PCOS girls: whats involved in "monitoring"

Doc told me "It may be better to have your cycle monitored with ultrasounds and bloodwork to make sure that you’re making a dominant follicle."

Do you do this? What does it entail? This is getting all very complicated and DH is getting chest pains!
TIA

Re: PCOS girls: whats involved in "monitoring"

its very simple.

you go to the doctor and they do an internal sono and bloodwork. that will tell the doctor if you have follicles (ie. eggs). if not, they may give you meds to induce ovulation and have you come back for more monitoring. if yes they will continue to have you come back every few days for more sono and bloodwork until you are ready to ovulate. at that point you would either do a trigger shot which would pretty much guarantee ovulation (which most PCOSers have issues doing unmedicated). or if the doctor detects you are surging on your own (another thing that PCOSers have trouble doing on their own due to constantly elevated LH) then that's it.

at that point you will either have timed intercourse or an IUI (depending on what you and your DH and your doctor decide is best). then you may or may not go back after ovulation to make sure you ovulated (which would be bloodwork to check progesterone levels).

thats it. theres no reason for chest pains. its just a few extra doctor appointments. good luck!

Re: PCOS girls: whats involved in "monitoring"

It's not nearly as awful as it sounds. They will want to be sure that you are ovulating. For me, before I had DD, I hadn't had an ovulatory cycle in over a year.

A few months on Metformin alone did nothing for me--the Clomid was my secret weapon--you should feel very good about your Dr. because so many Drs. today give out Clomid like it's "no big deal". It's great that he wants to monitor you, that's so important...AND it will give you great insight into what's happening inside your body.

You'll most likely have CD3 bloodwork, CD11 bloodwork/sono and then be monitored by internal sono to see how your follies are developing. Then, if you are unmedicated, they will want to take blood later in the month to be sure that you ovulated.

It's worth it...trust me!