TTC with PCOS

[Dancemonkee]

Hello

I am on my first cycle of TTC baby number 2. Number 1 was conceived in 2018 on first cycle.

Last year I was diagnosed with PCOS from an internal scan. My periods had become irregular (max length 38 days, had always been 28) and as I knew we wanted to TTC i went to the gp. My bloods showed no sign, hormone levels normal, insulin normal. External scan was normal.

I am taking folic acid and inositol. GP has said we'd have to be trying for a good while before getting help from NHS. Is there anything else I can do to help my chances?

There are so many threads on here with women with PCOS who struggle so badly. I'm not sure how my first was conceived so quickly. I was 29 then, 34 now. Does anyone in a similar position to me have good stories of not struggling with number 2?

I guess I'm feeling a bit down and disheartened at the potential fight ahead of me and looking for some optimism.

I should have said, my last long cycle was August last year. Since then they have been 27 - 29 days. Some periods are light and last around six days. Some heavy and shorter with clotting. After a light one I have bloating and pain for a week or so. I'm suspecting that perhaps I'm not ovulating on those months. I'm not tracking anything just now, trying to stay relaxed about it for the timebeing but will track ovulation if it's taking a while.

I'm in the same boat about to TTC.
I have pcos and have fallen pregnant twice in the past without trying but ended in MC.

Trying to be positive though as I guess we don't know what's ahead of us.
I am taking a supplement with folate instead of folic as they state 'Most supplements use Folic Acid as the key ingredients. However, studies have shown that approx. 1 in 3 people struggle to convert folic acid due to a common gene variant (the MTHFR-gene).'

Also added Coq10 which is ment to be great!

Have you tracked ovulation to see where you are at with that as if pcos is effecting?
I appear to be ovulating monthly so far on tracking but dr has sent me for some bloods and one includes progesterone to check I am ovulating for sure. That's today so fingers crossed....

So sorry to hear about your losses.

That's interesting about the folate, thank you.

I've not tracked ovulation as i have a tendency to whip myself up in to a state and obsess a little, so we're just sticking to regular sex throughout the month for a little while to see what happens.

How are they checking you're ovulating for sure, bloods at different points in your cycle. Hope it shows a good result for you.

Hi, sorry to hear about your struggles.

i had secondary infertility after getting pregnant first month of trying with my first, also age 29. At 34, still not pregnant. My second son is now 10.

I had Clomid and Metformin, plus Pregnacare Conception. Clomid didn’t work.
I then had Ovarian Drilling with Clomid, didn’t work, so they switched it to a drug which I can’t remember the name of now but it is used off script as it is normally a breast cancer treatment. I got pregnant first month of trying, happy and healthy pregnancy, my son is now 10.

I also used PreSeed lubricant which I will never know if it helped, but it worked when I tried it.

Use the 'Premom' app - dip testing for LH around the two weeks it suggests but then also doing temperature as apparently temp is more reliable for those with pcos.

I do get other symptoms inc egg white and Every month I get a weird twinge exactly when my app says I am ovulating. It almost feels like something drops in my stomach. So strange 😀

The bloods are day 21 of cycle and one day between 1-5 . I'm going to do day 3.

Conceived after 10pm the TTC at 34.

I switched to very low carb eating.
Breakfast: berries
lunch: low carb tuna wrap
Dinne: steak and salad

I think that's the main thing I did differently when I finally conceived.

I have PCOS and suspected Endometriosis. My cycles are super long and irregular - I don't even get a period every month. I conceived #1 in 4 months at 32 and #2 in 6 months - but only 4 cycles - at 35.

I just had a lot of sex 😂. Dealing with the PCOS symptoms while off the pill was horrible though - I retained tons of water, had several cysts rupture and had painful cystic acne.

Hey I'm CD1 I have PCOS too my cycles are usually between 32-35 days

I'm starting myo-inositol today and I'm going to purchase preseed to use this cycle 😊

My cycles are fluctuating 31-34 days last few - feels soooo long when wanting to TTC 😁

@Mangotango39 yeah I hear you I'm jealous of the women who get a 28 day cycle 😂😂😂 I wish mine was 28days 😏

I'm just glad I'm actually ovulating on my own without any medical help.

This is cycle 20 for us now I've got 4 children and I never had a issue ttc them but my youngest is next 7 in April and when me and my fiance started ttc and it wasn't happening I went to my gp and was diagnosed with PCOS xxx

Definitely green eyed monster of 28 days haha

How did you confirm you were ovulating?
i have all the signs and peaking but I had progesterone test today fingers crossed

When I was diagnosed with PCOS last June it was recommended by my gp that I try ovusense to track my BBT, you insert it when you go to bed and take it out in the morning and hold it to the back of your phone and it downloads the data and registers your BBT for that day... its really good and it's the only way I know that I've actually ovulated! Opks can be hit and miss with me because of the PCOS but I still like to use them incase it tells me I'm getting close to ovulation because BBT is fantastic but it tells you AFTER you've ovulated so there's not any notice before it just confirms ovulation for that month xxx

Why are opks hit and miss? False positives or always negative? I'm so new to it.

People with pcos tend to have alot of LH spikes it can get very confusing and relentless, some months u give up with them completely because I get so frustrated but other months I find my peak no problems... that why I say for me it's hit and miss xx

That's interesting, before i was diagnosed when i was getting pains at funny points in my cycle i bought some to try and track ovulation and it seemed to be constantly positive. Didn't have a bloody clue what was going on!

Hi @Dancemonkee I'm currently nearly 15 weeks pregnant with no. 1 and conceived on what would have been I think a 42 day cycle and my cycles before that were each 54 days. Ovulation tests never worked for me and I sort of knew when I was ovulating through cervical mucus - I think if you don't get much of this the best way to increase is to be SUPER hydrated and also take evening primrose oil (just leading up to ovulation not after). The month I conceived I'd also started taking vitex (pre-ovulation) too (but for PCOS this is only recommended if your LH isn't too high, weirdly my bloods showed higher FSH than LH) and I'm convinced that it made a difference. Was also taking inositol, cinnamon and pre pregnancy vitamin so I was rattling around and spending quite a bit but it feels totally worth it now. Good luck!

Aw how wonderful for you ❤️

I do tend to get a fair amount of CM luckily.

We have sex 3 or 4 times a week anyway so for the time being will carry on as it just without protection, with me taking inositol and folic acid.

I'm cautious that the more reading, testing etc i do, the more preoccupied and stressed i will get and i want to avoid that if possible!

@log51 I took EPO hoping to increase my cervical mucus and is messed up my cycle. Delayed my ovulation by 22 days . It seems there's alot of women's post on this forum recently aswell saying that since starting epo their cycle messed up

I dont think that's weird as My FSH was also higher than my LH .. and that's long before I started Evening primrose. Also vitex completely messed up my cycles and caused my cycles to completely stop for 11 months. Wouldn't recommend it at all. I've seen many women saying same thing on here that messed them up aswell. I'm always very cautious with taking anything now. Fertility clinic told me only to take pre natal. Vitamin d and folic as they are properly regulated and not to go messing with other supplements. They said inositol was fine. Strange how some poeple can have a positive experience and others a really negative