Feeling like it's never going to happen for me.

[minkajane]

I have PCOS and took Clomid to get DS. I pretty much don't have a period unless I'm on the pill, so that means I'm not ovulating at all. I've been taking Vitex, soy isoflavons, and vitamin B6 for months and it hasn't done anything. I can't remember the last time I had a real period. Last November (a year ago) I had one when I was off the pill and had an IUD put in. I got the IUD removed in June and had another period. Then nothing till last month when I took Provera to induce a period. I'm due for a period about now and I'm not feeling at all PMSy, so I'm guessing nothing's happening.

It feels like nothing I try is working! I won't have insurance till January and I don't think it covers fertility treatments anyway (it's school insurance and I can't find any info whatsoever about what's covered). I can't afford to go to the doctor and try to convince them to give me some Clomid. The NP at Planned Parenthood told me she can't prescribe it.

This is pretty much just a vent. I want more kids so badly and DH wants one from the beginning (he met DS at 2 1/2). This SUCKS.

[*Jade*]

I'm sorry, it's such a hard road.

I feel the same tho, 12 cycles trying, and now I stop ovulating. And medical treatment is not an option for me either, which makes it all seem very unfair.
I really hope you can get some answers soon.

[SoCaliMommy]

[kbhlmh]

You may want to stop the vitex and soy isoflavones for a while. I know that soy gave me cysts and moved my O date WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY back so it may be having a negative effect on you, too. Stop the herbs and let your body try to heal itself for a couple of months before starting them up again. Also, you may want to check out The Infertility Cure by Randine Lewis from the library. It has some really good info in there about balancing hormones. Good luck!

[wtg4miracle]

I am so sorry you are feeling this way. I am in the same boat with you. I also feel like it will never happen. I am on birth control pills now to fix some ovarian cysts. I am upset that we are delayed for the IUI cause of this. My dh is shocked that this month there is no chance of pregnancy. How ironic this is.

I keep asking my dh how are we going to manage if we can't have our own child. I don't know how I can live forever knowing that we our little soul might not come to us which is a product of our love. I am so scared that we will not get pregnant even with the highest technology. This dark feeling is killing me at the core. I look around my house and wonder what our little one would be doing. I dream of dh holding his firstborn and playing with the child. There are so many dreams on hold cause of this. We are bombarded with family and friends wondering what is going on. We are trying to keep away from everybody who has little babies. Its very painful for us. We just look at each other with sad eyes when we see neighbors, friends, co-workers and family who announce they are pregnant or who just gave birth. If we don't have sadness we are angry about this. We are on horrible roller coaster ride that keeps us upside down.

It sure doesn't seem fair that we want this so much and our little miracle is not coming.

Take one day at a time. Maybe read some books. I have been reading "The Infertility Cure" from Randine Lewis and starting to read "The Power of Now" from Echert Tolle.

I hope you find peace soon. I guess there is no answers on why this happens to the best of us. I just want you to know that I am feeling the same way as you. Just have hope and someday it will happen. Thats all I am doing, have some hope. Maybe we should stay positive. You know the power of positive thinking.

[ErikaG]

Some people with PCOS suggest avoiding soy-it has to do with the excess estrogen in our bodies getting converted to testosterone, and with PCOS we tend to have higher testosterone levels, and increasing that can increase our PCOS symptoms, etc. I'm in the "soy avoidant" camp myself, both because of PCOS and my thyroid (and if you've got PCOS, your thyroid should be monitored too-we're at higher risk for hypothyroidism, too.)

Both my OB/GYN (who diagnosed me and treats my PCOS) and my endocrinologist (who I see because of my thyroid) feel that birth control pills are great for contraception, but if you've got PCOS, whether or not you've got insulin resistance, Metformin is a better treatment...birth control pills treat only the menstrual cycle related symptoms, not the other potential issues with PCOS which can have huge long term impacts on your health. Many women (me included) have regular cycles without added hormones on Metformin alone-before my daughter, my cycles were 34 days on the metformin, with consistent ovulation (I used Clomid because my husband has MFI and I've got a short luteal phase, Clomid allowed us to time sex carefully and extended my luteal phase enough that I could get pregnant.)

If you're comfortable with it, inhousepharmacy.com (the place where many people buy their domperidone from) sells Clomid.

I've been in similar shoes-feeling like it would never happen. It's a terrible thing and I'm sorry you're feeling this way.

[minkajane]

I've been off the herbs for a few weeks now and nothing has changed. I was on Metformin for three months a couple of years ago and nothing happened. It seems like no matter what I do, nothing happens.

Erika, I will definitely check out that webpage and see what I can do when I have extra money.

[Pookietooth]

Have you been to a reproductive endo? If clomid worked before, you could try it again. It never worked for me and I have PCOS too (but I think there are at least two different types of PCOS). Best wishes and lots of to you. And check out the Randine Lewis book.

[LisaG]

A friend of mine who is a nurse practitioner mentioned this to me last night. She said a recent study was done on PCOS and they compared groups taking only clomid, only metformin, and and 3rd group taking clomid + metformin. She said the group that did clomid and clomid + metformin had the highest rate of conception vs. metformin alone. Due to the higher cost of metformin they were recommending clomid alone because the results were pretty comparable to clomid + metformin. Although for some women being on metformin can help sustain the pregnancy through the first trimester.

IF does suck. Take good care of yourself

[lifeguard]

I just wanted to add that metformin does not necessarily work immediately & often needs some tweaking to get the dose right. I was on it for almost a year before I started seeing my cycles regulate & we had to make some dose adjustments in that time. I still needed clomid to conceive but I strongly believe that the metformin helping my cycles come into check is why the clomid was so quickly successful at the lowest dose.

[ErikaG]

Originally Posted by LisaG

A friend of mine who is a nurse practitioner mentioned this to me last night. She said a recent study was done on PCOS and they compared groups taking only clomid, only metformin, and and 3rd group taking clomid + metformin. She said the group that did clomid and clomid + metformin had the highest rate of conception vs. metformin alone. Due to the higher cost of metformin they were recommending clomid alone because the results were pretty comparable to clomid + metformin. Although for some women being on metformin can help sustain the pregnancy through the first trimester.

IF does suck. Take good care of yourself

That's interesting-there was a study in early 2006 or early 2007 (don't remember) published in the New England Journal of Medicine that suggested that the best outcomes were with Clomid and Metformin together.

[lexbeach]

Originally Posted by minkajane

I can't afford to go to the doctor and try to convince them to give me some Clomid.

Could you just call the doctor who prescribed it for you before and ask them, over the phone, to prescribe it again? That's what we did when ttc the second time (I ended up not taking the clomid and doing acupuncture instead, but my doctor was happy to prescribe it for me over the phone since I'd already taken it and been successful).



Lex

[Masel]

Metformin isn't expensive. It's an older drug. Mine is $4 a month at Target (Clomid was $9). I agree about it taking a while to work. Have they tested thyroid because I'm also on that. Both have made a world of difference in controlling my PCOS symptoms. I've not conceived yet but I feel so much healthier. When you can see a doc again talk to them about metformin and thyroid in terms of quality of life instead of fertility. That was how I finally got the thyroid meds perscribed.

I had no periods for years and years unless I was on the pill or took prometriuem. Now I have regular cycles and appear to be ovulating. Please don't give up.

[kbhlmh]

Could you just call the doctor who prescribed it for you before and ask them, over the phone, to prescribe it again? That's what we did when ttc the second time (I ended up not taking the clomid and doing acupuncture instead, but my doctor was happy to prescribe it for me over the phone since I'd already taken it and been successful).

That's what I did, too - just called the doc and they just called the new script into the pharmacy I never had to see to doc.

[minkajane]

I was in the military in Texas when I got the Clomid before. I'm now in Ohio and by now the doc I saw has definitely been transferred. I get school insurance after the first of the year. I'm going to talk to a doc there and see if I can get a script.

[javilu]

Do you know if you are insulin resistant? If so, getting that under control should help with your other hormones (like those involved in triggering ovulation). If you're interested in naturally treating the IR, you might want to read about alpha lipoic acid, cinnamon, and gymnema sylvestre.