PCOS - support

[Megs26]

So myself and my husband have been together for nearly 11 years, we have wanted children since we met but have never felt in a position where we were ready (I wanted to get my degree, get our home, and get married). I came off the contraceptive pill in May 2022 as we decided we were both ready a year ago, but TTC has not gone to plan.

I had several debates with the doctor regarding my body doing weird and wonderful things since coming off the contraceptive pill, and after a few months I was sent for an Internal Ultrasound. I was diagnosed with PCOS and started taking Metformin 9 weeks ago. I have been referred to the fertility clinic and I am now waiting for an appointment with them.

My husband was tested and his results came back fine.

I have not yet seen any difference with Metformin (I know this has only been 9 weeks, but I expected to see some small changes). This week I have started taking Inofolic after reading such good reviews/ success stories.

I am now filled with anxiety waiting for the fertility clinic to contact me, and I've been told the wait could be another 3-6 months.

My emotions are all over the place with all the unknowns, so i'd love to hear about other people's experiences (I do not know anyone else with PCOS who is ttc), waiting times for the fertility clinic, next steps, and any advice is of course more than welcome too!

I think inofolic is inositol plus folic acid, so yes!
Hopefully the bbt will give you some answers 🙂

Hi! I was diagnosed with PCOS about 6 months ago, after 2.5 years of ttc and fighting with the gp for a referral to the fertility clinic and checking me for pcos.
I already have 1 child so they didn’t see much point in referring me because I would have to self fund, even though I was happy to do this.
I went to see a gynaecologist privately who prescribed metformin and I’ve made changes to my diet, which has helped a lot! I actually fell pregnant after just 4 weeks on metformin but sadly ended in a chemical at exactly 5 weeks.
i’m now on cycle 2 since the chemical and 3 dpo so praying I get lucky again

if not we are waiting on our second fertility appointment, my partner has to have a semen analysis done again first which is still a 4 month wait away for his appointment yet so it’s going to be a while but they’ve said the option for us would be letrozole, I’m just so scared it’s going to take another couple of years but trying to remain hopeful!
hopefully if the metformin helped so quickly it can do the same again.

not sure if any of this was helpful but thought I’d share my journey so far

@Megs26 I have PCOS after coming off the pill. I never had a problem before I went on the pill, but I was on it for 10 years and when I came off (Sept 2020) my period never came. Blood tests and a scan meant I was diagnosed with PCOS and I was referred to NHS fertility services in 2021. Unfortunately, I am in London and the waiting list is insane, my appointment isn't until next year and I'm not getting any younger!

I went privately in July 2022 (nearly a year of not having a period) and was prescribed letrazole, I'll be honest it's not cheap but I got pregnant after 5 months (in December 2022). Unfortunately the pregnancy was ectopic and ended in an early loss. However, one of the nurses in the hospital when I was being treated for the ectopic advised me to buy something called infolic alpha to assist with the PCOS. It's basically myo-insitol and a couple of other supplements, it's not particularly expensive (compared to fertility treatment) and you don't need a prescription. I was basically willing to give anything a go as we couldn't TTC for 3 months while I healed from the ectopic and it says it takes about 3-6 months to start working.

Anyway, I very quickly had my cycles start, I was ovulating (positive OPKs) which was a miracle in itself, and then once we could start TTC again we did and then on the second try I got my BFP a few weeks ago! Even better I went to the docs for a checkup 3 months after my ectopic to make sure all was ok before ttc again, and my blood tests came back normal (before AMH and testosterone were sky high, classic PCOS hormones) so something has changed.

It sounds to me like you are dealing with a bit of post-pill syndrome rather than regular PCOS. I believe you can heal from this, give infolic alpha a go, make sure you eat plenty of protein, and take a conception supplement and see how you get on while you wait for your NHS appointment, and before you start spending any serious money on private treatment. It can happen!

I have PCOS and have 3 children naturally. What worked for me was going low carb in the run up to ttc and exercising more. Definitely look into dietary ways of boosting fertility and regulating cycles. Good luck. Oh , I also bought one of those electric clear blue cycle monitors (that specifically say not to use with Pcos! I ignored that and found they still worked in identifying fertile times!)

Pcos sufferer here aswell. Have had irregular periods since I started them. The longest I went without a periods was 5 months. I have been ttc for 1 year . Have been on metformin 1500mg for 3 months by a private gynaecologist. Had my first nhs consultation, has my blood test done on cycle day 2 had my hsg done a week later (hsg is where they check that your tubes are unblocked ) the experience with nhs has been absolutely fantastic. I was referred to Hammersmith hospital. I am waiting for my next appointment in October , hopefully in that appointment they will talk about my next steps. Hang in there is will happen soon. I have a friend with severe pcos and she is pregnant with the help of clomid. Eat healthy, keep positive and I am sure we will get our bbf very soon. Lots of love x

I need some help I was official told pcos in August and my cycles 38-40 53 currently on day 65 spoke to the doctor today apparently they can’t give me anything to help me get pregnant and because my bmi is over 35 I can’t go for fertility treatment 😭 I don’t know what to do

Yes that’s pretty common. It’s because weight is a big factor in fertility in lots of cases. Have they given any advice for weight loss?

@Overthebow yes a weight management program but it’s a year wait

@Tigger1116 I know it sucks, and PCOS makes it hard to get pregnant and hard to lose weight (been there!), but also the addional weight makes it hard to pregnant as well so it compounds the issue.

Can you afford to go to weightwatchers or similar while you wait for your referal? If you manage to get down to at least 30, but ideally 25 on the BMI you might find your periods sort themselves out. Anything you can do to really focus on the weight loss will improve your chances.

I'd also recommend the infolic alpha supplements - they can help with regulating your hormones a bit which may not only help you with ovulating and conceiving, but also your body might find it a bit easier to loose weight.

@LavenderSweetPea thank you for the reply I will look into these 😊