First Fertility Clinic Appointment Tomorrow

Yeah, it was! Now I'm going to have to make a nuisance of myself and try to speed it all up.

@thislittlebird thays very good!! Sounds like it was a productive meeting 👏

After a 30 minute phone call to my new GP he’s going to do a referral to Guys ACU. I’m so relieved, I could cry for a different reason now lol

@kay00 I had to have a cry in the doctor’s surgery this morning to get an appointment with my GP because they only deal with emergencies! I’m so tired of this stupid system, healthcare that isn’t an emergency is important too ffs. Now I’m bricking it because I need to talk about ALL this fertility stuff again, and then request screening tests.

Four times a night is a lot!

😆😆😆 it's so annoying @juno231 I had a wee before I left the house after work, and by the time I got to B&Q I needed to go again... 15 mins later! And it's not like I drink a lot of water either. 🙃

Maybe I'll call the fertility clinic tomorrow for a prescription.

@kay00 four times a night?! Jesus definitely take it 😅.

@thislittlebird I called my GP to ask for a test for insulin resistance, but the grumpy receptionist snapped that GPs are only dealing with emergencies today, so I have to call again tomorrow morning if I want to speak to one. Meh! Maybe I shouldn't bother, its really unlikely I'm insulin resistant anyway.

I'm re-thinking about giving the Metformin a go again. There are some people who say it can work well with the Clomid to get a BFP, and it can reduce the risk of miscarriage if taken in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. It might also stop me urinating every half an hour (its more like once an hour, but still annoying), and 4 times throughout the night! And if it helps me shed a few pounds then woohoo!

On the downside... sickness and bad belly. But maybe I could give the slow introduction a go?

@Juno231 yeah I’m going to ask for it, just super aware of more delays for one test. Hoping it’s fast.

@thislittlebird when going through the NHS route they test for rubella resistance via blood test so see if your gp is willing to do that for you.

Hmm interesting @Kay00, in the first list I get these two: itching around the penis or vagina, or frequent episodes of thrush
cuts or wounds that heal slowly. I’m not sure how frequent is frequent though with thrush.

Nothing in the other list for me bar hunger and I hesitate to call it that. More like poor discipline and snacking on my part.

So your lot wanted a blood test? Mine says urine. I’ll have to ask for that specifically, I guess

@dogmam ooh, exciting that you are so close to starting IVF, I will have every appendage crossed for you!!

@thislittlebird They asked me to do a chlamydia blood test specifically, as they are looking for Chlamydia antibodies, not the active virus. They did not want me to do the swab.

@thislittlebird the NHS seems to focus mainly on diabetes symptoms:

feeling very thirsty
peeing more frequently than usual, particularly at night
feeling very tired
weight loss and loss of muscle bulk
itching around the penis or vagina, or frequent episodes of thrush
cuts or wounds that heal slowly
blurred vision

And insulin resistance symptoms (according to some random website online) are similar:

Darkening of armpits, neck, and groin
Absence of menstruation
Lethargy
Brain fog
Hunger
Frequent urination
Extreme thirst
Abdominal Obesity

I think I only really have frequent urination (esp at night) and the hunger (lol... i'm always starving, but this might just be habit?) but have had long periods in the last few years where I have had tingling fingers, toes, face and back. I get Thrush from time to time too, but put that down to all the DTD we have whilst TTC . Oh and I have PCOS, which seems to have a strong correlation with IR. Maybe I'll ask for a blood test.

Pressed send too soon. Is there anything else you think can be done while waiting? @dogmam

When is AF due? I hate all the waiting so much. I feel like I’m losing my mind here because I know I’m not getting pregnant without help but the help is so slow.

@dogmam yeah, you sound similar to me. Because you don’t have those main symptoms like me they think it’s fine, I guess. I get some of those other lesser symptoms attached but it’s hard to say what the cause is.

I’m not sure what to do about ICSI right now. I know they wanted us to try Letrozole but I don’t think his results will be good enough for that, so I’m keen to move to ivf. Not sure what else I can do while I wait for a plan with the lister doctor.

I am trying to get my list of screening tests done. Booked a smear, need to ask the GP for help with hep/hiv/chlamydia and so on. The form I have specifically asks for a urine chlamydia test, but I’m guessing my surgery will swab me during the smear. Any idea why it’s urine?

I’m trying to get rubella sorted too but I don’t know how to do that without going private because my GP has no files on me. I guess I could just ask for an mmr to speed things up, rather than have the screening.

My husband keeps saying you will have had the mmr but I can’t be sure I had both doses and I did get mumps as an adult in my 20s.

@Kay00 yeah I’m thinking about it. I’m concerned they’ll drag my cycles out or something when they’re an ok length mostly. Maybe I’ll try one month and see what happens.

Here’s the last chart I did in January for comparison.

I’m going to ask the doctor to test me for insulin resistance too, since I’m asking for a ton of other tests anyway lol. I definitely don’t have the frequent urination thing you describe, is that a classic sign?

Also a chart from a more recent cycle when using the ovulation support... hopefully I ovulated! 🤞

@thislittlebird Hehe, not a strange question. I have attached an example cycle where my post ov temps are still quite low, and I assume ovulation didn't happen.

I assume insulin resistance is tested through a blood test? But could be a urine sample. I might ask the doctor to do one, not that I think I'm resistant, but my chances of being resistant are higher and I do urinate a lot. Like a lot a lot 😆 if I yest positive for insulin resistance then I might go on the metformin.

It might be worth giving the ovulation support tablets a go, if you are borderline then maybe they will push you over the edge and help you ovulate?

Oh! I missed low sex drive. I wonder why that’s on there? Wonky hormones thing?

So low sex drive, high cholesterol, anxiety, follicles and infertility. Very slightly irregular periods (but not always). Maybe you can be a little bit PCOS 🤷‍♀️

@Kay00 how much did your temps rise when it didn’t rise much? Is that a weird question? Mine didn’t rise a lot or was slow to.

I was thinking about this today, after reading about it all and I wondered how they test for insulin resistance. I’m not sure I’ve ever had such but I’d be interested to be tested after learning about my follicles. Is it just a regular diabetes test?

Like @Juno231 said, you might be fine on metformin. I was debating buying the ovulation support and seeing if it works, just not sure it will because everything seems very borderline with me.

I go round in circles thinking I may have PCO/S and may not, does my head in. Either way, I have only a few the symptoms (anxiety, high cholesterol, lots of follicles) and I don’t know what that says at all because these things aren’t exclusively PCOS things. The rest aren’t an issue for me. Except for infertility 🤪

Either way, no one has helped me get hold of clomid or Letrozole. Might ask the new GP when I speak to him.

@kay00 I'd perhaps push back and ask about whether they think you may have insulin resistance and explain you dont want to take metformin unnecessarily due to your gut problems? FWIW I think plenty of women have no such issues whilst on metformin - or you could start on a low dose and slow release one at that?

@thislittlebird yes I temp, but looking at my cycles it looks as though I haven't had many cycles in the past year where my LP temps were much higher than my follicular phase... so maybe I wasn't ovulating in those cycles.

I have had my follow up appointment date come through... Tuesday 3rd August. I could finish this cycle and be mid-way through the next before I get offered Clomid, so I need to think about whether I should call up for my Metformin prescription now (she said she would do that if I asked). That would give me a month and a half on Met before starting Clomid (or will she suggest I take the Metformin for longer before I start Clomid)?

I'm a bit worried about the effect Metformin can have on your stomach (it seems to make a lot of women quite sick) and seems to work best on women who are insulin resistant.... which I assume I'm not (although I do seem to wee frequently, and I'm always freaking starving)!

The treatment or care seems the same roughly but different diagnosis because different results @Juno231 (discounting my weird nhs experience). I’ve had three consultants say I’m not PCOS (one said maybe borderline but was very unbothered about it all) so it’s not something I’m concerned by especially. I’ve read about the classifications over the last few months and the only way I fit it is follicle count (since they can’t confirm I don’t ovulate), so PCO or borderline PCOS maybe, as per the article I was reading. I think @dogmam is the same, has lots of follicles and nothing else? Unless I’m misremembering. Feels like there’s lots of people just floating in the maybe maybe not zone.

They can’t tell an empty follicle/cyst from one with eggs in so the term polycystic sucks because of this, and I know there’s campaigns to change it.

Yeah they’re always thrilled with the egg reserve lol. I’ve been offered Letrozole by the private clinic and I think @Kay00 is private too. I just don’t know whether I want to try Letrozole at this point, would rather go straight to ivf I think. And that’s if we can try it, sperm quality might be too poor. I would definitely try it if the nhs had offered it to me, or if I was 36. I’m 38 now and not keen on losing more time. You definitely have time to try the metformin and or clomid if you want to.

I’ve contemplated trying CP Ovulation Support but don’t want it to mess with my cycles ahead of ivf. Do you temp? Not sure if that would help you know if it’s helping.

@kay00 yes the metformin will be good regardless of TTC - but maybe ask for the slow release version as a lot of people really struggle tummy wise from the regular one and obviously you have a sensitive gut already.

It also looks like I can take Metformin and Clomid together... I need to do some research!