Having lived through a couple of miscarriages myself I can say with full confidence that this sucks big-time. Possibly of most importance to anyone trying to conceive though, is the fact that in addition to not increasing your chances of success, metformin can actually be harmful to your fertility because it depletes your vitamin B12 levels Aroda et al. You may have heard that folate vitamin B9 is important during pregnancy, but B12 is just as essential to avoid a range of unnecessary metformin PCOS pregnancy risks.
Changing my diet enabled me to finally fall pregnant naturally after everything else had failed. Bianca K and Jamie Bietzell are two great examples that warm my heart whenever I think of them. Thanks to her PCOS diagnosis, Bianca had struggled with her weight all her life and was told she needed to get things under control if she wanted to have a healthy baby. She had tried metformin but to no avail and her desperation led her to eventually make an appointment for bariatric surgery. After joining my free 30 Day PCOS Diet Challenge in , Bianca ended up cancelling her appointment because she had started losing weight for the first time ever.
Metformin, Weight Loss & PCOS - Does it actually work?
She went off all medications and lost 30 pounds over the next few months. While our PCOS community celebrated this success with her, Bianca finally got what she really wished for when she fell pregnant naturally and had a healthy, happy pregnancy. Jamie Bietzell is another great example of both the false hope of metformin, as well as the jaw-dropping results of treating PCOS infertility through dietary changes.
After a lifelong battle with her weight, four years of heart-wrenching infertility, and two years of metformin side effects, Jamie decided enough was enough. By January of she was getting a regular cycle, and by April she had lost 50 pounds. She went from a size 22 jean to a size 18, her A1C levels fell out of the diabetic range, and her blood pressure measurements showed she was no longer hypertensive.
My favorite bit of this story though is that by November Jamie was 30 weeks pregnant. No supplements, no drugs, just the right type of food. You can read her full story here. In my experience, women with PCOS tend to be a pretty resilient bunch. In addition to the fact that it causes a vitamin B12 depletion Aroda et al.
This is the polite way of saying it makes you want to puke, and gives you terrible diarrhea. These included diarrhea, heartburn, nausea, abdominal pain, bloating, and retching.
Here are some of their comments:. Without wanting to sound like a broken record, the truth of the matter is that dietary intervention is the best way to address the root cause of insulin resistance and the hormone dysregulation of a PCOS diagnosis. Just like how fire depends on three things: oxygen, an ignition source, and fuel to burn, our PCOS relies on elevated androgens, chronic inflammation, and certain kinds of foods to sustain itself.
But by eating an anti-inflammatory diet, our PCOS problems will burn themselves out. Alisha P had been struggling to fall pregnant for two years after going off birth control pills. Her OB, and fertility specialist suggested taking clomid, while her endocrinologist recommended metformin. Alisha knew there had to be a better way so she politely declined both of these drugs, and went searching for a different option.
Within a few months of these dietary changes she went from having no energy to having tons of energy. She lost 30 pounds, and started feeling great about herself. Her skin cleared up, her hormone blood tests came back normal, and her previously absent periods returned to a regular cycle. But the best part was that within only three months of embracing a PCOS friendly diet Alisha was able to fall pregnant naturally — just the way she had always hoped for.
Alisha is a bright and caring woman, who has kindly shared more of her story here along with some of the practical things that helped her achieve these extraordinary results. The good news is that we can achieve a similar result by eating the right PCOS diet. A wholefoods-based diet that is rich in vegetables, that also happens to avoid pro-inflammatory foods like sugar, refined carbohydrates, vegetable oils, gluten, and dairy, will provide you with all the support you should need. When used correctly, food really can be medicine — and it tastes a lot better than a gelatin capsule.
In my opinion, metformin for PCOS is a half-baked solution that even the experts are now starting to walk away from. So why settle for a second, or even a third-rate solution especially given the adverse effects? Kym Campbell is a Health Coach and PCOS expert with a strong passion for using evidence-based lifestyle interventions to manage this disorder. Kym combines rigorous scientific analysis with the advice from leading clinicians to disseminate the most helpful PCOS patient-centric information you can find online.
You can read more about Kym and her team here.
Insulin & PCOS: Why It's so Important
This blog post has been critically reviewed to ensure accurate interpretation and presentation of the scientific literature by Dr. Jessica A McCoy, Ph. LinkedIn Google Scholar Researchgate. This blog post has also been medically reviewed and approved by Dr. Sarah Lee, M. Lee is a board-certified Physician practicing with Intermountain Healthcare in Utah.
Footnote 1: The Cochrane systematic review by Tang et al.
Metformin Rating Summary
Unlike the earlier review, the updated analysis concluded that metformin slightly improves live birth rates. This different result was due to the inclusion of a single additional study however the statistical certainty of this updated finding remains very weak.
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Given the wide-ranging confidence intervals and evidence quality, the advantage offered by metformin remains difficult to interpret clinically. Metformin for the treatment of polycystic ovary syndrome. Metformin for treatment of the polycystic ovary syndrome, UpToDate, The answer is 17 years, what is the question: understanding time lags in translational research.
Insulin-sensitising drugs metformin, rosiglitazone, pioglitazone, D-chiro-inositol for women with polycystic ovary syndrome, oligo amenorrhoea and subfertility. Insulin sensitizing drugs for weight loss in women of reproductive age who are overweight or obese: systematic review and meta-analysis.
Sreekumaran; Daniels, Janice K. Hyperandrogenism sensitizes mononuclear cells to promote glucose-induced inflammation in lean reproductive-age women. Reduction in the incidence of type 2 diabetes with lifestyle intervention or metformin.
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Effects of withdrawal from metformin on the development of diabetes in the diabetes prevention program. Insulin-sensitizing drugs metformin, rosiglitazone, pioglitazone, D-chiro-inositol for women with polycystic ovary syndrome, oligo amenorrhoea and subfertility. Vitamin B in Health and Disease.
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Also,when I increased the dosage I found that within the day I would experience some bad stomach cramps but that's about it. Hoping to achieve my weight loss. I feel like it was working at first since I did get my period 6 days after taking my first pill. My doctor had me take 1 pill for the first week and then 2 pills the second week and so on. I missed my period and I am not pregnant? Has this happened to anyone else?
Did metformin only give you a period the first month? It has reduced my appetite but every time I eat I get stomach cramps and need to run to the toilet. I have a sensitive bowel anyway so my body takes a while to adjust to medication, therefore I am prepared to endure the tummy upsets for a couple more weeks. I am normally always hungry and need to eat a fair amount of food, however when on Metformin I am rarely hungry and it doesn't take much to fill me up.
With the combination of reduced appetite and frequent visits to the toilet, it's no wonder people lose weight. Short term pain for long term gain yeah? I did one round of clomid and fell pregnant but had an ectopic pregnancy and had my right side tube removed. Then a year later we went for IVF round and that was unsuccessful.
I gave my self some time to recover from the heart ache. My doctor recommended me to take Metformin to regulate my period. I started taking tablets in January and period starts to regulate after two months. Me and husband had appointment for second round of IVF in June 15 and I decide to do a pregnancy test in June as I was feeling very tried and to my surprise it came out positive. I took Metformin for 5 months to give me a miracle baby after one test tube baby. My baby was born on time and healthy.
He is turning 4 years old next month. Gained lots of weight that can't seem to be able to shed. Bad acne on around my chin and jawline. Also a few thick facial hair. I am also 28 and want to start a family. Been on birth control pills and honestly was going no where with it. Crazy heavy periods that last to a year or so.