Infertility and Being Overweight -- PCOS

POLYCYSTIC OVARIAN SYNDROME

If you're experiencing infertility or anovulation problems, it may be exacerbated by your extra weight!  And I'm on an information campaign to make people aware of how weight and infertility can be related.

There is a condition called PCOS, Polycysitic Ovarian Syndrome.  It is extremely common in this country.  The higher end of statistics estimate that as many as 10% of women have PCOS.

Symptoms:
1.  Infertility

Infertility from PCOS is caused because a womam is not ovulating.  This in turn results in missed periods.

Some women with PCOS miss a period every once in awhile. Others go months or years without having a period even though they have had them in the past.  This trend tends to worsen as a woman puts on weight.  When PCOS gets bad enough, the woman will stop ovulating entirely, and won't have a period without it being induced by medication.  This is a completely infertile state.  (Though treatable)

2. Thinning Hair on Head, Unwanted Hair Growth Elsewhere
This is related to the production of extra androgens associated with PCOS.  This is in turn related to high testosterone production.  But a simple testosterone test is not enough to determine if this is a problem.  Your doctor needs to test for different kinds of testerone or else your levels my seem deceivingly normal.

Androgens then cause premature thinning of hair and unwanted hair growth, earlier than expected in a woman's life.

3. Excess Belly Fat
This alone is not a symptom, but in conjuction with other symptoms, may speak to an insulin and thus a PCOS problem.

4. Insulin Resistance/Weight Gain
PCOS is exacerabated by weight gain, and weight gain in turn, makes PCOS worse.  This vicious cycle is related to insulin resistance.  This doesn't mean you have diabetes, in fact, most women with this problem don't have diabetes.  Even someone who hasn't reached the pre-diabetic stage may still have elevated insulin levels affecting their fertility.

The correlation between this infertility problem and weight/insulin resistance is so strong, that fertility doctors are now prescribing insulin medications like metformin to treat the problem.   But the best thing to do is to lose weight without the medication, even though it may be harder.  It is much healthier to do it the natural way.

Consequences of PCOS:

1. Cysts
With PCOS, the maturing egg in a woman's ovary is not released and this is why she does't ovulate.  It clings to the ovary instead and grows and develops into a cyst.  Eventually a woman's ovaries can become a calloused shell covered in cysts.

Your doctor can test for cysts using an ultrasound probe.

2. Permanent infertility
Extremely cystic ovaries can pass the point of no return.  Then no amount of weight loss or insulin management can bring ovulation back and a woman might even have to have her ovaries removed.

3. Cancer
When a women doesn't ovulate due to PCOS, the lining in her uterous builds and just sits there until her next period.  If a long enough amount of time passes, the uterin cells can become cancerous.

CONCLUSION
If you are overweight and infertile with some (most women do not have all) of these symptoms, you may have PCOS.  The easiest defense is to lose weight as this often, though not always, solves the problem.

I have PCOS and infertility.  Although when I started trying to conceive, I was normal weight.  So the weight wasn't the cause of the infertility, the PCOS was.  Weight is really simply a symptom of PCOS, not a cause of it.  Although for some women losing weight can help to conceive.  In my case I needed to do IVF to have children, I have 4 now.  And in the process of having the children, I gained a whole bunch of weight.

There is treatment now for PCOS.  It's metformin, which is a diabetes medication.  The theory is that PCOS is caused by insulin resistence and this is treated by metformin.  It worked for me, I had regular cycles for the first time in my life.  I had already done my IVF at that point and had 3 kids, so I didnt' get a chance to see if the metformin would allow me to conceive without assistance.

It's really a vicious cycle.  The PCOS makes it easier to gain weight on account of some screwed up hormones.  Then, the extra weight just reinforces the PCOS.  Weight is of course a symptom, the problem is hormonal imbalances.  But sometimes that can be relieved by losing weight.  Indeed, many people have been able to minimize their PCOS just by becoming extremely healthy!!

Metformin is really doing wonders for this thing.  But unfortnately, not everyone with PCOS has an insulin problem and it only helps if that is part of the cause.  So metformin is limited.  Also, metformin can be extremely difficult to take.  Many women just have too many side effects.

Thanks so much for this thread, I was recently diagnosed and this information is just too valuable.

I was reading a while back in my anatomy class (no links, sorry) about an experiment done testing the use of diet and exercise to treat Type II Insulin-resistant Diabetes. The reason it sticks in my head so much is that the study was actually discontinued just halfway through. The diet and exercise group performed SO much better than the control group, the meds-only group, and the combination group, that the experimentors believed it would be unethical to deny the other groups access to this information any longer.

Translation: diet and exercise did more to control blood sugar than nothing (duh), drugs, and a combination of drugs and diet and exercise. In addition, though everybody but the control group lost weight, the diet and exercise only group lost 8% more fat than the others.

Though PCOS isn't caused by weight gain, this information is definitely pertinent considering the relationship between PCOS and insulin dumping/insulin resistance.

Thanks so much for the information!

Just a note to people; don't think that you have to have all of these symptoms to have PCOS! Originally, my doctor thought I had some sort of exercise-related thing since I was so skinny, but I actually have a strange form of this instead.

I understand the PCOS (which I have in spades) to work like this:

You have elevated levels of insulin in your body, so your level of certain hormones goes all wacky, thus causing you to be anovulatory and causing cysts to form all through out your ovaries.

For some people, this Insulin resistance (the cause of elavated levels of insulin) is exasperated by weight. I am an example of a person that was geneticly screwed into having type 2 diabetes ( what IR can turn into if your not careful) and having exasperated it by being obese.

Like some one mentioned, it can be a vicious cycle. High Insulin causes you to have a lower metabilism and therefore, it is difficult to lose weight. On the other hand, being in your right bmi has proven to help regulate your levels of insulin and sugar.

The diabetes type two comes from your body being so resistant to insulin that it does not absorb enough of what your body is making to counteract the sugar and carbs you are eating. That is why you can have high levels of both sugar and insulin. It completely sucks. The more overweight you are, the more at risk you are to get diabetes type 2. And if you are already struggling with PCOS, you could be predisposed. Check your blood sugar levels regularly and eat a healthy whole food diet that is low in fat and processed carbs. And above all, try to lose the extra poundage! Jenn

I have been researching this today.  I was at my doctor's this morning and she said she thinks I have PCOS. 

Here is a link I found http://www.pcosupport.org/medical/whatis.php

 I also have a question... what is the relation between weight gain/ability to lose and PCOS?

Hello, bumping up this thread to add my own, short personal story with PCOS.

I was diagnosed in Sept. 2002, though I had symptoms before that.  For me, I gained a lot of weight quite suddenly (without any changes) and while my periods did not stop, they did get few and far between.  I also have hirsutism.

When I got out of grad school and got a *real* job with real insurance, I immediately went to a doctor and handed her a lists of tests that I wanted down to see if I had PCOS.  Sure enough, ultrasounds showed cysts on my ovaries, and along with my other symptoms, my primary doc confirmed the diagnosis and sent me to an endocrinologist.

The endo put me on metformin and basically made me feel like crap about my weight.  I was running and working out (never had really stopped) and was tired of people treating me like I was scarfing down fast food every night...I sure wasn't!  Anyway, while I know for many women, metformin is a godsend, for me, it just made me sick and fatigued.  See, none of the tests ever showed I had insulin resistance, yet the endo put me on met anyway, just because of my weight.  

So, even though I had done plenty of research, I did more, and never went back to that doctor again and took myself off of the metformin.  I did stay on birth control pills (which can also help control some symptoms) though it took me a while to find the one that worked for me. 

And slowly, very, very slowly, I changed my eating habits (even though I didn't eat a lot of bad stuff, a lot of good stuff can also pack on the pounds) and really educated myself.  Now, almost 70 pounds later (but also 7 years later!) here I am.  The last ultrasound I had showed NO cysts.  I still have struggles with hirsutism, and though I still am on BCP, a few times I've gone off just to see if I would be regular without them, and sure enough...no problem.  

So, lessons I learned on my journey:

• Educate yourself.  Don't rely on your doctor!  Insist that they listen to you, go into your appointment with your questions and requests written down.
• If your doctor won't listen, find one that will!
• PCOS manifests itself differently in every woman it affects, so just because something does/doesn't work for someone else, doesn't mean it will/won't for you.
• Losing weight will take a looong time on PCOS, but it IS possible!  You CAN do it!
• It bears repeating, educate yourself!

So, I hope it is ok to bring this back up, as I was just browsing through and I wondered if there was any thread or discussion on PCOS.  Please feel free to add me or message me if you'd like to know more!

hi

I am too a PCOS sufferer, have been diagnosed one year ago and still undergoing treatment for it ( taking hypnodidd and progylton at the moment).

I would like to add that yes, some PCOS cases are related to weight, but NOT all of them for I have been diagnosed with this disease at the hieght of my ED, weighing in 80 pounds ( I`m 5 `0). I have now recovered from my ed, and have a healthy BMI, but I have yet to win my battle against PCOS yet.

I just wish there could be a cure for PCOS, for once and all

 

YES there is a relationship between weight loss and PCOS. if you have PCOS than it will be more difficult for you to loose the weight. you just have to keep at it... and remember to eat healthy.

I was diagnosed with PCOS last year. it was crazy how much i didnt know. i went on the internet and read everything i could about it - including topics of pregnancy, weight, energy, diet, insulin resistance... everything. i am insulin resistant and my father has type 2 diabetes... so i know i have to focus on what i put into my system. i am 5'3 ish and at my highest weighed 192. now i am 45 pounds lighter and a MILLION times healthier. i am on metformin (i am insulin resistant). find a good doctor, they will guide you through this.

educate yourself!!!!!

feel free to message me if you have any questions  - i want to help ppl understand this as much as possible. take care!

Another PCOS sufferer here.  There is so much good information in this thread!  The nasty thing about PCOS is the cycle of weight gain.  PCOS encourages your body to gain weight, and then the increased weight makes the PCOS worse which in turn makes you gain more weight.  A vicious cycle!  Metformin is what broke the cycle for me, and I thank heaven for it!  I was able to lose 90 pounds after being put on Metformin.  And as long as I take the metformin, I get my periods regularly and am fertile (and I NEVER had regular periods before, even when I was thin).

In the initial post, some of the consequences of PCOS were left out.  It also leads to diabetes and heart disease.