advice?

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 - hang in there! I too am (almost) 30. Pre-op I had PCOS and the only reason I got periods is because I was on BC pills. I was also on metformin which helped with the PCOS and Insulin resistance. This DOES inhibit our weight loss but it doesn't prevent it - avoid carbs like the plague - they "feed" the PCOS and make it even harder to loose weight.

I was 327 the day of surgery and down to 198 (Dr's goal is 170) pre-pregnancy. I was told pre-op that I would never be able to conceive. Well I guess I proved them wrong!!

I would sign up for fertilityfriend.com - it's free and it is a great tool - chart your cycles there. I'd also make an appt with your OB/GYN and discuss all of this with them - they may suggest some meds to regulate your cycles. You have PLENTY of time to have a healthy baby. ALso have your labs pulled and your thyroid checked - many women go un-diagnosed with thyroid issues which also makes it harder to loose weight AND to conceive! I had 3/4 of my thyroid removed in 2002 because of large, recurring cysts.

My temps run low - I was always in the 96's for my basal temp in the morning. My "normal" day time temp is 97.6 (another sign of thyroid issues!).

Hope that all this helps somewhat!

Liz

Liz,
Thank you for your advice and help! I've made an appointment with an Ob-gyn who specializes in high-risk pregnancy and Pcos and hopefully will see her by June. I'm excited to see her and have heard good things about her track record as I have a friend who's seen her and had PCOS who ended up having her ovaries drilled etc before having her two children. I"m just panicing a little about the age thing but I guess I have some time..... I need to be better about carbs, they are still and always will be my weakness...
Thank you again and I'll keep people updated on my progress.
Jenn