BMI and fertility treatment

[Tinks86]

Hello
Im wondering if anyone with a high BMI (39) and over has been offered help with fertility? I have a second appointment next week and my BMI is still high - im trying my best to loose weight!! Im just so scared of rejection from them
Do you think I could still be offered clomid or something that will help me ovulate or at least make me have a period? It has been 318 days since my last af
Thank you in advance for your help x

 

[wwchix]

Hello
Im wondering if anyone with a high BMI (39) and over has been offered help with fertility? I have a second appointment next week and my BMI is still high - im trying my best to loose weight!! Im just so scared of rejection from them
Do you think I could still be offered clomid or something that will help me ovulate or at least make me have a period? It has been 318 days since my last af
Thank you in advance for your help x

Hi hun,

it depends where you live. however where i am, i was told they would not help me until my bmi was 30, however i found out whilst that is their 'ideal', they will help at 34. i was sent away to lose weight, and am now at bmi of 33, after losing 20lb in the past few months and now awaiting my referall app to hopefully be given clomid.

to give you a period they should give you provera, because you should be having a bleed at least 4 times a year i was told, however provera literally will just make you have a bleed, it wont help you ovulate or anything.

if you are in the uk, the reason they wont give you anything to help you ovulate is because being overweight, there are more risks involved in pregnancy, so they obviously wont give you the help to get pregnant and potentially risk you and the babys health (yes i know other overweight people get pregnant naturally but the nhs cant help that).

just keep at it losing weight, ask for some help at the drs, but at a bmi of 39, chances are they will say no to you, sorry to be blunt but dont want to get your hopes up xx

 

[whigfield]

I went to see a FS in Feb this year after my third (and traumatic) miscarriage, and saw the most horrible of consultants who tried to insinuate that my weight had caused the miscarriages and she wouldn't see give me clomid until I got my BMI below 30 because any further pregnancies would result in M/C as well because of my weight. Obviously this comment was crap and completely untrue but she DID send me away with metformin and whilst I didn't manage to conceive (or regulate my cycles at all - they got worse as I lost weight), I pushed myself to lose weight and I saw her again today with a BMI of 29.8 and she gave me clomid straight away.

My last m/c was not connected to weight at all but actually a rare condition, but I noticed a lot of consultants on the NHS are very quick to jump to try and pin it on weight. I also took clomid for the last pregnancy and ovulated exactly when I was supposed to - so once again my weight wasn't a factor in that, but she wasn't having any of it.

It's a load of crap if you ask me, as some hospitals have restrictions where they won't treat unless < 30, some under < 35, and some don't even really look at BMI at all. A friend who recommended this particular clinic to me was actually heavier than me and was never ordered to lose weight, so it's really down to who you see.

If you don't get offered any fertility treatment right away they might at least offer you provera/norethisterone to bring on an AF. Are you over 30? Do you know if you have PCOS? I think they're more likely to help you if you're near their BMI range if you're a bit older.. And metformin might be an option for you if you have PCOS.

Also, I think you have more leeway if you decide to go private. I remember reading a story on here before where a woman went on the NHS for treatment, was sent away with massive lectures about weight blahblahblah, and then came back and saw the same person privately and was given clomid immediately with no mention of her weight again.

 

[wwchix]

yeah i thought about going private too, however i thought the amount of money it would cost when i have the nhs to use, why not just take the chance to get healthier cause you only get heavier during pregnancy, and have a better chance of a healthy baby.

whilst it hurts to be turned away, i've gone through it a lot this past year, you gotta think, it is all for the best.

ask for some help to lose weight, i am on orlistat and lost 20lb in 2 months xx

 

[Tinks86]

Thanks ladies
I have just turned 27 - I've had a scan and they say my overies are fine but my blood levels have said my androgen levels were slightly elevated but they havent said 'you have PCOS' to me. Im hoping for some answers/ help from the fertility doctor as I only saw a nurse the first time.

 

[Tinks86]

I went to see a FS in Feb this year after my third (and traumatic) miscarriage, and saw the most horrible of consultants who tried to insinuate that my weight had caused the miscarriages and she wouldn't see give me clomid until I got my BMI below 30 because any further pregnancies would result in M/C as well because of my weight. Obviously this comment was crap and completely untrue but she DID send me away with metformin and whilst I didn't manage to conceive (or regulate my cycles at all - they got worse as I lost weight), I pushed myself to lose weight and I saw her again today with a BMI of 29.8 and she gave me clomid straight away.

My last m/c was not connected to weight at all but actually a rare condition, but I noticed a lot of consultants on the NHS are very quick to jump to try and pin it on weight. I also took clomid for the last pregnancy and ovulated exactly when I was supposed to - so once again my weight wasn't a factor in that, but she wasn't having any of it.

It's a load of crap if you ask me, as some hospitals have restrictions where they won't treat unless < 30, some under < 35, and some don't even really look at BMI at all. A friend who recommended this particular clinic to me was actually heavier than me and was never ordered to lose weight, so it's really down to who you see.

If you don't get offered any fertility treatment right away they might at least offer you provera/norethisterone to bring on an AF. Are you over 30? Do you know if you have PCOS? I think they're more likely to help you if you're near their BMI range if you're a bit older.. And metformin might be an option for you if you have PCOS.

Also, I think you have more leeway if you decide to go private. I remember reading a story on here before where a woman went on the NHS for treatment, was sent away with massive lectures about weight blahblahblah, and then came back and saw the same person privately and was given clomid immediately with no mention of her weight again.

Im sorry for your losses x

 

[whigfield]

Thanks ladies
I have just turned 27 - I've had a scan and they say my overies are fine but my blood levels have said my androgen levels were slightly elevated but they havent said 'you have PCOS' to me. Im hoping for some answers/ help from the fertility doctor as I only saw a nurse the first time.

My androgen levels are elevated too but I do have cysts on the left side of my ovaries - so that's good that yours are clear!

I'm sure they will help you. I'd be surprised if they don't at the very least give you something to give you an AF.

 

[Palladium]

It seems to vary. I'm in Australia and my specialist told me that if it turns out I need it, she can't even refer me for IVF until my BMI is less than 35 (it's 39 now), but she wasn't too concerned about my weight herself. To get to less than 35 I need to lose about 12 kg, which isn't too much I suppose, but I find it really hard to lose weight. While I am trying to lose some, the next step for me is clomid. They don't restrict that based on weight/bmi here, but I have read that it's less effective if you are overweight. But I'm hoping that will be enough since I do ovulate on my own sometimes.