Loosing my mind - I want a BABY!!!

Feeling so ticked off with my body. Ive had pms/period symptoms for three weeks now but no period. Just period pains, headaches, mood swings, tearfulness, tender boobs etc. So frustrating! Hope its not cysts again

So glad to hear that you have some hope again. Let us know how its going.

Thanx Meisie kind i have just started ferti boost this morning and im hoping this will help me , i am excited and for the firdt time in months i feel like i have some hope

I'm really so sorry to hear about your situation. Isn't there something else that your FS can use for treatment, like maybe some kind of injection? Or are you allergic to those too? It just feels like that in this day and age there should be something that you can use.

I've been thinking a lot about what else I could suggest to help you, although my knowledge on the topic is very basic (I'm not a doctor after all). One thing I do know is that you should arm yourself with information on PCOS. Read up on it, even if its only the PCOS page on wikipedia. I've done a fair bit of reading already and it feels like it starting to make sense to me. A book that I found particularly interesting (and also a hot topic in general atm) is The Real Meal Revolution by Tim Noakes and friends. I'm not a fan of his in particular, but it does seem that there is truth in his approach. I've read from many sources that PCOS is very much linked to insulin resistance in a lot of cases. When you eat stuff that spikes your blood sugar levels, it also causes a spike in insulin. The high levels of insulin over stimulates the ovaries and causes them to produce execessive amounts of androgens (male hormones) that disrupts the normal hormonal balance in your body. In cases like this, it is believed that a complete change in lifestyle may reverse this process. What also has an influence is the fact that this, in a lot of cases, cause fat to accumulate around the belly area and the fat itself also produces more hormones that influence your normal hormone balance. That doesn't mean that all women with PCOS are overweight - in some cases they are very skinny, which is also not good. My FS showed me a graph where it indicates that your best weight for optimal fertility is when your BMI is around 22 - 23. Either heigher or lower may make it more difficult to conceive. He also told me that even a 5% drop in weight will be good for me, although he wasn't insisting that I should do it (my BMI is 24.8).

So subsequently I've decided to try out Noakes's diet (low carb, high fat), which aims at keeping blood sugar levels very stable. Even my FS says that he also follows this approach by snacking on almonds and other tree nuts (not peanuts and cashews) during the day to avoid blood sugar spikes. I'm still in the process of changing over to this lifestyle, so not doing everything correct just yet. I aim to eat anything thats on the green and orange list in the book and try to avoid everything on the red list.

I hope that somewhere in my ramblings you may have found some hope and find something that you can do to improve fertility without needing meds. Dispite having PCOS ever since I hit puberty (although only properly diagnosed last year), I managed to fall pregnant with my son without using any meds. He was conceived literally the only time I actually ovulated that year (I normally don't even get any periods) and its just a miracle that we happend to BD on that day. I truly believe that it can happen to you too (although it will require a lot of patience on your side), so please don't give up. We just need to search harder for the light at the end of the tunnel.

(btw, only noticed now that the forum has an entire section for PCOS related discussions: moomie.co.za/forum/43-polycystic-ovarian...rome-a-endometriosis)

thank you, i am so glad i stumbled onto this site, i feel so disheartened, my gynae is a fertility specialist as well and unfortunately i cannot go on clomid or ferti tabs as i have a severe allergic reaction to all pills and they FS is afraid it will damage me so i do not see a light at the end of my tunnel right now

Hi Brokenhearted

I want to encourage you not to loose hope. Knowing the cause of your infertility is a big step in the right direction. Now you can focus on getting the help you need and before you know it you'll get that BFP!

IMHO find an FS (fertility specialist), and not just a normal gynae, who can help you figure out a plan of action. I too have been diagnosed with PCOS in Nov last year. My gynae perscribed Clomid / Fertomid for 3 cycles, which didn't work (5 months wasted). Then refered me to an FS anyway. Had my first appointment with the FS a week ago and he suggested that we start with Fertomid on a monitored cycle. So I'll take the meds again, but go for a scan every 2nd day from CD8 until ovulation. That way he can check that the follicles are growing and that ovulation happens when we think it happens.

Its probably a lot for you to take in right now, but PCOS is very treatable in my opinion. Some stats I read suggest that 70% of women with PCOS will fall pregnant on Fertomid or similar meds alone, without the need for any more advanced treatment.

For some moral support, have a look at some of the other TTC threads where a bunch of us are chatting away and sharing our ups and downs. I'm chatting in the Afrikaans chat www.moomie.co.za/forum/15-trying-to-conc...e-pad-na-swangerskap (English speaking people also welcome if you understand Afr), and then I know of another chat www.moomie.co.za/forum/15-trying-to-conc...o-conceive-lets-talk

I really helps to see that you're not alone and get support from people that know how you feel.

All the best for your journey ahead - hoping that your broken heart will soon feel a whole lot better!

hi all i have just returned from a gynae visit and i am truly feeling my username ryt now, i have been officially diagnosed with PCOS, what start to my day as well,