I Have Poly Cystic Ovarian Disease?

Question

My doctor told me that i wouldnt need to have surgery to have them removed, if they didnt get any bigger. my question is would these cysts cause me to have a harder time getting pregnant? i have been using an ovulation calander for about 3 months now and im still not having any luck concieving...can anyone give me any advice or experiences? thanks so much!

Answer 1

I would contact your Dr. about becoming pregnant with this disease, it may cause these cysts to become bigger if you do become pregnant! By contacting him he should be able to give you some advice on if this will cause you any problems conceiving as well. I would take his advice!

Answer 2

The truth is, many women with ovarian cysts have a tough time conceiving. The good thing is - ovarian cysts are easy to deal with if you are willing to make some positive changes in your lifestyle habits. You probably don't need surgery. Cysts are typically fed by a hormonal imbalance - too much estrogen, too little progesterone. This imbalance is largely due to diet nowadays. In fact, many women with PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome) are insulin-resistant and are headed toward diabetes. The more PCOS women follow a diabetic diet, the less trouble they typically have with infertility, weight, miscarriages and lots of other health issues.

I myself dealt with PCOS and had the classic symptoms: irregular cycles, acne, weight gain, headaches, ovarian pain and the like. I did get pregnant kind of accidentally, but miscarried at 10 weeks due to low progesterone. I am not a person who likes to take drugs, so after the miscarriage I began researching natural methods to alleviate PCOS. What I found out - that diet and exercise were front lines of defense against PCOS - was pretty relieving. You can read a number of PCOS success stories at this website: http://www.ovarian-cysts-pcos.com/PCOS-success.html

My cycles had been irregular for many years, wherein it was doubtful I was even ovulating. Most women don't realize you can have every period right on schedule but not be ovulating. I started a low-GI (Glucose Index) diet that consisted mostly of vegetables, high-fiber grains and high-quality proteins. I cut out processed sugar, salt and caffeine. I also started taking Vitex, an herb that helps regulate cycles. I took Zinc, which is necessary to successful ovulation. I also took a pre-natal vitamin, EFAs (Essential Fatty Acids) and I drank raspberry tea, which strengthens the uterus. I began taking a daily walk or bike ride. Lastly, I began using natural progesterone cream. I used physiologic doses (meaning what your body normally makes) beginning after the suspected ovulation up until the next period. After just 2-3 months doing this, I was pregnant. I am currently 27 weeks along with a healthy little girl. My ovaries no longer hurt, I have lost weight, acne has cleared up, my energy levels are much higher and headaches are rare. My carb addiction had been causing me all my problems.

Many of the success stories on that website I mentioned above are very similar to mine. I don't know that everyone with ovarian cysts is like me. All I can tell you is my experience. Natural worked for me and it was a lot cheaper! You can get everything I mentioned above at a health food store.

Doctors try to put women on BC and all sorts of drugs to help PCOS, but that often makes the problem worse. Drugs, while they do have their place, make your body do something it would not normally do - so when you are TTC, you should try to get your body back to the way it naturally would be. This maximizes your chance of conception. I would recommend you read a book called "What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Pre-Menopause" by Dr. John Lee. In it he describes a lot of what I am talking about.

I know a lot of women who feel very hopeless about their infertility, and so they take drugs for the problem that wind up making them sick and worried all the time. My goal is to offer you a little hope from my experience - that ovarian cysts are often self-treatable. My plan was to try going natural for 8 months, and if I didn't get pregnant in that time then I would see a doctor. If you are worried and your doctor doesn't seem too concerned, I would do more research into what I mentioned. After all, it can't hurt. I would also recommend charting your BBT (Basal Body Temperature), cervical position and cervical mucus. This is much more reliable than the calendar because your body gives signals when it is ovulating, and you may not ovulate on a normal calendar cycle (I never had a 28-day cycle).

I wish you the best of luck in your conception goal. :) If you have questions, just email me. I have email enabled on Yahoo Answers.

And by the way, I have answered questions like this one before, so you can just click on my user name if you want to see those other questions and answers.

Edit - One more thing. Certainly no offense is directed to your first commenter. But a healthy pregnancy would most likely make your cysts get smaller, not bigger - because your progesterone levels would be dominating estrogen levels. It is unopposed estrogen that feeds cysts and makes them grow.