Welcome Karen,
I am sorry to hear that you, too suffer from PCOS, but you really are in the right place to learn lots of stuff.
My story sounds very similar to yours. I started getting my periods much later than my peers, and even then, very sporatically. Maybe 4 per year, until I went on BCP, which made me regular.
I was on BCP for 10+ years, and when I went off, after getting marrried, and deciding to conceive, that is when I began to have the majority of the difficulty.
My ob-gyn started me on clomid, but it did not work. THIS RARELY WORKS FOR STUBBORN CASES OF PCOS.
After that, I was referred to a reproductive endocrinologist. This doctor started me on dex daily, on clomid for days 5 thru 9 of my period, and ovulation induction (OI) meds following that. The OI meds were injectible.
Although aggressive, this is the fastest way and most successful way to conceive. I have two beautiful children conceived this way.
After the birth of my last, I decided that I wanted to be healthy, and I began taking metformin and lowcarbing. I have not been consistent, but I have had success.
For the last 2 months, I have taken 1500mg of metformin every day, and committed to a LC lifestyle. I have not yet had ovulation or a period. I recently had to take Provera just to get a period. I guess my body is just a little more resistant.
However, when I Low Carbed last year, I did get several periods that occured spontaneously (read w/o provera). In fact I actually had ONE cycle that was exactly 28 days. U nfortunately for me, I stopped LCing after that and my periods quickly vanished again.
I would strongly suggest that you begin working with a reproductive endocrinologist as opposed to your ob-gyn. With the help of a good RE, and with metformin, and a proper LC diet, I am sure that you will have great success.
The reason I suggest that you work w/ an RE is for several reasons:
* An RE will test you throughout your cycle and can determine unequovicably (as opposed to charting temps) whether or not you are ovulating.
* If diet and metformin alone are not working, you can begin other processes
* Additionally, many times PCOSers have leutal phase defects, which would go undected without the assistance of a skilled RE. A Leutal phase defect means that you don't have a progesterone surge (after the estrogen surge). This is crucial to sustain a pregancy. W/O the proper levels of progesterone, a fertilized embryo will not implant into the uterus.
Goodluck with your efforts. I am SURE that you will be successful. Please keep us posted.
-Beth
This was one of my problems, and I had to have supplemental, injectible progesterone throughout my first trimester with BOTH pregnancies.
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