Looking for a consultant in London

[BestBeastie]

To help reassure me there's nothing wrong here. Taking us a while to conceive no 2 - in 38 and don't have time to faff.
GP next to useless - day 3 and 21 flagged possible low progesterone and high tsh levels. Despite Gp saying that Tsh probably needed to be below 2 for pregnancy she won't do anything; similarly the low prog 'may' be related to a longer cycle that month, so she won't do anything. Neither will she retest. I had a mc in October and it drives me nuts thinking that that may have been down to hypothyroid issues that The NHS seems inequipped to handle.

I need a good consultant, preferably not in an IVF clinic where that immediately becomes the option. Someone to give good independent advice but who is also equipped with latest research and will act on it. Someone preferably too who will be willing to try to put me back into the NHS system if at all possible (obv not for ivf as I'm not eligible), but for further consultancy.

In general I'm very upset at the way I've been treated on this. I know I'm not the top of the list here - I know that I am out of nhs purview for ivf and that my wish for a second child is not on the level of a wish for a first but I am sure that does not give my gp the bloody right to close the door on me when there's actually stuff that can be looked at. My wish for a second child isn't frivolous: my son will have no cousins and no wider circle of family around him once we are gone apart from the one he may obviously create for himself. Whether or not we get in with our siblings in childhood or early adulthood (I didn't) I think they play an increasingly important part in our lives as we grow older. It saddens me to think that he will be entirely cut off from the family he grew up with before he's reached his mid 60s. Whilst I don't expect IVF I do think I should be able to access NHS treatment in other ways.

[BestBeastie]

Sorry for the rant. I'm really upset about this all at the minute.

[emmag1984]

Hi
Sorry that you're having such a bad time of it.
Where in London are you based? I saw Mrs Croucher who does both private and NHS work, and she is lovely and even though she specialises in infertility she doesn't rush into recommending IVF.
She is based at St Anthony's Hospital (in Cheam, Surrey) and does NHS work at St Helier in Sutton - not sure if that would be too far for you to travel
GL x

[BestBeastie]

Thanks emmag1984

That's probably not too far for me. What was your experience like?

[emmag1984]

I was really happy with the experience. I saw her under the NHS as we were lucky enough to get funding. She was very supportive and understanding, and was prepared to be guided by us to some extent as to how quickly we wanted to proceed with things.
We had a diagnosis of unexplained infertility and didn't feel ready to jump straight into IVF but also didn't want to continue "just trying". She therefore gave us 3 months of Clomid which unfortunately didn't work, so at that stage we went on to IVF. We really trusted her advice and felt that she definitely knew what she was talking about, which was reassuring at a time when my emotions were all over the place.
Hope that helps, but if you've got any more questions I'm more than happy to try and answer them! x

[cottoncandee]

Ms Eleni Mavrides. I believe she does both NHS and Private. I think she is consultant at St John and St Elizabeth, Portland, Wellington, and I can not remember the other one as I saw 4 hospitals listed on her business cars (which I can not find right now). I do not even live in London anymore but I still schedule consultation with her every time I visit London.

She is never dismissive when I tell her about my worries, she is really reassuring. After recent chemical miscarriage that was not handled well at all here (I live in Vienna now), I saw Ms. Mavrides and she helped me to worry less and she cares and understands about the emotional part of it as well as the physical part. I will go to London again in January specifically for another consultation with her since I have not found anyone as good as her or anywhere near as good as her here. That is how good she is :)

[lunchboxtroubles]

You need to accept that this will all need to be private. I'm a GP - and with all the sympathy in the world, I wouldn't take it any further with you, I actually wouldn't even have done the initial bloods. You aren't entitled to NHS treatment, certainly not in the CCG where I work and it sounds like in the CCG where you are too.

In view of your need for speed I'd suggest you accept that it will all have to be private and take it on from there. Good luck with everything

[MattsMamma]

Can I just lunchbox why you would not address the thyroid issue? Surely that is something that needs treating asap? Just curious. Everyone is entitled to thyroid treatment in the NHS and it is known inadequate treatment does cause fertility problems and miscarriage.

[ohfourfoxache]

Lisa Webber at the ARGC - she also does reproductive endocrinology so is very familiar with thyroid as well as fertility. Very kind, very straightforward and very approachable.