I Have PCOS and I'm Skinny

[KikiTheClown]

I have lean pcos, and I really want to have children. I'm 33 and I'm 4 and a half years married. I've read about pcos, and I've read that most people who have it are overweight or obese, and I've read that losing weight can help you conceive, and I've read that if you have lean pcos, there is nothing you can do to improve your infertility naturally. I'm not ttc at the moment, but I'll probably never be able to get pregnant. Thinking that I will never have children is making me not want to be married anymore.

I have two friends with pcos who are both very slim and have had children (one with the help of chlomid).

It's still very possible to have children. You just might need some help. Go and speak to your GP for some options and reassurance.

I'm a midwife and see SO many women with PCOS. Some need clomid to help, loads and loads conceive naturally

I have pcos, I was bigger (size 14) but lost 2 stone to TTC at 30 and conceived fine. I did go on on Yasmin for 6 months before to regulate my cycle though, I'd read at the time it was very useful to do this with pcos. I've since had dc2 at 35 and was a size 8 and no issues conceiving then either. I did need to take aspirin daily as had several early miscarriages in between. Low GI diet will help too even if you're not overweight it helps even out blood sugars.

Also slim with PCOS. There are ways you can help fertility naturally through diet and also various supplements etc. Refined carbohydrates and sugar are bad for PCOS for example, not just from a weight perspective.

IVF also works very well for women with PCOS - would this be an option? I have been pregnant 3 times, once through IVF and twice naturally.

Obviously harder with PCOS but lots and lots of women with it (overweight or not) get pregnant and have children ❤️

Are you currently on hormonal birth control?

If not, are you having periods regularly? That would be a good indication of whether you're ovulating.

PCOS does not mean that you can't have children, it may affect ovulation, it may make conception more difficult but not always.

I have insulin resistant PCOS which does affect my weight and while it took longer than I'd have liked, I was able to conceive without any medical intervention eventually.

Have you spoken to your GP at all? There are lots of options including clomid and letrozole, both of which are drugs that can induce ovulation (my first DD was conceived using letrozole). My PCOS is the insulin resistant type but i have a friend with lean PCOS and she has had two babies so please dont lose hope! A chat with your GP and starting the referral process to the fertility clinic would be a good place to start

I'm lean PCOS. I got pregnant 3 times no issues. 1 termination, 1 live birth, 1 early miscarriage (no further attempts to conceive)

My sister is lean PCOS. She got pregnant 3 times no issues. 1 termination, 2 live births (no further attempts to conceive)

Both my DSIS and I had terminations due to contraception. Both using the same type of pill properly, but STILL happened even with PCOS. So following that, we both opted for a coil as we no longer trusted the pill. And as you'll probably already understand yourself, when you have PCOS, finding the right pill that doesn't fuck your hormones up even more is a bloody nightmare!

Don't get yourself depressed. Loads and loads of women with PCOS conceive naturally. And even if they don't, medical science has come on in leaps and bounds when it comes to assisted conception.

*contraception FAILURE

I am a skinny PCOS-er. I did need clomid & metformin to conceive dc1 but dc2 was a completely natural (surprise) conception. It is very possible to get pg with PCOS.

I have PCOS, I guess it’s the lean kind as always been slim

I had trouble TTC but it turned out to be because I was hypothyroid. As soon as I was put on thyroxine I got pregnant (and got pg quickly with DC2) so clearly not the PCOS causing the issue. Apparently the two conditions often go together so do get your thyroid tested.

I was a slim size 8 with PCOS when I conceived my eldest on clomid.

DC2 arrived 14mths later conceived whilst exclusively BF and without my period ever returning.

don’t panic.

Yes you can, just can take longer! 4 years for me but naturally conceived. When I stopped stressing about it it happened

I have pcos and am slim. I've had 2 children. It took me a while to get pregnant with my 1st - a year we were just about to start investigating infertility when I fell pregnant. Second time around was much faster, my periods etc all became much more regular after first pregnancy.

@ProjectKettle do you mind me asking how you know you are the insulin resistant type please

When i was very first diagnosed around 10yrs ago? I was referred to the endocrinology dept at the hospital. Over the course of around 2 years, i had quite a few appointments in the outpatient clinic and they did loads of blood tests each time so they could track how everything was looking. Eventually, they advised I start taking metformin, which got my symptoms under control and i started having regular periods for the first time in years (still no ovulation though). Thats when one of the drs told me that it was the insulin resistant type.

The endo clinic referred me to fertility and i conceived DD1 using letrozole. When we were preparing ttc for DC2, i went back onto metformin, plus a diabetic friendly diet and we actually ended up conceiving DC2 naturally whilst waiting to sort out another letrozole prescription.

@ProjectKettle thank you. Again if it's not too intrusive why did you get two years hospital testament. I only ask because usually treatment and help is poor.

I was diagnosed with PCOS while pregnant!

Got pregnant twice on first try. Like you I've not struggled with my weight so was surprised by the diagnosis, although I do have v short cycles.

I have no idea!! I have heard exactly the same as you from so many other people who have basically just been fobbed off with the pill by their GP. I had had irregular periods for the 10years prior to my referral, which had mostly been ignored so it was by no way a quick fix. But one time I happened to see a locum GP at my surgery and she organised the referral. Plus I lived in central-ish london at the time and it was a big london teaching hospital, so maybe that had something to do with it?

I'm not ttc at the moment, but I'll probably never be able to get pregnant. Thinking that I will never have children is making me not want to be married anymore.

Could you explain what you mean by this? Is your DH telling you he doesn't want to have children yet?

I'm a slim PCOS-er. I was worried about TTC when I was in my late 20s and engaged to DH. In the event I conceived at age 30 after only 4 months of trying. It took slightly longer, 6 months, with DS2 a couple of years later. I tracked my body temperature, used ovulation kits etc etc and it became apparent that I perhaps didn't ovulate EVERY cycle, and when I did some of the time was not quite at the expected time of the month.

If you want to have children then I wouldn't leave it too much longer TBH. You are lucky in that you already know it might be a bit more difficult to conceive, but the thing is, it IS possible to. So you just need to crack on.

It's absolutely possibly to get pregnant with PCOS sometimes without intervention, sometimes with minimally invasive intervention (clomid etc) and sometimes with IVF

However your last sentence reads like you are having issues with your marriage? It might be that I'm reading it wrong. But if you were staying to get pregnant that's not a good relationship to bring children into and should be your primary concern

I have pcos - wasn't overweight but very irregular, infrequent periods. I got pregnant on my second attempt with clomid, totally trouble free pregnancy. She's a lovely 25yo now.

Don't despair, OP, get some proper medical advice rather than reading stuff which may or may not be applicable to you.

It sounds like you are describing what is known as “Lean PCOS” - PCOS is still poorly understood and has a number of possible symptoms but you don’t have to have all of them to have PCOS. For example, you can be slim, have no acne, no cysts, little excess hair and still have PCOS - you can simply have irregular periods and hormones that are out of range and be considered to suffer from PCOS. I would recommend pushing your GP for a referral for to an endocrinologist who can look into your hormones and help you. I am 39 and have lean non-cystic pcos. Turns out that I am insulin resistant (though not diabetic). We were TTC for almost 6 months before we got pregnant - Once my endocrinologist put me on metformin for the insulin resistance, I was pregnant within a month (our first child is due this week!) Weight loss is not the only answer for all those TTC with pcos - push your GP for that referral!