Getting Pregnant with PCOS - Vest,KY

I have PCOS and have conceived numerous times and have had 2 full-term pregnancies, the 2nd being twins. With my mother passing from what began as uterine cancer, I have totally refused all fertility drug treatments as I understand those can help increase one's chances of developing cancer. I have helped my symptoms with just my diet and exercise alone. There are other alternatives for you...they just aren't as easy as they are for "regular" women. You just have to start to pay attention to your body, it does give you signs of when you're ovulating and when would be the best to try and conceive. I will be very honest with you--there are 4 years between our oldest and our twins and now our twins will be turning 6 very shortly. We have conceived inbetween both pregnancies, but for some reason or another, they didn't last beyond the first trimester. It is a long and discouraging process on your own, but it IS possible.

Yes it is possible to conceive while you have PCOs. Our oldest child is 10 1/2yr. I took the Metoformin for 4 mo. and then became pregnant. We went onto conceive two more kids afterwards without Metoformin.
I had to go a special diet while I was pregnant.
However.....if your going to use this to get pregnant PLEASE take extra folic acid. My oldest son was born with a minor a tethered cord. When he was about 4 months old he had to have an operation to correct this.
At the time there was not much research on this subject. We found one sentence that stated it is possible in the beginning three weeks of pregnancy the Metformin could block some of the folic acid.
Our son is fine now. The only memory he has is a small scar where he had the surgery.
If you have any ?? me don't hesitate to ask.

I have PCOS and was diagnosed before I had my son. He is now 3yr. I tried 4 round of progesterone (I think) and clomid and nothing worked. We were seeing a reproductive endocrinologist after that and they were getting ready to to a study with fertility meds (free!). We did the workup, but low and behold when we finished that and were waiting on the drug I found out I was pregnant. Problem free (mostly) pregnancy. We "tried" (were letting whatever happen, happen) for about a year, but then I had 2 miscarraiges (very early) last year. I was diagnosed with some clotting disorders and am happy to say that I am now 13wks pregnant with our second child. I realized this pregnancy that I ovulate late. I do have irregular periods and have been know to skip a month or so. Maybe it depends on the severity of PCOS, I don't know. I know some people take metformin (glucophage) because it helps with the insulin resistance (I tried it, made me sick). I've read that changing diet and exercise can help. If youre overweight (I'm not) then losing wt can help. So read up, talk to the doc, and check your other options before you go through the invasive/expensive stuff. And just realize that it may take time and as hard as it is not to stress and worry, that doesn't help either. Good luck and I wish you the best!

I believe that there is another option other than IVF. I have a friend who has PCOS and she and her husband did something like IUF (I think that is what it was). Forgive the crudeness of the description, but it was basically a Turkey baster method. If you don't want to instantly go to IVF then it's a good option to look into. She did get pregnant and their daughter is a toddler. They are doing the same thing again to try and conceive.

I do not deal with PCOS, so I can't give you any specific advice on that. There is a community within justmommies.com that deals specifically with PCOS, and there are lots of women trying to conceive with PCOS, as well as those who have done so successfully. Maybe give that a shot and see what some of those ladies have to say? They might be able to give some great advice.

My only real advice is to possibly try charting. It will involve you taking your temperature with a basal thermometer and charting other symptoms so that you can determine when you ovulate in your cycle. I personally used fertility friend and loved it. There is a free version, which is what I used and found that to be just enough for me. For you, you might like the VIP features that give you more information, more insight etc. They have tutorials for charting and everything (Justmommies also has a charting community for info and support) and the paid features are actually pretty cheap. Its of course no guarantee, but it will help you know more about what your body is doing month to month. I think many Doctors discount how valuable this really is. Not all of us ovulate on day 14, and for you with PCOS it might be a big difference month to month. Its worth a shot in any event!

Try not to stress, hun. It will happen for you!

Before you go through the whole IVF route, check out acupuncture!! Read the book The Infertility Cure--it's great and if you feel like acupuncture can help there are a few in the Nashville area. Took me nearly 2 years to get pregnant w/ my first after doing rounds of infertility treatments including and IUI (not IVF). Finally took a month off everything before getting ready for another IUI and got pregnant. W/ my second I never went back on the pill after my first and then "tried" for 9 months for our second. I have completely irregular periods. After 9 months my friend told me about this book and acupuncture. He put me on some herbs and had me chart my temperatures and I got pregnant on my 2nd cycle (after 3 months)! Good luck!!
PS I went to Steve Blumenthal in Green Hills--he's great and

I was diagnosed with a "hormone imbalance" in my mid twenties. Later it was determined that it was PCOS. Apparently when I was diagnosed, it didn't even have a name yet!
Anyway I was put on metformin in my late twenties by another dr. who knew more about PCOS. I did end up getting diabetes in my early thirties and hypothyroidism so take care of yourself and do what you can now to head off other hormone problems. One hormone problem tends to lead to another.
When we decided we were ready to try for kids my ob/gyn sent us to a fertility Dr. who specializes in PCOS. The first month she gave me a pill to take for 5 or 6 days at a certain point in my cycle. Its purpose was to keep the correct hormone at the correct level for the right amount of time so the eggs would finish developing instead of forming cycts. She did an ultrasound to see if any eggs were ready. Two were. She drew a circle on my hip and instructed my husband on how to give the injection to make the eggs release. Injection sunday at 6pm. Start trying to conceive 6am tuesday to whenever we want to quit.
We got pregnant on the first try with twins. Both eggs "took" so we have two totally different little girls who turned two this summer! It can be done, and usually without tons of stress and $$.
Our Dr. was the wonderful Dr.Gayla Harris in Knoxville, TN if you wanted to get a referal closer to home. Good luck!
Oh, by the way I will turn 41 next week! It's never too late to try!

From my own research regarding PCOS and other fertility disorders, sometimes going on a low carb diet such as a diabetic diet or South Beach diet can help. Although I had not been diagnosed with a fertility problem (I had all the symptoms of PCOS but my doctor didn't check for it) I got pregnant both times while on the South Beach diet. I have read that in Europe, people with PCOS also often have insulin resistance so before they try fertility drugs, they go on a diabetic diet or low carb diet which can often help them ovulate. I would try to stay away from any processed foods, like pasta, bread, cereal, snacks like cookies or chips and focus on eating only fruit, vegetables, meat and dairy. Good luck and I hope you conceive a happy & healthy baby soon.