Hi IMs...I've recently been diagnosed with PCOS and I'm wondering if other mums can share their experience with falling pregnant with PCOS and any tips advice on what can be done about the facial hair and obesity associated. I'm miserable most every day as I can't stand looking at myself.
4 Replies
Pcos is best managed with exercise & a low gi diet as losing weight will lessen the symptoms such as excess hair etc. Unfortunately with our condition it's easy to stack on the weight but harder to lose it. Crap isn't it. I fell pregnant naturally without trying & I honestly can only put it down to starting a low gi diet & getting rid of what was stressing me out. However I've now been trying for 8 months to fall pregnant again with no luck. I don't ovulate & hadn't since having my toddler so was put on Metformin by my GP to help regulate my hormones, in turn helping to lessen the hair, ovulate & lose weight. It didn't work though so dosage was doubled & still no luck. Metformin isn't doing anything for me so the next step is seeing a gyno to go on Clomid. I'd recommend going to your gp & take it from there. Good luck!
First thing you need to do is accept that this is a condition you were born with, you have done nothing to cause it! Yes the facial hair and excess weight is a bitch, but it can be managed successfully. Make an apt with your GP for a long consultation and ask them for a referral to a Gynaecologist who specialises/has an interest in PCOS. From there get on the web and research, research, research I cannot stress this enough. Drug therapy such as Aldactone can be used to address the excess body hair as can waxing/threading etc. Your Gynae will most likely send you for a series of tests to determine exactly how bad your PCOS is - it can range from fairly mild (facial hair, weight, fertility issues) to textbook full blown (excess body hair, obesity, complete lack of periods or a cycle that doesn't stop, insulin resistant diabetes, male pattern baldness, complete and total infertility). There are also a number of support sites to help you negotiate the maze that is PCOS and a wealth of information on the web showing amazing results in recent studies. But no matter what the outcome, PCOS does make you any less of a woman or mean that you will never be a mother - it just means that it may take a little bit more work than normal.
There are a few options for managing PCOS. If you're not actively trying to fall pregnant, the oral contraceptive pill can help to control the unpleasant symptoms like excessive hair growth and acne (there are certain types of the pill that will achieve this better, so you need to tell your prescribing doctor that it is something you're looking for). It is important to try and control your diet and do enough exercise to manage your weight - doctors say that even a 5kg weight loss can alleviate symptoms of PCOS and restore fertility. As for getting pregnant, this is so variable. Some women have PCOS and the associated hair, acne, weight problems etc and yet menstruate regularly and fall pregnant easily. Other women like myself don't have these physical symptoms but never ovulate naturally and therefore have difficulties in falling pregnant. For me, I used the hormonal tablet Clomid to conceive my first baby but for the second baby it was more challenging requiring injectable hormones (the same used for IVF) and had IUI treatment. Was very nearly at the stage of IVF but finally achieved pregnancy.
I'm 34 and have had PCOS since puberty, I have a pretty bad case of it since my periods are all over the place (unless I'm on the pill) and ultrasounds show lots of cysts on my ovaries, BUT I managed to accidentally get pregnant at age 32 within 3 days of getting off the pill, and then got pregnant again 1.5 years later within a couple of weeks of trying (unfortunately miscarried - unrelated to PCOS), then got pregnant one month after the miscarriage! Currently I'm 20 weeks pregnant. Every dr I ever saw told me I would have trouble getting pregnant, and it wasn't the case. I'm telling you my story because PCOS is very unpredictable when it comes to how it affects fertility, I'm an example of how you never know until you try to get pregnant. I hope you have the same luck I've had xxx