Assisted Conception (and all the bits that go with it) volume 9

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A new snug for us AC ladies

Thanks Pocket - for some reason my DH calls me BadgerFace. I have no idea why. It's not like I have a stripey face...

Hi maplecake good luck with the ET - Having one on board is a fantastic place to have got to. Keep up the positive thoughts.

MiniH - glad they are looking at some changes to your treatments.

Pocket you asked about immune testing and costs and treatments. We went down this road, with great success. My Gp did many of the level 1 tests for us, so saving us about £600 I think. Thyroid function is one of the level 1 tests - but our clinic and consultant said the level needs to be below 2.5 (used to be 2) whereas the NHS/Gp go for a level of 4-5 (forget exact number) - as they don't look at reproduction but thyroid disease etc. Total cost for our level 1's not done by Gp and level 2's (and we did the most expensive level 2 testing) was £1600ish. It picked up issues for me on level 1 and 2's:

• thyroid too high, so levothyroxine prescribed (can get from gp sometimes but cheap privately)
• NK (natural killer) cells too high
• TH1 level too high
• coeliac so needed 5mg folic acid (got from gp)
• cd19+5 too high, and another one similar to that
• thrombophilia factors (blood clotting)

Treatments were: folic acid (from Gp of fairly cheap private prescription), levothyroxine (gp or cheapish private prescription), 75mg aspirin ( £1 a box), clexane injections (expensive - several pounds per injection but if it is something NHS recognises as blood clotting risk you may get from Gp - I did from 8 weeks till after birth!), the usual progesterone pessaries but 2 each time, twice a day, plus in total 3 intralipids. Intralipids vary in cost depending on what they charge to administer (actual product very cheap) but about £300 each. In total our private prescriptions were about £1200. hope that helps. Didn't have humira as no issue raised for it.

Hi Maplecake* hi and welcome. ALL very best wishes for your cycle. Are you naming your embryo? Just curious! I've got three frozen embies ready for next week all with outlandish names!

Re my health, if anyone is interesyed - (me, me, me, I know) the doctor (the second one I've seen in a week) has said I've got anaemia/I am very anaemic so he is not surprised I've felt ill. There is no need to worry and in one sense I feel quite proud I have managed to carry on as normal while so anaemic. I have an Hb of 8.7, and anything under 10 makes you feel weak (and I have been told you get blood transfusions when you hit 8). I keep thinking they must have got my results mixed up with someone else's because I don't feel that ill! I am already feeling better having been on iron supplements for the past 24 hours. Clever old nurse who ordered the anaemia blood test, not the first doctor!

Please do pray for me (if you are a pray-er) at least this is obscuring our FET, which is scheduled for next week.

Hugs and Baby dust and chocolate boobs to all - speaking of which I got my baps burnt today by wearing an uncharicteristicly low top!

Oh Italian glad they found out what was wrong. Hope the iron supplements help. I am anaemic too right now and on ferrous, but bought some Spatone from the chemist (liquid supplement) which has less side effects. Lets hope another few days and your levels are 10 again! I was told above 10 = not anaemic!! Praying your FET can go ahead and you are well.

Thanks, my friend turned up with Spatone for me and said it was better!

Welcome to BadgerFace and maplecake Badger I have been on the buserelin for 5 weeks now and I've had hardly any side effects. Really tired and sometimes a bit snappy and touchy, but apart from that, carried on as normal Maple best of luck for your embie

Italian you're going through the wars! I hope the tablets and spatone help you feel better and back up to full strength soon

My scan yesterday didn't go well. I've grown two follicles of less than a cm each and their criteria for EC is three of at least 2 cms. They were going to cancel the cycle yesterday but we persuaded them to wait until Monday, so I've got yet another scan in the morning but I'm preparing myself for the worst. Seeing as it's taken me almost 2 weeks to grow two small follicles, I'm not expecting to have grown enough by tomorrow. I'm now trying to come to terms with the fact that I'm never going to be a biological mother I'll be discussing next options with the doctors next week i.e. donor eggs. My worst case scenario has come true

Josie if cycle is cancelled then it doesn't count as one of your NHS goes and you can try again with different drugs and protocol. Some people suit different drugs and for some a short protocol can be better than a long protocol. So not necessarily straight to donor eggs, especially if you NHS funded as they can try again. What stimming drugs did you use and was it at a high dose? I had menopur and didn't find that I had many eggs at all with it that were mature and my consultant now tends to use something that sounds a bit like festimon (not sure if that is it!).

Kezia I had menopur too. I'm on the highest dose. I've found some other NHS clinics in the area, I think I'm going to ring them and ask if they could offer us anything different, as my clinic don't offer any other options in the way of different protocols etc. I think I'd rather explore other options of trying to get a response before considering donor eggs

New clinic sounds a good option. I was NHS funded, but went with my funding to a Care clinic.

Thanks Keziah you total star that is a massive help. Hope you're both doing well

OhJosie you poor thing, yesterday sounds awful. But well done 'negotiating' another scan. I really hope it gives better news. Otherwise will you ask for another protocol as Keziah suggested? Will be thinking of you tomorrow x

Sorry not to namechecke everyone but hope eveyone is well - and enjoying the sunshine!

Josie try not to worry, get all the info on what is possible/available on NHS. I had Menopure for some cycles that worked (e.g. eggs produced and in one case my darling DD produced!) and sometimes and Gonal F for some cycles that did not seem to work nearly as well (this was with IUI). I can't say why one drug worked better for me than another but I do think it did seem to be the case. So who knows for you. Try and stay calm, get all the facts, ask lots of questions and stay strong. You are not alone. We do really care and we do want the best for you. (on behalf of all the others who would say the same). HUGS HUGS HUGS. Get a good night's sleep and explore your options. I have no idea what will be best to try next but just that this is not the end and you need to be calm and strong. Remember your HSG thingy - you were so nervous and it was OK? Well this is similar, you are afraid and worried but it may all work out, who knows how. Give DH a massive hug, have a nice warming healthy drink and get an early night. HUGS HUGS HUGS.

Josie - Just wanted to let you know I was in the same boat. On maximum dose of menopaur, (extremely low AMH) and produced 1 viable follicle. Was 18mm and then grew to 23mm after stimmying for an extra days. I'm on a NHS self funded cycle and they said it was my decision whether or not to go ahead. We did and one follicle, turned in to one egg, turned in to one embryo.

I really hope tomorrow goes well for you and you've had great advice so far from the other ladies. It could well work out for you at another clinic on a different regime and protocol. I'm crossing everything for you though. I've been there and know how hideous it feels, but please don't give up yet. There is always hope (well it's what I keep telling myself) Sending you a big hug.

Italian, I've nicknamed mine Poppet - it's what my mum used to call me when I was little...a little bit sentimental but there you go! Will definitely say my own version of a prayer type thing for you :) and here's hoping you get back on track soon. By the way, what are you calling yours? I'm now thinking I could have been much more imaginative!

Hope everyone else is very well? I'm off to bed now as totally shattered - must be the clocks going forward :) xx

Maplecake Poppet is lovely. What a great name.

I've got three low grade embies in the freezer, there are Serentis (8 cells), Jenever (6 cells) both grade 3 and May (4 cells) grade 3-4. I am hopeful that at least one will make it! Just worrying now that they won't! Hopefully it will be OK.

Josie good luck with the scan today. I hope you have better news.

Welcome badger and maple. josie good luck with your scan.

Have got major grumps today - stupid pms. I really hate it as I know I'm being daft but cant seem to stop myself until I've had my fifteen minutes of grumps. Think I'm through the worst of it now - dh is safe to come out of hiding now. Roll on med delivery tomorrow and then first injection. Let's get this thing started!

I haven't had much time to post recently but have been popping on to lurk and just wanted to say josie good luck for today and if it doesn't work out well done for looking at other options, something will work for you. Hugs to you

josie - so sorry to hear your news. Like others have said, there are options still left for you and it seems you have managed to take a step forward with those already. Let's hope you don't need to, with your scan today bringing better news. Well done for standing for your rights!

italian you're certainly not been allowed to take the easy route here, are you. my admiration goes for your perseverance and i really, really hope you get your baby!

welcome to badgerface and maple! you're in good company here. Love poppet!

lucy hope the pregnancy is progressing well.

Hi to keziah and lissy - how are you new mums?

pocket i'm hoping to start my cycle next week so if everything goes to plan it doesn't seem like we'll be cycle buddies. not sure what i want to do next if my FSH isn't behaving. Think you asked about immune costs too - the full immunes blood test at ARGC was £850. any follow up bloods will be around the £300 mark i'm told. IVIG will be in the region of £1,300 - £2,00 each time (depending on your weight) and Intralipids i hear are more like £350. Not sure how much steroids are, but i would think you'd be able to shop around for those.

minih Good luck with your cycle!!! I hope you get on Ok with the drugs.

I've started to feel a bit nervous about the blood test - still looking forward to treatment, but worried we're not allowed to start. Trying to stay calm with every trick in the book!

Hi to everyone and Chocolate to you all!

Well the latest is the clinic are OK for us to continue but it is not ideal, my low hemoglobin and my raised thyroid level. I am just so pissed off, it has not been easy. If we cancel the cycle we get to pay about £500 in admin fees, I feel very cross because I did not know that I was supposed to be having my thyroid checked every 4 weeks!Also with me being so aneemic they think that is a problem but my GP thinks it is OK.

Don't really think we can afford to stop now and re-start and don't think I have the mental energy for it! DH and I will chat later. Seriously, ladies, it's not always this complicated!

Josie, HUGS to you.

Josie I didn't respond at all in Feb and was on Gonal F and the highest dose of Menopur. I had done an IUI cycle in Nov where I was given a really low dose, produced 2 good sized follicles but it failed......wish I had done the IVF that time!
Anyway my consultant is going to try the softly softly approach for my second IVF cycle as clearly my ovaries don't like being told what to do (a bit like me)
If it doesn't work this time don't lose hope because I haven't and there are other ways in which your body can be coaxed into responding. Hope you are ok

Hello to all, I have been lurking whilst waiting for my Consultant to return but will be back on the IVF bus again soon

Italian - I love your names - how can they not make it with names like that :) I really feel for you - it's horrible when tx doesn't go to plan. I remember assuming back in January that the most stressful part of IVF/ICSI would be the 2 www. How naive I was. It feels like a flippin' miracle to have got to this stage as there have been so many hurdles to overcome. We paid for this cycle ourselves and our official NHS cycle isn't until December (14 months waiting list). We can't afford another private cycle if this doesn't work and at 37 with v low AMH, my consultant said I've got until June to use my own eggs. So that's why we decided to throw caution to the wind and go ahead with our one follicle despite the odds being stacked against us. I really hope a big dose of good fortune comes your way soon - fingers and toes crossed for you.

We've already started thinking about names for when Poppet finally arrives (there's nothing like getting ahead of yourself but I figure it's good to be positive) and at the moment we're sorted if Poppet is a boy - all the lead characters from the West Wing (apart from Jed...) but girls names are much trickier...

BadgerFace - how are you getting on?

Josie, How did the scan go?

MiniH - I hope your PMS is better today. Enjoy the med delivery - exciting times! I hope everything goes really smoothly for you.

Hi to everyone else.

Hi everyone

Italian I hope things start to go your way soon, it's really hard when things don't go to plan ((hugs))

Sorry not to name-check, it's hard to find the time when I'm at work, senior looking over my shoulder. I had some good news yesterday. I know most of us don't know what that is, but bear with me and it'll all become clear Last Sat the scan said I had 2 follicles of under 10mm each and my womb lining was 5mm. Yesterday I had one 10mm follicle and one 12mm follicle and my womb lining was 6.8mm. So, improvement! The nurse went to get advice from the dr, who still recommended cancelling but I think the nurse fought our corner, as she was the same nurse who did the first scan where I hadn't responded at all, and she seemed quite surprised to see the progress I've made. They agreed that, although IVF isn't an option anymore as I need three follies of 20mm each, if one grows to 16mm, they'll do IUI!!! So we're continuing the stims until tomorrow and see if it's still growing. There was a 5mm folly there too which the nurse said probably wouldn't grow anymore, but if that's improved tomorrow I'm going to ask about re-considering IVF it we can get it to grow big enough. Slow improvement is still improvement. I'm full of fighting spirit now, there was no way I was giving up yesterday!

It's going okay maple, thanks for asking. The first injection was much more sore than the dummy saline one I did at the nurse appt but the Hotel Chocolat treats are helping! Hopefully things will continue to pootle along with not too many side effects until my scan on the 10th.

Josie good to hear that you had some good news! I don't quite understand measurements (I'm sure I will in time!) but you sound very positive which is brilliant.

Woo hoo - fantastic news Josie! Well done you. Good to hear you're full of fighting spirit. Will keep fingers crossed for you for tomorrow. I think you're right to ask them to re-consider IVF. I know clinics have their rules but they must be able to bend them occasionally . You've certainly got nothing to lose by putting your case forward. Good Luck :)

BadgerFace I think I found the injections harder at home because I didn't have to put on a brave face for the nurses, does that make sense? I always had a treat ready for after they're done, but it's been so long now my treat is a kiss and a cuddle I hope you don't get any side effects too. I didn't get any except being really tired so it does happen!

Thanks Maple even if they won't consider IVF, they've explained that the reason they won't do it with less than three follies is because of the risks to me associatd with EC, although small, I can understand that I suppose. But having IUI as an alternative is good news P.S. I think naming your embryos could be really comforting

Hop back on the bus Weller Fingers crossed it's this time lucky