Mistakes With PCOS and How to Improve Fertility

Millions of women around the globe are affected by PCOS (Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome), which is also one of the common causes of infertility. Undoubtedly, women suffering from PCOS may want to conceive quickly to start a family. Although you can get quality PCOS supplements for fertility to promote ovulation, you also need to make lifestyle and diet changes.

In addition, women also tend to make mistakes with PCOS and may start implementing all the tips they find on the internet at once. Moreover, some information isn’t too accurate and can do more harm than good.

In this article, we’ll share the most common mistakes women make with PCOS and how you can improve your fertility for a healthy and happy life.

Mistakes With PCOS

Not Treating the Root Cause

You may want to use topical creams to get rid of acne or lose weight to ensure you get rid of the symptoms quickly. However, if you don’t target the root cause, you will only be temporarily getting rid of, say, acne and inflammation.

It may get triggered later once you’re off the treatment, since you’re not working on the root cause.

Therefore, you should try to identify the root cause first and then target it. For this, your doctor will help you. You should also ask them to get a set of blood tests, including blood sugar profile, androgen profile, and nutritional profile.

Taking Supplements Without Consulting Your Doctor

Although there are a lot of PCOS supplements available in the market that actually help you address your issues, you shouldn’t take them without consulting your doctor.

Your doctor will prescribe supplements based on your blood work, physiological condition, daily diet, and activity level. This way, you will be sure that whatever supplements you’re taking will actually help you address your concerns without doing the opposite.  

Trying to Make Too Many Changes at Once

Since PCOS is a lifelong condition, you must be patient and take a steady and consistent approach. Of course, you may feel overwhelmed and want to quickly overcome the symptoms by implementing all the tips available to you at once.

However, you may feel burnt out down the road. You also need to give yourself 3 to 4 months to see results and keep adding changes once at a time not to lose motivation.  

How to Improve Fertility with PCOS?

1.    Maintain a Healthy Weight

Most women (not all) who are overweight and obese struggle with PCOS. PCOS makes it harder for the body to use insulin, and excess insulin in the body leads to fat storage and increases hunger, which is why you may be struggling with weight.

If you think you’re overweight, losing even 5% of your weight can reduce your PCOS symptoms and improve your chances of getting pregnant. However, you shouldn’t crash your diet or start excessively working out, as this isn’t healthy.

Make sure you maintain a healthy and active lifestyle by, let’s say, eating healthy and regularly exercising.

2.    Manage Stress

Of course, with PCOS, you already have a lot of problems to deal with, like infertility, weight gain, acne, irregular menstrual cycles, and whatnot. However, stress makes everything even worse for you.

With stress, the level of stress hormones (cortisol) increases, which increases insulin levels too. All this also alters the hormone levels needed for ovulation.

Therefore, you should manage stress by meditating, journaling, connecting with your loved ones, and going out for walks in nature. If you think you need professional help, you can always visit a therapist to manage your stress effectively.

Read More: 4 Ways to Keep Your Unborn Baby Healthy

3.    Make Dietary Changes

What you eat every day can affect your fertility, especially for women with PCOS. A nutritional deficit can disrupt your hormones, leading to irregular periods and the loss of menstrual function.

Therefore, the right approach to exercise and diet can help women with PCOS to improve their hormonal function and ovulation.

You should also keep in mind that you don’t want to increase blood sugar and insulin levels in your body due to the reasons we discussed above. Hence, you should distribute the calorie intake while keeping it low through several meals in a day.

You should limit the intake of high-glycemic carbohydrates as they stimulate hunger, therefore, contributing to weight gain.

Instead, you should incorporate fiber, whole grains, and non-starchy vegetables in your diet. Low-glycemic foods are most fruits and vegetables, pasta, nuts, beans, and low-fat dairy foods.

4.    Balance Blood Sugar Levels

Since most women with PCOS have high blood sugar levels, this can lead to fertility problems by disrupting your ovulation cycles. Your doctor will run several blood tests in order to assess your blood sugar levels.

If you have high blood sugar levels, you need to maintain a healthy diet and have an active lifestyle, so your body can use insulin better. In addition, your doctor may also prescribe medications for the time being to help balance your blood sugar levels.