This is a reply to a woman who communicated with me recently about problems she is having with her fertility treatment… I’ll add her question.
Q/
Hello doctor… its really nice information…
Actually i have the same PCOS problem…
… my doctor has given me clomide and 1 injection also, but i had a period after that… so she called me again and did normal scanning and repeated the same thing.
Dianna’s PCOS Story
I’ve known Dianna since 2003 when aged 28 she and her husband were referred to my fertility clinic by another colleague to help her get pregnant with her PCOS.
Dianna was diagnosed with PCOS as a teenager and back then, was commenced on the contraceptive pill by her family doctor to control her periods.
Elizabeth is a woman of 32 years of age who had been diagnosed with PCOS by her endocrinologist earlier at 27 years. I first met her and husband Peter about 12 months ago after they had been trying to get pregnant for the 18 months prior with no success.
Elizabeth has the typical PCOS picture… of very infrequent menstrual cycles and complained of other signs of PCOS such as acne and some hair loss. Blood tests checking for diabetes had diagnosed Insulin Resistance and she was started on the tablet called Metformin (see article on Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome Treatment and Metformin).
I want to talk to you about Josie who by the way is pregnant and well now after her fertility treatment, but she did develop two known problems as a consequence of her fertility treatment.
Josie is a 29 year old university student with PCOS who had been trying to conceive for 18 months before I saw her in my clinic. We tried to help her to conceive through the fertility treatment of ovulation induction with the hormone tablet Clomiphene Citrate (Clomid), but no ovulation occurred despite increasing the tablet dose up to 150 mg of Clomid.
In fertility talk we call this having “Clomid resistance”.
I initially meet Alicia 3 years ago when her menstrual cycle did not return after stopping the contraceptive pill to get pregnant.
Back then I made the diagnosis of Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome – PCOS, and she went on and conceived using the ovulation treatment called Clomid ( see clomid treatment in the fertility treatment section)
By the way, this scenario is a common finding in women with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome, and indicates no ovulation, or infrequent ovulation and is a common cause of what we call anovulatory infertility.
Alicia delivered a beautiful baby boy 14 months ago and has now represented to me the other day for a 2nd baby.
Camille came to visit me today to show me her gorgeous daughter Arina, now 9 months old, and to discuss the next step in getting pregnant with child number 2.
I first meet her and husband Peter back in 2007 with a history of having no menstrual periods since stopping her contraceptive pill 12 months earlier. All her tests confirmed the diagnosis of PCOS.
The fallopian tube tests and semen tests were normal. So lack of ovulation (called anovulatory infertility) was the main cause for their infertility.
Back then Camille was in the overweight range with a body mass index of 29 (normal 19-25, my fertility book discusses BMI in detail). Due to back problems she could not undertake any physical activity to get her weight down.
In 2007 I started her on the fertility treatment tablet Clomid (Clomiphene Citrate) to help induce ovulation of her eggs from the ovary. But despite increasing doses of Clomid over 3 cycles her ovaries did not respond ( see Clomid in Fertility Treatment section) and treatment was therefore stopped.
During this time Camille commenced back treatment and managed to lose 5 kg by increasing exercise and dietary changes. With great delight 4 months later her menstrual cycle had returned to a regular pattern. I received a phone call from her to say she was pregnant and had conceived spontaneously.
I just love hearing pregnancy stories like this.
Just by losing weight and getting her body mass index down to a healthy number for pregnancy, Camille’s menstrual cycle switched back on and she started ovulating in a regular fashion… which of course lead to getting pregnant with PCOS spontaneously.
Studies on women with PCOS have proven that by losing 5%-10% of body weight can improve cycle regularity, ovulation and increase pregnancy chances.
Names have been changed for confidentiality
Katrina is 32 years of age, diagnosed 3 years ago with PCOS.
She stopped her oral contraceptive pill 9 months ago hoping to get pregnant, but has only had infrequent cycles… some being 7- 9 weeks apart, this indicates she is ovulating infrequently.
Hanna’s Story
Hanna is 29 years of age. She was diagnosed with PCOS 8 years ago.
Her menstrual cycles have always been irregular, but has conceived twice with two beautiful children now aged 7 and 4 years of age.
“PCOS Stories” are a collection of weekly stories from women with PCOS
My name is Dr Raewyn Teirney and I’m a fertility specialist. I see women daily for IVF and fertility treatment
What I’ll be doing is sharing with you some real stories from women just like you, who are having problems getting pregnant or having difficulty losing weight for pregnancy, and having setbacks such as miscarriages. [Read more…]