TTC with suspected PCOS

@IWillBeWaxingAnOwl thanks for sharing your journey and congrats on your pregnancy! Hope all is going well, not long left for you now!

Can I ask what you did when Letrozole wasn’t working? Did you ever try Clomid? And how long were you on these for? I’ll be going on one of these and keen to get some advice. Thanks x

@cdn298 welcome to the chat! That’s great news you conceived despite only have a few AF’s, there is hope out there for the rest of us! So sorry you’re having trouble this time round. As for the OPK’s, I’ve been told if you have PCOS or an ovulation disorder then sadly the OPK’s aren’t useful as our bodies are constantly trying to ovulate (and usually failing) so our LH levels are higher than usual, giving false positives 😣

How are everyone else’s journey’s going? I have made the decision to go private with my fertility treatment as I can’t wait 8 months for my gyni referral to happen..and I still don’t have any AF. Had my first consultation yesterday..all very daunting!

@cdn298 the line needs to be equal or darker than control line

@cdn298 you want it to be as dark if not darker.. id keep going with tests, if you think you’re close I sometimes do two tests a day!

As the surge can be quick then you are likely 24-48hrs from ovulation as soon as you get your positive 😜, Good luck x

I don't have PCOS but do have some kind of ovulation disorder.

Our journey:
6 months TTC, only one period in that time so referred to gynaecology
Conceived, baby died at 11 weeks
{paid for private scan, hycosy, bloods}
Saw gynaecology 8 months after referral. They said "ovulation disorder", took no other steps
Had to TTC another year after loss before they would refer us to infertility/assisted conception
3 month wait to have initial appt and get semen analysis, were happy to use private assessments as the information (helps that it's the same clinicians!), started letrozole
2.5 years into TTC, another positive test (randomly, letrozole wasn't working for us)
Now 34wks pregnant

In terms of supplements, our NHS fertility clinic recommended inofolic acid from fertility family

Could this mean I’m close to ovulating?? Never had one this dark before. They’re usually really faint!

ignore my dodgy fake tan 🙈

Just stumbled across this thread..
I conceived DS after TTC for 8 months and only had 3 AF's in that time.
We are trying again for DC #2 but have been trying for 7 months with no luck and only 1 AF in that time, I went to the GP who took bloods and said all was fine with those so has referred me to Gynae but that was in October and i have heard nothing since.

I am convinced i have PCOS due to various sympotoms! Just ordered myo-inositol after reading all your comments so fingers crossed xx

@sl7uk i listened to this and it helped me as well a fab listen! ✨ x

@NLO94x persist with it, I just started my second month, they say 3 months for it to be working very well 🤞🏻🤞🏻

I stumbled across this podcast yesterday and I couldn't recommend it more for women ttc with PCOS who are having to go through treatment. It's so educational and will help you know what steps to take and what to ask your doctor at appointments. Recommend having a listen if you haven't! https://www.thefertilitypodcast.com/polycystic-ovary-syndrome-with-professor-adam-balen-podcast/

I have a GP appointment next week to discuss next steps as I'm still not getting periods, so can't even try at the moment :( Feel like the constant waiting at each step of the process is the hardest part

@rainbowssky so I’m not a pro but from my research I found
I need to reduce insulin resistance as much as possible / doing this by limiting sugar and carbs and dairy
(I don’t really know if I have it - to what degree, my bloods have always been totally normal, but none the less it won’t harm trying!)

i am reducing my high intensity workouts (that was easy change haha)
so I do walks, some light weights, quick spin sessions 3-4x a week.
I took my blood sugar for a week and it seems stable and fine! So not doing that anymore as I had enough to remember.

but insulin resistance and high stress can really ruin fertility with pcos I have seen online.
ive lost 7.5 lbs and I wish to lost 7lb more… 5-10% weight loss can help ovulation and egg quality.

im throwing it all in now because we are about to get to ivf stages… so to me this all is A LOT but I am prepared to make the sacrifices if I get what we’ve wanted for so long 💗💗

@NLO94x we've been ttc number 1 since 2005 so yeah I've tried every supplement and herb out there 😄 i took vitex years ago and it did somewhat help regulate them so they werent as irregular but then they stopped working ( my fertility coach told me that's common with that herb) shatavari helped me for a while aswell but now they are just out of control 1-2 a year and had a bout of amenorrhea for 1 1/2 years back in 2020.
I did try a few new different things around the time I fell pregnant so I don't know if it helped ( If i could remember the exact combination and dosages) or if the hsg test helped regulate them and promote ovulation ( they say it can stimulate the ovaries for a few months) could likely have been that.
I currently a list of vitamins as long as my arm 😆 and I take metformin aswell.
I lost 8 pounds over 2 weeks last month so I don't know if that's had anything to do with my cycles messing up and not ovulating or if my natural rhythm has messed up again

@lottieb92 can I please ask what your lifestyle and diet changes are?

Thanks for the thread op, we have been ttc 3 years and had 2 mmc's.

Yes vitamin D is a good staple regardless!

@NLO94x really hope you get as good results 🤞🏻 Fingers crossed for you!

@NLO94x i am taking a lot of vitamins with inositol some recommend by gynaecologist some just me wanting too haha

but for egg quality C0q10 and then also Vitamin d as they said almost 75% ladies with pcos have vitamin d deficiency!

but you’ll be totally fine with a pregnancy vitamin and inositol they say that it rarely has any effect/ interference with other vitamins and it’s very safe, you could always ask GP if you were unsure? Better to be safe than sorry so I can see why you’d wait 😊

when I looked into some other pregnancy multi vitamins I took previously they actually have inositol in… just in very low doses you need a fair bit more with pcos.
i have nothing but positive things to say about taking it so far, my skin is clearer, periods are lighter and my mood is better 👌🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻

Ah ok fair enough! I thought you were waiting for next cycle or something.

The ones I took contained folic acid, so no I just took the sachets morning and evening as instructed. Not sure what the ones you bought instruct, but should have guidance?

I'm sure it is a natural substance found in the cells and the one I had was of vegetable origin, so didn't see I could 'overdose' as such.

It's 4000mg of inositol per day, and 400mcg of folic acid with these x

My cycles were very long before I started the inositol. After taking them they were regular and I could feel the difference around ovulation. Why are you waiting to take the inositol @NLO94x ?