She said it's PCOS

[bioclock1]

Well, gyno said i Have pcos. I have a million questions but first, I'd like to know if anyone has been given YAZ to resolve issue? I asked about metformin and she said that it was a dangerous drug and some actually gain weight on it (not what i need!). She said PCOS would be helped by YAZ b/c because it would trick my body into thinking it doesn't need to produce estradiol which will lower my levles, which right now are high, and that it will balance out progesterone. I'm wondering though, when we are ready for kids, do I just stop taking the pill and suddenly will get preggo or will there be medicine neeed to help because of PCOS? This is scary!!

[pmperez]

I was diagnosed with pcos 7 years ago and told that I would have a diificult time having kids etc...and then I got pregnant had a miscarriage and my RE said I dont have pcos and wanted to know who said I did, but I was never even given a treatment option, which is good I guess cause I didnt even have it....they may have done more test on you to confirm your diagnosis, atleast I hope so.  

[Michele, Katy, TX]

I wish I could answer your questions about this, but I can't.  I believe there is a forum on here for PCOS.  There used to be at least.  You may want to check that out although I am sure you will get help on here too.  I know many of the women on here have posted questions about it.  I believe rachie204 is one of them.  Her doc put her on clomid and she got pregnant with her 1st or 2nd round I believe.  She is currently over 7 weeks pregnant.  I know she got pregnant pretty quick.  You may want to pm her.

Good luck girl and tons of baby dust going your way!!!!

[bioclock1]

thanks ladies...yeah, i posted this in the PCOS forum as well. I knew some of you on here had PCOS so thought i'd get as much feedback as possible.

Unfortuantely, today i had to admit to the doctor (and moreso to myself) that DH and i weren't ready for a baby. The doc said "do you want to get your symptoms under control and lose weight first or try to get pregnant first?"
Of course, b/c DH isn't ready (and i'm trying to agree w/him) I had to admit that I guess I wanted to get symptoms under control and lose weight first. I just feel so sad b/c now I"m totally robbing myself of the POSSIBILITY of conceiving. Now it's wiped out, only to occur with a definite plan, and only then if i'm lucky. I'm surprised i'm bummed about this..i thought I'd be excited about anything that promised to make symptoms better and help me lose weight.....guess that damn biological clock has a mind of it's own! :)

[JoyRenee]

I was just diagnosed with PCOS and I'm on Metformin. I have not experienced any side effects with Metformin. Do a little research on it and you'll find the only serious side effect is lactic acidosis and that is RARE and usually happens in elderly, diabetic people. Other side effects include nausea, diarrhea, headaches, and things of that nature. I find that I only feel SLIGHTLY nauseous if I haven't eaten in a while.

PCOS is very broad, meaning that you don't have to have all the symptoms to fit into the category. For example, I have high testosterone and little tiny cysts on my ovaries. But that is IT. I don't have any other issues or problems. My insulin and glucose are normal.

Depending on how severe your PCOS, conceiving shouldn't be a problem. My doctor told me that it is possible to conceive 2 months into using Metformin. Also, more women lose weight with Metformin than gain it because it controls the hormones that are causing the weight gain, therefore with exercise, you're able to lose.

I've been using Metformin for 1.5 weeks and I've started losing a couple pounds. Anyway, here's a COOL website to go to: www. soulcysters. net (I put spaces after the '.'s so make sure you correct that when you put this in your browser). If you go there, my username is njeosys.

[JoyRenee]

fertilitymom is correct! Everything she said is right on. Metformin does lower risks of miscarriage, though I don't know HOW. And it is safe to take during pregnancy. Look, I'm not diabetic and I still take Metformin. My skin is clearing up and my hair isn't falling out as much (those symptoms are from high testosterone). So I know the Metformin is working. I'm currently on 500mg but will be doubling it in the next few days.

[JoyRenee]

Okay, Soul Cysters is back up and running. Remember it is  .net (.com isn't the forums) and there is an entire forum dedicated to Metformin. There is also one called Alternative Remedies. They just re-did the entire forum site, so that's probably why it was down earlier!

[bioclock1]

Fertilitymom and joyrenee

WOW! THanks girls! It helps SOOOO MUCH to have someone to share this with. I"m so nervous about it all. I just finished reading the pamphlet to YAZ and I think i've scared myself out of taking it. First of all, while DH and i aren't ttc, and we both agree that we want to wait at least a year, I certainly don't want to screw up my chances of conceving in the future, like fertilitymom has had to deal with. (i'm sorry that you had to go through that fertilitymom).  

I've been researching all day long and Joyrenee, like you said, I found that lactic acidosis was the only major problem. THis is what my GYN said about why she wouldn't prescribe it, but all she said was that it causes excessive acid which can destroy your liver. WHen she said that I was like "oh no!! I'm already acidic"  Had she explained more clearly, i would have demanded a Rx. Furthermore, it's not like taking Metformin is DEF gonna get me pregnant...i could use condoms or spermicide......so now i'm irritated and gonna call her tomorrow.

Also (sorry-lots of ???'s!) I've read a lot about progesterone cream (which i have bioidentical cream) and it helping with PCOS..it seems that this would be a better option than YAZ.

Is metformin ONLY used for PCOS or does it have anything to do with regulating hormones? I forgot to mention that the reason she wanted to put me on YAZ was to regulate my estrogen dominance and low progesterone levels, which are spiking 2 x in one cycle.

So, basically my ?? is do Drs want ppl to take metformin AND something for hormones or is metformin just for PCOS?

Thanks ladies!!!

[bioclock1]

oh yeah, and my GYN is also a dietician and she told me to follow a low carb low cal diet which i'm starting tomorrow as well as a work out program that includes muscle group exhaustion and cardio 5 xs a week

[bioclock1]

1 more thing...i read online somewhere that the lactic acidosis only occurrs in ppl who have low creatine (i think thats what it was) so having these levels checked would ensure appropriate dosing.....

[JoyRenee]

Well I use Metformin to regulate my testosterone. The testosterone is what is causing my cycles to be "off" which is causing the cysts. It isn't the ovaries that are making mistakes, it's the hormones. So yes, you CAN use Metformin just for hormone regulation. It is originally a diabetic drug, which is why researching it will show a lot of diabetic info. That's why you should check out the Soul Cysters site because they'll have more info on PCOS-related drugs to take.

Metformin is for 1). diabetics, 2). PCOSers, and 3). people with high androgens (AKA male hormones). Because you were diagnosed with PCOS, Metformin would be fine.

PM me any time you want, girl! I'm brand new to all of this as well and it's nice to meet others here who know what boat I'm in.

[JoyRenee]

Oh, may I ask... do you have insulin resistance? How did she diagnose PCOS for you? Did you have a sonogram and your hormone levels tested?

[JoyRenee]

I'm getting off of here now, so I probably won't respond anymore tonight. Just so you know and don't think I'm ignoring you! Good night!!!

[bioclock1]

joyrenee...i had a saliva test and i took her the results (its in my journal). DHEA and Testosterone was high......plus weight gain, mild dark(black) facial hair (and i'm blonde and fair complected) cystic acne, painful periods, etc

no insulin resistance test....what exactly is that anyways?

[bioclock1]

okay, so i read a little about the insulin resistance test (called GTT on the soulcysters info). I'm gonna call the gyn tomorow and ask ??s'  
i hate how they make you feel stupid but i'm tired of being jacked around w/all this ****.
So you said that metformin works to lower the testosterone? soulcysters talked about oral contraceptives being useful for that or spironolactolone (sp?). can you be prescribed the spiro stuff w/metformin to help w/ testosterone and pcos symptoms AND hormone imbalances?

[amyvr]

I was diagnosed with PCOS about 5 years ago and was told after 3 years of trying to have a baby that it wouldn't work for me and to think about other options such as adoption. I gave up...I was mentally exhausted and decided to go back to school to get my mind off of it. They put me on Yazmin birth control to regulate my periods and I missed a couple of pills and so I decided to wait for my period and start another pack. Getting pregnant was the last thing I ever dreamt of so my husband and I weren't careful, but I was pregnant within a few weeks. I was in such denial because I was told it couldn't happen. I have a healthy 29 month old little boy.
I decided to to try for another and went to my doctor and asked him for birth control and he thought I was crazy. He gave me 3 months of Yaz samples. I took one month and tracked my ovulation and I am now 6 months pregnant with a little girl. My doctor believes that the birth control regulated my hormones just enough so that my body ovulated and made pregnancy possible. He is now suggesting this for many of his patients.
My problem back when I was going through infertility treatment was that I wasn't ovulating. Are you ovulating without any hormone stimulating drugs?

[Linzola1]

Hello bioclock. I dont know anything about PCOS but I just wanted to say hello I havnt seen you on here too much lately...... We missed you

[bioclock1]

amy- According to my saliva tests i ovulated on day 9 which caused a 19 day luteal phase. I"m very confused b/c the Ob/gyn i went to today said she does't have much faith in saliva tests (many MD's dont i'm realizing) and she started talking about anouvlation. I'm confused though, b/c if I O'd on day 9 of my cycle in March, i didn't know it b/c i didn't have ANY cm or ewcm or anything but I did on CD 15....
I'm not sure what to think. This gyn is a stickler and b/c she has PCOS and lost 60 lbs (she's old...like 60 i think!) she thinks the best thing to do is get on YAZ. I have horrible experiences with b/c and am a very anxious person and don't feel comfortable getting on b/c again. I'd prefer to use natural progesterone cream for my imblanced estradiol and progesterone levesl (i have bioidentical stuff already) and possibly something like metformin for PCOS but she doesn't want to prescribe this. I'm really exhausted from trying to find a dr who will listen without rushing me. This lady was better than the others but she still kinda hurried me along.....

I'm not currenlty on anything other than Synthroid for my hypothyroidism.....  (congrats on your pregnancy by the way!!!! )

Linzola1...hey girl! thanks! I've been around...just trying to figure all this stuff out. Dh and i aren't ready for a baby but i don't want to do anything that will mess up the possibliity in the future. Plus, i wanna lose weight and regulate my hromones without going crazy on b/c!!! So....how are you?

[bioclock1]

does anyone know whether you're supposed to use progesterone, metformin and spirnoloctaolone together?

[bioclock1]

bump

[krushing]

Not sure what spirnolovtaolone is, but I've been told by RE when I get pregnant, I will continue to take Metformin and also progesterone supplement as a secondary precaution during the first trimester.  So, I know you can take Metformin and Progesterone together.

I take Metformin because I have insulin resistance.  Not PCOS because the insulin is the only problem I have and found out that it can be a factor by itself.  I've been on Metformin since the first of March.  I take 1500mg a day.  My problem with the high insulin was weight gain I couldn't lose and just no energy.  The Metformin has helped the energy part because it's brought my insulin down and I'm exercising and it's helping me lose the weight that I couldn't before with the high insulin.  I haven't found anything wrong with the Metformin except I do get bouts of diarrhea if I take it too late at night.

[JoyRenee]

I know you can use the Spiro and Met together, bioclock. But as for progesterone, not sure on that one!

And if you get the GTT test for insulin resistance (basically it's a 3-hour glucose test) and you don't have IR, you can still use Metformin.

[bioclock1]

Thanks joyrenee and krushing!!

I'm still learning alot about this and your help is great! I started my P cream today as today is CD 13 and I was told by gyno and lab that this would be the right day for me to start. I'm confused on one thing though: I read that if you discover you're preggo you should NOT stop taking P cream until you see a doctor b/c abrupt cessation can cause m/c.
My confusion lies in the fact that for regular hormone balancing i'm supposed to stop P cream on day 25 of cycle and that would mean that I would be about 15 days from O....but many women dont get BFP until past 15 dpo, so how would i know i was pregnant in time to avoid stopping the p cream? Does that ? make sense?