What does Metformin do for infertility?

Another Metformin/PCOS question?

• Who here has PCOS and is on Metformin?? I went through every infertlity treatment about 7-8 years ago. We did treatments for about 7 years! Clomid, IUI, IVF. and nothing worked. Per my Dr's then, unexplained infertlity, on paper DH and I are normal. So, I have decided that technology and science has come along way and we are going to try a few more times before I am 40. I gained about 25-30 lbs during the infertility treatments and then had gallbladder out and quit smoking blah blah blah. So now I am about 40 heavier than I was when I first started treament. When I went back to the Dr to restart, he tells me I have PCOS. I don't know if this started because I have gained so much weight or I always had it. I have been noticing more hair growth on my chin and chest and I am just wondering if the metformin will help w/ the weight loss (with diet and exercise) and the hair growth?? It's getting really embarassing.

• Answer:

  The hair that you have now will not go away, unless you have it removed through electrolysis or laser (the laser reduced but did not remove mine). When you're taking Met, the hair usually grows slower, and this has definitely been my experience. Also, you won't get many new hairs when you're on Met. I am not an expert but you probably gained weight because of the PCOS, not the other way around. I highly recommend the "Insulin Resistance Diet"- it's not that hard to follow and it works very well. Vigorous exercise is also said to help a great deal in managing PCOS- but I haven't been able to get on board with that, so far! I am currently on my third round of Clomid, and this month I had an IUI. I am 12 DPO and have experienced some mild cramps, which I am hoping is a false alarm or just implantation. I'm testing tomorrow morning, so we'll see! Good luck