Anyone have to go back on Metformin after WLS?

Hi everyone!  I just discovered the PCOS forum and I love it!!  I have been "reading" for the last 45 minutes hoping to find the answer to my question - and instead I found a lot of women experiencing what I have for 18 years!! I have PCOS and was diagnosed with it 18 years ago.  I never had regular periods - I would have 2 -6 per YEAR and when I did have them - I would make up for lost time and almost hemmorage!  I was gifted with 3 girls.  When I got pregnant the first time - I had just lost 30lbs by counting calories and eating only 1000 per day and doing High Impact Aerobics 3 times a week... It took 10 months of that to loose the 30 lbs.  And we tried ALL YEAR to get pregnant.  (That was in 1984)...  Skipping forward to my next girl...1997 - I had gone on the Phen-Phen diet and lost 94 lbs... met my husband in July - Moved in together in Feb - He proposed March 8th and I found out I was pregnant March 16th....GO FIGURE.  (You get skinny and you get pregnant!!  DAMN!!)  I then told my husband that if he wanted another - we may as well do it while my periods were "regular" (every other month or so) and that I wasn't getting any younger....I had my 2nd daughter at 35 years old.  So we got pregnant when the 2nd girl was 1 and had another girl in June of 1999  I was 37. I had been denied for having a Hysterectomy when I was 32 and again when I was 34.  I thank the Medical Directors I was working with at the time for NOT APPROVING it - because I wouldn't have my two youngest kids!  I just love them!  Even though there is a 14 year difference between the 1st and 2nd one. So then at 40 - I had the much needed Hysterectomy!   They took it all...no more ovaries or anything....I LOVE IT! Here I am now...just turned 46 in April and I had RNY on July 23rd 2007.  I have lost 80lbs and have been the same weight since January.  So I lost that 80lbs in the first 6 months after the RNY.  I am now seeking advice from anywhere because my surgeon mentioned that my PCOS and Insulin Resistance - could be causing my weight loss to have stopped.  He suggested that he put me back on Glucophage - but I haven't made an appointment to see him yet.  I am a bit aggrevated as I wasn't told that the PCOS could still cause obesity problems after the RNY.  Just as I was naive enough to think having a Hysterectomy that my facial hair would stop growing!  NOT!!!  I am now fully aware that once you have PCOS - you ALWAYS WILL HAVE PCOS!! So my question is - Did anyone of you have to go back on Metformin or Glucophage or any other Insulin Resistance medication after RNY and has it helped you get to your goal?

My weight loss has been slow withe a few plateaus in the 2 months since I had surgery, so I figured that PCOS might be the problem.  I have begun to notice more acne, hair growth, and some sweet cravings at times.  I put myself back on metformin last week, starting slowly with 250 mg twice daily before advancing to 500 mg.  I may eventually begin taking 1000 mg twice daily again, depending on how I feel.  Time will tell.  I'm hoping that this is the missing link.

HI! I say that with so much passion it's not funny (seriously). I am awake after putting my DH and my BEAUTIFUL step daughter to sleep the day before Mothers Day… knowing I will never bear a child myself. I too have had a hysterectomy with a double oopherectomy (both ovaries removed, hopefully the correct spelling!) and STILL on metformin. I actually WORK for my bariatric surgeon which I do not mention very much here on the OH because I need support myself, but this time of year (and the time that I have had my hysterectomy) I feel I need EXTRA support… ANYWAYS, I go to one of the BEST endocrinologist in the country and he specializes in bariatrics and insulin resistance. He has told me (only after he refused to treat me until I had my DEPRESSION under control) that PCOS had wreaked so much havoc on my endocrine system that I will ALWAYS have to be on metformin. That with PCOS, my body will eventually catch up with what I am doing… fill in… losing weight through not absorbing my intake… and that I will always have to stay on top of it.

 

 

I have posted before (probably so long ago) that anyone that still has their ovaries and has been diagnosed with PCOS should stay on metformin if they want to keep their weight down, much less try and conceive.

 

 

YES, you will ALWAYS have PCOS even with out the PCO… HA HA! I laugh because I live through this every day. I still have to eat a low carb (kind of south beachsish) diet and still have to exercise at a rate that I hate with a passion to maintain my weight loss (247lb s) but it’s just something I live with… without the joy of three beautiful children.

 

 

That sounds sad… BUT I mean it in the sense that, count your blessings in your weight loss, just as hard as  you did to conceive the children that you were blessed with. It  really is the same battle, same principle, to be the best you can be to make a difference.

 

 

I am VERY, VERY, VERY lucky to get along with my child’s mother. I know that God placed us together for a reason, to share the ability to raise the child that we have (she is a hand full!) my husband and I actually make it possible for her mother to stay at home and raise her children. With that said I have the ability to spread the word about obesity and PCOS.

 

 

PCOS will be with you forever, whether you lose weight or not, PERIOD. Please educate yourself on this, pre-op, post-o*****T-op, it is vital to everything that is YOU, and YOU should be #1 in taking care of everything else in your life.

 

 

So this might be a long post 6 minutes before Mother’s Day… forgive me. At my clinic (that I work at) my patient’s know that they are all my “children,” knowing that you gain your life back through weight loss surgery and that I am a part of that makes me feel… alive, is very much “motherhood” is why I am posting so long tonight, I love you all.

 

 

Email me anytime… even to… ***ch, I know ALL ABOUT IT!!!

 

 

Yes, they tested me at 3 months and my level was 106 so back on Met.  I am on 1000mg per day and my level is now at an 8.  I was VERY disappointed about it too.