Infertility treatment and referral

[Tasha1994]

Hi, I have been referred to a fertility clinic. My first consultation has came through for next week. Could anyone give me a better understanding of what happens at this first appointment? And the time frame from first appointment to first attempt? I’ve been diagnosed with pcos and had all relevant blood work and scans done.

[LillyLeaf]

It really depends on the NHS in your area. There was a 9 month wait between first appointment and starting IVF for me, I couldn't wait that long so went private. For some areas the waiting list is shorter or even longer.

[WhyDoesItAlways]

I was diagnosed with PCOS having had scans and bloods through the doctors. At my first appointment with fertility specialist she did another scan to confirm and then went through my options. These were basically two medications to induce ovulation. The first isn't as effective as the second one they offer but the second is more likely to result in multiple births so they start with the first then if that doesn't work go to the second. Then after that they can do ovarian drilling which sounds awful but is really just a laser all done as a laparoscopy. Then the final option if none of that works was IVF.

The specialist recommended for me to go straight to the drilling even though the NHS like you to go through the medications first (I was an NHS patient so not sure how she got round that). This was so she could have a proper look inside to see if there were any other issues on top of the pcos as obviously if there are other things stopping you getting pregnant the medications probably aren't going to help.

So basically the first appointment was just to get an idea of options.

I had the drilling done (general anaesthetic and home the same day) and they found I had endometriosis and "lazy tubes". She gave everything a good clean, cleared off as much endometriosis as she could and gave my tubes a good clean. She said that with all the issues it wasn't impossible to get pregnant naturally but not likely either so she recommended to keep trying for 3 months and if nothing happens I could go on to have IVF.

I ended up having IVF and was very lucky to get pregnant on the first round.

[WhyDoesItAlways]

Oh yes, with waiting times I think it was something like an 18 week wait for the drilling operation but no wait for IVF. I literally got my first IVF appointment where they explained how to take all the meds and then started treatment on my next period.

[Tasha1994]

Thank you everyone. It’s defintley giving me a better understanding. My partner is also female so we can’t exactly “try” ourselves at home and also the reason we are seeking fertility help. It just also happens I have pcos. I had a scan done before I was referred to confirm pcos and blood work. All confirmed diagnosis and also confirmed my tubes were clear but that I wasn’t ovulating. Hence why we seeks medical help. We are going through nhs.

[PhoebeMouse]

With mine on the NHS, they said there was no waiting list as such, it's just that there are hoops you have to go through that you probably don't have to privately! We had our first consultation in January, then I had some tests - hycosy, AMH and follicle count, then another appointment with the consultant to discuss the results and be told that we can do IVF. But we weren't allowed to say 'ok great, let's do it!' at that point. we had to go away and think about it and watch lengthy online videos and make another appointment, which took about 2 months. Then we could fill in the consent forms and book in with the nurse to plan our dates. At that point our appointment was really soon afterwards but we were going on holiday soon after and also my next period was due so soon that the medication wouldn't arrive in time (I was on short protocol therefore having to start injections the day my period started). So we ended up starting the IVF in June. So, 5 months from first appointment to first injection!

First appointment i can't remember too much about. We were asked a lot of questions, some quite personal, but it was all ok, and then booked in the tests I needed for the next week.

[Tasha1994]

Thank you for letting me know. I hope yours works out all good for you. I’m hoping the wait isn’t too long