PCOS and NFP

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I know i have more than a year before I get married, but since my cycles are on the long side (8-14 weeks) I figured I should try to figure out my pattern (if there is one! lol) before then. I’ve had PPVI classes before the last time I got fed up with my irregular cycles, and am using cm charts to track. Right now, as a student, the time I wake up in the morning has been varying greatly so temp taking isn’t going to be accurate right now. (Over summer I hope to get back to a normal sleep schedule, and will try that again).

Does anybody else find it maddening that the PCOS charts are so maddeningly erratic? Right now I’m on Day Ten of ewcm, and this is nearly always the case. Since fiance and I want to use NFP for a few years (while we finish PhD/MLS respectively) does that mean 10+ days of abstinence? He and I were talking about that and we’re prepared to wait prayerfully if that’s the case. I’m just curious to ask others with PCOS. Is this pretty much what you guys had to do, too?

[disclaimer]
Not seeking medical advice, but if I should see the gyn due to seriously abnormal cycles, please say so 🙂 Otherwise I’m going to avoid unnecessarily going to the doctor due to money issues. I’ve got student health insurance but it covers only so much.
 
Hi Holly. I have PCOS. We have been very fortunate that we haven’t suffered infertility as a symptom.

We have successfully used Sympto-Thermal method of NFP to avoid pregnancy and achieve ever since DD#1 was born.

yes, there are long periods of abstinence. This is the challenge the Lord has called us to. Our longer periods of abstinence are usually due to our conservative interpretations of our charts, but when we feel called to avoid…we just feel called to conservative interpretation.

God bless you for learning NFP and preparing for your marriage. 🙂
 
I had the same issue, long cycles with days and days of the “basic infertile pattern” cm. I would have to tape pages together my cycles were so long. I found it so frustrating that I quit. My NFP binder is gathering dust in the back of the closet somewhere.

Not everyone has it this rough, though. I’ve heard of many women with PCOS being able to do NFP and conceive. I didn’t even ovulate with high doses of clomid - hence the pending adoption. 😃
 
beckycmarie said:
I had the same issue, long cycles with days and days of the “basic infertile pattern” cm. I would have to tape pages together my cycles were so long. I found it so frustrating that I quit. My NFP binder is gathering dust in the back of the closet somewhere.
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This was us too. Only I have Endo, not PCOS. I ended up tossing my charts they got so frustrating. Funny thing was once I tossed the charts, my cycles became shorter, more regular and more predictable. 🤷
 
Em, here’s my story. I started charting with STM before we were engaged :o I realized that according to their rules there was going to be verrryyy little time for DTD since I have very long cycles, rarely a significant temp shift, and continuous mucus. So we checked out Creighton. I started with that method about six months before the wedding, so when the honeymoon rolled around I was very familiar with what I was doing. They have a yellow sticker system for problem people like me 😉 which is much more accommodating. Plus, my instructor referred me to a NaPro dr. I had a bunch of tests done that came back saying I had PCOS (even though aside from long cycles I had NONE of the other symptoms) and probably wasn’t ovulating. Since we’d decided it would be better to wait a couple years to have a baby so DH could get more training, we didn’t pursue any fertility drugs. However, we did get lazy and figured what’s the point of abstaining if I’m not fertile. A week later we found out I must be ovulating after all because I was pregnant 😛 But we were never abstaining 10+ consecutive days with Creighton although we certainly would have been with STM. I would say the longest stretches were 4-7 days.
 
I was diagnosed with PCOS after a miscarriage. My cycles had gone to 40+ by this time. I would recommend going to a doctor. I have PCOS with Insulin Resistance (IR). Because of that, I talked my Dr’s into putting me on Glucaphage/Metphormin (sp?) . ( Note: the drs will try to put you on BCPs because it is easier for them. Do your research 1st.) The Metphormin took my cycles to 28 days for the 1st time in my life.

If you don’t want to go the dr route, then check out Fertility, Nutrition, and Cycles by Kipley and The PCOS Diet Book. The 1st one is by the female author of the NFP book that our parish uses. The 2nd is by a couple of ladies, I believe from the UK, who couldn’t find any books on PCOS. It has info on supplements and herbs that may help your symptoms.
 
Thanks for all the replies! That makes me feel more confident in what I’m doing 🙂 I remember the yellow sticker thingy from the Creighton method (in fact, I think I still have my folder, chart, and stickers around here somehwere…) …We definitely will take a Creighton class then (NFP is required as part of marriage prep, and for good reason! 🙂 )

And yeah, drs definitely like BCP. Every time I complain about my cycle they always want to prescribe it. I’ve heard about Metformin and the like before…I’ll definitely talk with him about that (after researching how expensive the pills are without insurance…that’s the tricky part there.)

And Lil_M, that’s a good reminder not to quit doing NFP! I’m glad you found out you’re not infertile, though 😃
 
Hi Holly! I have PCOS and used the creighton method. We found that after several months of charting it was easy to tell the actual fertile mucus from the look-like-fertile-but-really-isn’t. For me just constant observations made the diffeerence. As another poster mentioned, the use of the yellow stamps made it visually more obvious as well.

Once you are armed with several months of charting, if you are ready to conceive, your Creighton Practitioner can also send you to a NaPro doctor who may be able to help those cycles become more regular. I used to go 8 or more months without a period or have it for months at a time (yes, 4 months straight starting the day after our wedding:mad:) and now I am quite regular.
 
Cathh(name removed by moderator)- I was put on metformin too although I never found out if it changed my cycles any for obvious reasons. I’m assuming I’ll be put back on it after baby comes and maybe it will help. i’m glad to hear you’ve had success with it! My dr. was wonderful and does not prescribe BCPs 👍
 
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