[sandibeach]

Sooooooo I haven't posted on this board specifically, but have quite a bit in the ttc your first child board. So I guess I should introduce myself over here. I'm Sandi! Hi!! We've been ttc our first since August. HERE's a copy of a previous post from another board so it will give a little back ground...

I found out at the end of November that I have PCOS, and had to take provera to finally end the cycle I had been having since August

I still have not ovulated. Last time I ovulated was in July I believe. Besides having PCOS my DH switched jobs at the end of december and we can't start insurance at the new job until April, so we have temporary private insurance until then. THe private insurance does not include maternity, so DH doesn't want to conceive until the new insurance kicks in. So now we have to have protected sex. UgH!! Its so depressing because its like if I happen to have a RARE ovulation we could miss an opportunity! I've been using OPK's to try to get a good handle on my cycle as well as charting (as per dr.'s instructions) and I've used an entire pack of 20, all negative, which ran out today. I didn't buy a new pack because their expensive and I was just too depressed about having to DTD protected anyways. BTW, for anyone who cares, this is probably , but for us protected just means withdraw, which I know isn't 100% safe, so it gives me a small shred of hope.

The Dr. put me on this healthy no caffeine, no chocolate, low sugar, low processed food, 6 servings of fruits/veg-a-day diet which is hopefully going to help with the PCOS.

Anyways, today I did my OPK as usual and got 2 lines! I'm soooo excited! Here is the pic...





Hopefully everything will go well. JUst gotta trust that God has the timing all worked out. Even if it doesn't happen this time it gives me hope that my ovulation may be sporadic but at least its still happening. But then there's my thoughts of what if my temp doesnt go up and this is just a false alarm. But those sticks looked pretty positive!

BUt... if you have pcos, is it possible to get the lh surge and not actuallly ovulate cause it turns into a cyst?

Or is it that if you get the lh surge you will 100% for sure ovulate?

[aubers68]

Hello and welcome!!! I'm Aubrey and DH is Jason. We TTC for 15 months before finally conceiving. Let me tell you what I've learned over those 15 months. Low carb diets are by far the BEST thing you can do to help with your PCOS, especially if you are over weight. Metformin can also be a very helpful tool and is worth talking to you DR about as many of us women with PCOS are insulin resistant. I have learned that OPKs are not always faithful. Your body can gear up to O but not actually O. The best thing, IMO, is to temp on a regular basis and use OPKs as a smaller guide. Not sure where you purchase your OPKs, but I've found really good deals on Amazon, probably one of the cheapest places I found them. So if you're worried about blowing money out the window with all those negatives I would maybe try checking online for better prices

Now, all women are different, but typically for me I would get 2-3 days worth of positive OPKS and finally ovulate on the 3rd or 4th day.

Anyways those are just a few thing that may or may not help you out a little (hopefully the help ) Welcome to the PCOS board. The ladies here are awesome and I don't know what I would have done without them throughout my journey! I hope to see you post around here more often We always love having more girls as our board seems to get overlooked very often Best of luck TTC and I hope your journey is short and sweet!!!

[MamaAnna]

Aubrey covered it pretty well. I'm not on Metformin because I'm not IR, but it is definitely worth checking out. If your doctor didn't check your insulin and glucose levels then request that they be checked as well as your liver enzymes. If your enzymes are okay and you test IR then Metformin could be a HUGE help! It can affect your liver though, hence having it checked first.

It is very possible with PCOS to have positive OPKs and not ovulate. That's part of why charting is so important for us. You need a chart or blood work (progesterone specifically) to help confirm ovulation. If you look at my charts (my ticker is a link) I show ovulation every month, but my egg quality is bad. I mention that, not because I suspect egg issues for you, but to help further demonstrate that PCOS can affect us all differently. Some women always have positive OPKs because of elevated LH, some get positive OPKs, but never O, some (like myself) have problems with egg quality, some never get positive OPKs even if they do O, etc. It depends a lot on your specific problems.

If you stick around on this board there's a chance we might ask to know what your b/w results were at some point. It sounds odd, but it can help us to give you better advice if we know more about your specific problems. Make sense?

[-Brandy-]

Just wanted to say that I think you've got some great advice from these ladies and that I was in your shoes (just being diagnosed) about a month and a half ago. I seem to have a mild form of PCOS and do not show signs (or test) as having IR but my dr did opt to put me on a low dosage (500mg per day) of Metformin to help my body get my hormones back in alignment (my testosterone and LH were high, and FSH was low).

Just to show how it has helped me, last month I didn't O till CD33, however I started getting + opk's on CD8 and continued for 2 weeks before I just gave up and my PCOS was confirmed. Once confirmed I started Met on CD26, O'd CD33 and had a 43 day cycle. This cycle, my first full cycle on Met, I started getting a + opk on CD 12 and O'd on CD16. So as you can see I am already off to a much better start this month.

Met. isn't the answer for everyone and effects everyone different but there is definitely hope! BTW, I found out by accident (pharmacy forgot to run my insurance) that Met is relatively cheap-even without insurance they were going to charge me $16 for 30 pills.

[sandibeach]

Thanks for your support girls! To answer questions::

I'm not really overweight - I'm 5' 3 3/4" and 125 lbs. I've been exercising regularly (about 3-4 times a week) since December.

I got some Wondfo lh test strips off Amazon which is what I've been using. Makes me not worry about using too many negs lol.

Oh and the Dr. had done bloodwork to confirm the PCOS (she had done a sonogram in the office and saw the little pearl strings on both ovaries). This is the note she sent me:

"Again Bloodwork is consistent with annovulation or PCO (where the eggs are not released and cause a negative feedback.) Thyroid, prolactin normal, blood count normal."

[~* Natasha *~]

I just wanted to drop in and say Hello!
These ladies have given great feedback and I really don't have anything extra to add right now, but I hope you come around more often and I look forward to getting to know you!

I'm Natasha, one of the co-hosts here. Talk to you soon!

[MamaAnna]

I'm a thin case of PCOS as well. Not as thin as I used to be, but 5'6" and 138lbs as of last week. Several of us here are, which presents its own unique challenges.

[sandibeach]

My temps are going up! Just a little bit higher this morning, but for me, breaking 98 as a waking temp is pretty high!

We tried to BD last night to really have a good chance, but by the time DH got home from work (10pm) I was having HORRIBLE sharp pains, like in the one spot ovary type pains but also cramps like for a period except sharp painful cramps rather than just achey painful cramps that I get for AF. So... after trying for a while I just told him I'd had enough it hurt to bad.
On a side note I've had decreased appetite the past two days and felt a little nauseous too - is that an Ovulation symptom? Throw in that the "girls" are really sore and I believe my body is def. doing something.

I'm REALLY hopeful, just so scared I'll wake up and my temps will have gone back down, as has happened so many times before. Just gotta keep trusting God's timing and have faith that if its the right time it'll all work out.

Here's my chart!

[-Brandy-]

Sounds like positive news for you! The differences you notice around O time are usually linked to the higher amount of estrogen in your body. I get some pretty intense O cramps/pains as well and judging from your temp this morning you may have just O'd yesterday!!! Please kup with your temps the next couple of days, we would love to see that temp spike from O with you!

[MosaicWife]

Ahhhhhhh! Sandi, I'm freaking out. I know I told you not to stress and think about it too much and I stick by that but I'm freaking out for you.

[MamaAnna]

It's looking good.