New and looking for some advice

[Summer124]

Hi everyone,

I'm new here and in the sighty strange position of not having conceived yet so I hope you won't think I'm crazy for posting . I'm just looking for a bit of advice. I was told by my doctor that because of a pre-existing condition (pcos) that I have a 45% higher chance of developing pre eclampsia than the general public. I didn't know much about pre-e until now and I have to say the thought of dealing with it terrifies me. I feel a little silly dealing with purely 'what ifs' but it's really been on my mind.

My husband is of the opinion that we shouldn't take the chance because the possibilities of what could happen really scare him. He's not a worrier by nature - that's more my department. We have had our names down on the adoption list here for the last 2 years because I have a lower chance of getting pregnant anyway because of my pcos. It takes 5 years to adopt (we live outside the US) so we're almost half way through. I suppose I want to know if I'm being ridiculous worrying about this? At this stage my husband would rather not take the chance and would rather just go ahead with the adoption. I don't know what to think. Has anyone any advice? Many thanks

[sam10]

I have not heard of a higher chance to develop PE due to PCOS. So I googled a bit and there seem to be some studies about this topic, but none seem to indicate that it is a definite. Perhaps Caryn knows more about this and can drop a line when she comes by.

In your shoes, I'd not make a final decision based on one doctor's assessment (has he explained the correlation between PCOS and Preeclampsia?); perhaps you would like consider a second opinion? Not sure if you have seen a high-risk specialist (MFM or peri) for a per-conception consultation? If not, you can consider that as well.

[Summer124]

Hi Sam,

Thanks so much for the reply. I hadn't heard of the correlation either but I found a few studies when I went looking. He didn't suggest not getting pregnant, just that there were risks involved and that my pregnancy would be considered high risk. I've spent the last few days thinking of nothing else because I just don't know what to do with the information he has given me. These are 2 short articles I've come across:

http://www.irishhealth.com/article.html?id=19878

http://www.onmedica.com/newsarticle.asp ... 0207d78fe3

Thanks again for your help.

[angieb]

While there are some of us here who have PCOS, there are many many more PCOS'ers who have perfectly normal, healthy pregnancies. My doctors did not consider my PCOS a risk factor and do not think it had anything to do with why I got so sick so early in my first pregnancy. (I was not being treated for PCOS in my second pregnancy, was heavier, and yet had a healthy pregnancy, albeit with gestational diabetes.) I really like the forums at www.soulcysters.net there is a section for trying to conceive and a section for pregnancy and a section for parenting--you will see that the large majority of people there do *not* have pre-e in their pregnancies (although probably more do than in the general population of women without pcos.) And as far as ttc, you never know, some people with pcos get pregnant very easily, others it takes awhile. If you have regular ovulatory cycles, then it likely won't cause anymore issues trying than anyone else. And if you don't, there are a lot of different medications they can give to help you ovulate. (My mom just took clomid to conceive me and later my sister. Then had 2 surprise pregnancies later. We conceived our daughter without fertility treatments at all, although we did do fertility treatments with our son because I couldn't stand the waiting.)

I personally don't and wouldn't live my life by what *could* happen. I could get killed in a car accident or hit by lightning or something else random and crappy. (The research indicates car accidents are the leading cause of death for my age group, yet I still drive and go places via car.) My odds for getting pre-e the first time were very low- I had no family history of any pregnancy complications and was pretty young and healthy. But I ended up with HELLP (which is even rarer than pre-e) and an "atypical case" of HELLP at that because I showed no symptoms of pre-e before I got sick (in fact my blood pressure was normal.) Yet in my second pregnancy, my risks were much much higher only because of my history, yet I had a healthy, relatively normal high risk pregnancy.

[alexis]

I have PCOS and did get preeclampsia... however, my pregnancy uncovered my tendency towards chronic hypertension. Now, PCOS is also linked to increased rates of HTN but I wouldn't even want to begin with parsing out risks.

A PCOS pregnancy is definitely not automatically high risk. I was not considered high risk in my first pregnancy until they discovered my BP was over 140/90.

[alviarin]

Hi & welcome to the forums.

I do believe PCOS is a risk factor for pre-e but I don't know what level of risk you and your husband are comfortable with. Here is an older thread talking about risk: http://www.preeclampsia.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=21361

You may be interested in the results of this study which found a reduction in the preeclampsia rate for PCOSers on metformin:
http://www.preeclampsia.org/forum/viewt ... 5404&hilit
It is only one small preliminary study but it might be something to discuss with your doctor.

You can search for other threads on PCOS by typing a search term in the box in the upper right corner of your screen.

Good luck with whatever you decide!

[alviarin]

I was poking around in PubMed and found another article you might be interested in:
"Maintenance of pregnancy [in women with PCOS] is complicated by a higher rate of premature spontaneous abortions and high risk of gestational diabetes, hypertension, and preeclampsia. However, with careful monitoring and treatment, the outcome of pregnancy in most women with PCOS is excellent."
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22108285

[bsherricca]

Hi Summer,

i also live outside the US and have PCOS and i just wanted to share my experience .I think it is great that you are investigating the risk. unfortunately i did develop severe PE at 26 weeks .i was not aware that pcos is said to increase risk of PE until after my pregnancy the primary difference it would have made for me is it would have allowed me to be better prepared (consult with an MFM prior to conceiving, arranged for access to better equiped NICU etc) .


That being said the good news is you have a 55% chance of not developing PE and from what i have read on these forums it is a guessing game for doctors anyway......... Many women with PCOS end up having PE free pregnancies and many women without PCOS end up developing PE .......what seems to make the difference is close monitoring when you do become pregnant and good old fashioned divine intervention (some call it luck ) .

I wish with all my heart you never have the experience and keep you in my prayers