Serious frustration?

Question

my husband and i have been trying for over a year. i recently found out i have pcos, so my dr put me on metformin. however, the metformin makes me really sick. i am so frustrated because this isnt happening; and ther are so many of my friends that are getting pregnant. i wish i had some answers. is there anything i can to to make the meformin not make me feel so sick all the time? any type of encougement or personal stories would be really appreciated. thanks!

Answer 1

Maybe you could ask to be put on a different medication.. or perhaps try other methods of conceiving.. clomid, IVF, IUI. It will happen, just remember that. I spend alot of time reading about women who tried for years and years, and FINALLY had a baby. You are going to be one of those special few that appreciate every single moment of life once you realize that you are with child. I wish you the best of luck, I know how hard it can be to deal with infertility.

Answer 2

Have you been taking it for 2 months or more?  Sometimes it can take a while for you to get used to it.

I don't have PCOS, but the doc thought I had some symptoms like PCOS so he put me on metformin to help me ovulate.  I never did get used to the nausea and the horrible sudden diarrhea.  So, I decreased my dosage to 850mg once a day, which is much less than the 1500mg they say is necessary to help me ovulate.  So we bypassed the need for metformin by using Clomid and later, Femara.

Is it possible to ask to be using Clomid or Femara instead of metformin?

Good luck--baby dust!

Answer 3

Question: are you insulin resistant? I was diagnosed with PCOS but I'm not insulin resistant. Metformin made me sick as a dog. It lowered my already low blood sugar too much - even at the lowest dose. I stopped taking it before I got pregnant because it made me so sick.  My doctor even said to stop taking the metformin once I got pregnant. I still don't know why they put me on it other than they have no other clue on how to treat pcos. They don't even know what causes pcos! My obgyn says that there's no need to put people who aren't insulin resistant on metformin if they have pcos. The clomid did more to get rid of my pcos symptoms than the metformin did.

If you're not insulin resistant you probably don't need to take metformin. Ask your doctor to start you on clomid because there's no reason for you to have to suffer through metformin when you're trying to conceive. Your problem is probably a lack of ovulation, so why not get you ovulating as soon as possible? Because being sick from the metformin is just adding stress to your already stressful time ttc.

Answer 4

Hi! Yeah, metformin is a bugger - but the good news is that your body does get used to it, as you increase the dosage - if I remember right it was every two weeks I went up a pill til I was on 1500 a day, and by then I wasn't sick at all. I found what helped is making sure I was eating throughout the day so my blood sugar didn't get low - and for example, protein for breakfast which was something I wouldn't usually have - I would either skip breakfast, or have it late and just have toast.

That said, yes, it's all a frustrating time - lots of us do realize it...

But, a bit about my story. I wasn't diagnosed with PCOS til I was 38, I think it was - but I am a classic case, and would have had it since high school.

Now, I got married when I was 28, husband and I tried for a child right away (no birth control at all), and it took two years to have our baby. Now, that was it - no more children. Note that I wasn't diagnosed at that time, and didn't know about metformin/clomid, etc. - and as a couple we had long before decided that we wouldn't do anything 'technological' to have a child. So, yes, we are very lucky that we do have the child we do!

But on this forum, I've read stories of MANY women who had children while having PCOS - some on no medication, some on just metformin, some on both metformin and clomid.

Talk to your gynecologist again if you have been on metformin for six weeks or so already and you are still feeling really sick. And never be scared to ask questions.

Even though I know you want it to happen NOW, a year really isn't that long -- depending upon your age, if and for how long you were on birth control, how irregular your periods were, if you or your husband are smoking/drugging/boozing -- there are just so many factors.

Good luck to you. Wishing you LOTS of baby dust!!!

Answer 5

Just think of holding your own baby in your hands one day, watching them grow and seeing the smile on your husbands face. All this anger and frustration will be worth every sick day.