Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Follow me on Twitter.com/GetPGwithPCOS
I've created a new twitter account to keep in touch with other women who are trying conceive with PCOS. You can follow me there at http://www.twitter.com/getpgwithpcos
Sunday, December 16, 2007
Welcome to my BLOG
Hi, My name is Karen and I would like to introduce myself and talk a little bit about Trying to Conceive with PCOS (Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome).
I'm 42 years old and have had PCOS since puberty. I didn't know it though until I was in my early thirties. I had always had irregular periods but it didn't really bother me that much going 38 days or more between them. It was just stress or whatever, I thought. What did bother me was the acne and struggle with weight gain. Then came the even more frustrating struggle with infertility.
I got married when I was 32 years old and my husband had had a vasectomy so he had to get it reversed before we could start trying to get pregnant. The procedure was a success but we were still unable to conceive. He did have a slight problem with sperm antibodies which is common after a vasectomy reversal but my lack of periods due to extremely long cycles was most likely the problem so I went to get checked out.
The nurse at the clinic mentioned "the string of pearls" appearance of my ovaries on the ultrasound but the doctor didn't even tell me I had PCOS. He just said something to the effect of "take two clomid and call me in a month". I pretty much self diagnosed myself with the help of the internet and while I was concerned about the long term effects of PCOS, I was relieved that I finally knew what my "problem" was. At first I was pretty angry that none of the doctors I'd gone to over the years had ever mentioned that I might have PCOS but I guess I never really made it a big issue that I didn't get my period all the time. I had no idea that my being overweight, acne and excess hair were all somehow related. I also had high cholesterol even when I was thin.
Well, after several cycles of clomid, a laparoscopy, hsg and numerous blood tests and ultrasounds, still no ovulation. I switched doctors and went on metformin. It was a little bit rough on the tummy so I tried the extended release version of the drug Glucophage XR and that was better. We then tried clomid and glucophage together but still no luck. Then we did a combined glucophage, clomid, fertinex, hcg, cycle with sperm washing and intrauterine insemination. It did the trick. I was finally pregnant!!
The pregnancy was easy (I know, don't hate me). Well, there was that last month or so that I did lay on the couch all day moaning, uuuuughh, get this thing out of me. I was two weeks overdue as well, but we won't talk about that here. The delivery went well and I had a beautiful baby girl. I thought all my problems with PCOS were done. But then I tried to breastfeed. My milk never really came in. I felt like such a failure once again. First I had so much trouble trying to conceive and now I couldn't feed my baby. Again, I was frustrated. Why didn't anybody tell me breastfeeding might be a problem?
Apparently some women with PCOS have trouble with breastfeeding, either too much milk or not enough. I had an extremely low milk supply and had to supplement with formula. I tried Reglan and lots of pumping, but that didn't help. I tried the herb Fenugreek. That seemed to give me the most milk possible but it was still nowhere near enough. Fenugreek has this strange side effect. It makes you smell like maple syrup. Not an unpleasant odor but still quite strong. My husband would tease me that whenever he was near me he thought of waffles. I don't think anyone else really noticed or at least they didn't say anything. Maybe they thought I went to IHOP for breakfast. Anyway, I did comfort nurse for a long time and we both enjoyed that special bond.
Well, if I haven't bored you to tears with my ramblings I'll try to write more for you later and tell you some more of my story. Thanks for reading.
I'm 42 years old and have had PCOS since puberty. I didn't know it though until I was in my early thirties. I had always had irregular periods but it didn't really bother me that much going 38 days or more between them. It was just stress or whatever, I thought. What did bother me was the acne and struggle with weight gain. Then came the even more frustrating struggle with infertility.
I got married when I was 32 years old and my husband had had a vasectomy so he had to get it reversed before we could start trying to get pregnant. The procedure was a success but we were still unable to conceive. He did have a slight problem with sperm antibodies which is common after a vasectomy reversal but my lack of periods due to extremely long cycles was most likely the problem so I went to get checked out.
The nurse at the clinic mentioned "the string of pearls" appearance of my ovaries on the ultrasound but the doctor didn't even tell me I had PCOS. He just said something to the effect of "take two clomid and call me in a month". I pretty much self diagnosed myself with the help of the internet and while I was concerned about the long term effects of PCOS, I was relieved that I finally knew what my "problem" was. At first I was pretty angry that none of the doctors I'd gone to over the years had ever mentioned that I might have PCOS but I guess I never really made it a big issue that I didn't get my period all the time. I had no idea that my being overweight, acne and excess hair were all somehow related. I also had high cholesterol even when I was thin.
Well, after several cycles of clomid, a laparoscopy, hsg and numerous blood tests and ultrasounds, still no ovulation. I switched doctors and went on metformin. It was a little bit rough on the tummy so I tried the extended release version of the drug Glucophage XR and that was better. We then tried clomid and glucophage together but still no luck. Then we did a combined glucophage, clomid, fertinex, hcg, cycle with sperm washing and intrauterine insemination. It did the trick. I was finally pregnant!!
The pregnancy was easy (I know, don't hate me). Well, there was that last month or so that I did lay on the couch all day moaning, uuuuughh, get this thing out of me. I was two weeks overdue as well, but we won't talk about that here. The delivery went well and I had a beautiful baby girl. I thought all my problems with PCOS were done. But then I tried to breastfeed. My milk never really came in. I felt like such a failure once again. First I had so much trouble trying to conceive and now I couldn't feed my baby. Again, I was frustrated. Why didn't anybody tell me breastfeeding might be a problem?
Apparently some women with PCOS have trouble with breastfeeding, either too much milk or not enough. I had an extremely low milk supply and had to supplement with formula. I tried Reglan and lots of pumping, but that didn't help. I tried the herb Fenugreek. That seemed to give me the most milk possible but it was still nowhere near enough. Fenugreek has this strange side effect. It makes you smell like maple syrup. Not an unpleasant odor but still quite strong. My husband would tease me that whenever he was near me he thought of waffles. I don't think anyone else really noticed or at least they didn't say anything. Maybe they thought I went to IHOP for breakfast. Anyway, I did comfort nurse for a long time and we both enjoyed that special bond.
Well, if I haven't bored you to tears with my ramblings I'll try to write more for you later and tell you some more of my story. Thanks for reading.
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