Anyone else diagnosed with PCOS at a young age - devastated, need advice and hugs

[ataloss96]

Hi everyone. I'll try to keep this short but I'm sure I won't manage to.



In March I will be 22. A few months ago we began trying to conceive. If it wasn't for my missing periods I would've never gone and gotten advice from a doctor.


I came off of contraception in March of 2016. We used condoms from then until June of 2017, we would occasionally use the pull out method, too.



My periods were never crazy irregular up until 2017. In 2017 I gained a lot of weight and also began to experience massive mood swings and bouts of depression. In May and June of 2017 my period never came, I also didn't ovulate.


From mid July to the end of September my ovulation resumed, and naively I thought I would be ok so I didn't see a doctor. I figured it was 'just one of those things' and that my fertility was fine. From July to September I had evidence that I ovulated in the form of OPK and BBT rises.



So anyway, October of this year and I didn't ovulate once. All of my OPKs were 'nearly positive' but not the blazing positives I've seen before. I also wasn't having a temp rise. My period never came, obviously due to me not ovulating and I decided to seek help.



Upon receiving the results to my blood work 2 days ago my doctor called and said I seem to have PCOS due to the levels in my blood. He told me to go into the clinic next week so we could discuss further what to do.


After hearing this I was utterly heartbroken. I'm a medical student and PCOS has always been seen as a fertility death sentence. It's very rare the PCOS women conceive without help. - Or so I've always been taught, there could be no truth to this at all.


I'm that destroyed by the news that I have taken 2 days out of work to process things. It may seem dramatic but from the very beginning of our journey I had a niggling feeling that something was wrong with my body. It's like my worst fears have been confirmed. I'm even crying as I type this.



I didn't want to have to go through taking medication and possibly IVF to have a baby, I'm only 21 years old. How could this be? I've searched and searched and can't seem to find any other woman my age that is potentially going to have to do IVF or something similar. I know that I'm jumping the gun but I'm so scared.


I'm worried that at my appointment next week the doctor will attempt to put me on birth control as a treatment - I know that many women with PCOS are told to do this. I don't want to be on birth control, we want a baby. I'm worried that he will just send me home and tell me to get on with things because I'm young. I feel that at 21, I won't be taken seriously at all.



I know some poor ladies with PCOS don't ovulate at all, but that has never been true for me. Up until this year I had no signs that anything was amiss and now there have almost been 4 months this year where I haven't ovulated. I'm aware weight gain could be contributing to this, and I am working on that.



I just really need advice. I feel so awful right now. I've never wanted anything more in life than to have children and a big family due to the fact I never had a good family life growing up and now it seems I will struggle whilst watching everyone else get pregnant. For the past 2 days I've been such a mess that all my partner has been able to do is hold me whilst I've been sobbing none stop in his arms. It seems so unfair that I was under the impression all was normal for years - from the age of 13 when my periods started to this. The year we actually are properly trying for a baby and I'm told I have something that impairs fertility.




Thank you,

 

[millielaura]

I know how you feel, I started ttc when I was 20 and was diagnosed with pcos. We did have my daughter when I was 24 with injectibles and iui and then progesterone and steroids after ovulation as I had had several miscarriages. I was also given metformin to help blood sugars and this is meant to help resume ovulation in some cases and also helps prevent miscarriage. I took soya isoflavones which is meant to be like a natural clomid (google tells you how to do it) and i did get pregnant on that but sadly they didn't work out . A lot of women have had lots of success with soya isoflavones so maybe you could give them a try? I haven't this time round as my cycles are regular and they say only try soya if your cycles are irregular.
One of my friends had clomid for her first and then got her 2nd and 3rd very quickly naturally so it does all depend.
It's horrid feeling like the doctors don't listen. I would keep pushing for a referral to gynaecology at the very least and don't let them fob you off. They fobbed me off a lot xxx

 

[snowbee]

Big hugs, it can be a shock to get the news.

I've had pcos since I was a teenager. I was unlucky in that it took me a long time to meet someone I wanted a baby with and wasn't able to ttc until I was 30. I had two natural pregnancies (both ending in mc) and then did 7 rounds of clomid to get my little boy.

Don't be disheartened, there are a lot of pcos ladies who do get pregnant without problems, only some need treatment and lots of those don't need ivf. Stay positive.

There is a section for young people with fertility issues on fertility friends, you might like to take a look on there.

 

[Belfa]

I was diagnosed with PCOS at 17 and was actually pleased that there was a reason for my symptoms! Perhaps I was naive but the fertility aspect never bothered me at diagnosis as I was confident that modern medicine would come through.

I'm 35 weeks pregnant with my second child and bot my pregnancies have been achieved using letrozole. In fact, this baby was conceived on round one and we only had sex once! x

 

[Sugarpop]

I was diagnosed around 16/17. At the time I thought it was a better diagnosis than endometriosis and it never crossed my mind about how hard it would be to conceive.

I'm not almost 28 and trying letrozole which is probably my last hope. I've been off the pill since I was around 21.

 

[Frankinstein12]

Hi there,
I was diagnosed at 22, I'm now 27 and unfortunately not been able to conceive yet.
I tend not to get so down about it as there isn't a great deal I can do about it.
I try not to think about the prospect of not being able to have children.
My husband and I will be seeing a fertility specialist in the new year we'll take it from there.
Usually to diagnose PCOS they do a scan and you have a number of symptoms to go along with the high levels of andorgens in your blood.
Will your fertility specialist give you a scan?
Try not to get down, there's lots of us in the same boat

X

 

[Meg86]

Hi,

I didn't want to read & run, I know it's a shock, but please don't worry. I was diagnosed with pcos when I was about 20 due to pretty much absent periods. After 6 rounds of clomid and 5 rounds of letrozole were now expecting baby number 1. There is so much they can do for pcos, there are a range of drugs to help with ovulation, ovarian drilling, iui and ivf. Your fertility clinic will be able to advise and help you. There are loads of ways to help you.

Good luck!
Mx