First Fertility Clinic Appointment Tomorrow

Honestly I really wanted to avoid the hycosy/hsg altogether because the thought makes me very anxious, I need your level of chill about it lol. If we were going straight to ivf I think I’d skip it but it feels like I should do it if I’m likely to end up on clomid or similar.

@Juno231 I'm excited to go too. 🤣 I don't fancy the HSG to be honest but I will try to push for it anyway.

@paintfairy ah that makes sense! Not gonna lie I'm buzzing for the HSG. I feel like I haven't made any progress in finding out what's wrong since OH's SA in Oct so this feels like the first properly productive thing we've been able to do in like 5 months.

Oh that reminded me @Juno231 - that's the reason I'm having it later. If DHs SA is no good for IUI, we'd have to have IVF. So no need for a HSG in that case, as its irrelevant? But if all looks OK, they'll then check that is OK.

@thislittlebird I've got a scan on 1st. If that's OK then I've got to have a HSG/hycosy.

The progesterone stuff is very confusing @paintfairy. Will the next tests be following your upcoming appointment?

@thislittlebird all my blood tests were normal. But she said that doesn't necessarily mean it's OK. I suppose they'll see if any other tests show up a reason for spotting. If not they'll assume it's progesterone.

Good point @Juno231 because they had to put me on the non-ovulation pathway or something but the website doesn’t specify anything about that in terms of wait time from what I can see?

Oh nice, I’m SE. It’s interesting how varied it is all over London when you look at the website, kinda crazy. I noticed Croydon offers no ivf at all anymore

It’s really infuriating @paintfairy. I was so annoyed when I got our result breakdown and they were not in fact “fine”. The GP still insisted dh’s SA was “normal” whereas the private fertility person said he needs to take supplements. It’s just so frustrating. Did you have progesterone issues with the spotting? I don’t have spotting despite my very low progesterone.

I guess my appointment might not be too long then if they know I’m likely not ovulating, which kinda makes the private involvement more confusing. I’ll have the call tomorrow and see what they say.

@thislittlebird my gp surgery were useless. Managed to do 3 blood tests incorrectly! Wrong more than once. How hard can it be? But they were referring me it just took ages because they were useless.
Agree with above- if there's explained fertility issues there is no wait? Its only if they find no problem at all that the wait applies. With us- my DHs SA and my spotting both are a cause for concern. Even if only slightly.

@thislittlebird is that if it's unexplained though? I find for most places they make you wait 2 or 3 years if there's nothing wrong with you - but as soon as there's some kind of MFI or ovulation problems then that timeline is scrapped as there's no point leaving you to try naturally.

I'm in London too :) SW

I’m 37 now @paintfairy, 38 in May. Started in October 2019 and took a break when I was ill early 2020. I never asked for the referral in July because I was uninformed and naive at the time I guess. Assumed our “fine” results were actually fine. We needed two sets of tests to be referred or it would be rejected so it took us a couple more months from December to get those sorted once I had realised the tests weren’t really fine. My GP surgery sucks, that’s my best guess as to why nothing was done.

Good that your appointment was fast though!

@Juno231 ugh that sucks for @paintfairy, what tests did they keep doing? One doctor never offered me a day 3 test despite me saying one of my main concerns was early menopause. I spoke to another doctor about it Friday and she said day 21 FSH/lh won’t tell you a lot which I knew (on the plus side they’re within range for that time in the cycle and my private AMH and follicle count lined up). Progesterone is probably my issue anyway, and as you say, seems little understanding of it on the GP front.

I just read the ccg guidance and it doesn’t really say a lot beyond ivf and iui. On the fertility fairness site it looks like you have to have been trying 3 years to qualify for ivf in my area of London, so I probably won’t even get to use nhs ivf if I do get that far (that would be late 2022 and I won’t wait that long). We’d already been assuming we might need to pay for private anyway so maybe I won’t worry and just use both until it becomes an issue down the line.

@thislittlebird how old are you and how long have you been ttc? I'm 38 so not much time. But I did ask for the referral when I called in July. So the gp tests were only done for the referral, as they have to do that. What the tests said was irrelevant really as it was still to be passed to the hospital? So I can't understand why nothing was done for you. The hospital didn't advise wait time but they literally rang me less than 3 weeks after I knew the referral went in (I checked with gp) and my first appointment was only 2 weeks later.

@thislittlebird I think the policies only specify if you're entitled to NHS treatments whilst using private treatments - so it won't be clomid specific. Your GP does sound awful - but after hearing so many bad things I'm not surprised! Lots of ladies on MN that seem to have super low progesterone yet still be told they're ovulating when they're probably not - plus lots of GPs just dismissing the effect of high TSH on fertility? Poor @paintfairy had to redo her blood tests a bajillion times cause the NHS kept accidentally doing the wrong tests - nevermind that you can only do them once a month each time!

@Juno231 my GP has been horrendous over the last year (I had another ongoing issue that they just failed to diagnose for a year), when they ran SA and day 21 tests we called for results and got told over the phone they were normal or fine. Wasn’t offered an appointment so we just kinda thought ‘what happens now?’ and then just carried on since we were “fine”. I’m really disappointed though because husband’s SA was iffy and my day 21 test had “possible defective luteal phase” on the notes and I have no idea how they concluded normal or fine. Anyway, much delay and many phone calls later we have another set of tests for me, a referral, and his second test coming up that he needs to take with him to the appointment (and private clinic told him to start taking impryl so hoping to see an improvement by the time of the nhs appointment).

That’s what I was thinking too re: clomid. If I need the hycosy (seems like I should have it if I’m likely to be put on clomid) then let’s get it done, and then clomid maybe? I would rather pay and use the next few months trying with a chance than just sitting on my hands for months waiting and not ovulating. The CCG thing is my concern because I googled and couldn’t find reference to clomid use or similar. Do you know if CCGs go into detail on what you can and can’t have beyond ivf?

@thislittlebird that's odd of them not to refer you back then, even if your tests were fine! Having a private consult is worth it in my opinion as they could put you on clomid straight away rather than having you wait for the NHS. You could proceed with the NHS stuff in the background yet actually be ovulating and hoping you get pregnant in the meantime? Just make sure you check what the local CCG policy says about it.

I typed a hi to @paintfairy and @Juno231 but somehow deleted it so here it is again

I started the process in July too (after 6 months, we’re over 35) but they told us our tests were fine so we left it. Later realised they weren’t fine and kicking myself for not following up for results breakdown earlier. My doctor said the nhs might contact us to tell us the wait time, not sure if that happened to anyone here?

If it’s two months from now that takes me to April and I may not be ovulating so talking to a private clinic (again, already had tests with them) tomorrow to see what they suggest for next steps from their POV. If it’s something like a hycosy then I’m just going to get on with it I think and pay, get it out of the way. It’s hard to know how to combine private with nhs when time is not your friend.

@paintfairy it's annoying the thought of losing out on a whole month, isn't it? Not much you can do though with how tricky these are to schedule in. My clinic can do them on Fridays only so that limits it by a lot!

@thislittlebird hello! nice to see you here - do join us. I started with tests in July much like pantfairy did. Got the referral sent through in Nov and was told the earliest appointment was 17th of May. In the end they rescheduled me to the 1st week of Feb so from referral to appointment it was actually just 2 months.

@thislittlebird I rang my gp in July originally but through faffing and ballsing up tests, they referred me November but it bounced back- due to them being useless. We redid tests and the proper referral went through early Jan. I got my first phone appointment this month. So pretty fast?
@Juno231 I'll actually be around ovulation time that I go for my scan. So not ideal timing for the HSG/hycosy anyway.

Hi all, just putting my head in to this thread. I’ve been referred for our nhs referral now but pretty worried about how long it might take for the first appointment so interested to hear and read up how it went and how long it took for everyone here.

@paintfairy right?? In a way I'm a bit pleased though (unless it doesn't show at all in the next few days!) as it means my HSG is better timed. The original timing would have been at CD14 and you can't DTD for 24-48h after so would have most likely missed ovulation for Feb. Now it's looking more like CD11 so it gives me a chance to hit that egg!

Considering you're meant to be extra fertile after an HSG/hycosy I'm keen to not miss my chances.

Although this is all on the assumption that the results from the test aren't horrendous...

@Juno231 that's interesting about your missing AF! Any clues in your BBT? Have you had a temp drop?

@Juno231 got to love AF not appearing when it really needs to!
@dogmam I don't know why, but even though she wants to do a Hycosy she wants to do the SA and internal scan first. Then book that? So maybe yours was thinking the same? I suppose in case the internal scan shows something maybe?

I definitely feel better having a plan of action!

@Juno231 oh that sucks, why do our bodies do this to us? Just behave yourselves 😩 just based on my bonkers cycles and the previous blood test results. I don’t know 😂

@dogmam I know, so quickly, it’s brilliant, I feel so much more positive already! I kind of wish we’d done this sooner now, but tried to have faith in the nhs system. I’m not too bad, I’ve had one before and they’re not unpleasant, just undignified... same as a lot of this I guess 😂 I will let you guys know 😊