First Fertility Clinic Appointment Tomorrow

@thislittlebird yes - I think loads of NHS specialists also operate privately. My current one does the same - she seems to be a gynae through BUPA as well as her own private clinic.

Oh frustrating @Juno231. I’m super interested in this, have never heard of it before. Was the doc an nhs one as well as Create? 3 sounds ok, I would definitely consider it based on that.

What drugs are these @paintfairy?

@Juno231 I was maybe more talking about the natural one. The mid one, yes, you are probably right. I think it's something I would consider if we get that far.
I feel sick. Did last night. Don't get excited, it's just the drugs. I don't think I'll be sick but it's not pleasant all the same! And still 5 more days to go!

@thislittlebird it's relatively groundbreaking this stuff. I was originally super excited about my fertility appointment as I immediately recognised the doctor as the pioneer for natural IVF and she's in fact one of the founders for Create. Sadly they messed me about and I got a random doc instead lol.

@Kitekat81 is wfh an option for you and our OH? Sounds like you'll have to wfh, rent an airbnb in London for a bit and just go for it. Lots of ladies do a similar thing by going to Prague for IVF (as their facilities are great and SO MUCH cheaper than in the UK) so might be worth seeing if anyone has spoken on the logistics for that. I must say I'm spoiled, I've got two Create clinics to choose from nearby and one of them is on my hospital's IVF list actually...

@paintfairy I think if you go for mild IVF you'd still get maybe 3 eggs and they tend to be really high grade from what I gather! Rather than eg 9 of them where only 2-3 make it to blastocyst anyway. Swings and roundabouts and all that.

@Kitekat81 I suppose the only downside is you don't end up with more than 1 egg if that one isn't any good. But the odds of it going back in, can't be any different. I think assistance drugs also sounds reasonable. I honestly always assumed that's what happened anyway. Seems much more sensible to work with your body?

It sounds really interesting @Kitekat81. Do people do it when they don’t have lower egg reserves? I’m wondering if it’s an option for everyone and why it’s not so known about.

@paintfairy for natural IVF they give no medication - no drugs! They just track your ovulation, wait for your body to select for itself which follicle to pop an egg out of, and they just grab the egg when it's ready. They also offer natural modified IVF and mild IVF, which involve a small amount of drugs, but we are talking around a week of injections rather than up to a month of injections for conventional IVF.

@Kitekat81 I didn't realise it was that low. Not ideal. But on the other hand good that the natural ivf is about the same odds.
So- how does it work? Do they give drugs at all?

Glad your appointment went well @PurpleUnicorn01!

An update from me as I went to the Create info webinar this evening (they specialise in Natural IVF / Mild IVF). From everything I heard it definitely sounds like a good option for people like me with low ovarian reserve, so I would just need to work out the logistics of getting to a clinic, as they don't have one near me. I was definitely sold on the comparison between the amount of drugs they use compared to Conventional IVF, and I like that they work with your natural cycle rather than doing the whole artificial menopause thing. The only thing I need to really get my head around is the success rate, which for 40-43 year olds (I'm 39 but thought it would be realistic to look at the rate for 40 year olds) is 20.3% live births after 3 cycles. It's a similar success rate to Conventional IVF for the same age group, but either way that's pretty low odds. I think if we do go down that road I will need some counselling to help me prepare for the possibility that it may not work.

Good to hear your appointment went well @PurpleUnicorn01

@Kitekat81 I hope so! Obviously the OHSS fear is real but it’s good to know I should respond and also, like you say, we have a little bit of time. Not that it feels like that tbh lol

@dogmam yeah, he’s doing his second SA tomorrow so just ticking things off.

I haven’t read the whole thread yet but isn’t ICSI where they put the sperm into the egg via injection? I’m not entirely sure, but I saw someone on a thread say it can harm the eggs and she wished she’d done half and half ICSI and IVF. Don’t know an awful lot about it though.

I’m on some strong medication from the dermatologist for six weeks so I think that’s a natural ttc break for us. Wondering whether to get any tests done privately during the downtime?

@PurpleUnicorn01 excellent! I'm glad it went well for you!

Hi All,

I just had my first appointment at BWH, they were really lovely. The lady said DH needs a repeat SA as they need 2 within 3 months. So i should have that in a few weeks. I also need a pelvic scan which should also be next month. After that we will have our 2nd appointment in which they will tell us what treatment is best. The current wait time to start ivf is roughly 6 months from the 2nd appointment. Also you are allowed private tests to speed up the process a little.

She also said at the moment we should be eligible for nhs funding.

This is exciting!

@Juno231 I've checked our first one as I have that. Definitely nothing. I've not seen the second one but I'm assuming it'll be the same. So I've no idea!

@paintfairy no idea, we got a big page of lots of different things being checked 🤷‍♀️ I'll try and get the doc off of OH to report back

@dogmam yeah agree. It's expensive and only used if absolutely necessary. The sperm have to be pretty dire to use that. Normal ivf don't forget is much easier than the sperm having to work hard to do it naturally. They wouldn't do ivf if they thought there was no chance of fertilisation.
@Juno231 I honestly don't even know if the white count was tested on ours? Is that usual?

@dogmam icsi is part of ivf though! I think it's pretty pricey though so wouldn't be surprised if the NHS doesn't offer it? As for our next steps - nothing has been mentioned at all which has had me extra cheesed off at the thought of not knowing until July had I not pushed for something earlier.

I've also been getting grumpy today thinking about how OHs first SA said he had an abnormally high white cell count (from memory the report used the words very high and exclamation marks) and how no one has mentioned it since (although the doc had none of our results..) even though reading about it leads to damaged sperm and infertility? I'll be intrigued to see what his repeat SA shows!

Overall I can't decide how I'm doing tbh! In general I'm better because the ball is rolling finally but with the HSG I think it's also raised my hopes and I think the next few AFs will be extra devastating as that hope fades.

@dogmam, im well thank you. How about yourself?

Yes that's great advice. Will be sure to keep you all updated

@PurpleUnicorn01 good luck tomorrow!

I'm counting down until AF comes so I can call to book the HSG. Yay. And eagerly awaiting to see if I spot this week on the progesterone.
@Juno231 yeah mine moaned a few times and I did the same thing! If only it were that easy for us!

@thislittlebird that's reassuring though as your high follicle numbers should make you a good candidate for ivf, and your chances of success are higher I think? Also, you probably have more time on your side as you don't need to worry so much about diminishing ovarian reserve?

Good luck tomorrow @PurpleUnicorn01! Let us know how you get on!

Morning All,

How are you? @thislittlebird @Juno231 @paintfairy @Kitekat81

Finally have my first appointment with gynaecology tmrw. Woohoo. Finally get to know what happens next and most importantly the timescales.

Yeah @Juno231, I had 28 they could see. Not PCOS levels but still enough for a bit of a risk.

@thislittlebird ah yes that explains why they already know they'd go short protocol on you!

I’m no good at self anything really lol, the chance of me successfully doing an injection worries me. I’m a wuss. The other concern is I have a fair amount of follicles so I’d be at risk of OHSS, but at least I know that now.

Men really do have it so much easier.