Need some advice... Thank you

  Hello everyone, So I wanted to check in and run a couple things by you guys, I haven’t been that active in this forum, but I’m looking for some advice. First off the history: My husband and I have been together for coming up on 8 years married and 10 together. Since being married we have not use birth control consecutively for more than a few months at a time and always figured in the beginning that we would let nature take it’s course. Before RNY on May 7, 2009 I was at my heaviest ever around 390 lbs, I got down to 351 the day of surgery and now I’m at 250 with another 60 to go, which is going REALLY slow…. My whole like doctors have talked about PCOS and Metabolic X diagnosis and I’ve been on Metformin in the past to attempt to regulate cycles. My cycles have never been normal, I’ve gone years in the past without having one. Since surgery I’ve had four periods, one started when I went on birth control again and lasted for 6 weeks very heavy and then they put me on Provera to stop it, since then I haven’t taken anything and had a period on my own in December and February and nothing since. I’ve had some signs of ovulation but not consistently. I have all the signs of PCOS- excess hair, hard time losing weight, skin coloration, insulin resistance etc. I’ve had my ovaries looked at and they say that there are follicles and that they appear healthy without cysts. Recently I’ve been worrying a lot about having babies and it’s really something I want, I’m worrying because I’m 30 and things haven’t happened yet on their own and I’m getting ready to go see a Dr about infertility stuff… This week I started charting my Basal Body Temp and I’ve used Ovulation prediction kits some..   So my questions:   I’ve had a BBT of 96.1, 96.19 etc this week and that seems really low to me, I know I’ve read that the range is 97-99 but this seems weird and I’m starting to worry about it?   Do people feel that PCOS has affected your ability to lose your weight or meet your goals successfully?   Any advice on what I should do?   Thank you! Jenn

First of all, congratulations on your weight loss thus far :) that's super awesome!!

Second, I'm very similar to your story...healthy follicles and what not, but still very irregular periods. 

When I was tracking my BBT, it was normal for the temps to drop pretty low.  From my understanding it is that drop in temp right before a sudden spike in temp that means that you've ovulated.  I'm not 100% on that, it's been a couple years since I've done it. 

I am going to be revising to the DS from an un-successful lap-band so I'm not sure how my PCOS will effect my weight loss.  I do know that my PCOS has hugely effected all natural, non-surgical attempts of weight loss...i.e...I never lost any! lol!

I wish you the best of luck and hope that you get someone more knowledgeable to answer your post.  Wish I could be of more help. 

Have checked out your husband yet? I have PCOS, and like infertility problems and all, but I haven't have my WLS yet. We went to a specialist for me but we the Dr. said we need to run blood work and a sperm count too. I assumed "this quack is just trying to run our bill up!"  But come to find out- his count came up as ZERO!!! Dr. went ahead and did a 2nd check and ZERO again, So now we know its not just me. he said there was hope though. He needs a bi-opsy to find out if he has sperm and his "pipes" are broken or he isn't producing sperm at all. If its the latter one then he can just take a monthly injection (think its only for 3 mo. but not positive) to get production going. Or if the pipes are broken then he may have to just got with artificial insemination or IVF (if mine can't be fixed or if the AI doesn't take)

Well I hope this gave you at least an idea to check that out. I know I feel better that even if we never get preggers I am not only at fault, its both of us! And many times we've talked about how weired it is that we both have fert. problems, and we found each other. Maybe we are supposed to do something else with our lives. And then I think the reason may be because we wouldn't be good parents. I have such a nurturing nature and a yearning to be a mommy, but when my siblings kids are acting crazy loud or messing up my house, I get either soo mad or soo frustrated and annoyed. So only time will tell for us, but I hope this could help you.

Good Luck!!!!

I wouldn't overthink the fact that the two of you both have fertility issues. We all have trials in our lives so that we can learn from them. It could be that the two of you will learn alot through this experience and be a great help to others.

My husband and I both had fertility issues. When we got married we just took for granted that you get married and have kids- it's normal. We both come from large families. Then we discovered our issues. I have PCOS and he has damage from chemotherapy. Our daughter is now 3 and we appreciate her 10x more knowing how hard it was to have her. We also have adopted a special needs 3 year old. We speak to many people about how important kids are, how much they are to be appreciated, and how important good parenting is. Our experiences have really helped us to cousel others.

As for your nieces and nephews- we each raise our children to have bad habits that we can handle. This is natural. If they are doing something that is only mildly irritating we may overlook it, but correct them for something is we find incredibly obnoxious. This reinforces the mildly irritating behavior to some extent. Well, the mildly irritating behavior may really bother someone else, but that's why they are my kids. For example, my nieces and nephews are allowed to walk on the counter tops and their parents don't care. I want to scream and pitch a fit when they do that! It drives me crazy!  But then again, my kids are allowed to run barefoot in the back yard. This drives my brother crazy, it's all a matter of perspective.

Hi there - I have a couple of suggestions that may help ...
There is a helpful website and book called Taking Charge of your Own Fertility - they explain alot, provide natural suggestions for many things and is helpful to under cycles and such.
In terms of low basal results - read up on the source I mentioned, and about thyroid function relating to basal temps.
I think, from my experiences, if you are having feedback from doctors that your ovaries are working well, I would be relaxed in your efforts to conceive and learn what you can about how your own body works - hang in there, I hope the resource I suggested helps ...

Blessings ...

I have not had my surgery yet but have a lot of experience with infertility and PCOS. The best suggestion I can give is to seek out the advice of a fertility specialist, a reproductive endocrinologist. When I first started with one (before I got pregnant with my son after doing  insemination, metformin, clomid, etc.), I had to pay out of pocket as my insurance did not cover it. However, it was the best thing I ever did. My OB had been trying to "help" me out (not that I didn't love her, I did), but she was not a specialist and not doing the right thing. Almost eight years after seeing him I have a six year old son and 17 month old fraternal girls. If seeing a specialist is not an option for you, I highly reccomend the "Taking Charge of your Ferility" book and website as well. There is also a website (or group, sorry I can't remember right now) called "SoulCysters" that was extremely helpful. Good luck to you- infertility is extremely stressful. I hope things goes well! 

Jaime