Disappointed with the Fertility Clinic

@shininglight16 Hi! EWCM can occur at any time during your fertile period, it is usually an indication to jump your man as you are at peak fertility! Once you have ovulated your fertile CM (wet or EWCM) will usually dry up.

If you had EWCM yesterday then you could hope to ovulate yesterday or today... or any time until the fertile CM dries up... so you may still be in with a chance.

CM is not really a very good indicator of when you are ovulating, as it is caused by an Estrogen surge (which often happens just before you ovulate) but it can happen at any point of your cycle, and so might be a false alarm. The only way you can really keep track of when you ovulate (without doing blood tests) is to keep track of your Basel Body Temperature.

Also I’d add I was like you, fertility clinic said lose weight which felt long term and impossible, I had never had a normal BMI and couldn’t imagine it.

I tried clomid with no luck and ovulation induction where I produced so many eggs, the only option was IVF but we didn’t get that far. I took a break and lost weight and resigned myself to potential childlessness and then went back to trying

I think I was 86kg with DD1
90 ish with DS,
Probably 92/93kg with DD2
It got easier to conceive each time, DS and DD2 both first tries, amazing after 10 years TTC, though apparently gets easier to conceive the older you are with PCOS.
I highly recommend metformin for weight loss and reducing miscarriage risk. If nothing else it makes you so sick you don’t eat much!

I’m no dieter, infact as a rule I’m opposed to dieting as a concept but as a one off to see if it triggered ovulation was worth a go.

I TTC for 10 years with PCOS and lost 15kg with a short term, ridiculously low calorie diet and had regular periods for the first time in my life. Metformin was also helpful.
I paid for private ovulation scans to time intercourse and conceived four times in four years, one miscarriage and three babies.

Generally with PCOS you don’t have to lose a lot of weight to conceive. A short term, crash diet will help. Think very low calorie, meal substitute type diet then maintain with average healthy diet.

Ovulation testing didn’t work for me so the scans were helpful and I also learned my irregular cycle signs and my youngest was conceived without scans.

Im still fat (fatter than before infact) but I have the children I wanted. Weight loss and exercise are cheaper than fertility treatment and often quicker to work. See it as an intervention like supplements, you just do it to conceive. You’re not aiming for the perfect weight just a workable menstrual cycle.

Have they given you progesterone cream? Or tablets. I took the tablets but stopped when they made me very anxious
I also had Lowe progesterone- but recently got diagnosed with PCOS after doing the fasting and then drinking a sugary solution and having my bloods taken to measure the blood sugar. Have they done that.
I’m prediabetic so I’m paying for Metformin. Only been taking it a few days so too early to tell if it will help.
For weight loss I recommend The Human Being diet by Petronella Ravenshear - she is also on Instagram. I lost 10 kilos before Christmas. It helps massively with sugar cravings. It’s not a diet but more a way of eating to balance the body and lost weight (if you want to)

It's so frustrating isn't it, is you bmi in the early 30's? Mine was 38 when we got to see an nhs fertility consultant, he was really clear and said he couldn't help on the nhs until my bmi was 30 and under so we asked to see him at his private clinic but he said I had to get my bmi down to 35. The advise he gave us was to take the fertility supplements, and lose weight, he said that for people struggling looking 5% of your body weight can kick start your fertility. it was hard to hear but I started a 1400 calorie a day diet and got a bike and started couch to 5k- it was hard going as I was so unfit but started to lose weight- I started in the 28th feb and by the end of April fell pregnant but lost the baby, started the exercise again and fell pregnant in June, sadly lost that one and fell pregnant again in September, currently 21 weeks pregnant and all going well this time.
I honestly think it was loosing weight and eating better that did it because we'd been trying for over a year before with nothing. I think time I was exercising I only reduced my bmi by 2 points so see had a point to loose to get to have private fertility treatment but it worked.
Sounds like you're going lots of the right things with diet and supplements, would you consider some extra exercise? I'd defiantly
Recommend C25K, it got me moving and I never thought I'd be able to for more than 30 seconds.
Wishing you lots of luck x

Losing a bit of weight t can have really good effects on fertility, I am a bit overweight too, I found getting active and weight loss,
Not even lots just a bit meant I much more easily fell pregnant. Agnus castus I found was great and high evening primrose oil til ovulation

Good luck - ignore any negative comments on this thread

I have been where some of you ladies are and would recommend inositol powder I take swanson brand and cutting carbs also couch 2 5k. I lost 1.5 stone to start fertility treatment with my first (clomid which didn't work but injections did) but when that baby was 3 I found the personal strength to get into running (never had before) and it lowered my insulin resistance to the point I fell pregnant naturally at 38. That pregnancy was easier despite being older because I carried less weight. I'm now trying to lose the pregnancy weight again but that's another story

Good luck to you all give it 100% i promise it is worth it would also recommend looking up jason fung dr re intermittent fasting very good for insulin resistance which is imo root cause/issue of pcos x

@shininglight16
I’m glad you took it the way I meant it.

Seems like you have a balanced diet and take exercise you need which is great. Belly fat indicates you may be having too much sugar in something. Look into the sugar content in things you’re eating and drinking, even tweaks like that in your diet may be the key to your weight starting to reduce.
What works for one, like cutting out carbs, may not work for the other, so make tweaks in your diet and commit for a month to give your body chance to react and hopefully lose a little weight.

Also, try not to cut out everything you love, otherwise you’re more prone to bingeing and throwing the whole day away to unhealthy eating.

Try not to be too hard on yourself and makes those small changes for long term results rather than quick wins.

Good luck to you xx

Hey OP - I feel for you! And what I find frustrating is that although yes, some weight needs to come off - the GP seems to be ignoring the impact of PCOS on the ability to lose weight? I'd perhaps go to a different one and just focus on the PCOS bit - e.g. you should have a scan to check if you have cysts and what was your androgen like? You might need metformin, ferritin etc to help you feel better and ultimately help you lose weight.

I will say though - in the meantime consider cutting carbs as it's known that weight gain under pcos can be due to insulin resistance so you should be aiming for low GI foods.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Palanquins-Spearmint-Herbal-Tea-Bags/dp/B007H7OXOS/ref=mpssa113?dchild=1&keywords=spearmint+tea&qid=1611931225&sr=8-3

https://www.myprotein.com/sports-nutrition/100-inositol-powder/10530319.html?affil=thggpsad&switchcurrency=GBP&shippingcountry=GB&variation=10848192&shoppingpid=30OfffRRPNov18&thggppccampaign=71700000047623004&producttid=10848192&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIzu6A8KB7gIVDu3tCh2xxgCwEAQYASABEgIRxfDDBwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

My protein have a sale on at the moment for when you order the inositol just check their website. I just took 6g of it in milk and it made the milk sweeter (I need milk to swallow tablets)

Also, is your partner overweight too? That can have an impact on his fertility.

www.tommys.org/pregnancy-information/planning-a-pregnancy/are-you-ready-to-conceive/overweight-and-fertility-when-planning-pregnancy#bmi

Some info here that might be useful. I think as difficult as it might be to hear, your GP is right. You also need to consider the risks to both yourself and your baby should you manage to conceive when your BMI is so high. It’s not just about getting pregnant, its about having a safe pregnancy too. I do hope you are able to get to a point where you manage to conceive.

Have you tried a very low carb diet? There's a group on facebook called 'keto for fertility' or similar and they are really helpful.

Just want to add op I am 5 points heavier than you but we have similar bmi im also 165cm.

My GP refuses to give me anything and have to lose weight only even though the symptoms greatly impact me.

Metformin can really help with weight loss!

Hi op I am in the exact same position as you. I have all symptoms of pcos including raised levels but they again state I need to lose weight. I am trying my best to lose weight but it is very difficult because I am easily stressed and also have a really stressful job.

I have been taking the pre-conception tablets also, I drink spearmint tea which I order off Amazon and is supposed to be good for pcos but it tastes lovely. I have insositol powder here which I haven't used yet but I am going to start now.

My cycles seem to run at 37 days long although last one was 54. Currently using opks to track ovulation.

Apologies for poor grammar but I don't care 😀

That's considerably overweight.

I honestly think your doctor is giving you the best advice.

Any fertility treatment that would be considered is much much less likely to be effective if you're that overweight

I know it's hard, I've battled for fertility treatment, but you really do need to get into better shape first