When would you go for fertility tests?

We took 22 months to conceive our second after conceiving 1st DC in 3 months. Both of us went to GP after 1 year. We were offered blood tests for me and sperm analysis for DH.

It's worth having a look at the Taking charge of your fertility book initially. That helped us work out that I was ovulating, just extremely irregularly. It'll also help you work out if the two halves of your cycle are ok or if there's a problem there (sounds like it's under 28 days so possibly?). If the second half is too short then there isn't time for implantation to occur.

The GP won't do anything until a year of trying if you're under 35, but we spent that working out from the book and had a much more informed idea when we did go. We also realised that, as I was only ovulating about five times a year very irregularly that was making it much harder to conceive - eg I was away visiting relatives one time when I ovulated whilst DH was at home!

We did some initial tests and I had a hysteroscopy but what we'd also realised was that we'd only had the actual opportunity to get pregnant about 3 times, timing-wise. The book gave us much better awareness of the signs of ovulation and, so, I eventually fell pregnant.

@Mariabombia I’m not an expert or anything but it doesn’t sound right for a fertility clinic to ask you to pay to do those tests again with them! I had some tests done through the NHS before paying for additional private tests and they just asked what the results of the NHS tests were. Is there a different clinic that you could try?

Hi @BiscuitLover3678 ,

We're in a similar situation but TTC first baby.

Had some baseline tests (ultrasound, 21 day bloods, STD check) on NHS as I was also having some pain (turned out to be a cyst which has gone now) and all normal so far.

We've called a fertility clinic near us for a quote on further tests but they've told us we would need to get the above test done again through them first which would be +£700.

I'm not sure whether we should just wait the full year and just go through nhs after this time , as like everyone keeps saying it could take a year, or just pay for everything checked again private. We're both just eager to move forward with everything.

If there's an issue we want to know sooner rather than later but also don't want to waste money, time and not to mention some of the tests might not be very pleasant, if everything's okay 🤷‍♀️ completely at a loss for what to do .

Was going to post on this thread then just saw you were the OP @BiscuitLover3678. We’re in a similar position as you’re aware - I’ve said we’ll give it to September which will be one year of TTC #2.

Although you won’t get NHS fertility treatments like IVF you should get NHS help with the diagnostics so don’t rule your GP out.

Many fertility clinics will do an MOT for you. Our local clinic does a consultation, ultrasound and semen analysis for under £200. I was able to get the blood tests and HSG through the GP rather than paying for them.

Personally I'd start the preliminary tests now. We waited until one year to start the tests (32 when I started trying) and we are fast approaching 20 months of trying and just coming to the end up testing (we decided to go for IVF as it's just not happening despite having DS three years ago). It can't hurt to start the baseline testing.

NHS won't see you until you've been trying for a year under 35, over 35 it's 6 months just to give you a ball park figure

Worth saying @BiscuitLover3678, whilst it sucks, up to a year to conceive is normal and does not mean there are any issues at all

@APerfectlyGoodName clomid has a poor evidence base for people who are already ovulating. As OP is having regular cycles, she probably is. Also NHS will only offer intervention if you've been trying over a year (at OPs age, at over 35yrs that's 6mo) and often only when you don't have a pre-existing child (OP does have a pre-existing child)

I would go to my GP. Clomid is usually the first prescription.

As things all look normal from your side, I'd wait until trying about 9 months.

Private assessment is about £500 all in.