PCOS - Trying to conceive

[ElizabethCatherine]

Welcome to our 5th thread :)

A lovely bunch of ladies all here to help each other along the way with any questions or concerns we all have when TTC with PCOS

So we should never give up hope then lorddenning1 its so nice to hear! That's great you were able to conceive naturally too. Do you have irregular cycles if you don't mind me asking? x

When we tried for baby number we thought maybe got will take the same time etc, but we had no idea it would take 2 years :( he is so worth all the stress and heart ache though.

My cycles were anything between 30 days and 60 days. I have a diary from last year and it's got all info in there like Clomid days, cycles length, and BD days, it's nice to look back. I was like a women possessed, but like I said once I thought it wasn't going to happen and I made peace with it and chilled out a little, I got pregnant (this had happened to so many people I know)

Look how obsessed I was :)

@Lorddenning1 We are in the same situation, been trying for 2 years, finally fell pregnant in Nov 2016 and had a MC at 12 weeks. It was only in Feb of this year i was diagnosed with PCOS and as we had been trying for so long before the MC they agreed to refer me to the fertility specialist.
My cycles are the same length too, I was just 'going with the flow' but since the MC i have logged every bloody symptom going!!

Big hugs @AmyL88 😘 I can't imagine what that is like to go through, I'm lucky enough that I didn't have to experience that 😥 what has your specialist said, would you consider IVF if Clomid doesn't work x

I'm the same lorddenning1 I track everything in my diary. My consultant is very big on not being stressed & relaxing about things he seems to think it's a big factor. I'm really trying to take that on board, some times alot better than others!

Big hugs AmyL88 xx

Hi
Been to gyno today and this is what I've come away with...
Didn't quite get the answers I was looking for but did get some!
I'm technically still undiagnosed as there isn't enough evidence from the scan to say whether or not I definitely have endo and pcos however I tick 2/3 boxes for pcos 🤔 however it could also be post pill amenorrhea which is where my body doesn't know what to do naturally since coming off the pill as the hormones over the years have suppressed it so much it's now confused and "dormant"
They've given me something called Metformin to try and regulate my hormones and kick start ovulation again to try and then in turn get my periods back into some form of cycle. I have to go back for another ultrasound which they'll let me know the results of but they don't want to see me again until December/January to give my body 12m pill free. They're not particularly worried as I'm only 25 coming up 26 and have not "actively" been trying which just been "seeing what happens"
Pleased I have something to try and regulate me, have any of you had metformin? Xx

Hi littleemma sounds like a reasonably positive appointment and hopefully after the next scan you will have a few more answers. I have literally just collected my first Metformin prescription from the pharmacy and am starting it tonight. I have been prescribed it for similar reasons. I'm hoping it works for me but I'm feeling a bit negative tonight about infertility in general. Best of luck with starting the Metformin let us know how you get on.

I was too scared to ask what this all meant in terms of long terms fertility in case I didn't like the answer 😳

Just be careful with the metformin, I was on 3 a day and it wasn't pleasant, lost a lot of weight though :) I had to go down to 2 in the end, have you tried Agnus cactus, it's supposed to help regulate hormones, have a look at the reviews xx

Lordenning if it helps with weight loss that would be fab! I'm struggling with my weight at the moment. I have yes, I take a 400mg dose every day, ordered some of the super strength off the internet. They haven't seemed to do anything yet though 😔 Xx

Hi littleemma, The Metformin is normally given to people who have diabetes but don't require insulin hormone injections because they are producing plenty of the hormone but the body doesn't use it. So, they have very high insulin levels and problems with blood sugar control. Doctors call this insulin resistance. The high insulin messes with ovulation. Women with PCOS don't usually have problems with blood sugars but they usually have insulin resistance. Metformin is useful for PCOS because it reduces the insulin levels which helps with ovulation. However, there are more natural ways to get the same effect.

Would you like me to post some tips in this forum?

Hi familynutritioncoach, I've tried some of the natural remedies from speaking to different people and nothing has worked so I'll pass for now, but thank you! X

How you getting on amyl88, has AF arrived yet? Have you tested?

Hope everyone's had a nice weekend xx

Bad news for me this morning, my progesterone was less than 1 at CD14 so looks like I'm not even trying to ovulate according to the nurse, had no effect whatsoever. Prescription of norethisterone and 100mg for me, and same again I have to try that for 2 months unmonitored! Losing hope

Slady sending hugs your way 😘 Xx

Thanks littleemma1 losing hope that clomid will ever work with such a poor response like that

Hey,

Can I join in please lovelies?
I have PCOS initial diagnosis at 16, was given no info at the time just put on the pill! Fast forward 16 years stop pill after wedding no periods! Went to see GP and yes after lots of investigations it looks like I'm not ovulating!
I posted on one of the previous threads back in May when I'd had a cycle of 50mg Clomid (I'd done that privately to have monitoring!).
That cycle I didn't ovulate and had a break as it turned me a bit crazy!!
I have this time gone back to the NHS and have just taken day 6 of 100mg but I have no scans just blood tests.
SLady have you been doing OPks? From what I've been told a lot of people don't respond to 50mg so don't give up hope yet

Hi sunny welcome to the thread again. That's good you are on the nhs now...Fingers crossed the 100mg is successful. What was your progesterone level like after 50mg? I'm worried that because i didn't even reach 1 that my body just isn't going to respond. Most people seem to at least move up from a 1!! Plus my nhs make you have 2 rounds of each dose (regardless of whether it works or not). So my next step is 2 rounds of 100mg and I have to wait till the second round of that for a blood test!!
I did use opks from about cd16-cd20 but got fed up. We DTD EOD from cd8-cd25 so I was covered anyway.
The nurse said to start norethisterone on cd36 so I'm guessing there's no chance of ovulating past CD22??

@SLady they did an external scan on me on day 14 (just checked now) and she said she could see a follicle and that it was possible I would ovulate in the next 7-10 days, so that would put me ovulating at day 21 at the earliest and I think I ovulated on day 22, and I got pregnant, so day 14 ovulation is for people with normal cycles (which we don't) so if I got a blood test done on day 21, it would of showed up as a low progesterone score but in fact I did ovulate as I now have a baby :)

SLady the private clinic said there was no point doing the progesterone bloods even though I wanted it done and would have had to pay for it!! I did think that maybe I ovulated very late on the 50mg around day 21 but they said I was wrong!!
I don't really know exactly how the progesterone works as to wether any rise would happen unless you definitely ovulate!! It's such a nightmare isn't it
I think he only gave me 100mg as I said he told me it failed at the private clinic but I have been sent away with 3 months of 100mg!
What day are you now?

That's really interesting lorddenning my clinic seem to have cd14 set in stone for ovulation but so many people say that it can happen later. I guess that's why she said to start a new round cd36 incase I did ovulate later? She did say to take a pregnancy test before starting nore but she said with a result of 1 at CD14 it would be highly unlikely. I don't want to start the next round too soon if there's a chance I could still ovulate but at the same time I want to get on with it!
That's frustrating sunny. I think it must still rise as people get scores of 6, 7, 8 etc which still doesn't mean ovulation but I'm guessing something is going on. So you have 3 months of 100mg with a blood test this cycle at CD21? Im on CD26 today. FX 100mg is our dose!!

(CD26 of my second 50mg cycle)

@SLady I'm pretty sure Clomid makes you ovulate later also so throw that into the PCOS mix and it's like a trying to find a needle in a haystack. I kept telling the nurse I think I ovulate later but she didn't listen and kept sending me for day 21 bloods which came back around 3 and 6 etc, she finally said come back on day 28 and we shall test u again, sure enough the score came back high, so i have ovulated, she then said let's book u in for an internal scan on day 7 and I said but that still would show anything if I ovulate a week later than everyone else, so she said ur right, come on day 14, which is when she saw the follicle and when I got pregnant, I can't always go off the 28 day cycle if u have PCOS and are not ovulating, that's y I always say BD around day 10-25 every other day to make sure u have covered all basis, I thought opk were a waste of time and my clinic never really rated nor unless u went over 40 days etc x

Thanks @lorddenning1 that's really helpful. My clinic is exactly the same. They seem to just be fixated on CD14, it's like if it doesnt make you ovulate on CD14 then its classed as unsuccesful to them and it's annoying that they are so stingy with blood tests. I keep telling myself that as long as we DTD throughout the whole month then least we are covering all bases ourselves. In your experience when would you say is "safe" to call it quits on that cycle and start an induced bleed?