PCOS in Florida
 

Hello,

My name is Stella and I have PCOS as well. I am 26 and was just diagnosed last year. I thought I was going to die. "I am infertile, what did I do to deserve this" I felt like my world had ended that day. I even encouraged my hubby to find a new wife who would be able to give him children. It was HORRIBLE!!! I was so mad at first because I had wasted 2 years on my family Dr. telling me that I was on BCP's for 7 years and it takes some people almost a year or 2 to get their cycles back. Beware; do not fall for that line. I wasted a lot of time waiting for my periods to come back when I could have been finding ways to treat PCOS.

I went decided to try an OBGYN to see what his opinion was, he ran some tests and BAM, PCOS. It was not even a month after I saw him that I was diagnosed. One trip for blood and an ultrasound did it. At this point I was about 180lbs. last July 2000. My Dr. said "I have 3 PCOS patients and I can get you pregnant."
He did not put me on any diet plan. He automatically put me on CLOMID, I started on 50mg/d for the 5 days for 2 months and every month he did an ultrasound with no improvement nothing was happening. The 3rd month he increased the does to 150mg/d nothing happened again. He said" you ovaries are like asleep, and I do not know how to wake them up."

So on to a fertility specialist we go, he after much of my begging put me on metformin. No diet plan here either. Now I am at ummmm 190 maybe. I tried the metformin, however I will say I did not take it as regular as I was directed to. Skipped some days etc. so I quit taking it. Dr. says well, your only option is the shots. That will be 3000.00 a month please....

I was devastated, I do not have that kind of money to spend for 3 months in a row. So I gave up. I quit going to this Dr. in January of 2001. I just said what is meant to be will be. Then in March I was watching my local news one night and they were covering a conference that Dr.'s from across the country were coming into town to hear this one man speak on...what else PCOS. This Dr. who knew so much about PCOS was here in my town. He specializes in PCOS nothing else.

So I made an appointment and after 3 months I went to see him last week. I was on cloud nine when I left. He said there really is no magic drug for me but the adkins diet and maybe clomid after my cycles come back from loosing the weight on adkins. I was like "excuse me" I have been told by all others fertility drugs were my only option. He had this book of local women who came to him with PCOS on the verge of spending thousands of dollars on fertility drugs. He put them all on the adkins diet and after about 6 months they were pregnant. Some did have to go clomid but for 5.00 a pill that is better then the 5000.00 fertility drugs.

I was so sike, not really about the diet, but about the new options I have now. I started Adkins today I have a ways to go but I am determined to try everything I know before I go to the shots stage.

My only battle right now is that the previous Dr. I saw in July of last year screwed me because instead of submitting to my insurance a claim of PCOS, he calls it INFERTILITY, and that is all it takes for your insurance company to put up a red flag and stop paying for anything, and I mean anything. They do not want to even pay for Dr.'s visits now. And I am like "I was seeing him for PCOS not infertility treatments." They do not care, one word of infertility and you can hang your benefits up.

So anyways, I have just ran on and on. I would love to hear from anyone with PCOS doing the carb diet. It is nice to know I am not alone. Fellow PCOS friends email me at **** I would love to hear from you. I wish everyone much luck with their pregnancy to be... I feel if we work hard, we can do it. Hang in there and God bless....

hi Stella
 

Yikes, I had no idea fertility drugs were THAT expensive :eek:. I'm sure the low-carbing will help to get insulin and other hormones under control, as well as help you lose weight. Metformin could be helpful down the road as an option. I'm amazed the other dr. put you on it without any kind of dietary instruction to restrict carbs :bash:

Take care, hope there's a happy healthy birth in the future for you.

Doreen

p.s. - just in case you didn't see my reply to your post in Introductions, I've removed your email for privacy and spam-prevention reasons. Members can send you a private message if they wish :)

reply to PCOS in Florida
 

Have faith! This worked for me!!!!!

I read your post, and then had to get myself registered to post on this site.

I will give you the condensed version of my story.....

on 3/11/99 I started eating low carb... I weighed 259 lbs, had been married for 10+ years.... years before...I put myself through all the rollercoasters of Fertility specialists was diagnosed with PCOS.... did the pills, did the shots... nothing even BUDGED my system... so I quit, and my hubby and I went on with our lives.... OK.. fast forward to 99, I started low carbing.... within 1.5 months I started having REGULAR periods.... this in itself was AMAZING, since I had NEVER had regular cycles in my adult life, unless I was on BC..... well, I went on having these regular CLOCKWORK cycles.. I mean it got so I could mark on the calendar EVERY 28 days I would start... It was so weird for me.. I can't even tell you.... I figured my PCOS was controlled, and that I was ovulating... but hubby and I had gone on with our lives... and I didn't TRY for a pregnancy... well, honey... I got a shock.....
by August 2000 I was pregnant.. I didn't even know it.....

The sad part is that I lost it.. and I went into a "its not fair" mode.
I then proceeded to get pregnant 2 more times miscarrying all of them..... BUT... and this is the important BUT... For the First time in my life I actually SAW 2 lines on the preg test! It was amazing..
I have a feeling I lost them because each time I KNEW I was prego I QUIT eating low carb..... but this is just my theory.

During all this time I let carbs take over my life.. and sure enough I gained weight, and my periods started slipping again..

But I rededicated myself back to Atkins WOE on 10/16/01, and happily I am once again in control, and on my way down the scale.

Hi Stella -

Have faith! I have PCOS and have two incredible children after losing weight and having my periods come back. Now I have to say that I lost the weight on the old low-fat, high-carb diet...but I think the fact that I was working out like a fiend was probably a bigger factor than diet.

I have had somewhat similar experiences - with Clomid not working (by the way, it is notoriously unreliable for women with PCOS because it needs you to normal hormonal levels).

Best of luck...low carb diets are a miracle as far as I'm concerned!

Lisa