jme1978

Hello. This site looks to be very helpful for what I am looking for.
Brief history: two summers ago I was diagnosed with PCOS. Any time during my fertile life I have been off the pill, I have had TERRIBLE acne, nearly constant spotting, abnormal periods, the need for facial Nair and so on.

My husband and I at that point had been trying to have a baby for a year. We had him checked and his count is excellent. I was checked by my doctor as I was again having the loooong spotting and a lot of ovarian pain. A uterine biopsy came back normal. An ultrasound confirmed my great big grape clustery ovaries - the doctor for that could have used a bit better bedside manner as the picture came up on the screen and he goes "Do you have more facial hair than normal?" and I said I used facial Nair, and he said "Well, you have polycystic ovaries and won't be able to conceive without fertility treatments". He could have at least waited until the actual exam part was OVER to drop that on me. Anyways, also my hormone panel was pretty normal except my testosterone which was high (don't remember the numbers). I was pretty surpised as I am 5'11 and 135 pounds - which is why I'm glad I have found this "thin cyster" message board.

So, as my husband and I were renovating a historic property (lead based paint, and a lot of teratogens in varnishes and paints) I agreed with my gyn that going back on Yasmin was the best option. It did help shrink the ovaries back down and regulated the periods, made me skin nice. Many circumstances kept us from being able to trying again to conceive.

However, I have been on Yasmin the whole time, and now I am breaking out again, having ovarian pain (which leads me to believe they are cysting up again) and break thru spotting. We are moving in one month and changing insurance, so I'm not planning on going to the doctor immediately with this and it isn't any different than any other time I've had these issues. We will be trying again for children in about six months so here, finally, are my sets of questions:

1. Does anyone know why extremely lean women get PCOS? I do not have any insulin issues. I exercise daily and eat pretty darn healthy, and take my vitamins, blah blah blah.

2. Do you have recommendations for treatments to keep the ovaries normal and the spotting in check, other than Yasmin and progesterone (which my doctor tried for stopping the spotting and made me feel horrible).

3. Does lean-PCOS run in families? My mother, her cousins, my aunts, almost every single one had fertility issues but none ever had an exact diagnosis of the problem.

4. What are my hopes in conceiving? My mother had taken Clomid in an attempt to have a third child, which failed, but then I miraculously showed up unaidied several years later. So there obviously IS hope...I am 31. Is there a specialized type of OBGYN I should look for, post-move?

5. Have you found a correlation between when your ovaries are very very cysted up and depression? I have been treated for depression several times and it seems to coincide to when I am having the most reproductive issues. I am taking 150 mg Wellbutrin currently, and have not heard of this having any effect on PCOS. Obviously I will be going off of it immediately once we started trying again.

6. My GYN said that when I am ready to start trying, to go off the pill and have intercourse every other day. My pharmacist friend also has read that women are the most fertile the first month off the pill. The GYN hypothesized the Yasmin would shrink the ovaries down, and then I'd go off it, and hopefully manage to ovulate and conceive before the grape clusters came back. She said we could give that a go, and then of course pursue more aggressive options if need down the line. Have any of you lean PCOS girls used this approach and did you have luck? I am not so hopeful about it now that my ovaries are freaking out ON it.

Thank you for your time in reading this long winded post. I don't expect anyone to answer ALL these questions, but any little bit of info you have, I would appreciate!
J