PCOS and Letrozole success?

[TinyTraveller]

Hello! I was just wondering if anyone has any recent letrozole success stories that they can share please or anyone starting out on the journey and how they’re finding it.

I started letrozole this cycle after being diagnosed with PCOS but unfortunately I haven’t ovulated. Feeling quite down about it all

Hi Op, sorry no success story but I am due to start too, same reasons. I wanted to know, how long did you start after hospital confirmed you weren't ovulating ? I had confirmation yesterday but I wonder what next step is, if I need to contact my gynecologist or will they contact me, confusing.
Wishing you luck 🤞🏼🤞🏼🤞🏼

Hi I started Letrozole 2.5mg this cycle too. I'm on the TWW now. I'm pretty confident I ovulated, had the strongest OPKs I've ever had and a week earlier than my usual feeble attempt at ovulating naturally! Will get a blood test on Thursday to find out. Assuming that confirms ovulation I'm going to take that as a positive, even if I don't get a BFP.

Sorry it didn't work for you this cycle, are they upping your dose?

Hey,

When i did letrozole cycles i still would never get a peak on ovulation sticks bizarrely, however when i went for my scans (was private) they could see i had actually ovulated already. Not sure if you are getting scans but that is a possibility.

I fell pregnant my second cycle of letrozole! I also had thin lining which was picked up on the scans and my lining only got to 7.6mm the second cycle. Baby dust to you xx

@Lila34830 ah sorry to hear that you’re in a similar situation but great that they know what the root cause is. It took 2 months from them completing all of the tests, diagnosing me etc to then seeing a fertility specialist but I guess it totally depends on local NHS waiting list times. They contacted me directly and then everything was fast moving as soon as the appointment was booked in. It feels weird as you’re in limbo for a while whilst your waiting for the fertility clinic to ring but then everything moves fast :)

@CatmumTTC that’s really great that you can feel things moving this cycle, fingers crossed your blood test goes well!! I’m surprised they haven’t offered you an ultrasound as they usually do this until you show signs of ovulation. I’m going for my second ultrasound this week but I’m still in cycle 1 and the first ultrasound showed that there weren’t any eggs growing bigger than others so I think they’re upping my dose next cycle. Let us know how your appointment goes.

@Optimistic66 oh wow that’s great that it worked so quickly for you and thank you so much for sharing, it’s nice to have some hope! Thank you for sharing the baby dust too :)

No i just wanted to share a positive story as i when your in the depth of infertility - i searched high and low and hearing other people stories gave me hope as i know some times this process can be so deflating.

From mumsnet i was in a group of everyone doing letrozoel cycles and out of the 6 people in there - 5 of us conceived within 6 month cycle of doing it! So hope that gives you some
hope xxx

Hi,

I have PCOS and took letrozole. On my first cycle they gave me 7.5mg tablets and I ovulated but didn’t get pregnant. I ovulated day 17 of my cycle on the tablets my cycles were previously 40-50 days.

Second cycle I got pregnant.
I’m not sure why they started me on 7.5mg for my first cycle but it worked. Good luck!

@Optimistic66 oh wow that really does give me hope, thank you so much and so glad you had such a positive outcome after this crazy journey that we’re all on. It’s so useful hearing others stories as it can feel like such a lonely and isolating process at times. Thank you once again!

@Babybump88 wow that’s great that they automatically started you on such a high dosage. Thank you so much for sharing, so great that it worked so quickly. Really great to hear success stories, definitely offers a lot of reassurance, thank you!

Hi!

I had my PCOS Letrozole baby 7 months ago. I have never had any periods at all (32yo) with my PCOS so it was quite severe.
1st cycle on 2.5mg didn't make me ovulate, my ovaries reabsorbed the follicles that were there.
2nd month I had 5mg and had 4x big follicles, ovulated with a trigger shot and it was successful!

Sending all the good luck vibes and baby dust your way!!xx

I was diagnosed with PCOS over 10 years ago.

DD1 was a letrozole baby in 2021 - it took 3 cycles. First cycle - no ovulation, second cycle - increased dose, ovulation but no pregnancy, third cycle - stuck at the same dose as second cycle and was successful. No trigger shots but I did have ultrasound monitoring. I can't remember if I started on 2.5mg or 5mg but I definitely remember it had to be increased.

DD2 in 2023 was a natural conception after I lost 12kg.

@NewBoyMama have they given you a plan for after your post partum time ends? The endocrinologist told me that having fewer than 3 periods a year is bad for long term health and so once I stop breastfeeding, I should make a follow up appointment to discuss options to bring on a bleed at more regular intervals.

Metformin with it or inositol supplement (nicer on the tummy)

Yes it seems to vary by trust. I'm in South Yorks and they don't seem to scan here. Would love to have more monitoring as the information is helpful but I only get day 21 blood test. I did explore going private, they will offer scans then but it was a few grand. My NHS doctor said the risk for multiple eggs on Letrozole is very low so scans aren't required.

@NewBoyMama wow thats a great success story thank you so much for sharing! I’m in the same boat where I hardly have any periods at all so I was almost expecting it not to work but that’s great that the increased dosage worked for you! A massive congratulations on your baby boy :)

Thank you all for sharing your experience it's so useful, @TinyTraveller so sorry to hear you don't have regular periods... mine are, but somehow I just don't ovulate... let's hope this is successful for both of us :)

Hi everyone,

I’m also just starting Letrozole 2.5mg. Hope you don’t mind me jumping in! I’m day 4 of taking tablets but not feeling hugely optimistic as it seems to take most people a few cycles and higher dose. I had very very irregular periods (hardly ever) so think that also makes it harder.

Would love to keep in touch and see how everyone is doing. I don’t know anyone who has gone through this personally so some support from people in a similar boat would be so lovely.

I don’t have PCOS but just unexplained anovulation. Worst part about this is my Dr has told me not to exercise at all. I am fit and healthy BMI so seems quite excessive. I love weight training and running but will have to trust the process I guess.

Good luck to everyone. Hopefully things are on the up for all of us! X

If its any help, I took a 2.5mg dose and it worked on my second round as did a couple of others who were ttc at the same time as me :)

It all chance, luck and it working with your body so no reason that it shouldnt work for you either! Baby dust!

@Optimistic66 that is really reassuring to hear and so great to hear some positive stories! Thank you for sharing :)

@TinyTraveller How are you getting on? I hope the scan was positive!

@DiscoComfort how are you getting on, have you had a scan yet?

Unfortunately my scan showed that it hasn’t worked this cycle but the nurse said that it seems to work 50/50 on 2.5mg and she has been doing this job for 35 years. So they’ve upped my dose to 5mg and now we’re starting cycle 2 so keeping fingers crossed.

sounds like it has worked on cycle 3-4 for a lot of people

Sorry it didn't work for you this time 🤞🏻 for the higher dose.

I've just got a VFL at 9DPO. I tested because I had a strange metallic taste over the weekend that kept coming going. I'm not getting my hopes up as had an early MC a few months ago but I think this means my Letrozole dose is correct at least!

@TinyTraveller sorry to hear it didn’t work this time but fingers crossed the higher dose is more effective. I have my first scan on Thursday, although not feeling hugely optimistic.

@CatmumTTC congratulations! That is fantastic news and I hope things work out for you and it all goes smoothly. Must be really hard after the MC x

Hello everybody,
Another one starting Letrozole on this cycle here :)
I'm only on day 3 of my first round, so a little bit behind you guys but thought I'd join in to follow along with everybody.
Also started off on 2.5mg so like everybody else I'm sceptical as to whether it will work for me this round, but definitely seems as though there are a good number of people who do ovulate on the lower dose so that's reassuring! Even if not, it sounds like upping the dose slightly to 5mg does the trick so that's great to hear too.

Good luck to everybody x

Best of luck @AnonTTC I've been successful first round on 2.5mg so it can happen! I really noticed ovulation, it was actually quite painful - cramps and nausea. I'd never experienced that before. But it worked so I'll take a bit of pain!

Ah thank you @CatmumTTC (love your handle by the way!!).

Great to hear it worked for you on 2.5mg. I'm definitely optimistic/positive it could work for us too, but trying to also remain level headed to avoid disappointment if it doesn't. As somebody who has never experienced the 'TWW' as I have absolutely no cycle whatsoever, I now understand everybody talking about how much the time drags!! Ha.

Congratulations as well :)