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How to get pregnant with irregular periods and PCOS?

If you are struggling with irregular periods or diagnosed with polycystic ovaries syndrome (PCOS), one of the first things you might have heard from people is that conceiving naturally with PCOS is a bit difficult. Well, in a few cases this can be true but it doesn’t mean that if you have PCOS then you can never get pregnant. To solve your concern about how to get pregnant with irregular periods and PCOS? We will be discussing the solution from medications, treatments, and lifestyle modification to fertility options.

Polycystic ovaries syndrome is one of the common causes of anovulation and infertility in women, which to date is affecting around 5 million women around the world. Though, successful pregnancy with PCOS is quite possible through fertility drugs, PCOS treatment, and medications. While few women do not need fertility treatment, just changing a few lifestyle habits can help them bring back their regular ovulation, while few will need assistance with fertility and assisted reproductive technology.

PCOS is becoming a common medical condition in women, although it is treated well then one can have a hassle-free conceiving procedure under the guidance of a professional. To understand how to get pregnant with irregular periods and PCOS let us go through various aspects associated with PCOS treatment.
What is PCOS?
What are the symptoms of PCOS?
Initial step to treat PCOS
How to naturally treat PCOS?
Why is getting pregnant with PCOS difficult?
Statistics with PCOS pregnancy
How to get pregnant with irregular periods and PCOS?
PCOS and pregnancy takeaway

What is PCOS?

Before we begin discussing how to naturally treat PCOS? Let us first understand what exactly is PCOS. Polycystic ovaries syndrome or PCOS is a hormonal condition that interferes and affects females’ fertility, as ovaries don’t release eggs at the end of the menstrual cycle. Hence, a woman with PCOS struggles with conceiving naturally.

Every 1 in 5 women today has been diagnosed with PCOS and according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), 12% of women in the USA have been struggling with getting pregnant due to untreated PCOS. Though, looking at the increasing rates of PCOS-diagnosed women, the rates might be higher than 50%. Though a lot of women don’t even realize that they have this hormonal imbalance condition until they face failure with pregnancy.

Though having PCOS doesn’t mean that you won’t ever be able to get pregnant, it might be a little difficult journey. With the help of medication and at times fertility treatment you can achieve a successful pregnancy with PCOS. While few follow easy but effective steps at home to change their lifestyle to maintain PCOS symptoms and increase the chances of conceiving.

What are the symptoms of PCOS?

Symptoms may vary from woman to woman and not everyone with PCOS would develop polycystic ovaries even though you have PCOS. Apart from ovaries syndrome, you may experience symptoms like:

  • Irregular periods or none.
  • Rapid weight gain.
  • The problem is losing weight.
  • Acne in the skin.
  • Darkening in your skin.
  • Difficulty in becoming pregnant.
  • A high level of androgen (male hormone) leads to heavy or excessive hair growth on the body and or face.
  • Also, due to the androgen hormone, few women may face hair loss on their heads.
  • And lastly, polycystic ovaries i.e when egg sacs on ovaries are filled with fluid commonly called cysts.

Initial steps to treat PCOS

Once you realize that you have been diagnosed with PCOS most women have a common question in their mind how to naturally treat PCOS? Well, to treat your PCOS there are certain initial steps that you need to follow.

Get your body mass index (BMI) checked

Most women tend to gain weight rapidly due to PCOS. Your BMI shows whether you have a healthy body weight and it also shows how much composition of body fat you have. If you have extra body weight, consult with a doctor and ask them what is the ideal weight for your body.

Check your blood sugar level

Having a balanced blood sugar level is very crucial to get pregnant, make sure you get checked blood sugar level before you initiate any treatment or try to conceive. An imbalanced blood sugar level can impact negatively on healthy pregnancy and journey and can affect your infant’s future health.

Positive lifestyle changes

A few modifications in your lifestyle and help you regulate your ovulation procedure. Changing lifestyle habits like adding cardio-based and body weight training workouts in your routine and choosing healthy food over sugary and high-fat-based food. Overall, choosing healthy options and being active can make a big difference.

Use an ovulation or period tracker app

Although women with PCOS struggle all the time with irregular periods, this can be helpful for women who have been trying to conceive. It will provide you estimated dates of the particular wherein you have a chance to get pregnant.

How to naturally treat PCOS and get pregnant with irregular periods?

Usually, women think that PCOS and pregnancy are terms that can never intertwin ever. Well, with PCOS pregnancy can be a little tricker or time-consuming but that doesn’t mean you can never achieve your dream of motherhood. Then how to get pregnant with irregular periods and PCOS? To solve your concern, we have listed down a few factors which can help you treat or maintain your PCOS symptoms.

Focus on maintaining a healthy weight

Being obese or overweight is usually associated with PCOS, but some women are diagnosed with PCOS and aren’t overweight. Women who are overweight must focus on losing weight, though you see changes in your fertility and meanwhile you may also observe reduced PCOS symptoms by just losing 5-10% of your extra body weight.

Excessive exercising can also harm your body, maintaining a balance of workout, nutrition and rest is a must. You can consider brisk walking, jogging, and cardio workouts that include your outdoor hobbies. A few tweaks in your schedule like walking in between your work to get something, or taking stairs instead of a lift or elevator can make a big difference.

Nutrition intake

How to naturally treat PCOS?
This is one of the common questions asked by every woman struggling with irregular periods and or polycystic ovaries. Having correct nutritional intake is essential for every individual and when it comes to PCOS, every woman must eat mindfully and substitute all the salty and sugary food, simple carbs, and junk food with healthy options, remember to treat PCOS and must eat for health.

  • Include fresh fruits and vegetables in your diet
  • Whole grains – oats, brown rice or bread, barley.
  • Beans
  • Lentils
  • Chicken, meat, fish
These options are recommended as healthy options. However, it is advised to consult a doctor to lay out a customized diet plan as every individual and their body requirements are different.

Apart from healthy food, certain vitamins and minerals are essential for successful pregnancy with PCOS and a growing baby. It’s always better to ask your doctor for the best-suited supplements for yourself, although we have listed a few supplements that can be helpful for fertility.

  • Folic Acid (Vitamin B9)
  • Vitamin B6
  • Vitamin B12
  • Vitamin C
  • Vitamin D
  • Vitamin E
  • Coenzyme Q10

Balanced blood sugar level

Another crucial step for a successful pregnancy with PCOS is getting checked with your blood sugar level. At times, PCOS causes high blood sugar levels or diabetes type 2 which may affect your fertility condition. As PCOS can change the way your body uses insulin. This hormone moves sugar or glucose out of the body and moves into muscles and cells where it is burned to generate energy. Usually, PCOS makes your body insensitive to insulin.

Though maintaining your blood sugar levels can aid you in getting pregnant. Alongside, have a healthy diet and include the right proportion of protein, fiber, and healthy fats. Also, exercising daily and including strength training can help your body react well to insulin.

In a few cases, your doctor might recommend a few medicines to balance your blood sugar levels. For instance diabetes type 2 medicine metformin or also named Glucophage makes your body use insulin effectively to lower your high blood sugar level. This medicine can also result in achieving a healthy pregnancy.

You will be advised low doses of metformin and on temporary bases only, depending on your medical condition and blood sugar level. If you have a high blood sugar level or type of diabetes it is better to check your sugar level by home monitor daily.

Additionally, your doctor will check your blood sugar level with a few tests, which include:

  • Normal blood sugar test
  • Overnight fast followed by test
  • Test that provides for oral glucose tolerance ( after fasting and drinking sugar-based drinks)
  • Hemoglobin test ( to check your blood sugar levels for the last 2-3 months)

Why is getting pregnant difficult with PCOS?

Well, a lot of couples and infertile women visit a doctor with a concern like how to get pregnant with irregular periods and PCOS. To understand the conceiving options, let us first understand why women with PCOS find it so disquieting to conceive naturally.

Well, even scientists are not sure what causes PCOS issues but they believe that you are more likely to be diagnosed with this condition if it runs in your family, or if you have insulin resistance. Though, talking about how PCOS affects the chances of getting pregnant? Or how to have a healthy pregnancy with PCOS? Experts explain that for a healthy pregnancy to occur, you need to have a released egg from your ovaries regularly, once a month.

Post ovulation, an unfertilized egg stays in uterine tubes for around 12-14 days before dissolving and being discarded as a part of periods. If this egg is fertilized by a sperm within the ovulation time, you can probably achieve positive pregnancy results. Since women with PCOS do not get regular periods (in most cases) that means they don’t ovulate regularly, which makes the conception rates quite low.

Well, lack of regular ovulation isn’t the only reason affecting successful pregnancy with PCOS, a few research says that PCOS can also cause hormonal imbalance that affects your cervical fluids, which makes it very difficult for sperm to survive in your ovaries.

Additionally, a few experts say that due to hormonal imbalance in PCOS, a woman is more likely to be overweight and this can affect her fertility. For instance, being overweight can be linked to anovulation i.e when an egg isn’t released in the span of the menstrual cycle, menstrual disorders like hefty bleeding or unbearable painful cramps, and more. Though not every woman with PCOS isn’t overweight and not every obese woman has PCOS, the condition can vary among individuals but gaining weight rapidly is seen quite often in PCOS-diagnosed women.

Furthermore, infertility issues or PCOS are associated with stress as well. According to Iranian research, 90% of women with PCOS exhibit some level of stress in their life. The fluctuation of weight either weight gain or loss along with stress can signal the essential menstrual cycle-related hormone called gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH). Well, multiple factors meddle with GnRH resulting in an irregular menstrual cycle.

As we discussed the various factors affecting or making it harder for a woman with PCOS to conceive naturally, but there are ways you can try and with the right strategy and method you can conceive like other women. To know more about how to get pregnant with irregular periods and PCOS? Keep reading further…

Statistics with PCOS pregnancy

To understand how to have a healthy pregnancy with PCOS? Let us first understand the detailed statistics of PCOS pregnancy. As we discussed every 1 in 5 women goes through this condition, and 70-80% of women don’t always ovulate regularly i.e their ovaries do not always release an egg during the menstrual cycle, which makes the process of conception even more difficult. To answer your concern about how to get pregnant with irregular periods and PCOS? Well, with correct and suitable medications and or treatment you can conceive with positive results.

We have come across a couple of women who have been struggling to become moms but with the assistance of treatment and lifestyle modifications, they have achieved their dream of motherhood. Well, we know the anxiety of not conceiving a child forever can be worrisome. To explain to you how to have a healthy pregnancy with PCOS? Let us walk you through statistics associated with the chances of pregnancy with PCOS.

A medical study suggests that 80% of women who undergo PCOS treatment using the drug named Clomiphene citrate have ovulated or conceived successfully. Half of the women conceive naturally using this treatment within 6 or more menstrual cycles. While others need extra medical help, which we will be discussing further in the blog.

If you are experiencing several failed attempts to conceive naturally even if you have tried PCOS treatment, then your doctor might recommend fertility options like IUI, IVF, or in a few cases surrogacy as well. Women with PCOS have a 30-40% probability of successful conception with the assistance of an IVF program. And, women above 35 years of age, and who are overweight have lower chances of conceiving, hence every professional you meet will emphasize more on maintaining a healthy and active lifestyle.

How to get pregnant with irregular periods and PCOS?

We understand your concern about how to get pregnant with irregular periods and PCOS, infertility, or how to have a healthy pregnancy with PCOS. Even when you have tried several treatments for this condition and experienced failure. Then your doctor will recommend a few fertility treatment options like IUI, IVF, or surrogacy depending on your fertility or medical condition. Let us walk you through how this treatment works.

Intrauterine insemination (IUI)

Intrauterine insemination or IUI generates sperm with a little help to get closer to the egg just like it happens during unprotected sexual intercourse. Couples who have been struggling with conceiving naturally but do not have infertility issues are suggested to choose IUI treatment.

With this fertility treatment, the intended mother will have to take additional medications for hormones as she has an irregular menstrual cycle. In this case, she will need fertility treatment to get complete ovulation and a natural cycle. The IUI treatment procedure begins with collecting semen samples of the intended father or sperm donor and it is then inserted into a woman’s uterus during her peak ovulation time.

In-vitro Fertilization (IVF)

Among all fertility treatments, it is believed that IVF or IVF with self-implantation has greater success rates than other fertility treatments comparatively. Surrogacy IVF is processed by giving hormonal medicines to the intended mother to stimulate her eggs. Once her eggs are ready, her eggs are retrieved and stored in an incubator. Meanwhile, the intended father’s sperm would be collected and mixed with eggs to form an embryo. If either of the partners has weak gamete material then they can choose to select a donor.

Furthermore, once embryos are ready, it is transferred into the intended mother’s womb. After a few days of observation, she will undergo an ultrasound test to determine the results of the pregnancy. Once she confirms pregnancy, she will carry forward with the pregnancy like any other pregnant woman.

As we discussed above, women with PCOS are more likely to conceive successfully with the help of an IVF program.

Gestational surrogacy

When a couple or individual experiences multiple failed attempts with other fertility treatments then they are recommended to consider surrogacy. Gestational surrogacy or commonly termed surrogacy IVF is similar to the IVF program.

The difference here is that intended parents and or donors would provide their gamete materials, and once they are retrieved surrogacy IVF specialists would create an embryo in a laboratory. Once it is formed, it is then transferred to the surrogate’s womb. She carries your child for 9 months, she is just a carrier and doesn’t have a biological link with the baby and neither any legal rights over your infant hence she cannot claim herself as an official parent of the child.

PCOS and pregnancy

To answer your question – how to get pregnant with irregular periods and PCOS? With correct treatment, a healthy and active lifestyle, and a positive mindset you can become pregnant naturally. In a few cases of failure in conception, you can consider a few fertility treatments or surrogacy IVF to embark on the journey of parenthood. If you still have any questions related to your conceiving and surrogacy process, visit our website or book our free consultation call!
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