Can you have PCOS without insulin resistance?

PCOS & Severe Insulin Resistance-the meds quit have quit working, now what...?

• I was diagnosed with Severe Insulin Resistance and PCOS in the beginning of October 06. At that time, I had not had a period in over a year and a half. I had seen three doctors over ...show more

• Answer:

  If you're still struggling with the insulin resistance, there are quite a few women with PCOS who have started taking a medication called Byetta in conjunction with their metformin. I believe using it for PCOS is still an off label use (as in, it's not officially approved by the FDA for use for PCOS, but it's working for some.) Byetta is approved by the FDA to use for type 2 diabetes, so it's not like it's an unapproved drug. Check the message boards at soulcysters.com for more information about Byetta. (I'm not on it, I mentioned it to my doctor when I saw him about six weeks ago and he said that my numbers were too good to consider Byetta now.) One other thing you might be interested in-the New England Journal of Medicine published a study this month about Clomid vs. Metformin in bringing on ovulation in anovulatory women with PCOS and apparently clomid is better at bringing on ovulation. (I've read this before, but the prevailing theory seems to involve using metformin to allow women to take lower doses of clomid.) Are you seeing a reproductive endocrinologist yet? If not, he or she may be better able to guide you through this process than an ob/gyn.