I Have PCOS And Can't Get Pregnant

[MyScene]

I'm 30 and I've been married for a year.

I was diagnosed with PCOS at 23. I am skinny so I have lean PCOS. I have irregular periods and acne.

I also keep peeing myself. I often have a sudden urge to urinate and then it happens before I get to the toilet or before I get to pull my trousers down to sit on the toilet. And I have recently read that that is also a PCOS symptom.

I went on the contraceptive pill to control my symptoms, and I came off the pill 3 months before I got married because we planned to start ttc as soon as we got married, and when comming of it, my symptoms returned.

I have been trying to get pregnant for a year with no luck, and I really want to get pregnant.

I don't want to adopt, adoption is not the same, and IVF is expensive.

I have read about things that can help you get pregnant with PCOS even if you are lean. I have read about what to eat and what to avoid, and all the foods it said to avoid are foods I love. I find eating healthy boring, when you are doing certain things anyway like going to or having a party, going out for dinner or having takeaway, going on holidays, going to the theatre or the cinema, watching a film at home etc.

Everyone else can get pregnant easily, family members, friends, everyone. Whenever a pregnancy is announced I go to a private room and cry as soon as it is announced.

Is anyone else in a similar situation or does anyone have any advice?

Have you seen a fertility specialist?

If it’s been a year see your GP - they’ll let you know your options

I have pcos and have always been petite and skinny. It’s why pcos was always glossed over until I really started to push it.
I was told the benefit of a diagnosis was that they would look at fertility options sooner than a standard couple.
In the end I got pregnant naturally around about a year in. It’s definitely possible, the reason it’s harder is because you have much less cycles and you also can’t predict the ovulation window and it’s easy to miss the right time.
Have you tracked your periods?
Mine were seemingly all over the place because they were always so long that I never really paid attention to them. During ttc I figured out every other cycle was more predictable so one would be about 2.5-4.5 months in length and then I between it would be 6/7 weeks so that cycle was easier to gauge when I might be ovulating (but nowhere near the same degree of accuracy as a normal person!).

You might only need medication to promote ovulation to help, it might not be as extreme as IVF plus you’ll be entitled to a certain number of IVF rounds depending on your trust.

Try progesterone. My partner has PCOS and we had trouble getting pregnant and we lost two :( Progesterone via a private consultation did the trick!

See your gp for a referral to gynaecology. You may be given medication to try, blood tests to see what's happening and scans.

While waiting, look into measuring your BBT. This way you can track your cycles and identify if/when you are ovulating.

I have pcos. To conceive my first child I had my ovaries drilled (via laparoscopy). For my second child, I tried lots of medication and had lots of scans etc but in the end the only option was ivf. This worked first time.

Stay positive, most women with pcos do end up conceiving but it will not be as easy. Good luck.

My colleague has PCOS and was able to have IVF on the NHS.

What tests have you had done so far?

The sudden urination makes me wonder if you are insulin resistant or T2 diabetic, that was one of the main symptoms that caused me to get tested, I felt like I had no control of it, by the time I knew I needed a wee it was almost too late. I was also getting up at least once a night.

There are medications that can help to improve fertility with PCOS, metformin can help to increase insulin sensitivity, Clomid may help you to ovulate.

There may be some dietary changes you can make that will help but it's generally not necessary to exclude any food groups so you can still eat the foods you enjoy but in more limited quantities.

The urine thing isn't a symptom of PCOS. Go to your GP about that and for a fertility referral. Good luck.

Same here. Tried for years, then as soon as we went to the doctor, were put forward for IVF. Depending on where you are in the UK, you can get up to 3 cycles of IVF on the NHS if you meet the conditions (PCOS ticked this box for me). While IVF was hard, I couldn't be more grateful as it gave us our lovely daughter. Best of luck, OP - PCOS is a right sod to negotiate.

Unusual these days for more than one cycle of IVF to be offered but with PCOS may only need clomiphene.

I have lean PCOS and conceived 7 times although had 4 losses. I know you find the dietary restrictions boring but even just a couple of little changes can help regulate your periods and get you ovulating regularly so you can track it. Switch to low GI carbs if going carb free is too much and definitely look into taking the supplement myo-inositol, this really helped with regulating me.

Also second pp to reach out to the GP for a referral to the fertility clinic to look at options such as clomid etc, if you’ve already been diagnosed hopefully they can refer you quickly and will also be able to do some preliminary blood tests to check your thyroid etc.

I hate the need to mention if your fat or slim when someone mentions they have PCOS.
not everyone who has PCOS is automatically overweight or obese although is more likely.
I have PCOS and I'm obese, I have regular periods, I can get pregnant - but they have all resulted in early losses - it's heart breaking and I feel like it will never happen.

You need to ask your GP for a referral to the fertility clinic. I didnt have to wait for a year due to the existing PCOS diagnosis. Many many women conceive with PCOS - myself included! You often don't need IVF - you can take either clomid or letrozole to induce ovulation and that usually does the trick. It's a course of tablets that you take during your period - it took 3 cycles for it to work for me and resulted in DD1.

In the meantime, make sure you are taking inositol, vit D and folic acid and trying to not go mad with carbs / sugar. You dont need to eat perfectly all the time if thats difficult for you - just everything in moderation. Your DH should take a male pre conception vitamin as well. If you are not having regular periods, you can also talk to your GP about whether taking metformin might help. In some PCOS sufferers, it can bring back ovulation - but in the meantime, definitely get some inositol from Holland and Barrett.

Ive never heard of the urine thing to do with PCOS. I'd ask the GP to refer you for that separately. I had that issue when my pelvic floor was knackered after DD1 was born and seeing a womens health physio sorted it all out.

They are generally different types of pcos though so it’s relevant. Often if you don’t have the typical visible symptoms of pcos which are weight gain, hair etc then you don’t have the hormone imbalance but if you have irregular periods and cysts diagnoses on an ultrasound then you still have pcos. It’s relevant information because the treatment approaches will be different.

I have PCOS (I’m a healthy weight so not sure if that makes it lean or not) and have had two babies with the assistance of Clomid - once on NHS, once funded privately. You need to see your GP for fertility tests - until you know what the issue is (it could be your partner - he will need a sperm check), you can’t treat it. It could be a really easy fix - I conceived first time when I first took clomid and then on my third cycle when I conceived my second child. Book a GP appointment and go from there. Good luck!

Haven't read all the comments but myo-innistol often comes up. For me it was a total game changer with PCOS. Regulated my cycle among other things and concieved easily. It's cheap and cheerful. There's a growing amount of research on it if you do a pub med search. But anecdotal evidence is quite large.

It may not be a solve all but it's not going to do any harm if not tried. Also seen several studies around its use in IVF showing improvement in egg quality. So worth a go.

Another mention for Inositol..Game changed for me pregnant 3 times using it (2 miscarriages) and 1 pregnancy without.
Do some research on it but it helped me and many others.