Trying to conceive first child with PCO/PCOS or irregular long cycles

[Catconfusion]

Hi there,

I'm currently on my 3rd cycle ttc my first child and I suffer with irregular cycles due to PCO. I conceived first cycle but it was a missed miscarriage at 10 weeks. My second cycle was a chemical pregnancy. I'm now on my 3rd and it's day 34 with no ovulation yet. I'm using Ovusense to temp which helps to show when I've ovulated. I can't help but worry it was a fluke to fall quickly like I did. Just wondering if there's anyone else in a similar situation struggling with long cycles as I'm finding it really frustrating. Looking forward to chatting to some of you! x

Hi @Diamond94 you are welcome to join. I’m quite lucky with my pco in that I’ve always had irregular periods and when younger cysts on ultrasounds but nothing else. All my hormone tests have come back normal which is probably why I’ve not had other symptoms. My problem seems isolated to ovulatory rather than a systematic problem with my hormones causing it. I’ve fallen pregnant relatively easier despite it being difficult to pinpoint ovulation. The baffling thing over the years for me has been what the cause is since bloods are always normal.

Are you struggling with other symptoms? x

@catconfusion hey 👋🏼
I seem to be a bit of a bizarre case! I stopped the mini pill end of october, had a withdrawal bleed 4 weeks later.. then middle of December had a BFP! Which turned to negative.. assumed a chemical pregnancy but i have had no bleed since then and i am now CD74!.. had my bloods done 2 weeks ago, and to have them redone on Thursday! I was interested to see other ladies symptoms on PCOS as my GP thinks i may have it, though i have really clear skin, really thick fair hair, no dark hair anywhere, so other than irregular cycles i dont have any other symptoms? Strange.. 🤔

@Diamond94 I’m sorry to hear about your loss. I know mc can mess up your cycles. Do you have a history of irregular periods before the mini pill? I would say it’s not unheard of to literally just have the irregular cycles and sometimes cysts on the ovaries on ultrasound. If your hormone levels are normal then you probably won’t have other symptoms. Pcos can be difficult to diagnose. It’s likely it’s not the full syndrome in your case depending on what the blood tests show. If you’re trying to conceive I’d ask for a fertility referral so you can get some support. I’m sorry you’re going through such a frustrating time! x

@Catconfusion i have been on the pill for 9 years.. but I briefly remember them being irregular.. i asked my GP on the phone if my bloods were off but she said no! So will see what next week brings at our face to face appointment!

@Diamond94 it all depends when the bloods were taken. The bloods just after a period will look at FSH. This is usually raised if you have pcos. The bloods done later in the cycle look at progesterone. It raised this means you ovulated. Sometimes ladies with pcos don’t ovulate so the rise in progesterone doesn’t happen and a very long cycle continues. Honestly it’s a good sign if bloods are looking normal. It might just be your body settling after being on the pill for so long. Good the doctor is doing all the necessary tests. x

@Catconfusion I'm sure we will muddle through with the arthritis thing. We muddle through everything else life throws at us so that isn't any different.

I'm really confused!
I keep having EWCM but Opk's still not shown positive. I had a dark negative on sunday but still no positive and no sustained temp rises.

Yesterday and today I have had the biggest amount of EWCM I have ever seen but still faint opks.

This is my chart.. the last 3 days have been my most settled temps the whole cycle.
I put a positive opk just to remind me where the dark negative was.

Okay, tonight I have taken two opks and they have both been positive!

I have never seen it so blatantly positive! I can't believe it!

I really hope my body doesn't fail at ovulating! 🤞🏻
If I ovulate in the next couple of days or so it would be around 12-14 days after the random spotting I had so maybe that was a weird extra light period?

Isn't that what you said you had @Catconfusion?

Wow @EssJayyCee that looks really promising. You may get a dip before a rise but it’s looking like you’re fertile. Yes I did get a weird light bleed the cycle before we conceived. Get that bd in and hopefully fingers crossed this is it! xx

I really hope so @Catconfusion! My temp went up 0.3 this morning not sure if it will dip on ovulation day or just shoot up the day after. But I have everything crossed my body succeeds at this ovulation and hope we have BD enough to catch it! DP had been in alot of pain so not sure every day is doable.

Do you find the cold weather affects the pain from your arthritis? Xx

That's a good sign @EssJayyCee Mine didn't always dip. Sometimes it wen up and then up again. Fingers crossed for you.

Yes the weather definitely affects my hips. If its damp I tend to be more achey. I find a nice hot bath helps with it. Also it helps with morale. It used to get me down if it was wet out and I had a bad day with my hips. I'm so used to it now it doesn't affect me as much. I am in quite a lot of pain at the moment. My left hip is definitely less mobile. I just do my physio exercises and that tends to loosen things up. xx

@Catconfusion Sorry I meant 0.03 yesterday.
It's gone up 0.3 today 🤞🏻 Hopefully that meant ovulation yesterday. I just hope BD was done at the right time and my temp stays up and it wasn't all a failed attempt!

DP never seems to get better with his hips he seems to be in pain nearly every day. Do you take any pain relief/supplements that actually seem to have a good effect?

🤞🏻🤞🏻

@EssJayyCee yay that’s looking great. You timed bd perfectly too. Now relax and see what happens. Hopefully this is it!

I used to double up paracetamol and ibuprofen if I had a bad day. There are other stronger anti inflammatory meds he could try from the doctor. I’ve not taken anything in pregnancy just in case it affects the baby. Xx

My best friend (who is pcos sufferer) finally plucked up the courage to go to the doctors today after trying to conceive for 3 years. She fell pregnant a couple of years ago but MC very early. The doctor has said due to her husband already having had a child in a previous relationship, there is nothing they can do or prescribe her and will have to go private and she is devastated.

Has anyone else been in or is in a similar situation because I haven’t and I want to support her the best I can emotionally x

Hopefully things can go right this time @Catconfusion! I'd do anything to join yours @Avocuddles and my sisters journey!

I have a strong feeling it won't happen for us but maybe that is just a natural feeling for someone in my situation and in the 2ww.

@Chicken123 I don't think that is right what the doctor has said.

Someone I know is in a similar situation. She was going through all of the motions and tests and her next step was medication but it turned out it was her partners fault they were unable to conceive. So she didn't actually need the medication.
He also has his own child but they were still going to get help if it was her fault.

The only thing they aren't entitled to is IVF on the NHS.

I'd advise your friend to get a second opinion. Everyone deserves the right to have a baby. If it is purely her pcos that is causing the issue of being unable to conceive their are things that can be done.

@Chicken123 I would tell her to find out the policy for fertility referrals in your area. It can vary and I know previous children are sometimes taken into account. However your friend should still be able to have treatment for her pcos as she wants to fall pregnant. Once she knows what the policy is in her ccg she should go back and ask for a referral. It’s might not be able to have ivf but there’s so much else they could do. X

@EssJayyCee there’s no reason why you won’t follow a similar path to us. It’s completely normal to feel like it won’t work in the 2ww. I was convinced I wasn’t pregnant when I took the test this time round. You just never know. Keep busy and stay as chilled out as you can! xx

@Catconfusion @EssJayyCee
Thank you both for your replies!
She’s been so upset and deflated this afternoon because of the results of the appointment.
She has now booked in an consultation privately as they have decided that that is the path they want to go down. It will be costly but fortunately they are able to fund this and they both know they want to try medication etc and IVF as the last resort.
I will definitely mention what you have both said though!
Thank you! X

Is it normal to get 3 days worth of positive Opks?

@Chicken123 no worries and I hope they are successful!

@EssJayyCee do they all look the same? X

@Catconfusion some strips are presenting both lines lighter but they are still positive. I've used opk scanner apps as well which have said they are positive. (I don't know how accurate they are).

Temps are still not showing ovulation 😕 it went high yesterday and has dipped today so maybe I'm ovulating today but I just feel like it's all been a huge failed effort.

Top two Wednesday, middle two thursday and bottom two friday.

@EssJayyCee my favourite ops scanner app is Premom, it creates nice charts which I found useful.

It might be that your body is trying to ovulate but not succeeding this month - this happened for my first couple of cycles after my second miscarriage, i had what looked like a few days of positive opks but then the cycle went on for another forty days so I clearly hadn't ovulated!

Another thought - could you possibly be pregnant? If it's possible then it might be worth taking a test as pregnancy usually results in positive opks.....I recall that you had a possible surge ten days or so ago?

@Avocuddles I tried Premom but it kept saying a of my tests were graded 0 so I have given up with that one.
I've been using glow to scan them.

I have my fingers tightly crossed that today is O day as temp dip, negative opk after two very dark lines last night.
Also my nipples are sore which I seem to get when my charts show I've ovulated so 🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻

I wasn't expecting to ovulate this cycle at all and I think I got my Hope's up too high with the positive opks. But I think my hopes will come down like a tonne of bricks in the next couple of days depending what my bbt charts show!

@EssJayyCee it sounds promising that today might be O day! Just don't put too much pressure on yourself. No matter how long it takes, if you get the end result you dream of then the journey will be worth it. You'll get there I'm sure!

@Avocuddles I don't mean to put pressure on myself I just want it so much 🙁

I have been so moody and snappy with DP today and exhausted. Is this a sign of ovulation?

I hope you're okay by the way? Haven't you got a scan in a few days? Xx