Treatment Options

• Hair and skin problems
• Menstrual irregularities
• Infertility
• Weight and insulin related concerns

Hair and skin problems
Medicines are available to reduce the male hormones (androgens) in your body and treat excess hair and acne. Your doctor may prescribe:

• Birth control pills to reduce the male hormones in your body
• Spironolactone (Aldactone), a drug to reduce the effects of male hormones on the skin and hair.
• Topical and/or oral antibiotics to treat acne. You may need to see a dermatologist if you continue to have problems with acne.

Other non-medical or alternative treatments are:
Cosmetic therapy for hair removal. Electrolysis or laser treatments can be used for permanent hair removal. Shaving, waxing, creams or depilatories can be used for temporary hair removal.

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Menstrual irregularities
To help you have regular periods your doctor may prescribe:

• Birth control pills start normal periods and reduce the risk of uterine cancer. They also will reduce excess hair and acne.
• Medroxyprogesterone (Provera) helps start your period. It is taken for 10 to 14 days every one to two months. It does not reduce excess hair or acne.
• Metformin (Glucophage) helps stimulate ovulation and bring back normal periods. This drug is not as effective as other drugs in reducing excess hair or acne. It also does not protect you from getting pregnant. In fact, the drug might make it easier to get pregnant. Women who do not want to become pregnant should use some form of birth control.

Other non-medical or alternative treatments are:

Diet
Losing weight can help women have normal periods. Women with PCOS who lose 5 to 10 percent of their body weight may notice that their periods become more regular. We suggest a low carbohydrate diet to help lose weight. By reducing carbohydrates in your diet, your body will produce less sugar. This will help you lose weight.

Exercise
Exercise helps use the sugar in your body, improves circulation and builds muscles. Doing some form of exercise 3 to 5 times a week will help you lose weight.

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Infertility
To correct a hormone imbalance and help you ovulate, your doctor may prescribe:

• Clomiphene citrate (Clomid) — This fertility drug helps the ovaries release one or more eggs. Clomiphene starts ovulation in about 80 percent of women with PCOS. Women who take clomiphene use blood and urine tests to see if they are ovulating. Measuring body temperature can also tell you if you are ovulating. If the first dose of clomiphene does not start ovulation, your doctor may order a higher dose.
• Clomiphene citrate (Clomid) with Metformin - Studies show that the insulin-sensitizing drug, metformin, helps clomiphene in producing ovulation.
• Gonadotropin therapy Drugs called gonadotropins (LH and FSH) is a stronger treatment for PCOS-related infertility. FSH is used without LH for women with PCOS. It is given once a day as an injection under the skin for 7 to 10 days. These drugs start ovulation in nearly all women with PCOS. If your doctor prescribes this drug, you will be taught how to give yourself the injection.

Your doctor may also want to check you and your partner for other problems that might make it hard for you to become pregnant. You may need to have a test to see if your fallopian tubes are normal. Your male partner may need a semen analysis to check his sperm count.

Other non-medical or alternative treatments are:
Diet and exercise make all these treatments work better. Losing weight will help reduce insulin resistance, which improves ovulation. Losing weight slowly over a period of time is the best way to make this change in lifestyle.

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Weight and insulin-related concerns
Forty to fifty percent of women with PCOS have abnormal results from their glucose tolerance test. This puts them at risk for diabetes and pre-diabetes conditions. To reduce your blood sugar, your doctor may prescribe:
Metformin (Glucophage), which reduces the amount of sugar the body produces and helps with some weight loss.

Other non-medical or alternative treatments are:
Losing weight, easiest and best way to manage insulin abnormalities. Losing weight is not easy, but diet and exercise can help control the level of sugar in your body.

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