PCOS and ?male factor - anxiety and stress about TTC

[Englishrose35]

Hi,
I am so anxious and looking for some support. I am 34 and have PCOS - I am a healthy weight and have a period every month but my cycle is sometimes irregular from 29 - 32 days. Last cycle was 26 days but maybe stress.
DH had testicular torsion as a child and is waiting on results of semen analysis.

We have not been trying long at all but I am really worried and stressed about all these things impacting fertility - age, PCOS where I probably don’t ovulate every month and now possible male factor. I saw a gynaecologist privately who recommended the semen analysis and I’m also having a repeat scan but I meet the criteria for PCOS.

I guess I need to wait for SA results but I’m just filled with dread. I guess if there is a problem on both sides and male factor is also a problem then at least we know and can maybe proceed straight to IVF rather than trying fruitlessly.

has anyone been in a similar situation?
would they ever recommend straight to IVF if PCOS and possible male factor?
maybe sperm will be fine but I still have PCOS and my age

thanks

I have PCOS and had it since I had #2. I didn't realise before I got pregnant but when I went to scans, it was something that showed up.
It took us a couple of months to conceive but unfortunately that time I had a miscarriage (I didn't realise I was pregnant & travelled). After this is took another 3 months for me to conceive again and that time the pregnancy was fine.
My period cycles were like yours. At the time I was 34. We did use Conceive plus gel which I think helped.

Trying to conceive can be such an anxious time - it was for me anyway - so I do feel for you. It took us 14 months and we started when I was 32, so be prepared for it to take time. There were no clear issues with me, apart from slightly low egg count for my age, but it wasn't drastic and low count doesn't mean low quality (as I kept being told). We did have make factor issues - low count and very low morphology. The NHS clinic recommended we go straight to IVF with ICSI. I don't think they recommended IUI or medicated cycles if there are sperm problems.

Very surprisingly, we conceived naturally the cycle before we were due to have IVF! I got my positive pregnancy test three days before I was due to start injections! We were told that to conceive we'd have to confound medical science, yet we did, so I also advise taking the results with a pinch of salts. Conceiving can still be so mysterious and random! We had sex every other day from cycle days 10 to 20 as advised by GP, which seemed sensible given that ovulation can vary. I found ovulation strips made me more stressed. Your cycle doesn't sound irregular though, it looks good!

Good luck and try not to get all consumed by it all, though I know it's easier said than done. Remember to still do fun things and plan nice weekends away with your partner. I hope you'll get there!

If you have a period every month it's very likely you do ovulate every month. My cycle changes between 27-32 days, and I don't have PCOS or any other issues - GP said they consider changes within that time frame as normal. If you're not already doing so I'd definitely suggest ovulation tests (I use the easy@home and the Premom app) as I find my ovulation day changes each month. I know it's not what you want to hear, but do stay positive and enjoy the trying. It's common to take up to a year even in couples with no health issues.

As pp said, your cycles are regular so that may not be the issue you think it may. I had pcos and mine were all over the place (2 week periods, 60+ day cycles etc) so v difficult to predict. Same as Pippa we were told every other day from days 10-20. Then H also had low motility and low sperm count so IVF was out, they said icsi may be an option - assisted conception came up after 18m of trying and then his results. In the end, his counts were too low for any procedure so we couldn't proceed. DD was conceived naturally 5 years after we started trying.