[princesssparkles]

My boyfriend and I have been trying to have a baby for five years now and we have not been successful. I am finally going to see the doctor at the end of the month but I have PCOS. Does anyone know if I can still get infertility treatment even though I have PCOS? We are also worried that it could be him so does anyone know if they have treatment for males?

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[KristinaMarie]

NAK(nursing at keyboard)

First off

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You most definatly can get infertility treatment with PCOS. They would most likely like to see a change in diet and excercise prior to starting treatment, at least they did with me. I also went on Metformin to help with the insulin resistance.

As for male issues there is a simple semen analysis that they can do to determine what if anything is wrong. I have seen on here that there are herbal treatments that can help with male issues, but I don't know what those are.

My husband and I had been trying just shy of 3 years when we became pregnant with the help of IVF. I have PCOS, endo, tubal factor, you name it it's there. My husband has not so stellar sperm so we did ICSI during our IVF.

I hope the road has an ending for you soon because infertility sucks.

 

[AmyKT]

KristinaMarie said it all perfectly. I just wanted to give you a

. I hope you get help and get pregant real quick.

 

[princesssparkles]

Thanks for the info, you have given me much hope. Well I have been on synthroid and metformin about 2 years now. I have also been on the pill for 4 months to regulate my periods but I have only been off them now for a week and I'm not sure if thats enough time. About two months ago I asked my doctor about trying to have a baby and she said i could either loose weight and try it that way or just start with infertility treatments. My boyfriend and I decided to think about it because we thought it would be too hard if not even treatment would help. Now we have decided just to go for it and see what happens. He doesn't have insurance though so they said checking his sperm would be too expensive. They are going to do blood work on him and said they can check it that way. For now we just have to wait until I go see the doctor on the 29th. Do you mind if I ask what medication they gave you and how much weight you had to loose before treatment?

 

[lifeguard]

I have pcos as well. It took 6+ years to conceive. Losing weight helped (I think) but I didnt' actually conceive until I started clomid. I feel losing weight (70lbs) created a better overall environment but it still was not enough for me to conceive on my own. For our next we will be starting clomid again as soon as I get a pp af (almost 11 months but I'm bfing a lot so still no af).

The bonus (in my mind) of working on the weightloss in conjunction with doing fertility testing/treatments is it gave me a sense of control & something else to focus on. Each month when I got af although I was totally disappointed I would think "ok, one more month to lose more weight & get that much healthier." Plus by working out most days it felt like I was actively doing something to achieve our goal.

 

[victoriaaustin]

Quote:

Originally Posted by princesssparkles He doesn't have insurance though so they said checking his sperm would be too expensive. They are going to do blood work on him and said they can check it that way.

I don't know much about PCOS, but I have been through infertility treatments and testing (we ended up being diagnosed with unexplained infertility). A blood test will tell them something about your boyfriend's hormone levels, but it is no substitute for a semen analysis, which should only be a couple hundred dollars anyway. (Well, that's a lot of money, but it's not much when it comes to infertility testing and treatments.) I strongly advise that your boyfriend get a semen analysis before you do other treatments, especially if you're paying out of pocket--you don't want to waste time and money if he has an issue also that needs treatment.

Good luck to you! I hope you can get pregnant soon. Infertility SUCKS.

 

[paquerette]

Have you thought about replacing the synthroid with natural thyroid? Synthroid doesn't really work for most people. http://www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/ can explain better than I can.

I ended up finally able to conceive on Armour thyroid and metformin. I had been on the Armour for a few years, and 11 months on the metformin, plus charting temps and cervical fluid, to conceive my first.

Good luck!

Any chance you're near Hershey, PA? They do some interesting studies there. I never qualified because I had too many periods a year.

 

[dakotablue]

Your boyfriend should get an analysis done before you go ahead with any treatment, other than those which are just to make you healthy anyway. The meds can be taxing and expensive and it would stink to go through all of that just to find out there are additional issues.

First rounds with PCOS, they should do a HSG, which will tell if your tubes are clear. Some doctors wait on doing this until after 3 rounds of clomid.

With the clomid your regular GYN will probably be willing to try it for you starting at 50mg then moving up if you don't O. monitoring your O through pee sticks, but I'd also recommend charting your temp, maybe even start that now before doctor intervention to see if you ever O on your own.

Met works for some people and not others it depends on whether you are insulin resistant or not. If you are then clomid and met are paired.

I have PCOS but not insulin resistance.

We became pregnant from 100mg clomid, HCG shot and time intercourse, due 10/1.

Best of luck! PCOS is really not that bad in terms of all that could be wrong.

ETA: My DH's analysis would have been $200 if insurance hadn't covered it.

 

[princesssparkles]

First I just want to thank all of you for giving me such good advice and information. Well I have started exercising and trying to eat better to get the process started. Two months ago when I went to the GYN she did some tests to see why I wasn't having regular periods and she discovered that I don't ovulate therefore I don't have periods. I have seen those ovulation tests in the store but I'm not sure if they work or not. Has anyone ever tried them? Oh and I know this is going to sound dumb but how do you chart your temperature? Does anyone know how much clomid costs? I'm really sorry I ask so many questions that might seem dumb but I am really new to this and we really want to have a baby. I think I might even be driving my bf crazy with all the baby talk lol.

 

[victoriaaustin]

It's great that you have so many questions, but it's hard to answer everything here. You might want to read a book like Taking Charge of Your Fertility. That will explain everything about your cycle and how to chart your temperature, and will give you some basic information on fertility treatments.

The ovulation tests from the store work if you follow the directions and use them at the right time, and if you're ovulating. If you're unsure of your timing or don't ovulate, the tests won't tell you much. There are many signs of ovulation like changes in cervical mucus, temperature changes, etc., that are explained in great detail in the book above.

Clomid is pretty cheap out of pocket--I want to say under $100 per cycle, but I haven't taken it so I'm not 100% sure. However, it's really important that you be monitored with ultrasounds and bloodtests when you take fertility medications and those add up. I think when I did treatment (a couple years ago) it was something like $400-$800 a visit for each monitoring appointment. It's a lot, but the monitoring is so important for these reasons:
1. You want to time intercourse or an IUI for when you're actually ovulating
2. You want to be sure the dose of the medicine is correct so you're not making too many eggs (which can be painful and lead to carrying multiples like 4 or more babies.
3. Clomid has side effects like causing cysts which can be dangerous, especially if you take more medicine the next cycle.

So...those are some quick answers to your questions, but there's so much to learn in this area. I strongly recommend you check out some books on fertility. Good luck!

 

[thtr4me]

Just wanted to say that ovulation tests only show the pre-ovulation hormone surge. They will not tell you if you actually ovulated, just that you had the pre-ovulation hormone surge. The best way to know if you are ovulating is to chart your temps. A temperature shift following ovulation will confirm that ovulation did indeed take place. Taking Charge of Your Fertility is a wonderful book for learning all about your body and your cycle. I am so much more in touch with my cycle now than I was before I read that book. I would also recommend checking out Fertility Friend (website) as they have some good online tutorials on how to get started with charting.

 

[princesssparkles]

Well my boyfriend got good news on Friday!!! His sperm count is at 700 and the highest is 850 I believe. Now we just have to wait and see what the doctor says about me on Tuesday. I hope she is able to give me some kind of fertility treatment...