PCOS Messages for May, 2002: Re: PCO-Birth Control Pills-Gloucophage

Re: PCO-Birth Control Pills-Gloucophage

From: jodi (anonymous@obgyn.net)
Thu, 30 May 2002 10:18:30 -0500 (CDT)

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Hi Melissa

First... I can't resist. You've been trying to have kids since you were 17 and you're not even married??????? Were the men you were with aware of this?

Tisk tisk... ;-)

Metformin doesn't result in weight loss for everyone, especially if you are under the impression that metformin alone will result in a drop in pounds. What metformin WILL do for a lot of us is allow a diet and exercise program to result in weight loss rather than weight stabilization and therefore massive frustration... ("I'm eating 1500 cals a day and walking 5 miles a day and I've been doing this for 4 months and I still weigh the same?????????" Common PCOS lament. Add metformin and often, only then, the weight actually goes down...)

As for spiro... first, no pill works for everyone. Second, you should not be trying to get pregnant while you are on spiro!!! It sounds like this is what you have been doing. Spiro is a good pill for hair reduction (for many women) but it can cause birth defects... so if you even remotely want to have kids any time in the future, you may have to choose between body hair and baby... I personally choose body hair. I am going to start ttc next fall so I see no point in getting started on the spiro, only to have to go off it and get hair again... My hair is maybe also not as bad as some.

Now, as for BCPs... Once upon a time, when I was a naive little 16 year old who had never heard the word PCOS, I went to a gynocologist with the complaint that A. I seemed awfully hairy for a girl and B. my periods were pretty far apart. She suggested birth control pills to "regulate my cycle." Now, aside from the fact that I was a virgin (and a fat, self-conscious virgin with no immediate prospects of becomming non-virgin any time soon), I had reservations about BCPs because, well, one day I would like to have kids. I asked if taking BCPs would make it harder to have kids later on. She said no, that sometimes women who have trouble getting preg go on BCPs for a few months to regulate their cycles, and then they get preg real easy.

Well, I then proceeded to spend the next 5 or 6 years going on and off BCPs to see if my cycle had been regulated yet. Apparently it hadn't... I'd quit a pack of pills not see Aunt Flo for months. I have since learned that my gynecologist is a complete idiot when it comes to PCOS... but the thing about BCPs helping you get preg has a small grain of truth in it, and I suspect this works best in women who are not IR, which I was/am.

Basically, while you're on the pill, your ovaries settle in for a nice long nap. They stop ovulating. If you have PCOS, this means those damn cysts stop accumulating. Becuase of the pills you are taking (hormones in) and your ovaries going to sleep (bad hormone production down), your body is actually normal for a few months. Theoretically, this normal hormone level will enable you to ovulate normally for a few months after you stop the BCPs, thereby providing you with a fertile window.

I say theoretically because with PCOS, at least for me, something seems to go awry... I stop the pill and I stop having periods. At least, I used to, pre-glucophage. Last time I quit the pill pre-glucophage, I quit in early January. Had my pill bleed. Then I had a period in late April. Then I had a period September 1st. Do the math there and tell me if that looks regular to you! :-)

HOWEVER... last summer I was taking BCPs and glucophage. BCPs have intolerable side effects for me. I decided that given the fact that I was acting like a complete witch to everyone while on BCPs, and my bf (now fiance) was across the country for an internship anyway, I may as well get off the pill and see what happens. Low and behold... 14 days later I ovulated... 14 days after that I had a period!

I firmly believe the BCPs plus met did it. The metformin kept my insulin levels from causing my body to get screwier and screwier in spite of the BCPs.

So... that's how BCPs are supposed to work to help you get preg. With PCOS, I don't think it always works that way. I believe in the met/bcp combination strongly enough though that I am CONSIDERING going on BCPs for a year before my wedding. Haven't quite made up my mind. Would rather see if the gluc continues to regulate my periods... I have cycles now, but they're long - 5-7 weeks. Better than twice a year, but not perfect. I would also have to get my depresison under control before attempting BCPs again...

As for the BCPs counteracting the glucophage... never heard of this happening. What WILL happen is, since your periods are pill-regulated, you won't know if the glucophage is helping your cycles. This is something I don't like. There is also a theory that BCPs worsen insulin resistance... the glucophage, however, would help wirth this. As I've said, I had better results going off the pill when I was on glucophage... and I would certainly never go the BCP route again without taking glucophage as well. Some argue the worsening is negligable, but I know that in my case, the pill alone did NOT help me.

- jodi

At Wed, 29 May 2002, Melissa wrote: >
>I have PCO or that is what my Endocrine Dr says. Now I do have some of
>the symptoms. I do have elevated testosterone levels, hyperandrogenism
>(hirsutism), (dark hairs on chin, chest and belly area) DHEAS,
>infertility, (I have tried for years to have children, 10 years
>nothing), insulin resistance-Type II diabetic, or at least that what the
>doctor says, and morbid obesity. I am 27 5’9 and 310lbs.
>Now I understand that some people will have more or less symptoms. I do
>not have severe acne; I have a period every month, with out fail. It
>may be a few days off, but I have never NOT had a period. So I am
>hoping I am not that bad off.
>I have been taking Spirolactone and Glucophage 2000mg a day for over a
>year now. I have been taking Folic acid, one low strength Bayer
>aspirin, and L-carnitine for years.
>I have tried to watch my sugars and foods that I eat; I was told that
>the Glucophage (metformin) would help with my weight loss, NOPE. The
>Spirolactone would help with hirsutism, NOPE. I am still the almost the
>same weight and the hairs are the same. I am so sick and tired of
>shaving my sideburns and tweezing my chin. I have tried to have
>children for a few years now and those pills and things I do aren’t
>helping. I heard that if you take birth control pills that it would
>regulate my periods, (which they are already fine) and help my hormone
>levels for later. I am 27, I plan on getting married in 2 years, and I
>will be 29.My Dr prescribed “Yasmine” cause it has Spirolactone in it.
>So should I take the birth control pills for 2 years and then when I get
>off of them will it help my hormone levels be strong enough to produce
>good eggs???
>I also heard that if I take birth control pills that the estrogen from
>them will counter act the gloucophage in the insulin resistance and will
>defeat the purpose of Gloucophage.
>Any suggestions???????
>
>--
>Melissa
>

Next message: jodi: "PS Re: PCO-Birth Control Pills-Gloucophage"
Previous message: Barbara: "Asherman's Syndrome and adenmyosis"
In reply to: Melissa: "PCO-Birth Control Pills-Gloucophage"
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