My name is Jessi. I am new to this board, but have been apart of SheKnows since I was pregnant with my now 4 year old (way back when it was only epregnancy and geoparent). I am marrie to John and we have two boys. Christian is 4 and Matthew will be 2 on Feb. 1st.

After I had Christian I pretty much stopped ovulating. Without getting any kind of diagnosis my ob just started me on Clomid and we were able to concieve Matthew at 150mg (which was also the first cycle I had ovualted). After Matthew was born I went back to haveing the same problem. I wasn't ovulating. Only difference now is that most of the time I have fairly regular periods and my temps stay pretty steady. (Before I had to take progesterone to start af and my temps were all over the place) I went back to my ob about 7 months ago, and without doing an u/s and getting an official diagnosis she told me it sounded like I had PCOS. She started me on Metformin which I took for probably 2 or 3 months. That didn't help me to ovulate.

Now, on suggestion from a couple friends, I have started taking Chaste tree berry (Vitex) and red raspberry leaf. I have been taking those for about 17 days now.

Now that I'm done giving you my life long reproductive story I have a couple questions. Is it very common for doctors to just assume that someone has PCOS without an u/s? And has anyone here had any luck with ovulation by taking Vitex and RRL? Or any other herbs for that matter?

I'm really thinking hard about calling my obgyn tomorrow and scheduling another appointment to find out for sure about the PCOS, but I'm still undecided.

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My DR diagnosed me with surgery so I am not sure on that one. I have not taken herbs, I just started Clomid and have always had reg. AF and thought I was ovulating. DR said that even if you get the CM that I was just not releasing the egg.

Here is a link that is about PCOS http://sheknows.com/about/look/4609.htm
Hope it helps and wanted to say welcome to the group!
I am Nichole married to Jason. We don't have any children, have been trying for 4 years and not trying but not preventing for 2 years before that. So about 6 years total! :o) We just started our first round of Clomid.
Sorry I wasn't much help but hopefully we can get your answers soon!

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My Journal

Hi, Jessi!!!

I wasn't diagnosed by u/s, though I have had them to check on some of my more painful cysts. So, I had that, but the greater symptoms involved a whole host of other things... Rapid weight gain, fatigue, depressive tendencies, facial hair, and other things that were revealed through blood testing.

My doc told me that the metformin could take 6-9 mos to actually get me to start ovulating. So, I think that you may have cut it off prematurely. I have no experience with the herbs. Honestly, I'm quite herb-shy, so I'm not likely to try it. I'll enjoy hearing your experience with them!

Good to see you!

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Jessi,

You'll probably find many women on the board that have been diagnosed differently. I'm probably a rare one. I've been diagnosed with an u/s (back in 1995), then diagnosed again (in 2002) without any blood work or u/s, and then sent to an RE who did all the blood work and diagnosed me again!

Depending on how educated your doctor is, they can usually diagnose you without any blood work or u/s simply by asking you simple questions. Depending on how you answer these questions, you can be diagnosed. Most doctors will diagnose you with PCOS if you have three or more symptoms.

It is not uncommon for a parent to be diagnosed with PCOS since PCOS can show up at any time. For the most part women with PCOS have had it all their life, but the symptoms just didn't appear until a certain time. I was 19 when I was first diagnosed, there are many women who have had a child without any problems and then all of a sudden when TTC their next child have problems, there are also teenagers who are diagnosed. It all just depends on when your symptoms start showing up.

Good Luck TTC#3!