PCOS treatment when not ttc?

sarah_lou1981

Back again!!
Hey everyone

I'm Sarah. I found out I have PCOS & endometriosis when we started ttc in August 2011. I rarely ovulate and have approx one period a year, however I don't suffer with excess hair etc. Luckily after a laparoscopy I fell pregnant last year and our baby boy was born on New Years Eve :D

I'm now on the copper coil as I don't want a hormone contraceptive. I'm about 2 stone above being 'overweight' and 5 stone above being a 'healthy' weight. I lost all my baby weight in a fortnight and once we get home from our mini honeymoon I'm back on Weight Watchers to lose the weight.

My question is, has anyone not been ttc but received treatment for PCOS? My doctor said there's no treatment but I've heard of people being given Metformin. We want to ttc again when our baby is about 12-18m old as I'm 33 this year so would like to get the PCOS under control.

Any help/advice on how I go about it please?
 
Normally (atleast doctors did in sweden) birth control pills are prescribed to have a normal cycle, to be honest i dont know if it actually does anything more than giving you regulated "period", dont know about metformin when not ttc, i got them prescribed when we started trying, and before that the doctors didnt really do anything.

something i noticed was not going overboard on carbs seemed to help for me with shortening cycles. the best thing i think to keep pcos symptoms in check is controlling weight, which you are doing already (well done to lose the babyweight that fast!)
 
Normally (atleast doctors did in sweden) birth control pills are prescribed to have a normal cycle, to be honest i dont know if it actually does anything more than giving you regulated "period", dont know about metformin when not ttc, i got them prescribed when we started trying, and before that the doctors didnt really do anything. something i noticed was not going overboard on carbs seemed to help for me with shortening cycles. the best thing i think to keep pcos symptoms in check is controlling weight, which you are doing already (well done to lose the babyweight that fast!)

Thanks hun. I used to be on the pill but learnt it only gives you a 'fake' period ie, you don't actually ovulate. So once I stopped taking it my periods disappeared again. I had Metformin when I was pregnant due to gestational diabetes but not sure they'd give it if I wasn't ttc. I just wanted to be one step ahead for when we try again ;)
Thanks for the carbs tip. I'm a total carb monster, need to cut down really!! I just LOVE bread. I'm just hoping once I get to a 'healthy' weight that my periods will regulate.
 
Thanks hun. I used to be on the pill but learnt it only gives you a 'fake' period ie, you don't actually ovulate. So once I stopped taking it my periods disappeared again. I had Metformin when I was pregnant due to gestational diabetes but not sure they'd give it if I wasn't ttc. I just wanted to be one step ahead for when we try again ;)
Thanks for the carbs tip. I'm a total carb monster, need to cut down really!! I just LOVE bread. I'm just hoping once I get to a 'healthy' weight that my periods will regulate.

Yeah its an odd one with the pill, it fools the system completely, hehe im a carb monster as well, i tried atkins for six weeks and in the end i was just screaming after some bread and potatoes,
hopefully your periods will regulate, not everyone is the same tho, i have a friend that have pcos as well, shes really skinny, and shes had one proper eriod in her life, so shes gone the other way really, but for me it really helps losing weight, hopiong it will for you too. I wouldnt worry to much tho, you have gotten pregnant before, you will manage again :)
 
Hey everyone

I'm Sarah. I found out I have PCOS & endometriosis when we started ttc in August 2011. I rarely ovulate and have approx one period a year, however I don't suffer with excess hair etc. Luckily after a laparoscopy I fell pregnant last year and our baby boy was born on New Years Eve :D

I'm now on the copper coil as I don't want a hormone contraceptive. I'm about 2 stone above being 'overweight' and 5 stone above being a 'healthy' weight. I lost all my baby weight in a fortnight and once we get home from our mini honeymoon I'm back on Weight Watchers to lose the weight.

My question is, has anyone not been ttc but received treatment for PCOS? My doctor said there's no treatment but I've heard of people being given Metformin. We want to ttc again when our baby is about 12-18m old as I'm 33 this year so would like to get the PCOS under control.

Any help/advice on how I go about it please?

Hi sarah... Congratulations on beautiful Cole xx

I am not TTC and dont ever plan on having children.

Just like you I used to have one period a year (if that!) which would last 3 months at times! No hair but the weight gain was horrendous.

Doc put me on metformin (started at 500mg X 3 times). I am pre diabetic (family history) so when my weight increased dosage increased to 850mg x 3 a day. Now that I've lost weight and got my insulin under control I am at 1000mg X 2.

Through all the different doses, the one thing that remained constant was my period - 28 days on the dot, 3-4 days and start again.

I dont know what the procedures are where you live, but here Metformin is an over the counter medication (dont need a prescription).

Maybe have another chat with your doc and ask for Met? Be warned tho that some ppl have adverse reactions in the first few days (feeling nauseous, diarrhea). I was lucky it didn't bother me.

Hope this helps xx
 
Hi sarah... Congratulations on beautiful Cole xx I am not TTC and dont ever plan on having children. Just like you I used to have one period a year (if that!) which would last 3 months at times! No hair but the weight gain was horrendous. Doc put me on metformin (started at 500mg X 3 times). I am pre diabetic (family history) so when my weight increased dosage increased to 850mg x 3 a day. Now that I've lost weight and got my insulin under control I am at 1000mg X 2. Through all the different doses, the one thing that remained constant was my period - 28 days on the dot, 3-4 days and start again. I dont know what the procedures are where you live, but here Metformin is an over the counter medication (dont need a prescription). Maybe have another chat with your doc and ask for Met? Be warned tho that some ppl have adverse reactions in the first few days (feeling nauseous, diarrhea). I was lucky it didn't bother me. Hope this helps xx

Hi Bonkers

Thanks for commenting. I had Metformin (4 x 500mg a day) while I was pregnant as I had gestational diabetes. I luckily never had any side effects from it. I was also on two lots of quick releasing insulin and one lot of slow release a day which I think all helped me not gain loads.

I think once I've got my weight down and closer to the 'healthy' bmi for my height I'll go back and have a word, maybe with a different doctor. The one I saw was very dismissive. I'm just so scared of going through another two years of hell ttc when I could be treating my PCOS in the run up to it.
Thanks again for your help & advice, it's greatly appreciated xx
 
I was given metformin to try and get my PCOS under control but i'm shockingly bad at remembering to take pills daily and have never really continued with them. They are a diabetic drug that helps with sugars in the blood and should also reduce your weight however I never took them long enough for them to do any good. I started bleeding a while back and went to the ob/gyn to find out what was going on as it had been about 3 months in total, when I mentioned i would like to have a child the looked at me like i was off my head and said that they would need to fit me with a mirena coil to stop the bleeding and give my body a rest.
Well, i got it fitted and had 6 months of hell until my body accepted it, i bled so heavily I couldn't work and ended up at A&E one night because it was so bad.
I've since joined slimming world and dropped 2.8st so far and have a long way to go before I can even think of asking them to remove it.
I'm 36 now so i don't think im ever going to have a child.
 
I was given metformin to try and get my PCOS under control but i'm shockingly bad at remembering to take pills daily and have never really continued with them. They are a diabetic drug that helps with sugars in the blood and should also reduce your weight however I never took them long enough for them to do any good. I started bleeding a while back and went to the ob/gyn to find out what was going on as it had been about 3 months in total, when I mentioned i would like to have a child the looked at me like i was off my head and said that they would need to fit me with a mirena coil to stop the bleeding and give my body a rest. Well, i got it fitted and had 6 months of hell until my body accepted it, i bled so heavily I couldn't work and ended up at A&E one night because it was so bad. I've since joined slimming world and dropped 2.8st so far and have a long way to go before I can even think of asking them to remove it. I'm 36 now so i don't think im ever going to have a child.

I had Metformin during pregnancy for gestational diabetes and it helped control my weight gain and meant I lost all my baby weight within a couple of weeks. But usually it's not so easy to lose weight.

Why did they look at you like that when you said you wanted a baby? I bled loads on and off and, like you, bled for three months before we started ttc but my doctor was always positive that I could get pregnant with help. I ovulate once a year, if that, and also have endometriosis which can also prevent getting pregnant. I think your doctors reaction is awful. That must have been terrible for you.
 
I had Metformin during pregnancy for gestational diabetes and it helped control my weight gain and meant I lost all my baby weight within a couple of weeks. But usually it's not so easy to lose weight.

Why did they look at you like that when you said you wanted a baby? I bled loads on and off and, like you, bled for three months before we started ttc but my doctor was always positive that I could get pregnant with help. I ovulate once a year, if that, and also have endometriosis which can also prevent getting pregnant. I think your doctors reaction is awful. That must have been terrible for you.

After bleeding for months they fitted me with a mirena coil which made it worse and i spent the majority of 2013 without any form of sex life so trying to have a baby was out of the question anyway, and the simple fact they fitted me with the coil put a stop to everything. I was fitted with the coil because i had some suspicious cells when they did a smear and said that the only way to deal with this was through the hormones in the coil.

I was around a size 28/30 originally so the likelyhood of me conceiving was slim to none but when I spoke to the ob/gyn she honest to god looked at me like i was a monster. I was also told that fertility treatment would be out the question because I was too fat and no-one with a BMI of over 36 would get it.

I think i just have to come to terms with the fact that I'm never going to have a child, and at 36 years old im seriously pushing my luck.
 
I have been on metformin for about a year for PCOS. When I went to the hospital for hysteroscopy they said that this was a very outdated treatment but that it wouldn't do any harm to continue with it. I think it depends on which dr you see as to whether they give metformin or not. My daughter has now been diagnosed with PCOS but they said they wont be giving her any medication.
 
I was put on metformin when trying to conceive. I went back on Cerazette 3 weeks after the birth. I breastfed until my daughter was 3 months old, and by 5 months old some of my symptoms had come flying back with a vengeance (I was also under a lot of stress at the time - new baby - planning a wedding - dealing with Hubbys redundancy). I went back to my GP who said he thought I should remain on Metformin "between" pregnancies. Not sure what he meant by that (although in UK its not common practice to take Metformin during pregnancy, even if you have gestational diabetes).
For me, taking Metformin is the only way to cope with my PCOS when I am under severe stress.
In normal circumstances, I need to be taking either birth control pills, or Metformin, to cope with PCOS symptoms. In particular I suffer from incredible mood swings if I am not on either of these drugs (e.g. I could cry for hours with no reason - or want to scream my head off).
 
I have been on metformin for about a year for PCOS. When I went to the hospital for hysteroscopy they said that this was a very outdated treatment but that it wouldn't do any harm to continue with it. I think it depends on which dr you see as to whether they give metformin or not. My daughter has now been diagnosed with PCOS but they said they wont be giving her any medication.

Thanks for your reply. I think I'm just going to have to deal with it and continue with the weight loss in the hope that it will help me conceive next time.
 
I was put on metformin when trying to conceive. I went back on Cerazette 3 weeks after the birth. I breastfed until my daughter was 3 months old, and by 5 months old some of my symptoms had come flying back with a vengeance (I was also under a lot of stress at the time - new baby - planning a wedding - dealing with Hubbys redundancy). I went back to my GP who said he thought I should remain on Metformin "between" pregnancies. Not sure what he meant by that (although in UK its not common practice to take Metformin during pregnancy, even if you have gestational diabetes). For me, taking Metformin is the only way to cope with my PCOS when I am under severe stress. In normal circumstances, I need to be taking either birth control pills, or Metformin, to cope with PCOS symptoms. In particular I suffer from incredible mood swings if I am not on either of these drugs (e.g. I could cry for hours with no reason - or want to scream my head off).
Hm, it's funny how different doctors give you different information. I was put straight on metformin for my GD and know quite a few girls on another uk forum who were also put on it. I think I'd have a job on persuading my doctor to let me have it so, like I said above, I think I'm just going to have to deal with it and concentrate on my diet. I'm lucky that I don't get any mood swings etc and I've never really suffered pmt either.
 
Hm, it's funny how different doctors give you different information. I was put straight on metformin for my GD and know quite a few girls on another uk forum who were also put on it. I think I'd have a job on persuading my doctor to let me have it so, like I said above, I think I'm just going to have to deal with it and concentrate on my diet. I'm lucky that I don't get any mood swings etc and I've never really suffered pmt either.

Very strange - in my area insulin is the only treatment available for GD. Until now I have never heard of Metformin in pregnancy. I was told it makes you more likely to miscarry? Perhaps thats just in first trimester / completely unproven??!!

do you just see gp? i think problem with gp's is most really don't have a clue about pcos. they just think its about facial hair and lack of periods. I don't have a set dr within my surgery, but I make sure when I go to discuss pcos i see the dr who specialises in diabetes - he seems to know a bit more about insulin resistance and pcos, so willing to try out different treatments. Is there anyway you can see a different dr?
 
Very strange - in my area insulin is the only treatment available for GD. Until now I have never heard of Metformin in pregnancy. I was told it makes you more likely to miscarry? Perhaps thats just in first trimester / completely unproven??!! do you just see gp? i think problem with gp's is most really don't have a clue about pcos. they just think its about facial hair and lack of periods. I don't have a set dr within my surgery, but I make sure when I go to discuss pcos i see the dr who specialises in diabetes - he seems to know a bit more about insulin resistance and pcos, so willing to try out different treatments. Is there anyway you can see a different dr?

I wasn't diagnosed until 28 weeks so that makes sense about not giving it in early pregnancy. I was on insulin too, I was greedy ;)
We don't have a set doctor either so I'm going to go back and see another. The one I saw apparently deals with gynaecology within the surgery but there's another one that referred us for fertility testing so will see if I can get to see her.
 
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