Portland PCOS Specialist

[Juniper Raven]

For the last three years I've been seeing this female doctor whom I absolutely adore but she's moving to St. Louis and I find myself needing a new doc. She wasn't a *specialist* in PCOS but up until recently I didn't really require one. I just wanted something that controlled my flow and made me regular.

My boyfriend and I are going to start trying for our first baby after my next pack of Birth-control runs out so a Doctor who knows about PCOS and fertility issues and specializes in it is preferred. Any help would be appreciated. I saw a couple of old threads that seemed to suggest OHSU. I'm very familiar with the locations for OHSU but I'm not sure if the information posted in the other threads is still valid considering they were from 2006 and earlier.

Thanks again,
Juni

[Leah97229]

I live in Portland too. I went to Portland Reproductive Medicine for a short time. I think that's what it's called. It's by Good Sam Hospital. I didn't like the first doctor I saw. He was very unsympathetic. He also told me that exercise wouldn't help me, which I think is BS. Anyway, I actually don't know of any specialists besides the reproductive endos. I think there are about 3 different groups in Portland. Since Oregon doesn't require insurance to cover fertility, you will probably have to pay out of pocket. I would just go to a regular OB/GYN until you want to start IUI's and IUD's. OB/GYN can put you on metformin and can even do some Clomid, although they don't monitor you much, but come to think of it, when I did 2 rounds of Clomid and 1 round of Femara at the specialists, they didn't monitor me either.

[Juniper Raven]

Thanks, Leah, for the heads up. I will have to look into it also. I thought I saw a couple of threads here mention something about OHSU but those weren't recent threads so I have no idea how valid the information still is. The other problem is, I know OHSU is an extremely expensive facility. I know this because I work at a couple of their locations (through my employer... we test their fire alarm systems) so I'm a little reluctant to even check them out. But I will give Portland Reproductive Medicine a shot. Of course, I will also need to make sure that my insurance covers the visits (at least for the pap). My insurance sucks so bad, but I can't afford to switch, ether. Rock and a hard place, lol.

Anyway, thank you so much for your input though. ^_^

[craftybug]

I've also heard that OHSU is a great place. Although I've never been there so I can't recommend anyone. If you're still looking for recommendations I have a couple for you - a regular OB/GYN & a Endo.....

When I was beginning my journey with getting diagnosed with PCOS, I started with my OB/GYN. We were never able to get down to the diagnosed as she took a few years off and went overseas to help out; although I would highly recommend her from when I was seeing her. She has since came back and has an office on the east side (located on hoyt) and possibly the west side (located on Barnes - last time I checked she didn't but it's now saying on health reports that she does). When I first went to see her I was trying to get pregnant although it had been roughly 3 - 4 months since I had a period (which was usual for me when I went off B.C.). We talked about the options and decided upon Clomid. I wasn't able go back for another month due to conflicting schedules and all. When I did go back, she had all the prescriptions pre-wrote out so she could describe what was going to happen month to month. Although we ended up shredding everything (I tested positive when we complete the 3rd pregnancy test). I have also known a couple of other people who have went to Dr. Grant and they absolutely love her as well. She is amazing.

I am currently going to Dr. Dawood @ Portland Diabetes Endocrinology for treatment of my PCOS. She has been very patient with all my questions and worries. I'm not sure that she is a fertility Endo, but she is very knowledgeable in PCOS.

Good luck!

Thanks,
~ J

[tessa915]

I started out at Portland Repro (now Oregon Repro. Med). This is OK, but I wanted a 2nd opinion of by 1st b/w (CD3 estrogen). So I went to OHSU for consult last week. They have a dr whose specialty is PCOS, and she is the first dr that questioned why I haven't had my thyroid tested (I had low thyroid from ages 3-5). She said she will do b/w on CD3 which I'm waiting for now. She will do estrogen, progesterone, FSH, thyroid, and who knows what else. I REALLY REALLY LIKE THIS DR. Her name is Dr. Amato.

The consultation price was lower at OHSU, $300, and Oregon Repro was $350. The SA costs are about the same.

Personally, OHSU's reputation is not good with me, I don't like teaching hospitals. I don't know about the fertility side and teaching, so maybe you can find something on that. I'm willing to let them draw blood from me, but that's it. Unless Oregon Repro really ends up biting the big one with me, I don't want to be treated at OHSU right now.

[Julieben]

Well OHSU is the best in my opinion, teaching hospital=cutting edge. I don't have a reproductive endocrinologist (yet) but have an endo at OHSU who has literally saved my life. Turns out I wasn't a type 2 diabetice but type 1 and some insulin resistance (which seems to have gone, so I don't know if that technically removes me as pcos, but I still have other symptoms) and she is helping me get my a1c under control and then will work with me to find the right RE. Port Repro is good, but one of my friends went there for 5 years w/ no success. My insurance covers 2grand of fertility a year and that doesn't include SA or IVF but does include IUI and the consults are covered like regular physician appts. The bad part is that portland repro has decided to not accept most insurances for their lab (they will for the doctor/consult if your plan covers and they have a contract w/ your insurer like they do with mine, just have to pay completely out of pocket for labs). So I'm hoping if we don't have success as my diabetes improves to at least do 1 IUI before the end of 08 just to see if anything is going to work!

Good luck finding the right doc! Let us know who you end up seeing and what you think! Theres a few more of us Oregonians around, we should have a get together :-) We set up a get together several gals from here a year and a half ago but a bunch ended up not being able to make it but the 3 that did- we had fun!

TTYL!!
Julie