Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS)

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a common condition affecting how a woman’s ovaries work. It occurs when a woman’s hormones are out of balance. The exact nature of hormone imbalance seems not to be well understood. Whatever the exact cause, hormonal imbalance leads to the growth of ovarian cysts (benign masses on the ovaries). PCOS can cause problems with a woman’s menstrual cycle, fertility, cardiac function, and appearance.

Polycystic ovaries contain a large number of harmless follicles, up to 8mm (0.3 inches) in size. The follicles are under-developed sacs in which eggs develop. In PCOS, these sacs are often unable to release an egg, meaning ovulation often doesn’t take place.

The NHS PCOS website states:

It’s difficult to know exactly how many women have PCOS, but it’s thought to be very common, affecting about 1 in every 10 women in the UK.

More than half of these women do not have any symptoms.

The common signs and symptoms of PCOS:

How is PCOS diagnosed?

The 3 criteria for PCOS diagnosis:

A formal diagnosis of PCOS is usually made when you have at least two of the three main features.

Since high AMH and testosterone are associated with PCOS, a PCOS Profile test consisting of these two hormones is therefore a simple and quick diagnostic tool for PCOS especially that this test is inexpensive and simple to carry out. Moreover, this test gets to the root of the problem as hormone imbalance is the cause of PCOS. For arranging a PCOS profile test, please click here.

What are the impacts of PCOS on fertility?

Irregular periods means it is difficult to determine the timing of ovulation. This creates problems for couples who would like to plan their intercourse, not to mention the general anxiety that can generate. In severe cases, women may not ovulate at all. In cases where women lose their cycles completely, the impact on fertility is self explanatory. Conventional medicine treatment may include prescribing contraceptives or diabetic medication. The former may present problems when a woman intends to conceive. The latter is generally found to be ineffective (conventional medical estimates only about 5% respond to treatment). Additionally, some patients report unpleasant side effects.

Women with PCOS tend to have high testosterone levels. It is well-known that too much testosterone delivered to follicles (which commonly occurs in older women with a diminished ovarian reserve, as well as women with PCOS) can lead to exhaustion of granulosa cells, compromised egg development, and poor egg and embryo quality.

In a paper published in 2008, entitled ‘Implications of Polycystic Ovary Syndrome on Oocyte Development’, a team of US scientists concluded “PCOS patients undergoing ovarian stimulation for in vitro fertilisation are at increased risks of impaired oocyte developmental competence, implantation failure and pregnancy loss”. It went on to recommend “new clinical strategies to optimise developmental competence of PCOS oocytes should target correction on the entire follicle growth and oocyte development process”.

All up, the subjective experience of patients and the objective scientific evidence suggests PCOS patients are likely to be less successful in both natural pregnancy and IVF treatments, due to the patients’ having poor egg quality, or not well-developed eggs at all times.

How do we treat PCOS?

Conventional Western medicine believes there is no cure for PCOS; its focus tends to be about managing the symptoms using medication. 

At TCM Healthcare, we regularly treat patients with PCOS. The foundations of our clinical practice are traditional Chinese medicine theory and clinical experience, as recorded in medicinal books and records over hundreds of years. This is augmented by longstanding clinical interest and experience at our clinic, testified by modern science, ie hormone results before and after treatment, antral follicle scan, successful IVF cycles and natural pregnancies.

Our approach is to use natural herbal remedies to strengthen and regulate the reproductive system. In particular, the focus is to improve the endocrine system and function. As the US scientists suggest in the paper cited earlier, we target the correction of the entire follicle growth and oocyte development process through nurturing and strengthening the reproductive system as a whole.

The visible outcomes are:

There are no known adverse side effects and the condition, once treated successfully, is unlikely to come back.

Patients come to us with their most recent AMH and testosterone test results, and prolactin test results if they haven’t had a period for over 3 months (the tests need to be less than 3 months old). We do an hour-long first consultation, in which we do non-invasive and pain-free Chinese medical diagnostic procedures, to understand your particular condition and circumstances thoroughly.

Our specialist prescribes a unique herbal formula, usually consisting of around 20 kinds of herbs, from which you will make drinks and consume twice a day for 18 days in a month.

A month after the first consultation, you will be done with the first round of herbal remedy. We do a second consultation, lasting 30 minutes, doing another diagnostic procedure to see how well you’ve responded to the treatment. Another prescription will be written.

This monthly cycle will repeat 3 or 4 times before you are asked to have another AMH test carried out. Most patients see significant improvements. They also report their periods are now much more regular. 

When patients would like to combine our treatments with IVF, a regular period will increase the chances of IVF success. In some cases, patients reported IVF specialists found, through scans, their PCOS had disappeared.

Read more on our blog page.

Our clinical record

Patients with PCOS usually have exceptionally high AMH levels. A reduction in AMH means a reduction of cysts in the ovaries. If you think you may have it, test if you have PCOS here.

What are our fees? 

The fees come to about £480 to £530 a month on average. Given our success rate, the fees of our treatment programme compares very favourably with IVF — all 3 courses (9 months) of our treatment comes out to be around £4,500 whereas the minimum all-inclusive fee for one IVF cycle stands at £6,000.

How often do I need to come? 

Once a month. Most patients come from 3 to 9 months. Some combine our treatment with further IVF cycles.