Norfolk bride shares her fertility story during PCOS Awareness Month

When Tasha walked down the aisle to marry fiancé Ryan it was a dream come true having her one-year-old daughter Lyla by her side as flower girl.

“It was really emotional walking down the aisle after everything me and Ryan have been through to get here,” says Tasha. “There were lots of tears!

Coming off the pill

Tasha, who lives in King’s Lynn, has Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS), a common cause of infertility which interferes with egg production, and she is sharing her story in support of PCOS Awareness Month.

“When I came off the pill in my twenties to try for a baby, I knew it might take a while for my body to re-adjust but then I went a whole year without having a period. I thought ‘this is a bit odd.’

“It got to the stage where I thought I would never be a mum which was really upsetting,” she says.

“A lot of my friends had fallen pregnant really easily, literally after trying for a month, and so I had found it really tough when it just wasn’t happening for us.”

PCOS Awareness Month highlights benefit of diagnosis

PCOS is difficult to diagnose, but is can be identified at a fertility clinic with ultrasound scanning and the Anti-Müllerian Hormone (AMH) blood test.

Thanos Papathanasiou is the Medical Director at Bourn Hall Clinic, which provides NHS fertility testing in Norfolk, and he explains: “If an ovary in a scan looks like a bunch of grapes with lots and lots of little tiny follicles, but the patient has no other symptoms – facial hair, acne, irregular periods – then we would say that there is an ‘appearance’ of polycystic ovaries,” he says.

“These women may have regular cycles and can often have slightly longer cycles of perhaps every 35 to 45 days, but they don’t necessarily have the ‘syndrome’ itself.

“A diagnosis of Polycystic Ovary Syndrome is when the person has other symptoms, which may include infrequent heavy periods. This is because the eggs are trapped in the follicles – the bumps on the ovary – and one is not being released each month. The lining of the womb still thickens each month, which causes the period, but there is no ovulation.

“PCOS is difficult to diagnose as it affects women in different ways, but a proper diagnosis does provide options, for example achieving a healthy BMI of between 19-30 can restart ovulation naturally in many women. This is why PCOS Awareness Month is so important as there are things you can do.”

Ovulation induction treatment improves the chances

At the Bourn Hall clinic in Kings Lynn, Tasha had NHS-funded Ovulation Induction (OI) treatment. The fertility nurses closely monitored Tasha at Bourn Hall with regular ultrasound scans and blood tests to check that all was going to plan.

Lead nurse Kathryn Rayner explains: “Ovulation Induction, where the ovaries are stimulated and carefully monitored, is an option for women with PCOS. Natural intercourse can then be timed to coincide with the release of one mature egg, which increases the chance of conception. It has a good success rate where there are no other factors.”

“The whole process at Bourn Hall was very efficient, brilliant,” says Tasha.

“I found out in October 2020 that I was pregnant, and it was an amazing feeling; I just cried!

“The treatment meant the world to us. And everyone at Bourn Hall was so nice – they were always there for us and were really helpful and offered us so much support. Being able to have all our treatment so close to home was really convenient too.

Lyla was born on 2 June 2021 at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital King’s Lynn.

Paying tribute to her new husband Tasha added: “Ryan has been my rock throughout our fertility journey, has supported me throughout and is the most amazing Dad to Lyla.”