PCOS, Infertility & Pregnancy

First topic message reminder :

Hi,

I'm curious if there are any women who's infertility improved after being sleeved, with the weight loss, and how long does one have to wait before trying for a baby after surgery??

Does having PCOS slow down weight loss with the sleeve?

Shesha

Hi Sesha,

I'm only newly sleeved but think I can help answer your question. I have both PCOS and insulin resistance and was sleeved a mere 4 weeks ago. I've already lost 10 kilos - something I never thought possible!!! I've been struggling to loose just one kilo for such a long time and my sleeve has done so much within 4 weeks. That does include my pre-surgery diet.

I honestly thought my body was constantly fighting against me. I craved carbs all the time, and was hungry immediately after eating a good sized meal.

I have a 6 year old son (concieved very quickly after we got married and I lost LOTS of weight before our wedding). Then it took me 3.5 years to fall pregant again after I regained weight. I suffered from 3 miscarriages in between (two after 14 weeks) and it was awful. I've never managed to loose my babyweight and it was only after my second child that I was finally diagnosed with PCOS and insulin resistance.

I'm sure my weight loss will slow down. But i'm off to a wonderful start and it has made me feel like I can get my life back. And I feel like i'm losing the weight for the last and final time.

I hope you have found this useful, and if you need any more information at all, just ask.

Most surgeons recomend a year to get the most out of your weight loss surgery. I know where you are coming from wanting a baby and wanting it right now. Ten years of infertility treatment 3 miscarriages and so much heartbreak. I so did not like being told that my weight was a factor in all this but I had to face the reality it was. I took a year out from all treatment lost the weight and and wham easy peasy twins. I did so much with infertile couples during that ten years and I am telling you they are not being mean telling you to get the weight off it works for so so soooooooooooo many women who have tried for years.

You are looking at just 1 year of your life that you are going to give your baby the BEST start it possibly can by being so much healthier than rushing back.

Libby THAT is a lot of money you want to give yourself the BEST shot at getting pregnant, honestly if I was you I would wait just a few more months and get a bit more weight off first. It is not like anybody is saying wait years just a few more months.

do I get to say how jealous I am hehehehe I would love another baby but this old duck turns 45 in a couple of months I am so going to cry on that birthday as I have to admit no more babies then .

applesauce

Hi Ladies,

Thanks for the replies. The thing is I managed to fall pregnant naturally when I was 135kg, I went full term, overdue 6 days, and lost my baby girl. I had no complications during my pregnancy or my labour and they couldn't find out why she passed, but I won't get into all that. That was 6 years ago. In 2008 I was 111kg, we attempted IUI and on the third go all of a sudden my weight became an issue. Upon seeing the head specialist to discuss treatments at our first appointment he never brought it up and allowed me to proceed with IUI, but not IVF. Then after the third treatment the door basically got slammed in my face through a letter saying no more treatments until I get my weight down. This was a very difficult thing for me to deal with because well, I had already lost a child and felt that my hopes of having more children were crushed and taken away. It's like dangling a lolly in front of a child and then taking it away.

I've been banded since 2005, had recent complications hence why I'm researching the sleeve and asking a whole bunch of questions whenever I can. I'll be 32 this year and clocks ticking so these are things along with the sleeve I'm investigating.

How long after surgery do the docs usually recommend before falling pregnant?

Im kind of contemplating pregnancy soon as well. I would love to get to goal first but seeing as my time is ticking away (and my husband is 13 years older than I am) I am thinking of having another go of IVF soon. My husband had a vasectomy about 15 years ago and it wasn't worth trying to reverse it. We have one frozen embryo in storage so we are hoping this is the miracle baby that has cost us over $12,000 to get.

I doubt there is a infertlity doctor out there that will NOT tell you how much your infertility with PCOS will improve with weight loss. Even 10% makes a differenece. The heavier you are the more of those "bad" hormones are floating around because there is more of you. Less of you and it just makes a dramatic difference. Now my husband and I are old timers but 16 years ago we lost 30kg each using optifast and THAT ended 10 years of infertility from PCOS and we finally had our twins. Of course the weight crept back on, hence we now have sleeves that are keeping the weight off.

You will also find that most infertility clinics is you need assistance have weight limits, and programs that insist you lose 10% if you are over weight.

As for getting pregnant after the sleeve any surgeon will recomend you lose the majority of your weight first, this for most takes about 1 year again depending how heavy you are. Not as if you would harm your baby by getting pregnant earlier but it WILL dramaticly effect your weight loss. It just seems such a tiny time to wait to get so much healther for a baby.

How slow you lose weight with PCOS is really depedant upon how bad you have. It could slow it down a bit but no different than if you where on a diet. You can again if it is severe try meteformin to see if that helps with the weight loss. You need to talk to your GP or surgeon about that as not all aprove of the use with PCOS.

applesauce

Hi Shesha,

I too am curious about this. I am not a huge 'overeater' as such. I mean, I must eat more that what my body needs to be the size I am, but having PCOS, whatever I eat just seems to go straight to stored fat. I am wondering if people with PCOS and insulin resistance lose the weight much slower once sleeved.

I am interested in what other people have experienced too.

cacooned

Hi,

I'm curious if there are any women who's infertility improved after being sleeved, with the weight loss, and how long does one have to wait before trying for a baby after surgery??

Does having PCOS slow down weight loss with the sleeve?

Shesha