A small, but important, new study shows that women with PCOS do have babies at almost the same rate as women without PCOS. The difference is that for many women with PCOS, they begin to ovulate regularly a bit later in life as their hormones settle out a bit. For women without PCOS, ovulation slows down as they move into their 30’s. For women with PCOS, as ovulation slows down, it allows for better ovulation and fewer cysts.

The study, published in the journal Human Reproduction, looked at the reproductive history of 91 women diagnosed with PCOS and 87 non-PCOS controls, all study participants were 35 or older. Participants in the study were asked about the number and timing of babies and results from women with PCOS and without PCOS were compared. Among women who had attempted to have children, 86.7% of PCOS patients and 91.6% of controls had given birth to at least one child. Among women with PCOS who had given birth, 73.6% had gotten pregnant on their own, without medical intervention.

As I have noted in other articles, women who have babies without help are rarely diagnosed with PCOS, even if they have all of the other symptoms. PCOS makes it harder to have a baby, but it does not rule it out.

While this study is pretty small, it fits with the answers I have gotten in surveys and anecdotal evidence from the many women who have shared their stories with me. Most women w

For many years now I have suspected a trend towards women with PCOS getting pregnant on their own a bit later in life. Over and over, women tell me that they tried for years, then were able to have babies without help.

You can read about the study in New Scientist magazine and I have also included a link directly to the study.

New Scientist Article

http://tinyurl.com/pcosinfertility

Link to Study

http://tinyurl.com/pcosstudy1

My advice? If you are ready to have a baby, try for one. If it doesn’t happen right away and you are in your early to mid 20’s, find something wonderful to do with your time while you wait. You’ll cherish that time when the babies do finally make their appearance.

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Mark Twain once said that we should be wary of medical books because one could die of a misprint. I can only imagine what Twain would have thought about some of the medical advice flying around the internet today.

Sometimes I see “advice” that shocks me, until I remember the cartoon I once saw that showed two dogs talking in front of a computer. One dog said, “On the internet, no one knows you are a dog.” When you see health advice offered, keep in mind that some of those offering advice have ulterior motives such as trying to promote products, some are simply ill-informed, and some are outright malicious.

Don’t get me wrong, I love the fact that the internet has made it so easy to find information about PCOS. When I was first diagnosed with polycystic ovary syndrome it was nearly impossible for me to find information about PCOS. Most books on women’s health did not mention it. There were not yet any books available about PCOS. The doctors I talked to seemed to know less than I did. The internet was still merely a way for super-techy people to move digital files around. Today, we are surrounded by sources of information and finding support and advice about PCOS is merely a click away. However, these internet sources are sometimes dangerously inaccurate.

I see so much misinformation out there about PCOS. People with no medical background are recommending dosages of medication, advising others to avoid recommended tests or medication, and even suggesting that PCOS sufferers simply refuse medical advice.

Please, please, take anything you see on the internet with a grain of salt – even my stuff. Do some serious research before you stake your life on any advice. While there is a lot of great information out there, there are also many completely ill-informed people out there offering themselves up as self-proclaimed experts. I have seen some really dangerous advice out there about taking or combining meds and herbs, for instance, as well as a lot of other bad advice.

Be careful out there, your health is too important to risk on “someone’s” advice.

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My baby girl is finally asleep beside me as I type, so I have to say I am pretty convinced that most women with PCOS can have a baby. Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a leading cause of infertility. While I have not seen any studies detailing what percentage of women with PCOS become pregnant, I believe the overall percentage is quite high.

Some women with PCOS don’t know they have PCOS. These women are never counted in statistics because many of them get pregnant on their own, even if it takes time, and many doctors will not diagnose PCOS if the woman has ever had a child. So, some unknown percentage of women with PCOS get pregnant without any help or even without knowing they have PCOS.

Some women with PCOS have been diagnosed, but are untreated and eventually become pregnant, so they never seek treatment and are not counted in infertility statistics.

Then there is the group of women with PCOS who know they have a problem with infertility and they work hard to naturally improve their health and they also become pregnant and do not get counted. So, while we don’t know what percentage of women with PCOS have babies, we can assume that it is a significant number. Many times I have talked with women who show all the signs of PCOS but have never been diagnosed. I wish I had a nickel for every woman who has told me that she got pregnant slowly, but that she was never told she had PCOS.

Next, we have women with PCOS who are treated with metformin – studies show metformin is very effective in reducing symptoms and increasing fertility. About 50 percent of the women with PCOS who take metformin are able to become pregnant without further medical help.

Then we have the women who do not get pregnant with metformin alone, so they are given Clomid alone. Depending on the study, somewhere between 10-30 percent of these women become pregnant on Clomid alone, with a higher percentage becoming pregnant with a combination of metformin and Clomid.

Another large group of infertility sufferers are able to become pregnant through ovarian drilling, bigger fertility drugs, and other methods.

Yes, there are women with PCOS who are never able to get pregnant or who can not afford IVF, but common sense and research studies tell us that the majority of women with PCOS actually do have babies one way or another. When you are suffering from infertility it is easy to feel like you are alone and there is no hope. The truth is that the odds are on your side.

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Infertility treatments for PCOS usually start with metformin (Glucophage) or Clomid (clomiphene citrate). Metformin works very well for many women, though it did not change my symptoms at all. When that does not work, doctors usually recommend Clomid.

A small study published in the journal Human Reproduction shows a similar success rate with Clomid or ovarian drilling (basically they use a laser to burn off some of the cysts on your ovaries). The success rates for women in the study were 39 percent for Clomid alone and 25 percent for ovarian drilling alone, though success rates climbed as high as 63 percent when women in the study were allowed to try the opposite method if the first one did not work.

The background in the abstract on this study is great reading all on its own, with some good explanations of PCOS and the effectiveness of metformin as a first line infertility treatment.

Of course, in my personal experience none of these three methods actually helped me get pregnant. Clomid did make me ovulate some months, but I did not get pregnant while taking it. I also had ovarian drilling, but that did not restore ovulation for me. I was eventually able to find a natural approach that helped me reduce my symptoms and have a healthy baby girl.

The article abstract is posted on Medscape. Read about PCOS and infertility treatments here. You do need to register to read it, but Medscape is such an awesome resource it is very much worth registering. Registration is free.

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