Can't stop wondering if Metformin could have prevented my miscarriages and if exercising is stopping me getting pregnant.

[didwedotherightthing]

This is haunting me and making me angry today - please help!

I have polycystic ovaries but ovulate by myself. We were unale to conceive naturally but have a son from IVF (I didn't take metformin in that cycle or anytime before).

We used one of our frozen embryos to try for a sibling last autumn and I conceived but lost the baby at around 7 weeks. I wasn't on metformin then either.

After that loss the GP agreed to give me Clomid (as a boost) while we tried naturally for a while, before doing another frozen cycle. I also asked to try metformin as someone on here had said it can reduce the miscarriage risk for women with PCOS. I had previously only ever been told that metformin was only used by women with insulin issues, weight gain and other PCOS issues. (Aside from not being able to conceive, I have no other PCOS issues). The GP was happy for me to try metformin and it was just a couple of months later, the cycle AFTER the Clomid cycle, that I conceived (in April). But I think due to the stress of being pregnant again and worrying about miscarriage I know became less regular with taking the metformin and often forgot one of the two daily tablets. We had a private reassurance scan at 7 weeks and saw a perfect fetus with a strong heartbeat and felt reassured. But I miscarried again around 10 days later.

I can't help blaming myself and thinking that if I'd been taking the met properly with the second pregnancy I may not have lost it. And I'm angry that no-one (GP, IVF clinic) put me on the met until after I asked for it after my first loss. Why isn't it routinely given to PCOS women who are TTC or pregnant when there's research like this supporting i? press.endocrine.org/doi/full/10.1210/jcem.87.2.8207

We're trying again naturally for a bit and plan an FET cycle in the autumn if no luck by then. I'm back on the met and taking it properly and am now worrying that by training for a half marathon, including during the 2ww, I am compromising my chances at even getting pregnant. There seems to be conflicting evidence on this too. High heart rate to be avoided in 2ww and early pregnancy according to some while other say no problem?

Help please?

[Sophia1984]

I'm afraid I can't give any specific advice on the metformin, but just wanted to comment to say that its totally normal to try and blame yourself for a miscarriage and also to feel angry. I've come to realise how common miscarriages are, and that with such a high chance of them occurring, lightening can strike twice for no real reason. 7 weeks is a very common time for them to occur (I should have been at 7+5 now but found nothing on scan at 7+2). If there had been a problem with not taking metformin, would they not have seen that on the scan?

I feel for you on the running front. I'm currently sitting here having a miscarriage and one of the things that is really upsetting me is that I might not be able to do the Great North Run in 2 weeks. I know it may sound silly to non-runners, but running is essential to my mental health and I really want to be able to do this for myself as part of my recovery. From all the research I've done, it's ok to maintain the exercise you were doing in early pregnancy, you just shouldn't take on anything extra. Could you possibly get a heart-rate monitor to reassure yourself? When I thought I was pregnant I had resigned myself to run/walking the GNR and not pushing myself, but I can see that would be frustrating when you're trying to get on with your life.

Hope you're taking care of yourself and have the support you need xx

[Bethany1990]

First of all , sorry for your loss sending my love .i also have pcos and Iv had 2 misscarages one at 8 weeks and one at 6. I asked my doctor for metformin with my second pregnancy he said no you have to misscaraged 3 times before we help 😱I was angry and upset. I don't get ivf because my husband already has 2 children.I took a pregnancy test because af was due and boom my bfp this month I'm so nervous but no I get no help from my doctor.... so I went to the doctors the other day and asked him if I could start metformin for my pcos and no questions asked he just give me them im taking my own vitamins and folic acid I'm going to try this myself this time I will let you know my outcome x