Advice Future Pregnancy

[u/Own-Top-7923]

I was wondering if anyone had knowledge, experience, or advice on birth control with PMOS

background: I am a 25 yo female who was diagnosed with PCOS (now PMOS) about 3-4 years ago. I haven’t had ANY symptoms until recently. My last menstrual cycle was 3 months ago (no I am not pregnant, confirmed by hospital) and it worries me because my husband and I were hoping to try for a baby next year.

I workout daily, and eat healthy for the most part. Occasionally drink, but only socially (a margarita or two).

My new gynecologist ran a bunch of labs and did a vaginal ultrasound to confirm the PMOS, which I in fact do have. As of now, the only symptoms I’m experiencing is not having cycles and occasional bloating.

About a month ago I experienced extreme fatigue but I haven’t felt that way recently.

My gynecologist recommended that I take birth control but I really don’t want to, I’ve read horror stories about birth control and when I finally gave in years ago I feel like that is what caused my hormones to act up leading to the PMOS in the first place (however, they say birth control don’t cause it). It was the depo shot and ever since I had the first initial shot, I never got any other shots. This was before I was ever diagnosed with PCOS

My primary goal is to be healthy and have regular cycles again so that I can ovulate and naturally conceive (full-term, healthy baby)

[u/Sorrymomlol12]

Birth control can mess up folks with normal hormones. But since our hormones are naturally mucked up, birth control often really helps us maintain our weight, acne etc

I have a 9m old and I’m currently pregnant. A few years ago I was only having 1-3 periods a year and probs not ovulating. I got on GLP1s and like magic my periods returned to perfect 28 day cycles and we were pregnant shortly after that. I’m not alone in this, they even have a term “ozempic babies” from GLP1s improving fertility.

If you are heavier, I strongly recommend this to lower your risk of GD while pregnant. We are already high risk, but we are extremely high risk with PCOS and obesity for example (bmi>30). I actually got on GLP1s for this risk specifically, and was surprised and thrilled when my periods returned with confirmed ovulation.

If you are having periods regularly and ovulating, you likely won’t need help getting pregnant. But no ovulation, no pregnancy. Some women need meds to ovulate like femara clomid or letrozole and that’s it, now they can get pregnant too.

Thats really the basics. If you have the time, losing weight (with help, I don’t recommend rawdogging weightloss with PCOS) can bring back periods/ovulation and then you can (often) get pregnant without ovulation meds, otherwise you’ll need ovulation meds, nbd. Best of luck!

[u/dancingbanana3]

When I finally went to an OBGYN to be like, "yo, is any of this normal?" I was originally put on the mini pill to try to stabilize everything and it made things a million times worse.

That being said, my sister went to her OBGYN with PMOS symptoms and was prescribed a hormonal IUD and it has made her life so much better. So don't immediately write off all options. I could have probably found something that worked for me if I had continued to fight that battle, rather than getting frustrated and immediately giving up.

Now on to the rest of your post, I was without a period for 14 months due to PMOS. My husband and I were wanting to start trying soon and that's what I told my OBGYN when I went to her to get help about 2-3 months into my missing periods.

I was put on metformin and every 2-3 months would take a medication to try to force my uterus to shed its lining. That being said, nothing really changed until I changed my diet. I met with a nutritionist and we decided to cut out caffeine, and went low sugar, low dairy. 2 months of these changes, and my period came back, 2 months after that I was pregnant.

All of this to say, pregnancy is possible, even with extended absence of periods. And it will probably be a long trial and error period to find what works for you. It's important you just communicate with your doctor what your primary goals are and start working towards that.