Is it normal for Met to take up to a year to work?

[steph]

It will soon be a year for me on Met and I have not got AF on my own. I have had to take progesterone. I can tell other signs that are good from the Met but so far NO AF.

[katztoy]

I did not O until they changed my dose to 2000 mg of met.. I never o'd on the ER version..

[steph]

Oh,I am on the ER.

[tweety]

I have been on it for close to a year and no AF or O.

[katztoy]

The normal version has much worse intestional discomfort (to put it gently) so if you swith be prepaired to eat minimal carbs when you take it or you will feel horrible. But it works.

You might try switching to 2000 mg of the ER first and see if it helps. I am going to ask my Dr to switch me up and see if it helps with the O.

[wantingbabynumber2]

I have had good luck with Met and minimal SE. My cycles have been regular after the first month and have gone from being 40 days apart down to 30 days apart. So it seems to be doing something for me. Not sure if I O the OPK's are negative but with PCOS that is not totally reliable. I'd say if you aren't getting AF etc I would ask about an increase in dose. I am on the XR. and take 1500mg.

[LJinTX]

There are only a few studies on Met for PCOS, and the testing groups were not very large, but in 2 of them, the daily dosage of Met was 2000mg, and they had ovulation rates from 23% in one study to >90% in the other two studies. For most people in the studies, ovulation happened in the first 6 months of treatment if it was going to happen. This doesn't mean you can't ovulate after a year, but your chances may be lower.

I just started Met 3 weeks ago, and fortunately am working with my family doc who gives me a lot of leeway in adjusting my own dosage (I am also a 3rd year medical student). Interestingly, my RE refused to treat me with Met because my GTT's were never abnormal.

I am making up my own regimen as I go, but it seems to be making the side effects manageable so far. I got a pill cutter and I started with 250 mg/day for the first week and have been increasing my dosage by 250 mg every week. If I ovulate after the first 4 weeks, I will hold steady with that dose until I stop ovulating and then increase by 250 mg/day to a max of 2000 mg/day.

I'm doing cardio 30 minutes 5 times a week, and making up my own "diet" which is around 1500 calories a day, with about double the fiber and vegetables of my previous diet.

I think the thing to keep in mind is that there is no one medical regimen that works for everyone.

Best of luck to everyone!

LJ

[steph]

LJ,Thanks for the good advise on the diet...... :) I have been trying hard to do less "REAL" sugar. That is my biggest prob. I also began treating myself w/ my family doc as well! :lol: My RE didn't think I needed Met but I did. I can tell it is helping me but overall I'm sure I want feel better until I start to see a pattern of AFs. :wink:

[LJinTX]

Go family docs!! I hope to be one in a few years and you can bet all my PCOSers are going to be on Met!

I found a great tool tonight, by the way. It's called CalorieKing and it's software that lets you enter everything you eat in a day and it analyzes all the fat, carbs, sugar, does these cool graphs and lets you chart your progress, subtracting exercise, and tells you the rate at which you can be expected to lose weight. Kind of more info than I need sometimes, but it's fun to see it all broken down and inspires me to eat less carbs when I see those pie graphs with this tiny sliver of protein and giant sections for carbs!

[steph]

Well Thank You again! So it is a web site.......I'm going to check it out! I am suffering from severe depression right now....I have been ib the bed crying for an hour. I have a tumor on the ONLY ovary I have left and I have the tumor removed......I am so dreading the surgery. I hate it. I don't have kids yet but that is ok as long as I am healthy,KWIM?

[katztoy]

Steph,

I am so sorry to hear about your tumor. I can understand your depression. Have they talked to you about taking some eggs out "Just incase" they need to do something with the ovary. I had a friend who had a simular issue and she had some eggs frozen. They were able to save her ovary however she had trouble concieving after that as her tumor was cancer and the chemo damaged some things. However she was able to have 2 beautiful children using those frozen eggs and invetro. I'm sure the Dr's have thought of all that but just incase I wanted to let you know that was an option.

Kathy

[steph]

Yes,we are looking into freezing and that is IF I am making any to freeze.But my RE seems real positive and also thinks he can get it out without harm to my ovary.

[Piner99]

LJ, can you update us on your met progress? I am also not IR.