PCOS and OPK's

[Hope13]

Hi ladies

Just wanted to mention something my fs told me tonight. She said OPK's are not helpful wth PCOS and they do not work. She advised me not to use them as they give false positives. Mine are going in the bin tonight!!! I know you may know this but I found it helpful to her from the fs. xx

 

[MariaF]

It's true to a certain extent. but it varies by each woman. I have PCOS and can use opk's fine. As long as you get to know your body it's very possible to use opk's.

 

[MrS. MaBrEy]

if you combine OPKs with temp charts and you know what a positive looks like for you it is possible for it to work. most of the time they dont work because of the irregularity in your cycle, so your testing at the wrong times. this is where my issue comes in, if i dont POAS every single day then i miss it..and even then some months they dont recognize my surge, or i dont have one at all. i hate my PCOS. its awful.

 

[Imaan]

Excuse me for my ignorance ladies but what are the symptoms of POCS and how are the symptoms treated? do all women with POCS have cysts?

 

[MariaF]

No, trouble with PCOS is that no woman with it is the same as the other

Usually they diagnose you based on scans (if they do show cysts on ovaries) and blood tests (especially testosterone and LH - they are usually elevated in PCOS ladies).

But sometimes even if both of the above come back as normal a woman can still experience PCOS symptoms! And vice versa - as in the scan and bloods can show PCOS but you can have regular af and get pg quite quickly (happened to a friend of mine).

Physical symptoms include acne, greasy skin, excess hair and excess weight, especially around the waste.

 

[Hope13]

Thanks for comments. I just thought it would be helpful to pass on my fs comments as I for one, have been relying opk's. Last month I had two positive sticks and I didn't ovulate according to tests. The point I was trying to make was to ladies with PCOS, they are not as reliable as we may think. I know I have been falsely relying on them. They may work if you take your temp with them and monitor that way, but on their own, I would be wary!