PCOS and TTC girl in November <3

[fresas]

I love your avatar. Plumeria is one of my favorite flowers.

I have been keeping a running thread in the "review my sway" section. It's turned into more of a journal and experimenting log than anything else. I had a miscarriage in March which was the result of a practice sway (not intending to sway, but testing everything else) and since then, my husband and I have been very, very cautious about avoiding pregnancy and we're both scared to really sway or try to conceive again.

I'm doing a lot of things that aren't very girl sway friendly (working out, on a fruit/veg/protein shake diet, no carbs minus fruit, etc) because these things seem to help my testosterone to stay lower, but I'm still very symptomatic of PCOS: weight loss resistance, hirsutism, oily skin, acne, etc.

I'm taking all girl friendly supplements though because they help with PCOS. I'm also experimenting with some things that haven't totally been tired here.

I'm basically in the search to balance both testosterone and estrogen. Too much testosterone damages egg quality and estrogen can too, but one of its biggest impact is on progesterone. If there is too much or too little estrogen, progesterone levels usually aren't very good, especially not enough to sustain a pregnancy. One of my main symptoms of being progesterone deficient is soaking night sweats after ovulation, usually 7-9 days before my period starts.

Anyway, if your doctor doesn't put you on metformin at some point, I would be surprised, especially if s/he knows you will be trying to conceive and your cycles are irregular.

The thing that helped me return to normal cycles is a combination of metformin and Vitex. I was on that for the longest time before I introduced saw palmetto.

About your boys in the family question, I don't think an all boys or all girls family means the same will happen for the next generation, but if I were you, I would definitely do everything I could to have a healthy pregnancy and conceive that girl.

[xHopeFaithLove]

So sorry about your miscarriage
Thank you for that. I just wish I understood my PCOS more. I don't have those symptoms. Only symptom is the irregular cycles. I go back on August 6th so I have some time to come up with questions. Will they prescribe Metformin if my blood sugar is normal?

I'm on my phone, I'm terrible with touch screen! Be back on in the morning

Plumerias are beautiful. My favorite as well... my dream bouquet has them and daisies... weird I know but not a fan of roses so I like different arrangements

[atomic sagebrush]

excited for that thread. I'm trying really hard to watch what I'm eating and what I'm drinking... I'm just scared I'll sway too much or too little. Is it even worth it since my fiancé comes from a family of ALL boys?

back to more reading

Yes, it's worth it because no one is predestined to have all of one gender by virtue of genetics. You have kids of a particular gender because your body sizes up cues in your environment and "decides" which gender has the best shot of surviving to pass down your genes to future generations. When the environment changes, your body may "decide" that a different gender has a better shot at survival. A person who couldn't alter gender ratio would be at a HUGE disadvantage to those who could, and so it's extremely likely that we all carry the genes to alter gender ratio based on cues from our environment and not some genetic setting. A gene pool that could only produce boys would have died out a long time ago, the first time Genghis Khan or his primate equivalent, came to town and killed off all the males (which sadly has happened a zillion times over the ages).

Plus, what the man brings to the table, while it can make a difference, simply can't be that important because in nature, it's the female who has to carry a baby, nurse a baby, and then raise a child. Males can do a "hit and run" and then never be seen again. Since the child will share the mother's environment and not the father's, it's the signals that your body received that matter, not what your husband contributes to the equation.

[fresas]

It depends on your doctor, to be honest. I have mild symptoms of insulin resistance, but not enough to be very obvious/serious for metformin. It was in combination with everything else (irregular periods, heavy periods, and all the other terrible symptoms I have) that I was given metformin. It can be prescribed just based on your symptoms alone, especially if your blood tests are consistent with PCOS, even if you don't have any of the other symptoms that go along with PCOS. Metformin usually encourages fertility and also encourages egg health.

Thank you for the condolences. It still isn't easy, but I'm learning to cope with the emptiness. My hCG was really high right away (894 at around 13 dpo - I thought it was 1000, but got my blood work recently and it was 894) so I was hoping the spotting was just something else, but alas. It wasn't meant to be. The progesterone level never went above 4, and it needs to be 10 or higher to sustain pregnancy.

If I could give any advice to girls with PCOS, regardless of swaying, it would be to try to balance your testosterone levels as much as you can before you TTC. If your testosterone is balanced, most likely the estrogen will follow. Even if your testosterone is normal-ish, your androgen activity is still messing up your cycles so tame that (or tame it as much as possible) and hopefully your body will be ready to create healthier eggs and a healthy uterine environment.

[atomic sagebrush]

Great advice! Also, since progesterone is made of the same raw materials as T and E are, if you keep your body from going overboard making T and E, then it may decide to start making more progesterone instead!

[atomic sagebrush]

Oh and my friend was given Metformin to improve her egg quality, and she did not even have insulin resistance or PCOS, she just gained a lot of weight while doing IVF drugs and the doctors were concerned because her egg quality was really low even tho she was only 29. The cycle after she started the Metformin, she got pg with her daughter!!

[xHopeFaithLove]

I just had a long post typed then BAM, computer decided to delete it without auto saving!

thanks for those replies, I've been MIA the past couple days with getting my house back in order.. I have 2 huskies and 3 rescue kitties with my foster kit's on their way... they were all keeping me busy this weekend! oh, and the wedding

When I go to the doctor on August 6th, I'll be sure to ask him my specific levels of all of that.
"Also, since progesterone is made of the same raw materials as T and E are, if you keep your body from going overboard making T and E, then it may decide to start making more progesterone instead! "
@Atomic, how do I do that? Sorry I'm so clueless.

I'll definetely ask about the Metformin. Would that be better than Clomid? Is there home tests I can check my testosterone, progesterone and estrogen?

I'll be back later Hope all of you had a wonderful weekend!

[xHopeFaithLove]

Here are the tests I've had done.. I should be able to get a print out of the results from the doctor right? I'm going to call in the morning...

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easier to take pictures than type all the out and screw it up

[xHopeFaithLove]

My Doctor is sending over the results of the tests now so I'll post them tonight

[xHopeFaithLove]

Here are the results... if someone could help me understand them a little more. thanks

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