different pieces. And that's also why working with a PCOS specialist is so important on your fertility journey.
A PCOS specialist will help you put together the important pieces for you instead of slapping on a bandaid solution hoping to address everything with one pill (hint: one pill won't actually fix everything).
But I digress.
Let's dive into the top 3 reasons of how PCOS affects fertility so you can know how PCOS affects your fertility timeline and what you can do about it.
How PCOS Affects Fertility Reason #1: PCOS Stops Ovulation
PCOS sets you up in a few ways to stop ovulation. And in fact? This is perhaps the biggest reason of why PCOS affects fertility.
So first let's talk about what ovulation is. Ovulation is when the egg is released from the ovary. And if ovulation doesn't happen? Then there is no egg to go out and connect with the sperm to make you a baby.
And here's the thing with ovulation. There are lots of hormone signals involved that are sent once a month.
Those hormone signals? They create the cascade to get the egg released from the ovary. That way it can begin it's journey over to the uterus to connect with the sperm (if you're trying to get pregnant that cycle).
But for someone with PCOS?
When PCOS is in the picture, that's when there are hormones that I call "bully hormones". These hormones start rising up higher than they need to be and start acting like bullies.
And when that happens? They start sending messages to the body that says "stop ovulation! This is a body that doesn't need to ovulate".
They move around the body sending signals and messages to get the whole ovulation cascade to stop. They also shut down the hormones that do want ovulation to happen.
The thing is, there are more than one of these bully hormones and they not only cause problems with ovulation, but they also cause other classic PCOS symptoms like acne, chin hair growth and weight gain.
How does PCOS affect fertility #1 key point:
PCOS increases the hormones that turn off ovulation.
How PCOS Affects Fertility Reason #2: Poor Egg Quality
Another reason of how PCOS affects fertility is through setting the body up for poor egg quality.
Well let's start with the basics again here, shall we?
What is egg quality? Egg quality is how well the egg develops inside the ovaries.
If the egg has good egg quality? It has the necessary building blocks, it's mature and ready to ovulate to make a baby.
If the egg has poor egg quality? It doesn't have the necessary building blocks, it's immature and it can't be released from the ovary.
So if an egg can't be released from the ovary then it can't connect with the sperm to make a baby.
You see how that works?
So now let's swing back to talk about how does PCOS affect fertility.
Well, PCOS increases issues in the body that cause poor egg quality.
How PCOS causes poor egg quality
Those bully hormones we talked about above? Yup, you got it. They can cause poor egg quality as well.
There are also certain nutrient deficiencies that are common with PCOS that affect your eggs and reduce egg quality.
When someone with PCOS doesn't have enough of the hormones that want ovulation to happen? That reduces egg quality.
So now you see that there are a few ways that PCOS reduces egg quality. And if your goal is to get pregnant? You've got to figure out what is causing poor egg quality for you and get a plan to turn it around.
How does PCOS affect fertility #2 Key Point:
Hormones and nutrient deficiencies that are common in PCOS lead to poor egg quality which shuts down ovulation and lowers fertility.
How Does PCOS Affect Fertility Reason #3: PCOS Leads to Irregular Cycles
The third reason that we are going to talk about for how PCOS affects fertility is how PCOS affects the menstrual cycle. It's common for the menstrual cycle to get out of rhythm with PCOS. But I'm guessing that you are already far too familiar with this.
You haven't had a period in the past 100 days? Can't get a bleed without medication?
Yes, you are very well aware that PCOS affects the menstrual cycle.
But why does it do that?
Well, that brings in those bully hormones once again. When those bully hormones are elevated then that means that the other hormones that support ovulation can't function as they need to.
Which means that hormones like progesterone are not able to rise and help with the normal flow of events to make a regular menstrual cycle.
Also, because PCOS sets someone up for poor egg quality that means that there aren't eggs ready to ovulate once a month. And if no egg is ready to ovulate? Then that shuts down the whole process and makes the cycle much longer.
Birth Control, PCOS and the Menstrual Cycle
I will also say that most women who work with me have been on hormonal birth control at some point in their life and their cycles have been irregular or nonexistent since stopping birth control.
That's really common with PCOS.
Either someone was diagnosed with PCOS and then went on birth control to help regulate their cycles, but once they got off the birth control their cycles were still all over the place. Or, they went on birth control and after that, they got irregular cycles.
Do either of those situations sound familiar to you?
If they do, don't worry. Your body is not broken just because you saw that big change with your cycles after stopping birth control.
Because I have countless stories of women who have been in a similar situation and their symptoms turned around. Did you know that every single one of my clients who have been on birth control and have had irregular cycles? They have gotten a regular period within the first 4-6 weeks of working with me.
How does PCOS affect fertility #3 key point:
PCOS leads to irregular menstrual cycles (but it doesn't have to be like that forever, there are ways to turn it around).
How Does PCOS Affect Fertility? Key Takeaways
We've talked about a variety of ways that PCOS affects fertility so let's summarize them now.
There are multiple ways that PCOS affects fertility, it's not just one thing that leads to fertility issues.
Because there are multiple ways that PCOS affects fertility, there's no one pill to treat all of them (but there are still ways to help!)
PCOS causes certain hormones to rise that act like bullies which shut down other key-fertility hormones and reduce egg quality
PCOS sets someone like yourself up for poor egg quality
When it comes to the menstrual cycle, it's common to have irregular cycles that aren't ideal for fertility.
Women with PCOS get pregnant every day, it is possible to turn around your symptoms and help your body get prepped for baby
Now that you know how PCOS affects fertility, are you ready to do something about it so you can help your body be prepped for baby?
You don't have to live with irregular cycles, feeling like your body is broken and not knowing what you need to get your body working as it's supposed to.
As a PCOS specialist, I can help.
Hi, I’m Dr. Angela Potter! And my PCOS fertility superpower?
It's to help you turn around irregular cycles and nonexistent ovulation so you feel healthy and that you are prepped for baby.
Your next step is to book a (free!) PCOS Fertility Breakthrough Session.
This session is a fertility gold-mine! You will walk away knowing:
How to turn around your PCOS frustrations to be closer to reaching your fertility goals.
Why what you’ve been doing is leading you away from optimal fertility and what actually works.
What’s been missing from your care that’s keeping you from seeing results.
Clear step-by-step guidance to have your best chance at becoming pregnant.
Which of my powerful PCOS fertility programs is best to help boost your fertility
