PCOS and infertility

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a serious metabolic disorder and one of the major causes of hormonally related infertility, yet the disorder remains largely undiagnosed and unknown. About 5 million women in the U.S. are affected by it. "Women are told they are too fat and aren't taken seriously for a long time," said Andrea Dunaif, M.D., the Charles F. Kettering Professor of Medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and a physician at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. "They go to an average of four doctors before they are diagnosed. They have been to physicians who say 'there is nothing wrong with you, don't worry'."

The complex genetic disease has long-term health risks throughout a woman's lifespan, including obesity and double the rate of metabolic syndrome, a constellation of risk factors for diabetes and heart disease. Not only women are affected. Dunaif recently published a paper showing that brothers and fathers of women with PCOS also have a greater prevalence of obesity and metabolic syndrome. "It's essential that women and men are diagnosed and treated for this," Dunaif said.

Symptoms of PCOS in women often show up in adolescence and may include irregular periods and excess hair on the face, chest or back -- all caused by high levels of male hormones. Many patients are treated with medication for insulin resistance -- which cause rapid weight gain -- and then are able to become pregnant.

Bonnie - I have also dealt with this on many occasions and nutritional and lifestyle modification has everything to do with the condition.