TTC 10 plus months, Part 7

Thanks for all the words of support!

Euro. I hope you are right about poor response to these particular drugs only. My mind is racing away and I am worried that I won't respond to anything. It's exciting to hear that you have one superb follie for next IUI - go follie go! One tip my accupuncturist gave me was to increase your intake of antioxident foods to redcuse the chance of inflamation / too much activity hindering implantation. Plus loads of vitamin C & E foods. That is what she is urging me to do now. I am scoffing strawberries, wheatgerm and brazil nuts etc. Ha ha.

Wine - thank you for your comments. I know what you mean about seeing things more favouribly for others. I can't be rational at the moment. Wishing you lots of luck with the op. Is that why you are off until Septemeber? What have you got planned?

Gin - the natural cycle sounds very good. Do you mind me asking - was expected poor egg response the reason why you had a natural cycle or due to something else? Am I right in thinking you got a fair few eggs with yours? Do you mind me asking what your FSH antral folliles count etc was?

Buzzy - I have been on menopur 225 IU for the first 7 days. This has been the only drug. This has just been increased to 375 IU with Monday being the deadline to see if it has helped. 3 days doesn't seem like very long to give the increased dose a chance to work. Prior to the stimming I was on the prostap injetion for down regging and a few days of birth control before that so that the clinic could start my treatment in line with when they had availability. I have now read about over supresion which can occur in the pre-stimming phase due to down regging and / or birth control tablets. I am clutching at anything as the cause as I am so frightened that my eggs will not respond. To be honest I really don't know that much about IVF and different protocols - that was a deliberate thing I did to help me feel postive and less clinical.

Buzzy- that is wonderful that you feel calm this cycle. Cherish the feeling as it is hard to acheive. Fingers crossed for a positive outcome.

Well I am feeling even more frightened that I did yesterday. I am panicking that my egg quality / reserve is lower than I realsied.

Has anybody else had an antral follicle count? Mine was 9 in January and described as "a fair few follicles" on day 14 just before starting this cycle of IVF.

I went to see an acupuncturist yesterday as an emergency appointment type thing. My DH already goes to her so got me in. She has started me off on a specific programme for IVF where blood flow is directed to the arteries which run to the ovaries and womb. She also gave me electro stimulation therapy (or whatever it's called) through the needles. I am seeing her again today. She was very good. She suggested that although my fsh levels were fine perhaps my AMH level isn't as high as expected and so perhaps I need a higher does of stims. This felt half reasuring and half further frightening.

Since yesterday, I have had diarrhoea which is what happens to me when I'm anxious / scared. I am not getting any ovary pain or cramping or anything which isn't a good sign. And my boobs feel as flat as a pancake with no tenderness which surely can't be a good thing. In my normal cycles, I have loads more activity than this. Surely it should be the other way around.

Sorry for the self indulgent post. I feel like I have joined this post at my crisis point. I should have joined earlier. I would hate you all to think I'm just after the take and no give.

Thanks Sarlat xx

Oh sarlat so sorry, that sucks. More hugs.
And nelly boo on that one too.
Seems things are happening early this month. Maybe it is the relief of being offered a new job.
buzzy love the chosen name .
Waves to all.

pout I had a patient who used to yoyo between laxatives and immodiom hope the problem cures itself soon

nelly sorry AF has arrived, really thought this was your month :( I record everything, when AF starts/finishes, ewcm, pains, spots on face, temp, cbfm peaks, emotions etc etc, we could compare charts

mrsd again sorry the witch has made an unwelcome appearance nasty selfish cow that she is you can have your bloods taken from days 1-5, I'm having mine done next week, I always wear my NHS ID badge so I can try and queue jump

sarlet (((SUPER BIG HUGS))) I really am sorry, it must have been a bit of a shock but remember even the experts get it wrong, I don't think scaremongering helps at all. Can I ask what drug you are on. DON'T GIVE UP HOPE!!! It just means that its going to take a bit longer for you to get your precious baby.

gin love the rubbing kitty's tummy

pout I know what you mean about feeling with regards to wasted eggs, I've already worked out when Mr B has his hernia op and if it will affect our SWI.

Well i'm shattered after 2 days of work :) totally of you wine being off till September

Well I'm CD22 today so really 10dpo as possibly ovulated really early, I feel rather calm, think it could be the happy herbal pills my acupuncture people gave me. Mr B is not in the best of moods, he has the wrong size screws so he can't put the shower door up so he is dismantling the squatters camp on the balcony

waves to everyone else hope you all have something fun planned for the weekend

Ps meant to say in my first post of the day kitty I was so thrilled to hear that mini kitty is doing well. The scan sounds like it was a really good idea and hope you can now relax a little and enjoy it as much as you can. Do lurk and bring us all some much needed good luck

Just wanted to pop in to say nellie so sorry for af's arrival. I really did have high hopes for you. Big hugs, lots of wine and lots of relaxing this weekend (if you can with the ILs there). It genuinely doesn't get any easier does it?

And starlet so sorry about your scan. Follies can be slow to grow so don't give up hope yet. If this cycle doesn't work, natural cycle is always a possibility - they don't medicate or do so mildly and work with what you have and it's meant to be particularly good for poor responders. Big hugs and hope you are doing something nice this weekend to keep your mind off it.

euro your private clinic sounds pretty reasonable! Well compared to mine. Would you be able to pm me the name of the clinic. Ta.

Happy weekend everyone else!

Thank you for the new thread Buzzy I like the number 7 too, so here's to it being a lucky one!
Glad that your migraine has finally gone. There is nothing like a persistent migraine to make you feel totally drained.

sarlat I am sorry that you got such unexpected and shocking news. I don't understand so won't try and comment on it except to say that the doctors have to prepare you for the worst case scenario. I am thinking of you and keeping my FX that it will all work out.

kitty I'm glad that your scan showed that all was well.

ladygee I can't believe that you had good weather in Scotland whilst we were suffering torrential rain down here.

Artemis Pushy or pay - great! It really shouldn't be like that.
I thought an HSG was a matter of course. I can't believe that you are being fobbed off like that. Time to get pushy

wine I like your action plan. It is always comforting to have a plan of action, it is the floundering about that I can't handle. Can't wait to have my appointment, a week today, so I can have a plan too!

nelly I'm so sorry that your AF arrived like that. I have lost count of the number of times my cycle had behaved oddly and I have got my hopes up only to be dashed. It is monumentally crap. Sorry also that you have to contend with that and a visit form the ILS. Bad timing indeed.

gin I agree about the mad obsession with SWI at ovulation time even when you know it is pointless. Obviously there is no SWI for us this cycle but I still got EWCM and got those familiar feelings of must SWI and then got cross because we couldn't and it was a wasted egg!

mrsd sorry that AF has made an appearance at your end too. Good luck with the blood test.

Joycep "it will happen" was always my DH's stock answer too, to my irritation. However since finding the fibroid he has changed this to he "doesn't know" which totally shocked me. I felt really worried because all of a sudden he isn't optimistic either. He can't win!

euro I'm glad that all is looking good for you this cycle.

I am pretty much back to normal. Believe it or not the only bothersome thing is that I have had an allergic reaction to my plaster and have an irritated red welt Also have gone from the extreme of constipation to the other extreme. Note to self, in future do not take the full dose of 2 laxatives, in fact don't even take half a dose. Just quickly licking one tablet will evidently suffice!

Hello to everyone I've missed. Happy weekends.

Oh sarlet sorry to hear that. I send hugs. There are still lots of paths for you to tread yet. See what happens with a change in the drugs. It seems difficult to believe that anything untoward has happened to your ovaries in such a short time and it makes me that such words are thrown around. More realistically, they haven't responded to the particular protocol you're on. I always say its easy to look at other people and see things far more favourably than when you're in the position yourself. I see that you have a healthy womb and poorly tubes that are being a pain and a treatment plan that hasn't been tailored to suit your needs quite rightly. There is a lot of hope in there I promise.

And I'm sorry nelly I had everything crossed for you. But the silver linings are good, maybe your baby is insistent on being born in wedlock! Loves to you.

I am now off work til September. Gosh.

Well I'm kind of seeing the silver linings through very gritted teeth .

Glad I'm not the only one with TTC detritus! Mr Nelly thinks he left his SA sample kit lying out when my mum was house-sitting. It's not that I don't want them to know we are TTC as such. It's just that they'll then be so insensitive and get excited, like I'd already handed them their grandchild. Still at least they both have one with another on the way to each set!

I have just done a graph of my cycle length, ov day and LP. I'm really very sad aren't I? Don't answer that! anyway it's not that interesting, LP pretty consistent, with average cycle length 27 days but it's up or down each month. The last 4 have been 25, 26, 27, 28. Menopause, anyone???

I have some actual real work to do but my stomach hurts and I'm fed up of it. Plus if I don't get it done I'll have to work late, thus avoiding ILs

Gah. Sorry Nelly. I accidentally posted before I read the second page of this thread. Sorry to hear AF got you. :( I'm glad you are managing to see a silver linig.

Sarlat I'm sorry that you had bad news at the scan. Maybe it is just a poor response to the drugs? Sudden decline sounds unlikely in such a short space of time.

I had my pre-IUI#2 scan this morning. I have one 19mm follie and my lining is looking good. So I just need to keep weeing on expensive sticks and as soon as I detect my surge, we can book in for basting. I hope Mr euro's boys are rather more plentiful than they were last time!

Gin re: King's I think it's easier if you are on a medicated cycle. They can adjust the drugs to make you ovulate at a convenient time! But on an unmedicated cycle, you are at the whim of your ovaries! I don't know what they do if you end up ovulating at the weekend because I switched to another clinic. I figured it was an added stress I didn't need. I've found a clinic that will do it whenever it needs doing. It is more expensive but the sums involved are not huge. It is £1500 for 3 cycles and that includes a monitoring scan each cycle (it was a buy 3 for the price of 2 deal). Kings was £300something per cycle without the scans.

Nelly 16dpo seems like a bit of a magic number. I think that is when fertility clinics usually get you to test after IVF. I have everything crossed for you.

Sarlat - pm'ing you

Ok silver linings.

1 I had no spotting so that's a good thing, right?
2 I go on holiday in 2 weeks so can get drunk. A lot. Even though I'll be in my next 2ww by then.

Errr. And I wont be massively pregnant for my wedding.

And we're nearing the cut off at which I can safely book a flight for my honeymoon.

Oh sarlat massive hugs for you. I don't even know what half of that means, it certainly sounds scary. Huge deep calming breaths. It's not the end yet though. Still avenues to try by the sounds of it. The uncertainty is horrid though isn't it .

Thanks for the flowers mrsden and the is waiting! I've just bought cakes too . And I feel bad for dissing Mr Nelly as he did reply to my email by reminding me he luffed me .

Thanks Joycep - it's not gone well - see above post. X

Thanks Buzzy for setting up this thread. Let?s hope it brings good luck for many of us. sorry about your horrible migraine. I hope it has gone now.

nelly - oh i have just seen your updated post and I am so sorry. It is better just to get af as normal rather than be led up the garden path like that. We have all run those conversations through our head at how we are going to tell people we are expecting. And then when AF turns up the blow is so terribly hard. Then the men come out with a silly comment and make things worse. sorry about the ILs ? that just sucks. I have spent many a time going around the house and hiding conception tablets, ovulation sticks, fertility books and hiding gonal f injections underneath the carrots and spuds in the fridge. The whole thing is just one big nightmare. Massive hug to you.

sarlat - you have a good manager. That?s so good you have some understanding from them as that really helps.

Go kitty! - am so pleased about your 8wk scan. Not long until the 12 week scan and you can tell all your friends you are pregnant (if you haven?t already) after just one drunken shag

lady - glad you had a good time in Scotland and I?m pleased you are feeling refreshed with a positive follow up with your ivf clinic.

artemis - i am sorry your positivity has worn off . i totally agree with you about sending you off to ivf without fully investigating. This is the drum i keep banging on about. Things don?t seem to get covered in a systematic way. To me it makes sense that we all get our level 1s checked, hsg etc and if this is all fruitless , we should have Laps. It seems that many women find out they have endo or fibroids without having any symptoms. This would be much better to cover all this off before going down the ivf route. Also MrJ oy is like MrA and isn?t at a point to think about another life as well. He keeps saying it will work to me. i like his positivity but sometimes i am just screaming inside ?what happens if it doesn?t!?. I want to discuss our worst case scenario options. I?m not sure if that is negativity or being realistic.

wine - well done for having a plan in place. how ever I don?t think you?ll ever get to point 4 or 5 . Your broid has got to be preventing pregnancy whatever the docs say. Embies like a nice soft cushy bed to lie in. If you have some monster in there that is causing you pain, that is going to put off any embie for nestling down. You really will get there.

sarlat - all the best for your scan today. You doing brilliantly!

gin - always desperate to shag in shag week even though i know it?s pointless. Although i guess because i have no reason, it may not be pointless. I hope one day i can just let go. The last 2 years ovulation has dominated my life.

mrsd - interesting about your painless AFs. Mine have also been painless this year ever since i started my new diet. It can only be a good thing. Good luck with your bloods today. there is a lot of hanging around isn?t there. I plan to start ivf in Sep but i am quite prepared for things to go tits up between my first ivf appointment and then.

Waves to everyone else. Roll on the weekend!

Nelly - sorry about AF - this is such a cruel game. Big hugs x

nelly you're allowed to feel like this today, massive for you. It's crap isn't it? And it doesn't get easier. And it's so much worse when your body teases you. Big boos to the PIL visiting too. We had some friends over last night and I had to remember to do a sweep before they arrived to get rid of anything ttc related. It's amazing how much stuff there is, I found pregnancy vits and tests in the bathroom. And then we had a file on the bookcase labelled Fertility test results. And another big bumph of information from the clinic. I also have to remember to clear my computer and ipad history before I let anyone use them.

Hello All

Had a bad experience this morning at the scan. I have been stimming for 7 days. But the ovaries are not doing anything and only 2 tiny follicles were seen. In addition to this, there is far more toxic fluid than ever and possibly new hydrosaplinges to cause problems.

The Dr said they want to try me with very high doses of stimming drug over the weekend to see if that helps. I will be scanned again on Monday to see if there has been any improvement. But the poor ovarian response could be due to the hydrosalpinges that are causing the ovaries not to respond properly.

I asked how all of the above can happen when my blood tests showed good results and baseline scan in January had 9 follicles - he said that I may have had sudden ovarian decline.

Frightened and shocked doesn't even begin to describe how I feel.

If the increased stimming drugs don't work the cycle will be abandened (hopefully NHS funding can be saved). I then may have to have my tubes removed.

Even if they do proceed with egg collection this cycle (which is unlikely) the toxic fluid may prevent implantation.

I always new I was up against it with the tubal issues - but now it seems my ovaries are shutting down.

I haven't gone in to work - DH came home.

Sorry for such a self indulgent post. I don't even know anyone else like me who can offer hope. I don't see how I will ever become a mum. Sorry to be so down.

Morning everyone. Good luck with stimms sar and hello to mrsd and gin.

So if I'd posted first thing is have said AF 2 days late, still no spotting and another BFN. I won't lie, I began to think I might be pregnant and my cheap tests were duds. I started envisaging telling some people and the sort of "well we tried for nearly 2 years and were close to IVF, we're so lucky". Fool. Just before I left for work I'd had a tiny bit of spotting which is now about 75% full on AF. . I feel really rather fragile today, this was the first time being late has happened in 25 cycles. When I told Mr Nelly last night he said "well that's not unusual is it?" I asked him to confirm what he meant so he said being late. I rather snappishly said No. It Never Happens. At which he sort of shrugged, and very nearly had a broken nose. I've just emailed him to confirm failure no 25 and he's said "well at least you get to have wine tonight".

IL's are staying tonight, just what I so don't need. I've also just had to ask him to make sure he empties the bathroom bin before they arrive, which has empty conception vits bottles plus 2 broken used Preg tests in it. Oh joy.

Gah. I feel tearful in the office. I better go and earn my IVF fee . Will cheer up later, you all understand the cycle by now I'm sure!

gin I forgot to say, I don't think the Dr did think we'd get there naturally. I think he meant that there is always a tiny chance so long as there are some sperm. But we would be waiting years for that chance, and then I'd be older and ivf would have less chance of working so we're better to get on with it. When I said that we'd been trying 2 years and had accepted we needed IVF, he nodded and said something like "yes, it could happen but you'll be trying and waiting for that small chance. And then 6 years down the line you'll still be waiting and want IVF so you might as well go for that now".

Morning everyone,

Thanks for setting up the new thread buzzy, I reckon this one will be a lucky one. I like the number 7.

Good luck for the scan today sarlat.

Ohhh, nelly I am keeping everything crossed for you that AF stays away.

The holiday sounds great gin, there are such lovely places in the UK. I appreciate it so much more now I live away.

artemis I haven't had a hsg but that's because we found the cause with DH. I thought they always gave one for unexplained. Are you under a fertility specialist? Maybe you need to get pushy. My gynae did tell me that you can nearly always tell from someone's history if there will be a problem with the tubes, but clearly that's not true.

AF turned up yesterday. It's heavy but not painful. It's funny because for the last 6 months or so I've had no pain with my AF. This coincides with me taking a different type of multi vitamin because my others ran out. So, I just bought one I could get here. It might be a total coincidence but it's so nice not to have any pain with AF so I'm going to keep taking this brand.

I'm going to go this afternoon to the clinic to get my bloods done. Day 2 is ok to go isn't it? That's better than waiting until Monday I think. I think the Dr said any day between 1-5. I hate having blood taken, I hope the nurses here are good at finding my crappy veins.

It doesn't look like we can get an appointment with the genetics counsellor until the middle of June and then it will take at least 4 weeks from then for the results. We'd wanted to go away in August so I think we might book it and not start IVF until September. I hate how much waiting around there is.

Wohoo, new shiny lucky no 7 thread!

This is gonna be a crap catchup, as I'm on my phone, so apologies in advance!

star hope your scan goes ok today. I quite liked being able to see my follies on screen and found it reassuring that something was shown to be happening I didn't get lumps from the stims but did have bruises and puncture marks. The antagonist gave me a red itchy lump immediately afterwards, but I found applying an ice pack immediately prevented this.

buzzy (feels odd to be calling you that!) pleased to hear that the monster headache has gone. You poor thing. Hope you have a nice weekend planned to make up for it.

nelly I would sooooo have gone and purchased a 1st response by now. Hope the red bitch has stayed away.

wine not long until your shiny new womble. I think having back up plans is very sensible but am positive you won't need one! And can you teach me some yoga please??

princess have a great few days away. You have a will of iron with your brown diet. I'm sooooo impressed!

artemis I don't understand why they won't offer a hsg. How can they say you are unexplained when they haven't done all the tests? The disparity in fertility offerings from the NHS makes me very

mrsd pleased to hear your consultation went well. Hope you are still feeling ok about it. Interesting that the dr said that it could happen naturally tho take years. I always assume that there is no chance for us...

ladyg your holiday sounds fab! I'm v envious. And it sounds like just what you needed. We have our follow up consultation next week. Not expecting to hear anything particularly useful.

euro I'm envious of your break too! My mum is down in the Languedoc at the mo. So if you ovulate at the weekend and are doing iui with kings, what do they do? Cancel that cycle?! If we do go for iui & donor sperm I quite like the sound of kings apart from being shut at the weekend!

joyce I personally wouldn't worry too much about sore pre ov boobs. Mine tend to get sore too around then and were super sore when stimming during ivf and I know for sure that everything was ok then! Although I know not worrying is easier said than done. Mr Gin would be happy to use donor sperm if needs be. Luckily he's quite laid back about it all. I have idly looked at some of the sperm bank offerings. None sound as good as Mr Gin!

pout hope you are still making a good recovery. Do you know when your next op might be?

becks hope your DH gets down to it with the pot today!

Hi to everyone I've missed.

So not long until the meet up now. Did we sort out a venue? Am looking forward to it, although still not sure how to tell mr gin!

I'm in shag week and appear to be ovulating as normal, despite last month's interventions. Does anyone else find they have the desperate need to shag in shag week, even though they know there's no real point? I wish I could just forget it all, but can't when I'm so obviously ovulating...

Morning everybody. Good luck with the scan today sarlat.

6days left of my 2WW. I have an appointment wed to pick up oestrogen and clomid to start next cycle. DH is meant to be doing his SA today. I am working all day, and I have a feeling that without supervision he will not do it. I'll be waiting for the excuses when I get home!

Have a lovely day everyone.... Its nearly the weekend!!!!

sarlat fingers crossed for tomorrow :)