your advice and experiencess...on private fertility treatment

[oneyeartrying]

Hi everyone, just thought I would ask for some views. We have been trying to conceive for over a year. We have had all the tests done - sperm tests, blood tests etc. My tubes are clear and the results of the AMH test were very good. The diagnosis is unexplained infertility - never quite sure how to feel about it (at least there isnt an obvious problem but...) and I am now getting quite impatient. I started acupuncture and herbs 2 months ago too.

the private clinic I have been to is a good one and I would just like to go in and decide to pay some money and do whatever can work...anything at this stage. but the doctor says that I am still young (32 going 33) and that I am healthy so I should try some drugs first before trying anything more radical...But why having drugs if there is nothing to fix?!? And what if the drugs just dont work and I end up wasting another 6 months?

Have you come across this before? And what did you do?

Hi oneyear I dont have much advice but am in totally the same situation. Been trying now for 17 months and have had all the tests done etc. Everything has come back 'normal' and like you have the diagnosis of unexplained infertility - which means nothing! We have decided to keep trying naturally until the end of the year and then will make a decision about what to do next - I will also be 32 by then and will feel like its time to take some more drastic action.

I have tried accupunture and all the potions and lotions you can think of (too many to go into) and genuinely believe you shouldn't spend a fortune on these things - there is not scientific proven link that these help. But like you felt I had to at least try.

Anyway - just wanted to say you are not alone! Sometimes it can take a bit longer and as inpatient as we are it will happen by hook or by crook!

Good luck x

This might be a controversial view, but if you really want to throw everything at it, and have a baby asap whatever it might take, pick the clinic with the best success rate for your age group and treat aggressively. It's the closest you can get to buying your own baby. In your age group there are several to choose from with excellent success rates - the details are on the HFEA website. A diagnosis of "unexplained" just means they don't know or haven't tested for the right things.
And fwiw I think you're spot on about alternative therapies - waste of time, especially when you can spend the cash on clinics quoting proven success rates of around 60% live birth rate per cycle.
Very best of luck. X

I'm going to disagree here!
I have one DS- took 18 months. Now been trying for number 2 for a year and now have diagnosis v low sperm count and no motility. We are thinking about IVF/ICSI, but that's because we definitely have a problem. We did manage to conceive DS however, with no help, so maybe we were just lucky I don't know.
My point is that you have no obvious medical problems, so I would hang tight for a bit longer. Why not try the alternatives, which are a LOT less invasive with lower risks, and set yourself a time limit like lanky. If nothing has happened by the end of the year, then go, and know that if you're paying privately, it would all happen very quickly then. Make sure you know your cycle and you're doing the right things re. timing of SWI... I only say that because my friend had IVF, and then went on to have another baby naturally, and she now admits that she wasn't getting the timing right before she had IVF, and maybe that's why she didn't conceive...

thanks everyone -- i have an appointment with the private consultant next week to see if there are other tests i could do but i think i will hang on and try to conceive naturally for another few months. I suppose I am just worried about finding myself still waiting this time next year!! good luck all of you too

Hi oneyeartrying - I read your post and really felt for you.

One month ago we were in the very same 'unexplained' category after 2 years of trying and were so frustrated. I went to my last NHS appointment and though they said there was nothing wrong with either of us (every test under the sun that they offer plus a private laparoscopy) I asked if there were any other tests we could pay for to get to the bottom of why we hadn't conceived. I'd tried the clearblue digital ovulation tests (very good if you want to give it a go) so I knew we weren't missing the right time. The stupid registrar we saw told me there was nothing else to test for and they would be a waste of money. She then offered to put me on clomid which would be a total waste of time when I am ovulating each and every month. I walked out livid that I'd wasted my time.

2 months later we started down the IVF route (we have our first consultation tomorrow - very excited!) and the more in-depth semen analysis they did in preparation for our first appointment revealed a glaring problem! For the sake of £120 we now have an answer that the NHS could have identified (if they'd been arsed to) over a year ago. It was fantastic to have an answer (my DH has a very high anti-sperm anti-body rate which is just wiping out the sperm) but devastating to think we'd wasted a year of our time and beaten ourselves up time and time again for being incapable of conceiving when everybody we know seemed to be able to do it in the blink of an eye!!!

I'm surprised that a private clinic has fobbed you off. You're paying so if you want further tests (perhaps request an IVF grade semen analysis which checks more things than the NHS will) get them done and like BagofHolly says - go and get what you want. Don't be put off and wish you'd not wasted 6 months because at the end of the day your fertility reduces with every year that passes.

Best of luck. I hope you find your answers and don't have to wait as long as we did to get them xx

It's interesting, and only the OP will know how keen/desperate/patient she is. In my experience, I met far too many women who just kept on trying naturally when actually what they wanted was a baby Right Now and for them, bringing in the big guns early was the right thing to do for them. FWIW IVF isn't massively invasive, just injections and 2 shirt procedures. Compared with climbing the walls and watching my marriage fragment, it was a doddle.

short not shirt!

Loads of interesting advice here. Thanks guys and thanks oneyear too for asking the question. [Hmm] wonders whether I should wait now to the end of the year or not...!

Hiya - we have our first discussion with a clinic about IVF this week (18 months TTC, probable tube problem). I totally feel for you - I am desperate for it to happen - but I know we are in a slightly different situation having some idea of the problem. I'm gutted but it does help to know what's going on and that IVF is looking like the way forward.

Having said that, I want to make sure we know everything possible about our situation before going down the IVF route (I don't want to start IVF only to find that there's more than one problem and it not to work).

plumtree thanks for the pointer on the IVF grade sperm test - I think I'm going to ask for that.

oneyeartrying what is AMH? I haven't heard of that one and if I have missed something I'd like to get it done!!

Any reputable IVF clinic should make sure all the tests have been done before starting IVF- it's in their best interests for it to succeed too. Think it's worth getting as much as possible done on the NHS first though (although it's a shame they don't so full and comprehensive sperm analysis- pretty shocking to hear the mistakes made)
bagofholly I'm really glad it was straightforward for you, it's good to hear. I know people who have suffered badly with side effects of the drugs, and also someone who developed OHSS which was incredibly painful and landed them in hospital. It's not uncommon to use general anaesthetic for egg collection too. That's why I say it's invasive and has risks.
Wishing everyone best of luck with their possible IVF- fingers crossed in a year or too all this worry about having a baby will be a distant memory for all of us!

Thanks all. This is all very very useful. Its all quite hard to navigate.

Goodness, I hate this process...People keep saying 'you have to relax etc' but its pretty impossible to relax when you chart your temperatures every day, go for clinic appointments etc. One tries to relax but the disappointment of seeing spotting before the period is just too much every month, such an anti climax. I am 10dpo today and expect my period in about 4-5 days - and started to spot today... I keep hoping that it may be the elusive 'implantation spotting' but deep down I know that it's the usual situation...I didn't realise that baby making would bring such ups and downs! You start the cycle hurt that the previous one didn't work, then you concentrate on making sure that you do everything right to conceive before ovulation and all of a sudden you feel confident that this month is the month, and then about 4 days before the period you become obsessive about symptoms, spotting etc. Arghhh.

GreenTeaTastic: AMH stands for anti mullerian hormone test. Its something that the private clinic asked me to do (you don't get it on the NHS anymore). costed 50 pounds and its to check your ovarian reserve, i.e. what's your eggs supply. It doesn't determine quality of the eggs but quantity. I suppose its good to know ahead of IVF or something. Mine was about 42% which is very high and according to the doc it means that I have lots of eggs but that if I did IVF I would have to be careful about overstimulation...