TTC for 10 months and the rest. Ten plussers welcome. Thread 2.

Hello all,

Checking in after Christmas, I see some exciting plans underway for treatment abroad. Hope all goes well and there's some of us expecting our Christmas/new year babies for 2016!

I am having a bit of a down day, just had my 18th cycle of no baby. Got surgery on the 28th to see if there is anything they can do for my tubes- after that I'll be waiting for the NHS ivf.

Feeling deflated and generally sad, after we got married there was a buzz of excitement with all our family and friends sure to expect a new addition shortly, now it's got to the point where the subject is quickly moved on as people realise we must be struggling.

This is horrible.

Star - the doctors really hate temping for some reason that I just can't figure out! Lol.
Great news that you don't have to wait, and now that you know your cause you can figure out how to fix it! I'm jealous of that.

I'm not sure I'm going to ovulate this cycle. I'm on cd13 and have not yet had a positive opk. This would be bad news as would most likely mess up timing for our next cycle, and we've already booked a holiday around it. Gah!!!!!!! Stupid broken body. Xx

Hi everyone,

Welcome banana to this friendly, supportive thread. So 3 days in means you are currently injecting? When will egg collection be? I have very little knowledge about IVF, but I need to read up because it looks like I'm heading down that road too. Your story is incredible, but sounds like you've got a good plan. My friend had complete ovarian failure at 31 so had to go down the egg donation route - at least you've caught it in time. Good luck with this round!

I had my appointment with the NHS consultant yesterday. It wasn't good news but it looks like we have a cause at last and it is male factor. All feels very strange and not sure what to think... Back in September when my partner first had his SA it came back as count 76 million/ml; progressive motility: 38%; morphology: 8%. Two months later in November (we only just got the results today) they've declined to count: 18mil/ml; motility: 18%; morphology 2%. They've recommended IVF with ICSI but said we should try a supplement for a few months first. She was open to us going to ICSI straight away but we were a bit shocked and had expected further investigations on me given our previous SA, so went for the supplement option. We'll give it 4 months (can't see it working) and then back in early May to progress IVF. The supplement is proxeed - anyone have any experience with it?

Interesting news re timings though - I could have talked her into referring us for IVF straight away, as she said she could waive the 2 year trying condition because there is a clear male factor cause and the waiting time is only 1 month! So trixie I reckon you'll be ready to go in Feb!

I didn't get the all clear entirely though. I have a high follicle count (left: 11, right:27) and my AMH is high at 31.5. She said that could indicate PCOS and I might not be ovulating. I said I was tracking my temps and seem to ovulate every month but she didn't really respond to that. She's prescribed me metformin to help me ovulate which I find a bit odd but I'll take it anyway.

All in all, I feel relaxed. There's little chance of anything happening in the next 3 months so I'm going to stop charting and chill out a bit. I always thought that the point we were told it was ivf or nothing I would feel devastated, but I'm fine. Think I'd prepared myself for an 'unexplained' diagnosis so figured ivf was the next step.

Sorry for the long 'me' post. Hope everyone else is doing well - I have a very good feeling about some BFPs on this thread in the next few months!

Hey banana! So glad you found us :).

I'm thinking of trying acupuncture, anything to try and increase the lining. And I'm eating as much as I can to try to get my bmi up!

Xx

Oh and trixie just scrolled back to catch up with the thread and saw your Q about excess folic acid. I asked my consultant about this, as I have to take prescription 5mg folic acid because I have epilepsy (the meds increase the risk of neural tube defects), and all the preconception vits all have folic acid in too. He said you couldn’t take too much - it’s water soluble so apparently anything the body doesn’t use will just get pissed out. I realise that for MTHFR (which in my head is always pronounced mother-f*er!) it’s about folate absorption, but just to say that I was told you can’t take too much, if that's any help...

xx

Hi ladies

May I join? sammylou directed me here from another thread - sammy, thought it would be easier to pick up on the thin lining chat here, on the thread where you said you were hanging out :)

I’m 3 days into IVF #2 - first IVF cycle was in Sept/Oct, and ended up being freeze all due to lining and sample issues (lining regressed and was too thin for transfer, and in a double-whammy, we had to freeze-all anyway as DH was ill and we had issues with a fresh sample, so the eggs went straight into the freezer unfertilised)

Because of my poor ovarian reserves, we decided to do another fresh cycle to try to get more embryos to work with - the plan is to batch together whatever eggs we get this time with the thawed eggs from last time, and fertilise the lot together.

(We also have several hundred million of DH’s finest swimmers in the freezer as an insurance policy for EC day!)

My problems have been at various times with both the eggs and the lining. 5 years ago - before starting TTC - I came off the pill to get myself checked out as I had suspected there might be issues ‘down there’, as I’d never really had proper periods. One 9-month-long anovulatory cycle later, I’m diagnosed with PCOS - grossly polycystic ovaries, cracking reserves, just didn’t ovulate. So we expected ovulation to be the issue when I came off the pill to start TTC after we got married.

Except it turns out that somehow my PCOS disappeared, along with all of my eggs. Day 3 bloods showed at the age of 33 I had the reserves of someone in her 40s. FSH horrific, AMH pitiful (declined 93% in 5 years) and follicle count abysmal. FUCK.

So I now ovulate, but I’m in perimenopause. Oh, and I have shit lining in all my natural cycles, so nothing can implant.

I responded much better than expected in the first round of IVF, and got 7 eggs (6 mature) - not bad for someone with FSH of 17 and AMH of 1.5 (ugh!). The lining went backwards massively between my last scan and EC, so we’re not taking any chances this time - we’ll be adding in progynova to give it a boost.

So, now we’re going again. Somehow my antral follicle count has doubled since before my first round, so I’m keeping everything crossed I respond to stims again this time. And desperately hoping my lining plays ball and we can actually have a transfer....

sammy I couldn’t agree with you more about the BMI (and long term pill use) issue and lining. If I’d known it could have this effect, I’d have never stayed on it

Apparently I am the only person my acupuncturist (who has a wall full of IVF baby photos from her happy patients) has treated whose lining has got THINNER after having special electrostim acupuncture designed to help endometrial lining. Brilliant. Am a total weirdo apparently.

Anyway, I’ve wanged on long enough - sorry for ramble, I do waffle! Thanks for having me, hope that 2016 is a lucky one for us xx

Lucie I'm quoting my consultant re the cycling but can't find much evidence to back it up. DH cycles a few thousand miles a year. I didn't ask him to cut it down but he chose to - it's also his only real hobby. He is now running regularly to make up for it tho.

Mmp check out this link for the ff chat on the clinic in the Czech that lucie has visited was this the one you wanted? I have learnt so much this morning from reading the other ladies stories.

www.fertilityfriends.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=340470.490

My DH didn't do anything to help his SA other than cut down a bit on his cycling. He cycles a lot. Apparently this can have a big impact on SA but the nhs can't say dont cycle as it has so many other health benefits.

I'm ''working'' from home today, and have spent the whole morning reading everything ever writern on ivf I feel much calmer now.... Curtesy of the FF thread on Reprofit I found a local baby ions clinic which looks like it does scans. I live in winchester and can get to southampton easily. The local ivf clinics are snooty about supporting people travelling overseas but baby bond seem willing to scan any fanjo put in front of them (for a price).

Thank you for your support and patience Lucie it's been a massive reassurance.

Urgh, how annoying MPP!

Hope your appointment goes well today Star - will be interesting to see what they say re treatment and waiting times.

Ooooh that's good Boris! Can I ask, did he do anything different that you feel might have helped? DP used to have very hot baths, but he's cut those out, and we're trying fertilaid and countboost. He's had two sa's with similar results, but they were taken less than a month apart (one nhs, one private) so we'll get another one in a few months I think.

Lucie, I'm interested in your answer to Boris' question too. Haven't joined the fertility frI end forum you mentioned yet as I couldn't find it from the app. Will log in on pc asap and try again.

Huge temp drop today, so I think suspicions about wrong ov date are likely correct, and my bouncy, wrongly timed temps over Christmas screwed everything up. Will just be glad for af to arrive now.

Mpp nice to virtually meet you. Sounds like we are on the same trajectory. We had initially been told we had male factor issues (I didn't post about this at the time as DH doesn't like MN and wouldn't like me to put his diagnosis out here). But he's been retested and now has much better SA results so we are now unexplained.

Lucie I'm trying to work out my annual leave for the year and wondered how much leave I might need to use for 1 round of ivf in the Czech. Can you possibly talk me through the routine? I've looked online and it's stessing me out a bit, I cant work it out! We would go for both egg retrieval and implantation (sorry I forget the lingo now but hopefully you get what I mean). I can't find a clinic anywhere close that will do monitoring scans here so may need to do them in Czech too. Thanks. This is all starting to play havoc with my head.

Hiya all!

Trixie, I had missed the reason for the increase in folic acid too, so I read your explanation with interest. I hadn't heard of that. Hopefully the consultant will set your mind to rest re: excess folic acid floating around.

Bloody hell, Lucie, £9.99! Bargain! I've informed DP of this low price and told him we need to discuss this option some time this week. Hope it snows for you

Lovely news on the time off, Sammy. You'll have a fab time, and will come back nice and relaxed!

Boris and spinning, I have only just delurked after a year of lurking and spotted you both on various threads during that time am a weirdo stalker I hope you are both OK. Boris, I believe we are at about the same stage. TTC 19 cycles ish losing count and have just finished all our tests and considering Czech. Our issue is male factor though.

Star, how are you doing?

AFM, still no AF and still post ov temps. Must have ovulated later than I thought. I'm quite irritable this evening nothing to do with guest list drama so think maybe she's on her way. According to ff I am now 18 dpo but I'm sure when AF arrives it'll adjust itself to pretend it was right. Haven't tested again as I'm pretty sure there's no point but I'm OK about it now. Just anxious to get on with the next cycle.

This thread is well overdue some good news!

So nice to hear from you Spinning!! Happy New Year! I often wonder how you are too. It is hard to take a step away when you're in a routine of opks and temping but I felt so much more relaxed when I stopped.

Any news, mpp?

Thanks for the good wishes Spinning. I'm hoping for some good news on this thread soon.

Hi Lucie,
I'm good thanks. Not officially ttc anymore as I've just had another birthday and I think the odds are stacked against us! We've given it nearly 3 years of trying and as you all know it's bloody hard! I'm lucky to have my two gorgeous children and my youngest is 10 this year! I know dh is still hoping it will happen and as this is our first month of not trying we'll see how it goes next week at ov time, it will be hard to step away from the ov sticks and thermometer!
Anyway I so hope to see you with a BFP very soon, good luck in Czech, I'll be looking out for your updates xx

Hi ladies, just wanted to pop in and wish you all a Happy New Year. I'm watching and keeping fx that I'll be congratulating you all this year on your bfps. Stay strong and keep believing it will happen xx

Hi Boris! 18 months was the point where we said well this clearly isn't happening let's go down the IVF route. If anything it is a massive relief to have embryos frozen. And it feels good to be doing something!

Ooh exciting that you have booked your time off Sammy, I bet you'll have an amazing time. One of the blood tests the clinic recommended for implantation failure was MTHFR (It all seems very complicated) my result was heterozygous which means that my body doesn't absorb folic acid properly hence increasing the dose.

I was a bit concerned cos during my Googling I read that the max dose recommended is 1mg and also if I'm not absorbing it properly then I'm a bit concerned about all this excess folic acid floating around my body. Going to run it past the consultant at the hospital on the 22nd and still debating a consultation with an immunology specialist.

Good to hear you've not noticed any side effects Lucie. The tablets are tiny, bearing in mind they are 12 times the usual dose I thought they'd be a bit bigger.

£9.99 Lucie?!That's amazing! So exciting, fx for some good embies for you!

Boris welcome to the thread :). Exciting that you're heading to Czech too. I understand the frustration of the 'unexplained' diagnosis.

Trixie - what is the reason for the increase in folic acid? I think I've missed something.

Sorry for the bfn MMP

Wow star, that's brilliant re your appointment! Fx it goes well.

AFM we have book a week off (8th Deb) so definitely going away then, and dh has his heart set on skiing so we just need to book something! Xx