Just thought I'd share a positive story...

purebliss24

Hi ladies - I'm not trying to concieve but I have PCOS. I was told when I was 25 that I had PCOS and that I better consider getting pregnant now. Well, at 25 I didn't even have a boyfriend (only my career). Needless to say, at 30 I got married and about a year or so later we started to try. I knew I had PCOS so I wanted to be in the best shape mentally and physically...so I did EVERYTHING Natural.... Accupuncture, yoga, meditation, massages, personal trainer, visualization, fertility dietician and even talked with a counselor. I thought maybe I needed to be in a better frame of mind to be blessed with children. I was determined to be "natural". What can I say when I want something...I usually go overboard.

After trying to concieve naturally and determined to not focus on PCOS. I gave in! I went to the doctor and started on clomid for almost 6 months...then I said - I really surrender - I'm going to a fertility doctor. After the first month at the fertility doctor - I was so PISSED at myself for just not starting there. Basically, I paid out of pocket to have ultrasounds done on my ovaries during my "ovulation" time...only to find out with or without clomid - i was not ovulating PERIOD. This simple "relatively" inexpensive test took all the guess work out. either i had the chance to get preggers or NOT. that simple.

The positive is I did eventually get pregnant with IUI and drugs. I'm the mom of boy/girl twins. It wasn't "natural" but somehow we were blessed.

Moral of the story...I ended up being my heaviest at 240 when I finally concieved. All this talk about losing weight increases your chances...I have my doubts. I'm sure it helps...but I ended up gaining weight while TTC and the only thing that worked for me was science....drugs and IUI...with ultrasonds to see if I was ovulating. Yes, we spent $$ and yes...it wasn't fun....but mentally it was worth it to see it for what it is. No ovulation, No eggs.....ovulation, eggs...well...now we have a chance. I'm No doctor but I do wish regular OBYNs did these routine ultrasounds for their PCOS clients TTC...rather than the monthly/yearly guessing/waiting we all have to go through to see if we concieved.

I do believe all the "natural" work I did leading up to TTC and during...really helped with the emotional roller coaster that I was on. So I don't regret that one bit...but I do wish I had seen a fertility specialist earlier and insisted on ultrasounds asap. motto...GIVE me the facts and I can deal with that. PLus, I have to say...changing some foods in my husbands diet at the recommendation of the "fertility nutritionist"...really made his sperm go from "so-so" to "super-hero" sperm in 3 months. The fertility doctor was shocked...all he did was reduce his caffiene, increase his b vitamins, decrease his beer and took "zinc" vitamins (along with his multi-vitamins).

Everyone is soo different but I thought i'd share my story with you...

good luck to you all! I wish you the best...it isn't an easy journey.

sethandjane

Thanks for your story -

Mine is the exact opposite of yours - I did the drugs/infertility doctors/4 rounds of IUI first with no luck.

The past year I've been doing all the things you first did, in hopes that will get my body ready for IVF next summer.

Thanks again for sharing!
--Jane

EJED724

Thank you for sharing this! I was diagnosed with PCOS at age 17 and at the time they did not recommend I start trying to have children, but did say it might be difficult when I eventually did try. We have been TTC since November and I had seen enough friends go through what you did to no avail, so we went straight to a reproductive endocrinologist. It still takes a long time and the timing is seemingly always off, but I have hope we'll get there eventually and be blessed like you!

I also have gained weight from the stress of TTC and have so much guilt that I'm making it harder/less likely because I eat the wrong thing some days etc. I'm really trying to lose the weight back just so it might be easier and I'll potentially be healthier during the pregnancy, but I do appreciate you sharing your story. Maybe I'll have more success if I give myself a little break.

MegSaddler

Here is a positive story of my own to share. I was diagnosed with pcos forever ago but just started getting treatment in december 2011 since we'd tried naturally for a year with no luck. I was put on metformin and birth control pill and lost 30 lbs! This was great! I stayed on the treatment for 5 months, then saw a family planner that said we were ready to try, but that thanks to my husbands sperm analysis it was her medical opinion that it was "statistically unlikely" we would conceive without in vitro. Talk about world crashing down! This was just this April 2012.

I stopped taking the pill at that time and busted out the old ovulation kits. We figured we'd try naturally 3 months, try iui for 3 cylces and then if nothing took, start and IVF/Adoption fund. Im sure you all know where Im going with this...

I got a positive ovulation result on my husbands bday - 5/9/12, and positive pregnancy test 5/23/12 - AGAINST ALL ODDS!!! We're six weeks pregnant today! I have had the result confirmed at the doctors office & my 1st ultrasound is next week. Moral of this story is IT CAN HAPPEN TO YOU! Even when you've had no luck and doctors discourage you. It never hurts to keep trying and even keep trying different things. And even if your prob is compounded by your hubby's problems, like mine - it can still happen.

Best of luck to all you ladies, don't give up!

purebliss24

love your story. congratulations! thanks for sharing, too!

bethfartman

Were you still menstruating regularly even though it turned out you weren't ovulating?

purebliss24

yes, I still had a periods and did all the ovulation tests...which were vague results. i thought i was ovulating while trying to get preggers. it wasn't until i went on clomid and it wasn't successful and finally went to doctor to have ultrasound/sonogram during ovulation time - that the doctor could see my eggs weren't getting large enough to release and i wasn't ovulating.

bethfartman

Very interesting, thanks for the response! I've been to tons of specialists and they mostly tell me that having my period regularly is a good sign I'm ovulating (I also have severe endometriosis, so there is a possibility that the egg isn't getting down the fallopian tubes, but that's a whole other beast,) but I've always questioned them when they say that.
I'm not at the clomid/ovulation monitoring stage quite yet, as I’m not trying super hard to get pregnant, but I’m also not trying to stop getting pregnant if I'm lucky enough to have to happen naturally.
In a way, even though it's expensive and can be rough, I kind of like the idea of IUI route. It's got to be nice to get both your babies in one shot- and a boy/girl combo seems just perfect!
Thanks for sharing!

purebliss24

If they are concerned about your tubes - have them checked. i had that test done and it was pretty easy...i think they ordered that when i went to specialist?? some call it the blue dye test.

Multiples are fantastic but they are also very challenging and put you at a higher risk pregnancy. IUI gives you a higher chance of multiples than IVF since never quite sure how many eggs are released even with the many many ultrasounds before ovulation, etc

i'm defintely no doctor but we sure did learn a lot going through the process. LOL...especially my husband - way too much info

good luck with your journey!

coastiewife9

your story is very encouraging!!!! we have been ttc for 4 years now and my last resort before ivf is weight loss. i am slightly confused though.. my obgyn has not dicussed anything between clomid (and she would only do a 3 month cycle) and ivf... hmmm.....