PCOS and pregnancy/fertility

Wimbledon_2

This post is a bit graphic, so please don't read if squeamish!

I wondered if anyone had any personal experience of PCOS and fertility and or pregnancy?

I have two children. The first one took a long time to conceive, and we were told at the time that I have PCOS. I had my ovaries drilled and eventually conceived with the help of fertility drugs. The second child was conceived very quickly after the first unaided. Following this, I had a mirena coil inserted and my periods stopped completely

DH and I decided a while ago that we would like to try for a third, but would not go down the fertility treatment route again, and would be laid back about the whole thing. Coil came out about 7 weeks ago, following which I had what seemed to be a normal period. On day 8 of that cycle, I had what looked to me like egg white mucus and this coincided with bedroom activity.

I'm now on day 32 of the cycle with no sign of a period. Breasts have been very tender for about 2 weeks and feeling slightly nauseous for this length of time. Also today feel a bit like I have mild cystitis (running to the loo and a bit tender). All this feels reminiscent of pregnancy. Pg tests have all been negative however. Don't really want to pile up to doctor yet as this contravenes the "no fertility fretting" agreement, and will almost certainly end up with drugs being suggested.

I don't recall when trying for my first child having any Pre-menstrual type symptoms while in the throes of PCOS but may just have forgotten about this

For anyone, who has had PCOS, can you recall whether you had cervical changes and/or mucus changes in an anovulatory cycle? If you conceived with PCOS how late was your period before you tested positive?

Also any natural ideas to promote fertility with PCOS would be very welcome. I'm not overweight (BMI is about 20) but also don't take any supplements.

All help and advice would be much appreciated.

me_and_me_monkeys

hiI was on a course at the weekend about pregnancy and childbirth and we talked about a type of massage called Maya Abdominal Massage. From what the lady said (and she was trained in this therapy so we covered a lot about it) they have a good success rate with fertility probs, in fact I was thinking of trying to find someone for my heavy periods as its meant to be great for that too!Quite expensive but they do teach self care so you only need the odd 'top up' for the areas you cannot reach yourself after the initial work.HTH

Js_Other_Half

I ended up with acupuncture to try and help regulate periods - it certainly made a difference, as did food sensitivity testing by someone my acupuncturist recommended.

However, as you can see from my signature I needed western medicine to actually get pg.

patchwork_cat

Hi
TBH pregnancy tests these days really are very accurate. However any inaccuracy will be on the negative and really positive side rather than the other way around.

I have PCOS, but haven't tried the mirena, but find that particulalry as I get older thicker discharges at certain time of my cycle are quite normal. It may just be your body adjusting to the change in hormones. My advice would be that if you don't come on by 6 weeks visit your Dr.

Chilling is the best way to get pregnant, but it is easier said than done.

mai_tai_2

hi
i was diagnosed with pcos at 16 (now 22) and was told i had 6% chance of ever getting pregnant. concieved my 9 month old daughter naturally but test didnt show definate positive for 6 weeks.
have also had discharge like you described but this has been since i had my daughter.

Ted_Hutchinson

Polycystic Ovary Syndrome
Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a disease seen only in humans and is classically characterized by polycystic ovaries, amenorrhea, hirsuitism, insulin resistance, and obesity.
Animal studies have shown that calcium is essential for oocyte activation and maturation. Vitamin D deficiency was highly prevalent among 13 women with PCOS, and supplementation with 1,500 mg of calcium per day and 50,000 IU of vitamin D2 on a weekly basis normalized menstruation and/or fertility in nine of nine women with PCOS-related menstrual irregularities
within three months of treatment.

Had the more effective Vitamin D3 been used a lower dose would have been as effective. PCOS vitamin D
The Vitamin D council provides links to sources of effective strength Vitamin D3. anyone wanting to try the 50,000iu Vit d capsules weekly can find them from that source £20ish for 100. Risk assessment for Vitamin d shows 10,000iu/daily is a safe upper limit and adverse events only observable after daily use of 40,000iu for some months.

Carmina_Piranha_3

i've probably always had pcos but it didn't cause problems to begin with, i barely noticed until i was 27 and i certainly didn't mind not having enough periods. it's changed over time and i'm now moaning about things that just didn't happen before i started having children. it may be be that your symptoms have got worse as you've got older, due to having more cysts etc.

at around age 30 my symptoms on ovulation and before a period, and especially during a failed cycle were very much like early pregnancy. i hated it, it was really hard when we were trying for a baby (after 3 years of trying i had a lap and dye for endometriosis and got pregnant straight away).

during those 3 years of trying i had the mucus every time i ovulated. i gained more cysts during that time, as shown on scans but as i wasn't being scanned each ovulation it's impossible to say whether i was ovulating properly. i don't think i released many eggs during that time but can't say for certain.

i wish you all the best with your fertility and i hope you are pregnant but in my experience i got all the symptoms of early pregnancy whether i was pregnant or not - one of the cruel ways pcos messes you about.

Wimbledon_2

Thanks everyone. I think I will wait until I am 2 weeks late then assuming pg test is still negative will try some natural remedies to see if I can get things going again. In the meantime I'm going to switch to a low GI diet as I've read that can help. OH is not at all keen to go down the whole drug treatment route again and nor I am I, but although I said I would stay chilled and laid back about the whole things and what would be would be, I'm already obsessing in the first month of trying! I don't think I would be so frustrated if my period had come when it was due. Its the whole wondering whether I'm pregnant but not producing enough hormone, or back to my old infertile self thing which is driving me nuts. That and not daring to wear my Liz Hurley type white jeans again at any time of the month just in case!