TTC with PCOS (Thread #3)

[RoseBud2015]

If you have been diagnosed with PCOS and would like a small group of very friendly ladies in the same position as you to talk to, then this is the thread for you!

You can find our first thread >>>>>>>> HERE

You can find our second thread >>>>>>>>> HERE

You can find the stats >>>>>HERE

Village I think anything below 10 day LP is seen as a defect but I'm almost certain that 11 days is fine! Mine is 13 days (in the only 2 months I have ov'ed) On one of the occasions I ov'ed on CD9 and AF started on CD22!!! Maybe see the positive side..... it indicates that you prob did ov this month which is exciting news!!!

When did you DTD? x

Stealthbanana and Rosebud I was told that they don't like giving the scan unless they are certain you are not pregnant. They like you to go after a period if that is correct? He wanted to put me on the pill to make that a guarantee so it would not delay the test. Confused by this myself!! What is the hycosy like? Very nervous about it. How long did you have to wait for your scan stealthbanana?

Thanks ladies. Am so excited to be ovulating, it's ridiculous!

Dunlin are you saying that instead of waiting to get your period and then do the scan, your doctor is suggesting you go on the pill now for some period of time and then have it done? how long is your cycle? I've never heard of a doctor not waiting until the start of a new cycle to do it. I had to wait around 3 weeks I think (although I did it privately so for me it was just waiting for AF that took the time rather than anything on the hospital side).

I have one period a year (tends to be in August) so he is basically inducing a period but at the same time ensuring I don't get pregnant.

Oh I see. Is there a reason you wouldn't just take provera and not have unprotected sex for 5-10 days or so? It seems overkill to go on the pill just for a scan!

I completely agree stealthbanana. I didn't want to argue with him but not very happy about it! He did mention about the pill often reducing other symptoms of PCOS but obviously for the short amount of time I will be taking them I can't see what affect it will have!

Rosebud Well the run up to Christmas got in to the way this month, I was so busy. We DTD on 22nd, 27th and 28th. It clearly wasn't enough.

Does it show I probably ov'd do you think? I know the clear blue machine is telling me I am, but I don't trust it because i'm not conceiving! My cycle is varying quite a bit now, it was between 35 and 42 days a year ago, now it's between 27 and 35.

It's just thrown me because in October I ov'd on 21st October but didn't start my period until 7th Nov, so does that make my luteal phase 17 days?! I'm confused. I thought luteal phase was practically the same every month?

Actually, I say I ov'd on 21st of October, I actually got a peak on my machine on 21st October, but it says you will ovulate 24-36 hours after that. Could I have ov'd on 24th Oct and them my LP would have been 14 days?

Dunlin, I was in a similar situation to you before having my HSG to check my tubes last year. Rather than induce a bleed or go on the pill, I just did a home pregnancy test the morning of the HSG and explained it was negative and that I hadn't had unprotected sex for a couple of weeks (I was post-op for removal of an ovarian cyst). That was enough to convince them to go ahead.
Villagefete, unfortunately I've not used Clearblue and have very little experience/ knowledge of when the ovulation peak would be. Good luck though - hope you can figure out if you're ovulating!
Stealth, yay that you got the great progesterone result news before the weekend!
Bananafish, so great that you didn't miss the two day window. I think I might end up being on the pill for 4-5 weeks before stimming in late Feb, so will look out for something similar myself. Hope your shots (and pints of milk!) have been ok.
Rosebud, you must be close to starting your meds (one set of them!) now - super exciting!
As for me, I won't be sure about timing for a couple of weeks but currently think I'll get started with injections at the end of February. In the meantime, I have a baby shower tomorrow. Hope I can stay light and breezy (I am indeed very happy for my friend) and not be the depressed/depressive barren in the corner.

Hope the baby shower went well fee

Dunlin would you be able to just do what fee is suggesting and do a hpt prior to the hycosy? Seems a lot less hassle. I found it so ironic how concerned the doctors are with you being pregnant when (at least for me) the whole reason I was having it was because I couldn't get pregnant!

Oh and afm I am obviously doing forensic analysis on when it is I might have ovulated. Follie was 26mm on Thursday (NYE) and doctor thought ov would happen Thursday or Friday, but the pic is an opk I took on Saturday morning and it looks positive (or almost positive) to me so am thinking it was sat night/Sunday morning? But then my progesterone was at 51 on Thursday which seems high if I am potentially only 5 or 6 dpo....any bright ideas yes I know this doesn't matter AT ALL?

Evening everyone and welcome new people. I'm a very patchy poster, mainly because my body generally refuses to do anything normal or useful, so I have little to post about and little to advise about!

Congrats on all the BFPs! About time we had some luck, this thread has been lacking up til now.

Banana and Rose I'm so glad things are finally moving forwards.

Stealth I was told that if it is a clomid cycle, OPKs are pretty meaningless. Tbh it sounds like you DTD enough to catch them whichever date it was! What date can you test?

Dunlin like the others we just used contraception for 2 weeks then took a HPT.

AFM, my second cycle of 50mg was a total failure (progesterone levels of 0.7 and 0.8 on days 21 and 28). Then the docs finally listened to my panic about a lack of periods since Oct 14, and because I have failed to bleed twice on provera, they gave me norethisterone 15mg a day for 10 days to try and induce a bleed. Norethisterone is the devil's work - the side effects were worse than clomid. It messes with your blood sugar and body temperature, so I had insomnia and I was waking every two hours either with night sweats or starving hungry. But it worked!! 4 days after finishing taking it, I had a day of a light period-like bleed. Which means that tonight I can start cycle 3 of clomid 100mg.

I have found opk's to be spawn of the devil for me, I assume this is because of the pcos! Even the fancy (read: expensive) clear blue monitor hasn't a clue what's going on with my LH!! Hopefully stealth this means good things though!!

Ps, what does everyone think of the ovia app? I haven't had a positive opk this cycle yet (on day 70 something so not hopeful!!) but it's randomly saying this is my fertile period, I've entered basal temps for yesterday and today but been tracking symptoms for about a month! Very random

Welcome back oranges. My body is also both stubborn and unpredictable - it's maddening! Fx that this round of clomid does something.

Nurse, the ovia app seems pretty pointless to me if you have irregular cycles. I use it just as a repository for dates (AFs, the odd opk etc) and it spends more time giving me question marks than predictions. I really wouldn't set too much store by it. Plus once you are into clomid etc and having blood tests and scans there is nothing ovia can really add to that.

I don't often use opks as I have never had a positive previously (as wasn't ovulating!) and then as per above once you're being scanned it doesn't really matter. Only did a couple this month as I knew I was potentially about to ovulate and wouldn't have a follow up scan because of travelling. So am not necessarily discounting it. Oranges my dr said clomid would interfere with opks for 3-4 days after finishing the pills - I didn't use them until 11 days after stopping clomid so should be fine. I definitely got a spike! Hmmm I don't know.

Do positive opk's this late on not sometimes mean pregnancy though stealth? Not sure if that is true, pretty sure I seen it on YouTube or something!

Afternoon all, hope your weekends were good.

nurse I have read something about that as well, some people doe use opk's as a way of detecting pregnancy! i can't remember where I read that though!

Hi everyone, hope you're all well.

Decided to order some OPK's and give them a go. Also booked Dr appointment for three weeks time, so going to discuss lack of AF with them and ask for more tests this time.

That's all for me.

Hi ladies,

Going to try the sperm meets egg plan this month, alongside the clearblue advanced fertility monitor, so providing I ovulate I should hopefully have a decent enough chance.

I'm worried about my egg quality though. How would I know that they are healthy enough to be fertilised? I has bloods done at hospital, they told me I had a lot of eggs, they never mentioned them not being healthy. Would they know through this blood test? Think it was called amh test or something?

Hi ladies,

I hope everyone is OK in general besides feeling the ups and downs of your PCOS battles I read this today and thought of you xx I thought some of the tips were very helpful and a good reminder. I increased my intake of leafy vegetables, nuts and avocado and it did help me loose weight!!

How Diet and Lifestyle Changes can help with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome

Foods to Avoid

Milk leads to an increase in testosterone levels. These levels are prone to being high in a patient suffering from PCOS. So diary products will make the problem and symptoms worse.

Avoid Bad Fats
Ensure you avoid bad fats such as saturated, hydrogenated and transfats as these fats increase oestrogen production, which can stop absorption of some essential nutrients. These fats are found in red meat and diary.

Foods to Eat for POCS

Increase your intake of Green Leafy Vegetables as they are rich in potassium, iron, magnesium and calcium. They also contain many of the B vitamins, Vitamin K, E and C. B Vitamins particularly play a big role in helping to manage the symptoms of PCOS. They help to balance hormones and help with the thyroid gland function. They also manage the sugar and fat metabolism within the body.

Healthy Fats

Ensure you add healthy fats into your diet such as oily fish, nuts and seeds, olive oil and avocado as these foods are excellent for weight management, hormonal balance and fertility.

Life Style Changes

It is also important to keep active but also to quieten the mind. Ensure that your manage stress in your life, exercise regularly, meditate for at least 15 minutes a day or join a meditation class, share you worries and concerns with family and friends. Visit a homeopath to help with your emotions, mental state and PCOS symptoms.

Village there is no test for egg quality - AMH tests for quantity (ovarian reserves) but the best test for egg quality is age

At 35 about 40-50% of our eggs are chromosomally normal, by 40 it's more like 15% (off the top of my head)

That said I am on a shitload of supplements for egg quality - can recommend the book 'it starts with the egg'

Inositol is one of the top ones for PCOS. Coq10 is the other big one - the book explains it really well.

Don't let any Dr tell you FSH or AMH tells you anything about egg quality - it doesn't. They just tell you how many eggs are left

So for me, my FSH and AMH are appalling, so I have very poor quantity ie very diminished reserves. My consultant said my chances for IVF were still decent because even if we could only get a few eggs, the chances of there being a decent one in there were much greater than if I were 5 years older - and that it's quality that counts (and they it only takes one!)

Thanks for that banana well i'm just about to turn 31, so hoping the majority of them are still viable. Recently finished 3 months worth of acupuncture, found it uncomfortable, didn't help me conceive, but the acupuncturist reckons that it will ensure my eggs are good quality... We shall see, if I ever bloody conceive!

pear That was an interesting read, thank you. Will take that on board.

Elle/Nurse, I read the same about the OPK being able to detect a pgcy. I got very excited when AF was late and I got a strong +ve OPK (but had a -ve HPT) and a day later, AF arrived Turns out that I get high levels of LH (what the OPK measures for) before AF arrives!

Evening all! My goodness it's cold outside.

I just came back from my doctor. He was very happy with my ov and said the progesterone level was very high. He asked me if I felt any different...and I had to say no. No symptoms at all!

Anyway, he has recommended that I move onto injections next round notwithstanding that clomid kicked me into action this time. His reasoning is that the clomid is a bit unreliable for me, and also that he would need to give me such a high dose that it might thin my lining further and I can't afford to lose anymore (was only 6.8mm when I was scanned this time round). So I have a box of gonal f sitting in my fridge; I'll be on 75IU. We're also going to do an IUI to see whether DHs morphology holds up or not. So I have a good plan for next time!

As for this round, I asked him when he thought I oved and he thought the opk was probably accurate and it was Saturday or Sunday. He thought the other doctor maybe mismeasured the follie as he thought 26mm was a bit bigger than the scan pic he was looking at. So I guess I'm either 8 or 9 dpo now. Have to say I'm not holding out much hope! At least I'll get a period soon as I know I oved!

Village I would definitely ask your GP for blood tests to see if you are actually ov'ing. It will put your mind at rest and will allow you to time DTD better if you know that the opks are accurate for you.

Fee How did the baby shower go? I hope it wasn't too upsetting! I'm not sure I could go to one at the moment so I truly admire your strength for going!

Oranges Good to 'see' you stranger! How are you finding the 100mg clomid so far? I didn't find it too bad- just annoying night sweats and headaches, but 150mg was a whole other story!

Nurse I was the same! opks never worked properly for me! Grrr!!! I didn't like Ovia as it was never accurate for me. But Fertility Friend is great- always spot on for me..... and my cycles are completely all over the place! You can input "symptoms" etc too and it takes these into account alongside all of your other data. I love it!

Stealth Hopefully there wioll be no need for your plan! Fingers are tightly crossed for you!!!!

I think banana may have some news for us! I wont steal her thunder- but lets just say her follicle scan went well

AFM- Provera was finished at the weekend and AF is due on Thurs but i feel it brewing now so I think it might come early. I feel ready to start stimming now so looking forward to it getting here so I can get going