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

I should say, I'm visually impaired so apologies if I miss / confuse details. Promise my heart is in it, even if my eyes aren't

My empathy with the sexiness of TTC sex. There is absolutely nothing less arousing than considering if you should put a pillow under your pelvis after sex, and wondering how long you should refain from going for a wee

You all sound so knowledgeable about what's going on with your condition, I really am in awe.

Elle - sorry for AF, do hope she sods ogg soon :-(

Nurse - do hope you're feeling better.

Village - you can have PCO without the syndrome, and equally have PCOS without PCO! It's a strange business. Congratulations on your weight loss.

Banana - that's fantastic re egg collection! What a brilliant number to be working with. Best of luck for you. Also I don't know what pain killers you're currently on but have been told low doses of amitryptaline are safe to continue in pregnancy, if that's any use to you.

Chandelier - fingers and toes crossed for you!! Hope the nausea isn't too awful.

I'm seeing gyne Wednesday. They're over stretched so I've been out sourced to the local private hospital. I got an information pack from them the other day detailing which tests are going to be done on the day! Part of me wonders if that info is just included automatically, and part of me really hopes they pod and poke the hell out of me and I get some answers!

Have just landed on the west coast of the U.S. where I'm working this week. Got an upgrade to first class and then upgraded at hotel to a suite, so I've been lucky in some respects this week!

Consultant got back to me whilst I was flying. He thinks the mega dose of clomid I took (5 days x 100mg + 5 days x 150mg in the same cycle) probably zapped my lining which is why the bleeding is so light. I just took another frer when I woke up after snoozing on the plane and no line so I have just done my first injection! I think I might have messed it up but we'll see

So, on we go!

Nurse - my tubes are clear, I've had the hycosy already.

Yay! exciting Stealth

I have exciting news too..... AF IS HERE!!! only 5 days late, the bitch! Stimming starts on Thursday!

Hello! Just been trying to catch up! Thanks to all who gave advice.

I think I'm having another 'funny' month. Usually I'll see fertile cm from around cd12 which continues until ov (on average somewhere around cd21 for me) or I'll get sporadic patches of it if ov is very late. This month, I'm now cd16 and haven't seen anything at all. Might be a bit dehydrated tho after a busy weekend so I'm not sure whether this might affect vag lube!

Has anyone on here used a saliva microscope? And if so, is it affected by pcos? I started using one last month. Not sure if I'm doing it right yet. I used it a couple of times at the weekend and saw partial ferning but yesterday the ferning had vanished! . Might have to poaopk today instead to see if I get any sign of impending ov!

However......I'm hoping ov (if it is anywhere near) will at least hold out until Friday as I'm on clashing shifts with DP for the next few days which means zero chance of dtd unless he wakes up at midnight when I get home he won't

Still trying to get to know you all so bear with me- sorry for the lack of individual replies!

Yay rose! Glad the witch is finally here. We have been quite the pair this month!!

Hurrah for AF rose - let's get this show on the road!

stealth congrats on your first jab - you'll be a Gonal-F pro soon! When is your next scan?

chandelier wow wow wow little prawn! So? So thrilled for you. Hope you're not feeling too rough

Will reply properly soon - on phone so hard to do personals - but just checking in with a quick update:

Had the scariest phone call of my life this morning

We have 16 embryos!!!!!

Of the 6 frozen eggs, 4 fertilised.

Of the 17 eggs retrieved yesterday, ALL were mature.

3 didn't fertilise and 2 fertilised abnormally, so we got 12 embryos from that lot.

OMFG 16 embryos!!!!!

Not bad for someone who the NHS would have written off and many clinics would have said own eggs were a lost cause and to go straight to donor egg...!!

I couldn't feel anything going in when I injected, and there was a weird little bit of fluid when I took the needle out, so I may have messed it up Will try again tonight - might leave it in the fridge so I can feel the drugs going in! First scan is Monday.

Banana that is amazing news!!

Thanks ladies!

Stealth that's totally normal

You literally can't feel it at 150iu. I couldn't at all. I could only feel it at 450iu and even then only when I hadn't taken it out of the fridge for long. I also always got a drop at the end. So I think it sounds like you did it perfectly!

16 embryos is utterly incredible Banana! Looking forward to your day 3 report xxx

As for me- Flights booked, accommodation booked, supply teacher booked...... We have a plan!

Now lets just hope my f*ing ovaries don't fail me

Fistpump for Banana that's amazing news! And so well deserved. What's next?

Stealth I'm sorry it was a BFN. What happens after your injection, do you get a scan?

Nurse have they suggested why you might be having such long cycles? Feel free to ignore me, I'm a bit obsessed with other people who don't have periods either - they keep flailing between telling me it was because I was underweight or because of PCOS, so it is nice to hear about what other docs say to other ppl!

Voldys I now always go expecting a full exam, after I got caught out a few times. Let us know how it goes. And yes, the moments after TTC sex are hilarious - DH has taken to sweetly making sure I'm warm and giving me his iPad so I can watch crap he disapproves of while I lie there with my hips raised.

Dizzy saliva microscope - what's that?! buries head in sand to avoid buying another bit of TTC kit

Rose good luck for Thursday!

Chandelier please keep popping back, you give me hope.

AFM, just plodding on. Felt a pain on the inside of my hip all day yesterday, but that would only be CD10 so seems to early to ov on clomid? Ladies who oved on clomid, do you know what cycle day, and what did it feel like? We'll DTD anyway, it is as automatic as tooth brushing now.

Wow lots of amazing news whilst I have had a busy few days.

Congrats to everyone with good news!

AFM I started talking the contraceptive pill (which I agree sounded ridiculous) and had loads of bad side effects so stopped after a week. Have a Hycosy booked in for next Friday.

Just wondering will I be ok to go straight back to work? Bearing in mind I am a teacher and will be on my feet all day.

dunlin i had a bad reaction to the dye in the hycosy and couldn't have gone back to work that day - if you can, i'd take the day off

oranges i was the worst clomid responder ever (oved on day 30-something) so can't help you there i'm afraid. i'll have my first scan on gonal f on monday - so will be day 7 of injections. i said to banana elsewhere that i bet i'll either (a) have gone off like a rocket and be hopelessly overstimulated or (b) had absolutely no response whatsoever. Such is how my body seems to work!

also, you make a very good point - WHAT IS A SALIVA MICROSCOPE?? what is ferning??! i must know!

banana that reassures me a little. i actually jabbed the needle in twice as i was sure the fluid was meant to go inside me, i'm sure that's terribly unhygienic! I forget that the IUI dose for gonal f is actually quite small compared to what you take for IVF

Rosebud, sending you and your bloody contrary ovaries all the good vibes possible xx

Dunlin I have a high pain threshold and I found the procedure itself and the rest of that day quite uncomfortable. I am also a teacher and defo wouldn't have been able to go back to work that day. I was fine by the next day though.

Oranges I ov'ed on CD22 on 150mg clomid. But I only took 4 of the 5 days of tablets due to severe visual disturbances so I am probably a freak unusual.

Thanks rosebud it's my ppa in the afternoon anyway so will just ask if I can work at home that day. Not looking forward to it. Do they give you the results there and then?

Dunlin Yes mine did but only briefly. Although when I originally made the HyCoSy appointment I also had to make a consultants appointment which I assume is to talk through results in detail and discuss next steps. I haven't had that follow up appointment yet though.

Hi oranges - my GP has put this down to pcos and the lack of ovulation, no ovulation, no period. However, this puts you at a higher risk of endometrial ca and some other nasty things so I hope to get my periods regulated soon. When I was 16 I had no period for 9 months but this was written off as exam stress

Rosebud - so excited for you!!! Hope all goes to plan this time round!!

Dunlin - I have no answers as I've not had this done I just wanted to say good luck :D

Chandelier I must have missed your initial post - massive congratulation!! So pleased for you.

Banana - hope those eggs are behaving themselves and having a massive Petri dish party!!

banana that's amazing news! Surely that gives you pretty high odds of a bfp?

oranges lol I don't think many people know about saliva microscopes! It's an alternative to using an opk. it's a tiny microscope and you put some saliva on the slide and let it dry. As it dries, if you have oestrogen present (which apparently increases close to ov) crystals, or 'ferns' (because they resemble the plant), will form. I'm giving it a go as I find opks can be difficult to decipher, I rarely get a true positive! It's similar to using an opk though in that it won't confirm ov, only that your oestrogen is elevated, and unlike LH which suddenly drops, oestrogen sticks around for a few days after ov which means you carry on ferning, and will also see ferns during peaks at other times of the month. If you google saliva microscope there's a load of info on the subject if you're interested in giving it a go! . Someone on bumsnet got a bfp using this method!!

stealth I know nothing about self medicating but as long as the drugs have gone in then I'm sure all is well! I can't imagine injecting myself though, does it not weird you out?!

I hope you ladies don't mind me posting here? I just realised that I'm going on about when ov might make its appearance when a few of you don't ov at all....I hope I'm not offending anyone....

Of course not Dizzy- we are all at different stages with different issues but ultimately we are all struggling and need support and that's all that matters. x

Voldy Are you in the stats already under a different name? If not, give me your stats and I'll add you

Not at all dizzy - I certainly am not annoyed by it in the slightest!

Sod's law / my private gynae appointment is tomorrow and I've just had some spotting, chances of af appearing out of the blue are seeming oddly high. My uterus has the worst timing EVER!

Hi everyone!! The wanderer has returned! It's been a while since I've been on here and it looks like I've missed a lot! Got a free afternoon so I'm going to read through the thread and catch up. Hope everyone is ok.

I just checked the stats quickly to see where everyone is up to before going through the thread. Think I have about 2 months worth to get through! So I'll update first and then you have it for stats Rosebud

I'm now 29, still ttc 1. I had been losing weight to lower my BMI to 30 so I could start Clomid. I'm very happy to report that I did it! I've just finished my first round of 50mg Clomid, taken days 2-6. Last tablet was yesterday (I'm CD7) so will be starting OPK's and DTD eod in a few days time. I was hoping to have scans to check follies but for the first cycle at least, I'm just getting day 21 prog bloods. I have another appointment mid February to see how the first round has gone, but she has prescribed 3 months worth. I know it's taken forever already, but I'm still keen to crack on, so have bought Conceive Plus in case the Clomid causes lack of CM as I've heard it does, stack of OPK's ready to go, and I'll be temping as usual. I know it might not work, but I'm keeping cautiously optimistic as at least it feels like something is actually being done!!

What stats do you need Rose? :)

Hysteroscopy (or however it's spelt!) went okay. My insides aren't happy this evening but glad it's done. Good news is my womb and tubes are apparently in perfect condition, lining looks great, openings fab, cervix healthy. Bad news is this means I'm on my own. Whilst being very nice (and she really was!) she effectively told me I either need to have another mc or have 18 with no conception (since last mc) before anything will be done. She said fertility team will refuse to see me, so no point referring, but did give me the details for the local specialist as well as putting them in the letter to the GP for if the situation arises. Can half understand, but still frustrating.

I'm dealing with this by eating chocolate by ordering some conception friendly lube and 15 pregnancy tests from Amazon

Hope you've all had a good day.

Afternoon all, sorry for lack of posts it is difficult to get here I don't have a good enough internet signal at home so have to use work's computer!

So lots of good news with people moving forward...

Banana so pleased about your egg collection I don't really understand IVF, I haven't really looked into yet, I am not as far down this road. But from the tone of your post it sounds like it was a bloody good result and so very much worth the long wait to get here. I hope all goes to plan from here as well xx

Voldy glad your thingy went okay, at least you know there is no issue there...I know what you mean though sometimes you wish they would find something at least you know what is wrong then and can do something about fixing it!

Stealth well done on the 1st injection, I am not sure if I could do that! In awe of you..

Mrs C how is the Clomid going, based on my last chat with my consultant it is looking like I will be on it soon!

Rose so happy that all is moving for you now good luck!

Dizzy welcome, love your user name.

So AF arrived at the weekend, on CD26, 2 days early! It really messed with my mind, I really felt good this time, I really thought I would see a BFP this month. We gave it everything we had! I was in total denial when AF came, I even POAS on what should have been CD28 just to check....WTF is that all about, if anybody knew they would think I was just mad and losing my mind...I have now received my appointment for my lap and dye, it is all booked for the 10/02, if all is well with that then the next step is clomid apparently, although if I have started ovulating again naturally why would they prescribe me with something to help me ovulate??? All the best x

Hi everyone,

Had my private gynae appointment this afternoon which confirmed severe PCOS and no ovulation from I stopped my pill last july so she has started me on metformin from today and has booked us in for SA, Dye test to check tubes are clear and laparoscopy with ovarian drilling. She is going to review me again in 3 months. She said that although the dye test and laparoscopy are not necessary at the moment the list for these on the NHS is 1 year so she would rather book them now and cancel them than wait a year and decide we need them. She offered me clomid but I am not dying to get pregnant and at the age of 26 have plenty of time left so my husband and I had decided I would try meformin and see if it helps things before going down any sort of fertility treatment route. Happy with the outcome of today and totally worth every penny - when she reviews me in 3 months I still wouldnt have been seen on an NHS list!!

Dietician this morning was totally fab also - her backround was PCOS clinic in the RVH in belfast and she was really informative. She basically said keep doing what i'm doing and do as much exercise as possible. She will also review me in 3 months. Good day all round. Husband was not expecting to have to do an SA but is actually surprisingly okay with it, hes even joking about it!! We should get an appointment for it in around 3 months also.

Elle - Sorry about AF arriving, onwards and upwards