Mum shares her fertility and weight loss journey during PCOS Awareness Month

Struggling to lose weight, acne, facial hair, irregular periods – when Lydia from Wisbech was diagnosed with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) aged 17 she received very little support for managing her symptoms. Also, crucially, she wasn’t aware how the condition might impact her fertility.

About one in eight women are affected by PCOS, which is one of the commonest causes of female infertility. It creates a hormone imbalance that affects how a woman’s ovaries work and how her eggs are released.

Speaking ahead of PCOS Awareness Month, Lydia is keen to share her experience with others trying to conceive: “Before I started trying for a baby, I regarded my PCOS symptoms as just a hassle more than anything else,” she says. “My period turned up when it turned up and I also had other classic symptoms such as excess hair, acne and difficulty in losing weight.”

Lydia is now mum to son Rylo following fertility treatment at Bourn Hall Clinic in Norfolk.

Dr Nausheen Mawal, Lead Clinician for Bourn Hall’s Norfolk clinics explains:

“Women with PCOS often have elevated insulin levels, which can make weight loss challenging, and higher levels of testosterone, the ‘male’ hormone. This hormonal imbalance leads to the development of multiple fluid-filled follicles on the ovaries, which resemble cysts. These follicles contain immature eggs, and as a result, no eggs are released, leading to irregular periods – a major symptom of PCOS.

“Not all women with PCOS struggle to conceive but for those who have irregular periods losing weight can help to stimulate ovulation.”

Lydia and partner Ben started trying for a baby when Lydia was in her late twenties and she had read about the condition. Lydia says: “You should normally wait a year before going to see your GP but, because of my PCOS and irregular periods, I only waited until we had been trying for six months.

“We live on the Cambridgeshire/Norfolk border and my current GP is in Norfolk, so we were referred really quickly for an initial appointment at Bourn Hall.”

Bourn Hall has IVF clinics in Cambridge and Norwich – as well as a smaller nurse-led clinic in Kings Lynn that has specialists in ovulation induction (OI). This treatment helps couples get pregnant naturally by making ovulation predictable.

“By the beginning of 2021 I had turned 30 and hit my target weight for IVF, losing four stone in total.”

The couple were entitled to two rounds of NHS-funded IVF treatment at Bourn Hall Clinic – and were delighted when their treatment worked first time. “When I did the pregnancy test and it was positive we couldn’t believe it!” she says.

The couple’s son Rylo was born in July 2022 and Lydia still finds it hard to believe that she is finally a mum. “I feel as though I have been on the longest journey ever, but sometimes when I am doing things with him like taking him for a little walk or watching him splash in the puddles it will hit me that I am finally doing all those things that I’ve always wanted to do,” she says. “They are ‘pinch me moments’ when I realise that it has finally happened and I am a mum.”