It is estimated that up to 95% of women presenting with anovulatory infertility have PCOS. And furthermore, a significant proportion of them also have elevated circulating insulin and glucose levels.

Elevated levels of insulin and glucose result in an inflammatory response, and together with elevated androgens - this suppresses the natural ovulatory cycle. This is why we typically see elevated levels of luteinising hormone (LH) and reduced levels of follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) on blood tests.

With this in mind, there are lots of steps that you can take to improve your chances of conceiving;

1. Keep a record of your symptoms

Engage with your current health and lifestyle so that you can monitor any symptoms you're experiencing. This will help you to recognise improvements and the positive effects of the lifestyle changes that you make. Symptom tracking can be very beneficial because we know it might take a while to see your changes reflected in your weight. This can be particularly discouraging and cause a lack of motivation to continue.

2. Build positive lifestyle changes into your daily routine

Think about how you move and what you nourish your body with. This will have a significant immediate impact, not to mention benefit your long-term health and wellbeing, improving your chances of conceiving.

3. Get your baseline blood levels checked

Check the levels of hormones, glucose and fats in the body checked via routine blood tests with your GP. Then, work together with your GP to optimise these.

4. Build a relationship with your GP

This can be difficult if you've previously felt unsupported, but this can be so important when trying to improve your symptoms and optimise your fertility. Having a good relationship can help you discuss potential medications that may help for your own individual hormone profile.

5. Try the Béa Treatment Kit

If you know that you're ovulating - the Béa Treatment Kit is a good option for PCOS. The Béa Applicator places our custom cervical cap against the cervix, holding semen in place for up to one hour.

The Béa Treatment could be a good treatment option for PCOS. The Béa Applicator places our custom cervical cap against the cervix, holding semen in place for up to one hour. It increases the exposure to the cervical mucus, minimises the contact of semen in the vagina (where the pH can reduce sperm quality) and reduces semen backflow.

The Béa Treatment Kit is new on the market – it’s possible your GP hasn’t heard of it yet. It’s an at-home fertility treatment that previously hasn’t been accessible or available to purchase online. If you wish to share details about the Béa Treatment, show them The Science of ICI and ask your GP for their opinion But we know GP appointments are short - so here's the TL:DR version:

The Béa Treatment is the modern take on ICI (intracervical insemination). It's an at-home fertility treatment that's affordable and accessible. It involves placing a cervical cap with semen near the cervix and it has a pregnancy rate of 50% over 6 cycles.