Ladies Need Help Here!

I don't have personal experience with this but my best friend has PCOS and was TTC for a long time. Metformin helped her to lose 75 lbs and conceive her first AND second child. Best of Luck!

I was trying to have a baby for 13 years. I am diabetic adn taking metformin for the diabetes. My doctor increased the metformin by 500mg. and the next month I was preg. When I went to the OBGYN, I was diagnosed with PCOS walso. My OBGYN told me that that was the med. that abled me to get preg. He also told me that for woman that just can not get preg. they sometimes put woman on Metformin to help them along. Good luck!

Yes Metformin can help when your TTC.
I was having problems and found out I had PCOS and Insulin Resistance and once they put me on it I got reg and felt like a normal person again. I had takin it for a few years and then I married my husband and since I had been on it for awhile we tried right after we got married and got PG within a few months after being together. We had our 1st child however after the 1st trimester the Dr took me off the medicine through the rest of PG. The said there isnt enough research to show if it effects the baby, so after nursing which I wasn't able to do since my son came Premature at 7 months. I went back on the Metformin. I got PG again and my children are 15 months apart. After my 2cd child it took awhile to get back on track with the Metformin. I did had to go to the Dr alot when PG, because the Insulin Resistance affects your sugar and they monitored the baby. But both are healthy.

Hi, I am in the same boat as you. I was diagnosed with the tumor on my pituitary several years ago. This is a very common disorder among women these days. I know of 2 friends in the same situation. My doctor has put me on Dostinex (Rx Name: Cabergolene). This drug also makes you very fertile by the way. I have conceived once this way, went off of it for a while during breastfeeding him. And after he was past the point of breastfeeding I had to go back on it again because my prolactin was too high for me to ovulate. So back on it again I went. I am now pregnant with my second. I am also on metformin for my second and was on it prior to concieving. I go to Doctor Robert Dons in the Methodist Professional Building off Brooklyn in downtown San Antonio. Excellent doctor. I recommend highly. Not sure if you are in San Antonio. He assures me that taking the two drugs pre- and post-pregnancy should be fine. I have gone for several genetic tests due to being a 36 year old high risk patient. All results have come back fine. Hope this helps.

You might want to check out this website:

http://www.fertilityneighborhood.com/

Very informative and helpful!

Hi E.,
I'm sure you doctor addressed several reasons why your prolactin levels were high, one of them being PCOS. One of the other reasons can be your thyroid. Bloodwork is not real accurate in detecting an underacive thyroid, which can also make it difficult to concieve. I would recommend you read, "Hypothyroidism, The Unsuspected Illness" by Dr. Broda O. Barnes. To check your thyroid at home, take a thermometer (mercury if possible) and set it by the bed at night. The moment you wake up, do not get up, but place the thermometer under you armpit for 10 minutes. This should be done on days 2,3 and 4 of your period. Are you having a menses each month? Are you regular, and if not how often to do menstruate? Write down your temperature, and then let me know what the readings are. There are natural therapies that can be utilized in cases of PCOS. First, balancing you hormones and addressing any issues with your thyroid can make a big difference. There is a female doctor here in SA who works with bio-identical hormone therapy, and I can help you in the area of the thyroid depending on what your temp. readings are. Personally, I would not touch fertility drugs. Dr. Barnes, the author of the book mentioned above, had good results with couples having trouble conceiving when he addressed the thyroid issue. As far as Metformin is concerned, when were you diagnosed with diabetes? If I were you, I would get a handle on the diabetes, with diet, supplements and excercise and work with you doctor to get off the medication first before conceiving. If you do a search on the drug and really look at all the side effects it has, why would you want chemicals like these in your body, much less, your little baby. Diabetes is very easily controlled as mentioned above. Good luck and if you wish to e-mail me personally, my address is ____@____.com.

go to www.tryingtoconceive.org/board and ask in the TTC Forum. They are a wealth of great info.
Good luck

Hi there. Although I do not have a brain tumor I too have PCOS and here is what I know: Your hormones and ovaries are out of whack big time & you need to get on a diet that will enable your body to break down nutrients properly. The best way to deal with infertility and this syndrome is to get your weight to the proper level. I too have one child and would love to have a second but as age advances, my chances are slim. I do however have a relative with the same problem and it kept her from having a child until she was almost 30 years old. She went on South Beach Diet and got pregnant! There is a book called: The Natural Diet Solution for PCOS and Infertility by Nancy Dunne, N. D. and Bill Slater, M. B. A. It will totally explain just what your body is and isn't doing properly and give you several options in dealing with the problem. I sincerly hope all is well with you and you can conceive soon. Just give the book a looksie. It opened my eyes!

Our first too was unplanned but a little blessing indeed. He is now 6 years old and we did not think we would have any trouble getting a second baby, until we were way down the TTC road with no luck and tons of frustration and stress! I had been trying to concieve a second baby for over 2 years and found out about a year ago that I too had PCOS, which honestly was a relief for me, since we had no idea why I could not get pregnant again after numerous test and bloodwork... My doc put me on Metaformin too and I am now 28 weeks pregnant with a second baby. Not sure if that was the trick or not, but took it like I was supposed to the entire time we were trying to concieve. Honestly, with PCOS, the ovulation kits can be wrong, due to our wacky hormones, I quit using all of those and just relied on God's timing for our second one:) It all worked out in His time. We just had intercourse when we had it and it took the stress out of it. I also did not have regular periods at all, which made it very hard to time our intercourse, which was another reason I quit wasting my money and stress on those OV tests. Good luck!!! I wish you all the best!

Hi E.-
Just wanted to tell you how sorry I am you have been having to deal with all of this. I have taken Clomid and had good luck with it. I have a two-year old now and it helped us to conceive. I would also recommend that you read Taking Charge of Your Fertility. I really think it is a must-read for all women. I, too, bought all kinds of ovulation predicting things, but nothing helped as much as reading the book and applying the principles. If you want to know when you are ovulating, read the book! You will find out more about your body than you ever thought about!

I have PCOS. I feel your pain. One Dr. started me on Metformin and Clomid and I tracked my cycles for months. Nothing happened. Went to a great fertility Dr. after that and was put right on the shots with the Metformin. 2 cycles for IUI and I got pregnant! Had been trying for a few years. Have a beautiful baby girl now and I am a first time mom at 36!

Get a second opinion. I personally don't trust doctors, because I think many of them are "drug pushers". I go to Nativity Women and Birth Center. I had one of my children there and still go there for checkups. If they can't help you, they certainly could recommend someone who could.

Yes yes and yes.. I have PCOS and infertility and all that stuff, minus the brain tumor. I do take metformin, 1500 in the mornign and 1000 at night. Try to follow the atkins diet and it will regulate your hormones and the ovulation. The ov watch will likely not work because it is looking for LH which with PCOS is chronically high. We are on injectables because clomid just doesn't work. I have a 6 year old that we got pregnant with with no help, and on day 21 of my first injectables cycle. If you can be more aggressive than the clomid I would recommend it, it will just make you frustrated. If you are overweight which most people with PCOS are, CUT OUT EVERYTHING WHITE and SUGAR. It is making your PCOS take control of your body, I have a ton of info on it. It is so easy to say cut all that stuff out, but not easy to do, trust me I sturggle every day. Let me know if I can help you more!!

I am not really answering your question, but sharing a concern: I was diagnosed with POS and was on medication for it (which, it turns out, was destroying my liver.) I finally went to Dr. Lackritz in San Antonio, who is a specialist in this disease. He walked in the door, took one look at me and said, "You do not have POS." He said that it is the most misdiagnosed disease in obstetrics. He also said that you can look at a woman and see in her face if she has it: Extreme facial hair and extreme acne. If you don't have those things, see a POS specialist. Fertility specialists can make a lot of money "treating" this disease, so it is important to see someone who specializes in it.

Good luck.

I was taking Metformin for several years, for PCOS symptoms...before I even thought about getting pregnant....once I decided to get pregnant they upped my dosage to 3 times a day....I felt Great! I wasn't near as tired as I was prior to the increase in the dosage. I took clomid for 3 months and then conceived a healthy, full term girl.

A couple things....make them give you a blood test on your 23 day...it will "FOR SURE" tell them if you ovulated. The home ovulation tests are very unreliable in my opinion.

Also, you may want them to do a test to see if your fallopian ducts are blocked...it hurts like HECK, but no worse than labor pains, so you'll live.

Hi E., I too have PCOS and infertility problems. My Ob-gyn also put me on Clomid and Metformin. I went through with it for about 6 months without success but I did not have any adverse effects due to the medication. However, I do know people who have gotten pregnant with this combination. Personally, I had to go through AI and ended up with quads! Good luck and God Bless!

hi. talk to your doc about fortamet instead of metformin. also try acupuncture--worked for me. have them test your progesterone b/f pg b/c it could be low. pcos tend to miscarry or deliver pre-term & may need prog. also, work out like crazy, esp. lifting weights. i was diag. in 2004 and now have 2 healthy sons.

Dear E., this is going to sound sarcastic, but I swear to you , that is not my intention. OK that said here it is. "Too many abreviations! spell this stuff out and you will get a lot more advice." Unless we are gamers, or doctors we don"t understand all those typing shortcuts. Any way ,that said I hope that you get the advice that you need. Sincerely, S.

I also have PCOS and am supposed to be taking metformin also. My doc says that the only way I can get prego is by getting my body mass index to a healthy weight. Which for me is about 35 to 40 more pounds. PCOS will in most cases go into recession when you are at a healthy BMI. That is how I had my first child. I got down to 140 pounds and then BAM!!!! I am pregers. Boy was I mad at first. But good luck getting prego!!!! God Bless!!!

Have you looked into a natural progesterone cream? You can find tons of info online.

Hi E. -

I was diagnosed with PCOS about 5 years ago as well. Never thought I would have an issue getting preggo again ( I have a 12 yr old ) But, I did and Metformin is a GOD send!!!! Because of Metformin, I have a beautiful 3 year old son and 1 year old daughter. I was also seeing an RE, and he recommended that I lose some weight (about 10lbs) and begin using Metformin. Well the combination of both worked for me. I did try clomid, with no luck. It took about 16 months for me to finally concieve. But the wait was well worth it.

I know how painful the wait can be, but just hang in there. It sounds like your RE is on top of it.

One thing I would like to mention is that when you do become pregnant PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE have them check your progesterone level. Progesterone is what substains the pregnancy until the womb takes over at about 10-12 weeks. It is proven that women with PCOS usually have lower progesterone levels and have more chance of miscarriage. If you do test low, all the Dr. has to do is get you on progesterone suppliments and everything will be fine.

Oh yeh, one more thing... if you haven't noticed the not so welcome gastrointestinal side effects yet, be on the lookout. The first 3 weeks are the hardest for your body to adjust, then all will be fine.

A great web-site to check out is Ovusoft.com. There are alot of women with PCOS that post on the boards and are a tremendous help.

Best of Luck to you. I know it will all work out in time.

J.

It sounds like you already have a drug regimen, but you might try Parlodel first to see if you can bring your Prolactin levels down. I too had high Prolactin levels and took Parlodel to help bring them down and just did blood work every couple of weeks to see if my levels were ovulatory or not. My doctor and I just kept adjusting the dosage (from 1 tablet to 1/2 tablet) until the mix was right with my body. Hope this helps.