TTC with amenorrhea (no periods)

[Sparks2]

I haven't had periods for over 5 years after coming off the pill. I've been tested for PCOS but been told I have nothing apart from high testosterone and that I don't ovulate. A week after getting this news in July I got pregnant but recently miscarried.

What I'm asking is, how would I go about ttc with not having periods and knowing when I ovulate etc. Has anyone been through this?

Hey, I have pcos and didn’t have a period for a year after coming off the pill. If you’re not having periods I think it’s relatively unlikely you are ovulating, and it’s actually dangerous to not have periods in terms of certain cancer risks. You need to be shedding your womb lining regularly to reduce these risks.

If you’re talking to your gp you’re going to struggle - they are useless with pcos!

I ended up seeing a private endocrinologist, he was great and put me straight on metformin. This regulated my periods and my cycles have been regular every month since. It’s even safe to take in pregnancy and some evidence suggests it can reduce miscarriage.

Do talk to your gp about metformin but be prepared for them to not have a clue, so take evidence with you. You need to push to be referred.

You also need them to take you seriously with the pcos diagnosis. Have they scanned you? Do you have any other symptoms eg acne, excess weight, excessive hair?

I have the acne and hairiness now I’m off the pill and I managed to get a scan a few years ago which showed cysts on my ovaries. I had to really push because I’m thin and manage my visible symptoms well my gp wouldn’t believe me.

You can have regular periods and still not ovulate every month, which is more common with pcos. So you may also need fertility treatment such as clomid. We had been referred to a fertility specialist on the nhs as I have pcos and we said we’d been trying for a year (even though it had actually only been a few months, because it took a year just for my periods to come back) and we were going to start clomid when I got pregnant.

Unfortunately this ended in an early miscarriage yesterday ☹️ I’m sorry for your loss too and hope you get there in the end xxx

I had a scan in 2017 and obviously recently with my scans for pregnancy. I was told on 2017 that nothing was on my ovaries but when I had a scan recently I asked them to check and they said there was something on them that could be pcos. I've told my doctor this but she refused to give me anymore scans because I've 'had enough' and the sonographer hadn't noted anything down.

I have pretty much all the symptoms of pcos, but this could be down to my high testosterone. They haven't given me any advice how to get it back, what else it could be. They've been useless. I remember when I was about 16/17 I went and they shooed me off telling me 'i was just lucky'. Honestly?

Having high testosterone increases your changes of miscarriage by 3 times so I'm also nervous about that.

You have high testosterone because you have pcos. That in itself is a symptom. Your doctor sounds useless, I would ask to see someone else and take evidence with you.

Pcos is diagnosed if you have 2 or more of the following:

you have irregular periods or infrequent periods – this indicates that your ovaries do not regularly release eggs (ovulate)

blood tests showing you have high levels of "male hormones", such as testosterone (or sometimes just the signs of excess male hormones, even if the blood test is normal)

scans showing you have polycystic ovaries

This is from the nhs website. You are being fobbed off big time. I have made a complaint about this at my gp before which is how I eventually got someone to do something.

You urgently need to go on metformin at the very least to bring your periods back. If you’d like to dm me to chat further please do - I’m quite passionate about this subject!

Good luck ☺️ Xxx