LTTTC #1 w/pcos - Buddies?

[pinksprinkles]

pvsmith12- I feel ya. I've been gone the last week as well. Needed a bit of a breather before my new cycle. I was feeling pretty down, myself. Glad your doctor is refering you to the new OB/Gyn. GL!

poetinmyheart- Why did they not start you on another round of Clomid now? You can do another round in the same cycle. A lot of doctors do it. (Mine did so last month.)

karenh- I hope they sort everything out tomorrow!

AFM: Today is CD3. I started my Femara this morning. 2 pills a day for five days. I am very glad to be off the Clomid. Over two cycles it destroyed my uterine lining. I went from a 6-7 day period (including spotting) to 3 days including spotting. I only had full flow for 24 hours; I normally have it for 72+! I know that Clomid can stay in one's system for up to 3 months, so I really hope it doesn't affect my lining this cycle. I'm a little concerned about it. Nothing I can do though, so I just hope the Femara works.

 

[poetinmyheart]

poetinmyheart- Why did they not start you on another round of Clomid now? You can do another round in the same cycle. A lot of doctors do it. (Mine did so last month.)

I don't know. I didn't get to see my doctor. I couldn't get back in until Wednesday. I didn't know you could use it twice in one cycle.

 

[pinksprinkles]

Yeah, you can. You should ask about it. Last month I had no follies at my CD12 or my CD15 u/s, so on CD15 they started me on another round of Clomid and I O'd two nice big follies on CD26 after being triggered on CD24.

 

[nexis]

So it's snowed pretty bad overnight. I'm stuck in the house as I can't get my car out, and if it stays or snows more then we won't be making the SA appointment Monday. There's only one bus by us that goes to the hospital and that's only once an hour and isn't running due to the snow. It's too far to walk and taxi's won't come down here in the snow. I'll ring them Monday if we're not going to make it and hopefully they'll be able to rearrange.

 

[karenh]

Poetinmyheart: I am so sorry there were no follicles! I wasn’t monitored when I was on Clomid except for my 21 day progesterone check. I did a total of 5 rounds of Clomid and I never ovulated, I am guessing there were no follicles either, but like I said we didn’t have a scan. Then I was referred to my RE and he let me go on Femara. I ovulated the first cycle! It worked so much better for me. I hope you find what works for you. Good luck.

Pinksprinkles: I have never heard of docs doing more than one round of Clomid in the same cycle other than you. That is interesting. I am glad that you like the Femara; I hope you get your BFP with it, and that it helps you lining.

Nexis: Oh no! That is such a bummer about the snow. I hope it clears up some so you can make your appointment.

AFM: My appointment is in nine hours. I am not sure how I am going to make it through the day, but I will. This will be the first appointment DH can’t go with me. He has to work. : ( I will let you all know how it goes afterward.

 

[pinksprinkles]

nexis- Sorry about the snow, hun. What a bummer!

karenh- I hope your appt went well! I'm sorry your DH couldn't go with you. As for the Clomid, I thought it was odd when they told me I was going to do another round in the same cycle so I looked it up when I got home. Apparently it is called the "stair step protocol" and a lot of doctors have started doing it. It worked for me, but then I read that if you need to stair step Clomid to O, it may be better to use Femara. The Clomid just gets hard on your body if you have to do two rounds of Clomid every cycle. I'm really glad I'm not taking it anymore.

AFM- Not much going on. Today was CD4. Second day of Femara. So far no side effects. (Yay!) I'm still a little concerned about this cycle. My period was so terribly short this week. Only 25 hours of full flow, whereas normally I get 72+hours of it. Since Clomid can stay in your system for up to a few months, I'm worried I won't have decent lining this cycle or nest. I guess it will be a wait and see kinda thing, but I can't help but worry.

 

[karenh]

nexis- Sorry about the snow, hun. What a bummer!

karenh- I hope your appt went well! I'm sorry your DH couldn't go with you. As for the Clomid, I thought it was odd when they told me I was going to do another round in the same cycle so I looked it up when I got home. Apparently it is called the "stair step protocol" and a lot of doctors have started doing it. It worked for me, but then I read that if you need to stair step Clomid to O, it may be better to use Femara. The Clomid just gets hard on your body if you have to do two rounds of Clomid every cycle. I'm really glad I'm not taking it anymore.

AFM- Not much going on. Today was CD4. Second day of Femara. So far no side effects. (Yay!) I'm still a little concerned about this cycle. My period was so terribly short this week. Only 25 hours of full flow, whereas normally I get 72+hours of it. Since Clomid can stay in your system for up to a few months, I'm worried I won't have decent lining this cycle or nest. I guess it will be a wait and see kinda thing, but I can't help but worry.

I am glad there are no side effects yet! I hope it stays that way. I didn't see any effects of the Clomid staying in my system, I hope you don't either.

 

[karenh]

So my ultrasound yesterday was normal. He said my lining is 4. something which is where it should be for where I am in my cycle. He said he was looking for masses which could indicate a growth outside of my uterus but didn't find anything. He said my HCG should be back to zero and they took my blood to test. They called later and said I had gone up to 40.56. I was at 20.87 i think on Monday. What do I do now?!?

 

[pinksprinkles]

So my ultrasound yesterday was normal. He said my lining is 4. something which is where it should be for where I am in my cycle. He said he was looking for masses which could indicate a growth outside of my uterus but didn't find anything. He said my HCG should be back to zero and they took my blood to test. They called later and said I had gone up to 40.56. I was at 20.87 i think on Monday. What do I do now?!?

Oh hunny that sounds so confusing!! I would be so frustrated, too. What did your doctor say?

There have been cases where women O at a different time of their cycle than is normal. (Like they ovulate at the normal time, but then ovulate again a week or two later, sometimes even during AF.) A Canadian study showed that up to 1 in 7 women have this happen on occasion, and it's possible to get pregnant from it. If you give it a couple weeks and you hCG is still going up, I guess they will have to do another scan and then maybe you will have some answers. I'd say your best course of action for now is just to wait and get blood drawn again in a week to see what is going on. Based on your hCG count, if you are PG, you probably wouldn't be able to see it on u/s for another 2-3 weeks, probably closer to three. So if your numbers are rising then, another u/s would be wise.

I am sorry you are stuck in this stupid waiting game! I will keep my FX'd that this turns out well for you.

 

[karenh]

So my ultrasound yesterday was normal. He said my lining is 4. something which is where it should be for where I am in my cycle. He said he was looking for masses which could indicate a growth outside of my uterus but didn't find anything. He said my HCG should be back to zero and they took my blood to test. They called later and said I had gone up to 40.56. I was at 20.87 i think on Monday. What do I do now?!?

Oh hunny that sounds so confusing!! I would be so frustrated, too. What did your doctor say?

There have been cases where women O at a different time of their cycle than is normal. (Like they ovulate at the normal time, but then ovulate again a week or two later, sometimes even during AF.) A Canadian study showed that up to 1 in 7 women have this happen on occasion, and it's possible to get pregnant from it. If you give it a couple weeks and you hCG is still going up, I guess they will have to do another scan and then maybe you will have some answers. I'd say your best course of action for now is just to wait and get blood drawn again in a week to see what is going on. Based on your hCG count, if you are PG, you probably wouldn't be able to see it on u/s for another 2-3 weeks, probably closer to three. So if your numbers are rising then, another u/s would be wise.

I am sorry you are stuck in this stupid waiting game! I will keep my FX'd that this turns out well for you.

Thank you, that was helpful! Here is what happened:

OK, so the nurse is who called and she told me my numbers and then said so what do you want to do now? I asked her what my options were and she said well we could keep doing what we are doing which is checking your numbers and see what happens or we could do something more invasive to speed it up. So then I asked her what the doctor thought I should do and she said it is up to me! That was it. I told her I wanted to think about it. She said she would check in with me on Monday. Reminded me to keep watch for signs of an ectopic but she said they are pretty sure that isn't what it is. I am just so confused. He had to have looked in my uterus because he measured my lining at 4. I would have been six and a half weeks. I did bleed. There was one heavy day but it was fewer days than my regular period by 2 -3 days. I guess if there was absolutely no possibility that I was pregnant then why not do something to bring my numbers down fast right? However they didn't tell me what that would be. If there is even the slightest chance then morally I can't do anything. I just really don't know what to do.

On a different note, this weekend I found out my aunt is pregnant with her 7th and my neighbor is pregnant with her 3rd. Fun times.

 

[sugarpi24]

They should have given you some sort of explanation or something Karen!! Doesn't sound like they know what they are doing!!! I'm sorry your going through this!! I reallly hope they figure it out!!

 

[Natashaa1]

Karen I can't believe they have just left you with all these unanswered questions!! We've got really bad snow at the mo and I need to go for my progesterone blood test 7 days post iui not made it to work my cars been abandoned but luckily the local doctors is walkable and have managed to get me in.

 

[karenh]

Karen I can't believe they have just left you with all these unanswered questions!! We've got really bad snow at the mo and I need to go for my progesterone blood test 7 days post iui not made it to work my cars been abandoned but luckily the local doctors is walkable and have managed to get me in.

I am so glad you were able to make it to the Dr. Let us know how it went!

 

[pinksprinkles]

Natashaa1- Glad the walk is not too bad.

karenh- Have you and your DH come to any decisions about what you're going o do next?

sugarpi24- How are you doing today, hun?

AFM- Today was my last day of Femara. The side effects have been totally minimal compared to the Clomid. I've been a bit irritable the last couple days and have had some very mild hot flashes, but that's it. I am really happy to have not felt so bad. CD 12 u/s is Saturday, so I'm hoping to see that I have some lovely follies. I had some light pain in my left ovary last night, so maybe a follicle is growing? I hope so!

I am about two weeks into my extended release Metformin, and I am learning all sorts of things abot food I never knew before. Like that movie theater popcorn is absolutely sickening. DH and I shared a medium popcorn at the movies last night and, >WOW<, I never realized how much energy is in a bag of that stuff. Normally it feels like eating nothing, but on the Metformin, I can actually FEEL this huge wash of energy through my body. Bizarre! It probably wouldn't be so bad if I wasn't so out of shape. It made me feel like I needed to go running- which I tried... but I'm just too heavy to go jogging. I went as far as I could though, and then DH and I walked for maybe 45 minutes and that helped a bit. Then I had an actual "crash" from the carb withdrawal. Weirdest. Thing. Ever!

As uncomfortable as the whole experience was, I now really understand what I've been doing to my body all these years. And now that I really get it, I can keep working to make changes. Still, it was a totally shocking experience. Truly bizarre. And to think, that is how my body is SUPPOSED to react. Wow.

 

[sugarpi24]

I'm doing okay pinksprinkles....just wait til Friday...going crazy thinking af is gonna arrive any min...

I know what you mean about movie theater popcorn ...we went to see hobit opening night and I got a large popcorn and I barely touched it!! It gets gross after awhile... I'm not a runner or jogger either...I like walking...but then I start itching its weird...I like talking my dog for walks it keeps my.kind occupied... I joined a gym awhile back haven't been for awhile due to it sucking up a lot of gas...but I love the elliptical!!! Its my favorite!! ive been drinking a lot more water here lately. Trying to stay away from caffiene!

 

[MrsChaffin]

Hi ladies! I hope you don't mind me joining? My name is Lauren and I'm 24 (25 in April)! I am on cd 15 right now, I was diagnosed as a lean PCOS at the beginning of this month (Dont know yet if I have cysts on my ovaries or just PCOS) and my doctor put me on Letrozole (femara) cd4-8. I go in for an ultrasound tomorrow. I just got an ovacue monitor and this is my first month using it - it said I O'd yesterday but I won't believe it until I see for myself at the u/s tomorrow..

 

[sugarpi24]

Good luck mrschaffin!! Hope you get good news tomorrow!!! When is your bday in April? Mines the 22nd!!

 

[karenh]

Pink: I am glad that you are learning so much and now able to see the changes you want/need to make, that is wonderful! Good luck at your ultrasound! I hope you have some good follicles!

Sugar: What CD are you on? DPO? Are you going to test soon?

Mrs.Chaffin: Welcome! I hope the femara works for you and your get your BFP soon.

AFM: I am still not sure what I am going to do. I have a beta this Friday, and then I guess I need to decide. I am hoping to remember to ask how much everything will cost, but that could be the deciding factor.

 

[sugarpi24]

Karen I will be testing on Friday I'm on Cd 26 right now....idk how many days past ovulation I am...I had a trigger shot on cd15...so idk...

Good luck Friday Karen!! Hopefully that'll let you know if something is up or not depending on where the numbers are

 

[karenh]

Karen I will be testing on Friday I'm on Cd 26 right now....idk how many days past ovulation I am...I had a trigger shot on cd15...so idk...

Good luck Friday Karen!! Hopefully that'll let you know if something is up or not depending on where the numbers are

Good luck to you on Friday as well, I hope you get your BFP!