This is my first post but I am a long-term lurker. I wanted to share my experience in case it helps (even if it helps only one person). Its a bit of a long one but here goes ...I am 38 and have had PCOS symptoms since I was 15 but was only finally diagnosed when I was 33 and the insulin resistance turned into full blown Type II diabetes. Although I struggled with my weight I never had a BMI over 29 hence they looked at other causes for the diabetes.
We had been trying to conceive for a number of years and had managed one pregnancy that turned out to be ectopic. Then after 2 more years of infertility, last year we decided to go down the IVF root. At the clinic we had all the tests, husband had lovely sperm (!) and I had an ovarian reserve of about 5 years. They told me I would never conceive naturally and had a 3 in 10 chance with IVF.
My friend had some fertility issues and had tried acupuncture successfully and had nagged me to try. I was incredibly sceptical and only when we were going down the IVF root did I make an appointment. My acupuncturist took a full history, said she could help my body prepare for IVF but, as I had 3 months to wait for first cycle of treatment, said she would like to see if she could work on the PCOS with electro-acupuncture and started me off on some Co-Enzyme Q10 and fish oils. I felt like I'd been kicked in the ovaries by a donkey but she advised when was the best time to have sex and low and behold, 2 weeks later I had a big fat positive on my test!
I continued with the acupuncture but sadly I had a failed pregnancy and had to have an evacuation at 9 weeks. I was devastated but my acupuncturist said she could help my body get back on track quickly, so I continued - including charting. I had the electro-acupuncture as soon as I had my next period after the evacuation (which was surprisingly only 4 weeks) and, despite having sex being the last thing I wanted to do (I was extremely distressed after the loss) we followed her advice and, by some miracle, I conceived again. I am over-joyed to say that I am almost 25 weeks now. It has not been without its stresses - I had a massive bleed at 6 weeks and had a very irregular little yolk sac but it's held on in there.
I still have some way to go and the diabetes, so well controlled with diet and exercise has started to go somewhat berserk this week .. (I came off the metformin as soon as I had the BFP this time - I had stayed on it last time so wanted to remove it from the equation - more from a mental perspective and was aggressive with my blood sugar control with diet and exercise) but that's being monitored ...
I guess I wanted to share this in case there is a chance for someone else who sounds like me to give acupuncture a try. I'm not on commission BTW, lol, but I was so very cynical and have had success that I hope it helps someone who is stuck in the distressing and wretched cycle month after month ...
I am happy to give details, etc, about the type of treatment I had and the qualifications to look for in the acupuncturist but didn't want to seem like I was being an 'infomercial'.
Wishing people every luck in their journey.