PCOS is ruining my life.. how about you?

My life I swear is being ruined by PCOS.  My husband and I have tried to get pregnant for years... and no progress.  I have also put on about 65lbs due to this PCOS, I am sick and tired of taking the medication (metphormin and the progesterone every 3 months to bring a perioed.)  I want to be NORMAL!  I have started all the things needed for the surgery, I just have the psyche eval left, and then they will petition the insurance...  I'm scared, is it wrong to be selfish to want children some day?  And is it wrong to depend on this to help me?   Anyone else suffer from this and want to have kids, or has had kids post surgery?  Let me know what to expect.

Me!  I was feeling that way too...and really thought that I'd never be a mom.  Well...thanks to my WLS (I had the RNY) & my weight loss I was able to get pregnant our first month trying & now have a beautiful 7.5 month old daughter.  Wanting to get pregnant was my main motivator for having surgery...even my OB said that had it not been for my surgery I'd have never gotten pregnant.  I really hope that you get your approval for surgery...it's one hell of a mind trip...but once the weight is off...the PCOS really does get better.  My dark patches of skin are gone...my diabetes is gone...and I have regular cycles with ovulation now...something that I've never had before in my life.  Also, I haven't had to take Metformin since the day before surgery...yea!  Anyway...if you have questions...I'd be happy to answer...just let me know! Kristy BTW - have to you been to www.soulcysters.com ?  It's an awesome support website for women with PCOS.  On the diet & exercise forum there's a thread called WLS Divas...we all have PCOS & are all either post op or in the process of getting WLS.  Check it out.

Girl, Please!!      Having babies is one of the main reasons many of us want this surgery. It's just not the only one. For those of us who are not wanting children, we still all have our own reasons aside from living a healthier life. You should never feel guilty for feeling the way you do. We have all been prisoners of this STUPID disorder. And like some doctors say, this may be the only way we could conceive and have a healthy pregnancy. You've got to realize that as many of us that are out there, I still can't explain to my own family why I'm still fat despite diet and excericise, why I don't have periods, or why I can't get pregnant. I have seen doctors who just told me to dietandexcercisehaveaniceday. This being said by doctors who are aware how difficult it is to lose the weight and keep it off. WE understand the importance of this surgery to us.  Most important, YOU understand what this means to you. There are a ton of us (no pun intended ) who have been there and support you COMPLETELY. I support you and wish you all the success with your approval and future babies!

Believe me and the other gals, you are not alone.  Even though it feels like we are, sometimes.  It is hard to talk to folks around us, when they are not in our shoes and don't know what to say.  I am actually just getting to the place where I am not SO ashamed anymore.  I am on a radio show here in my community called "A view from a Broad...or More", and we talk about woman's issues.  Tomorrow night I am the moderator and my topic is Becoming a Parent.  I have thought about doing this topic for a while and I was afraid that it would be too painful or too personal to talk about.  Today I thought "I am not the only one out there and I am going to share my story".  Maybe it will help others to not feel so alone. You are not selfish to want children or wrong to depend on WLS to help you.  We all need help with things that we struggle with.  Good luck to you, there is a light at the end of the tunnel!    

Hi Colleen, Gawd it's good to know I'm not alone in this world with the whole pcos plague.  I'm 32 and have been trying to get pregnant for two years now.  Yep, I'm on all the jazz too... Metformin, Clomid, among other things.  I am on the fence with surgery, if I do decide to do it I think I'll go RNY how about you?  BUT to be honest Colleen I'm so afraid of regaining like so many people do after weightloss.  I am worried because of the pcos thing and how hard it is to lose weight.  Do you crave food at times and find yourself eating just to eat?  I have little discipline and find myself to be a quitter in the diet department.  I'm so tired of being heavy ....I feel like I'm 60!  I have such a grim outlook on life and I really think its all weight related.  My family thinks I'm nuts and why would I ever consider cutting up my body?  Gotta love family!!  Am I crazy or scared?!!   Talk to yah later & take care ;)

You are not alone...  that's one thing I've learned since I've been a member of this forum.  I am going for the RNY, but I feel like my doctor is trying to push me to the LAP, but I'm sticking to my guns with the RNY.  I have the fear of regaining, but it is normal to gain a little bit of the weight.  PCOS, has taken control of many things in my life, my weight being one of them, and that itself controls what I can and cannot do.  RNY and other WLS are one of the main "cures" for PCOS, it alleviates so many of the symptoms, which if I cannot knock out some of the symptoms the others start to fall into place of "normal".  Do I crave food?  Well, when I first was on the Metphormin I craved sugar all the time, the doctor said that wasn't common, but the more people I talk to about it, they all had the same problem, SUGAR SUGAR SUGAR is what their body said.  Now, I eat when I'm hungry, sometimes out of pure boredom, but I work a fulltime job, a part time job and I go to College fulltime so I don't have much time to do that anymore.  But when I was off of school I had nothing to do, so I filled my free time, with eating.  I am the same way when dieting is concerned.  I start and stop and start and stop.  I need instant gratification, and not losing 10lbs in a week is bothersome to me.  I'm working on it though.   Being heavy gives me a bad outlook on a lot of things, but its because it almost keeps me in a different "class" than those who are thinner.  My twin sister is not happy that I am doing this, she feels that I just don't try hard enough, she truly beleives there is nothing wrong with me.  She is also 60lbs thinner than I am, and that is after she just had a baby.   My mom hasn't expressed anything.  She wants to know if my doctor has called and my next appointments, but she has never asked me any questions, and she doesn't show any support..  My aunt and my husband are my biggest cheerleaders.  My husband has his questions, and concerns, that are normal, but he is my BEST FRIEND in regards to this, and he is just wonderful.  Do you have friends that are skeptical?  My doctor told me you would need to talk to friends and family, because it will be an adjustment for them too, So I talked to my best friend Karrie, and I asked how she felt, and she told me point blank, that she is going to be mad, when I am thin and she is chubby.  And I have had to do some soul searching in regards to our relationship.  I have come to the conclusion, I am doing this for me, for my life, for my husband and my future family.   At this point, CRAZY and SCARED are in about the same place... but I know the CALM will set in... Take care, and let me know if you have any other questions... Colleen  

Children were THE reason I had RNY, but for a different reason than many women who suffer daily with this disease.  In my early 20's, DH and I decided to put off having kiddos.  I wisely chose to go on various BC methods.  In hindsight, it helped a problem I didn't even know I had.  I got pregnant 3x, and my oldest is 26 months older than my youngest.  All 3 are blessings I know I wouldn't have had if I'd waited.  I chose to have a tubal ligation when my youngest was born, and the irony of it was that had I waited a mere 6 months, it wouldn't have been necessary.  My GYN told me that I wouldn't have been able to have another baby if my life depended on it.  The funny thing is that the same doc wanted to put me on BCP's("to be a back-up for the tubal") after my RNY because a lot of women get pregnant after this surgery. By the time my baby was 5 y/o, my health was in the toilet.  I was slowly dying from the rarely-dwelled on problems of PCOS.  Hypertension, high cholesterol, high triglycerides, insulin resistance, you name it, my body was battling it.  My mom died from a heart attack at 38 y/o and I was 5.  Looking at her medical records, my endo told me bluntly I would live her life if I didn't take back my life, any way I could do it.  It wouldn't be fair to let my children grow up w/out a healthy-and happy-mom.   It is NOT wrong, nor is it selfish to want children.  Children are a blessing, whether they are biologically yours or not.

colleen, I understand how miserable you must be, pcos is my demon, I had wls on aug 18,2000 and I still have facial hair and I still have issues with diabetes but that not the same for everyone, I have suffered alot of not being able to conceive but now on june 27th, I will be introducing my son to the world, without fertility drugs or medications of any kind, I was always told not to put any hope on having children, I suffer from severe pcos.  I think you should see and endrocrinologist and the ob/gyn and get all test done.  your not selfish to want to have kids, its normal.  Let nature take its course. I have and know alot about pcos and issues that go with it. if you want email me ok marisol