PCOS - what is your story?

[Lynn]

Hi Belinda,

I have PCOS but unfortunately was not diagnosed until I failed to fall pg. I had bad skin and had irregular cycles when I was young but my doctor just put me on another pill which I now know just covered it up We were TTC for about a year which was really difficult because my cycles were really long and irregular so it was hard to determine O day. We evenutally seeked out a FS and he diagnosed me with PCOS. We went on Clomid and after 6 cycles we conceived Cooper. Heartbreakingly we lost Cooper at 37 weeks to a cord accident.

When we were ready to try again we went on Clomid. We tried for a couple of cycles with no luck. My FS then monitored me with u/s and bt and he said that my body was not responding to Clomid and I had to go on FSH injections/IUI. We were fortunate enough that I fell first go.

I too find it hard when it is nearly 4 years since we started TTC and still don't have a bub in our arms and people around me fall straight away. I thought that after we lost Cooper I would conceive ok on Clomid so it was so hard to hear that I had not responded. I guess my body is getting worse. I am afraid that if we try again that FSH/IUI will not work.

I think it is also hard that you lose all the romance out of TTC - it is like clockwork! But I guess at the end of the day it is about falling pg and having a healthy baby.

Some days it is hard to cope with the struggles of a long TTC journey. I get angry that not only has my body has failed me but it has also failed my DH and Cooper. My symptoms are bad skin, weight gain and irregular cycles. Have you tried Metformin?

I wish you all the best in getting a 'normal' cycle and being able to conceive natural.

[megs11]

Hi,
I have PCOS, I am lucky because I have two boys and had no problems falling pregnant with them, but I started at not quite 20. It wasn't till after my last child that I really had problems, slowly but surely my periods went haywire, now they come around every 4-5 months. I had an ectopic pregnancy last year with twins, one at the end of the tube and I M/C the other, I blame PCOS for it, don't know if it has anything to do with it, but I figure it is it's fault anyway.

I hate:

• The fact that I absently pull at the hair under my chin, gross
• My skin is revolting
• The belly stripe of hair, ewwww
• I have better sideburns than Elvis
• The feeling that my body has betrayed me
• I hate that it makes me feel so unfeminine

I must sound like a whinger and believe me I know how lucky I am to have my boys, but I hate the fact that it may not be my decision to have more children but that it is out of my control, my body has the final say. Well that was my big ARRRGGGGGGHH for the day!!! I wish the other ladies out there with this stupid SYNDROME (stupid word) who are TTC all the luck in the world

Meagan

[megs11]

Have you ever noticed that you can go five months with out a period and then whammo at the worst moment they arrive, like my wedding, had to take medication to stop the spotting, or I can guarantee you if I go on a holiday they will arrive with in 48 hours!!!!

Lynn I am thinking of you during this pregnancy, my little boy's middle name is Cooper, as it was my maiden name.

[belmarks]

Lynn - thank you for your response. It is pretty sad that Dr's still don't know how and when to diagnose PCOS isn't it!

It took us over 4 years of "really" trying before I had Coby and countless miscarriages etc, its very frustrating isn't it.

I am really sorry to hear about Cooper, I can only imagine how devastating that must have been for you.

I wish you all the best for this pregnancy and "hope" will be gorgeous, I just know it.

Megs, you are soooo right regarding the timing of periods for PCOS women, they just know how to come at the WORST time!!

I had to laugh when you wrote about pulling at the hair on your chin, I do the same, its awful huh!!

Feeling like your body has betrayed you is a fantastic way to put it, I feel that way everyday. Like I am defective.

I can't tell you how awful I felt when DH and I were really trying to have a baby and it was because of something I had wrong with me that we had to undergo countless operations, IVF and other fertility treatments, I felt so guilty that I couldn't give him a child naturally or easily, but he never kicked up a stink about it, he was great to me. I know he felt awful seeing me go through the IVF and the heartbreak everytime I had a negative result, it broke his heart because he now says that he NEVER wants to go through IVF again.

I got so down about it a few years back that I actually went to my FS and asked for a hysterectomy, to which he basically told me that I was being irrational etc and that he could control it with drugs, but I don't want to take drugs all my life. I take Metformin everyday - 3 times a day, and that's enough I think!!

Don't you just feel robbed of a normal existence sometimes!!

Surely there are things about this "syndrome" that we could laugh about to make our plight seem a little better....

[Lynn]

Thanks girls your words mean so much.

Meagan - I love the name Cooper (obviously ) It was so hard to come up with name but it was the only name that DH loved. I am so sorry to hear about the loss of your twins :hugs:
LOL! at pulling at your chin hair. I guess I can say that I am fortunate enough that I didn't get that lovely side effect - the excessive hair. So true about AF coming at the worst time! And you are always so unprepared because you have no idea of when it is coming. Friends used to say how lucky I was because AF would visit every 4-5 months. At the time I thought it was good too - not now!!!!! I would take every period now if I could get rid of PCOS and be able to conceive naturally.

Belinda - I am so sorry for your losses The TTC is so frustrating isn't it when it take so long. I am struggling with that emotions at the moment as next month it will be 4 years since we started. My DH asked me if we would ever be able to have children naturally - it broke my heart that I can't give him that. But he is very supportive and understands and I guess in way we make light fun of how we conceived this bub - what else can you do!! He sometimes says that this bub is mine and Diane's baby (she was the nurse that did the IUI procedure and DH wasn't even there!) And our birds and the bees story will be quite different too! The one thing that I lose when I am pg is my bad skin. Looks like I will have to be pg for the rest of my life!!!