TTC/Pregnancy on Prednisolone or similar part 5

[suemays]

A positive thread for all those diagnosed with High or Very High NK Cells and looking to start TTC or already pregnant on Prednisolone and/or Intralipid treatment.

Newcomers very much welcome!

Part 3 www.mumsnet.com/Talk/conception/1348773-TTC-pregnancy-on-Prednisolone-or-similar-part-3

Part 2 here www.mumsnet.com/Talk/conception/1323594-TTC-pregnancy-on-Prednisolone-or-similar-part-2

Part 1 here www.mumsnet.com/Talk/conception/1236324-TTC-pregnancy-on-Prednisolone-or-similar

duggs I didn't have IVF, all my conceptions have been natural. I went to ARGC as I heard they were pioneers in immunology treatments and with my recurrent MC issues thought they would be my best bet. They have been helping me through this pregnancy and so far cant fault them. Although their immunology stuff can be expensive and they do expect you to drop everything with a momenets notice. But all for the right reasons.

So my visit to the specialist was a complete disaster!!! I don't ever want to see that obnoxious woman again. She had no interest in my ovary pains or my messed up cycles or giving me the medication to help lengthen my LP. She had a go at me for being upset and asked if I was always this emotional or was it the steroids, because if it was the steroids she would take me off them or just consider giving them to me from a BFP. Last time she also said I could have clomid, today she told me I couldn't and that I would need to be referred to fertility specialist and she would not do that for me but i could ask my GP. She kept going on at me for being upset. She called Dr Shehata as she felt I was too emotional, he suggested that she refer me to someone to have a look at what is causing me so much pain, and he was not bothered about me being upset.

She did say I could try taking the steroids a few days after ovulation to see if that helps.

I have never felt so belittled in my life. I feel like I am too emotionally unstable to have a baby. She kept going on about how I wasn't helping myself, which I am totally aware that being stressed is not good for me. I cannot believe that a so called professional in this line of work can have no understanding or empathy.

I left totally distraught, the poor midwife who had been in the room followed me down the corridor to make sure I was ok and said if I needed to talk to give her a call, which was nice of her to do. Have found it hard to keep it together today at work. Sorry just needed to have a rant x

Oh Lisa your poor thing...who did you see then? Did you think you were seeing Dr S or did you just ask to see a nurse? I have only ever seen him or the liverpudlian nurse (can't remember her name) and the other consultant who were about to put me on drip before I said i'd had two neg tests that morning were both really understanding when I did the usual and starting crying.

Which midwife said give her a call? Maybe you can speak with her and get a bit more sense out of it. I thought they were fertility specialists?? Don't understand.
I'm sure you are not too unstable to have a baby!! At the end of the day that's all we bloody want out of all this and the reason we are so F**kin emotional.

I think her name is Annabella?? Cypriot woman short blonde hair. I wasn't expecting to Shehata, the midwife was called Lisa. According to the cypriot woman i'm only there for recurrent miscarriages, I have to be referred to a fertility specialist for super ovulation, I would have thought that they would offer both at their St Helier site. Honestly all she kept going on about was me crying, she talked over the top of me, asked me ' did I think I was the only one in this situation' I said no I speak to alot of your patients online, she totally ignored my comment.
Its the fact she didn't seem interested in my messed up cycles, how many short cycles do i have to have before I contact her again or am I suppose to just wait till my June appointment. Lousie said there was a drug that could help, but this woman wasn't having any of it and certainly different offer any advice or support, even when I said how can I get pregnant if my LP is too short. I don't know what to do now :(

So it is the NHS ? is probably why you didn't get offered super ovulation as super ov doesn't seem to be part of the NHS offering? No reason to treat you like that but maybe explains why it wasn't offered. So do you ovulate according to clear blue of opk?

duggs She did offer it to me last time, I asked if I would get intervention after my first 4 months and she said yes we would try you on Clomid. I use a cbfm, I can't believe how crap I feel about this all

Really? So she offered last time and then this time refused? What is that about? Oh I am sure it cab be sorted out. They aren't really expensive drugs it is the mid ov
Scan that adds up. Is about £250 privately with drugs and dr s scan.

I don't understand why she was so off with me today but I walked out of there feeling like a complete failure as a person, I'm going to email Louise to ask her how many short LP's I have to have before I can get the medication to help.

Lisa just read back on some of your messages and saw you are at St Heliers NHS but that is no excuse at all. It's really hard to stick up for yourself and be assertive if you have some idiot treating you like that!
You can get the SP oV scans quite cheap privatley away from NLC. If you just look up on yell.com or similar for private sonographers. sue has hers for £60 near where she live it think. I can get them in Leamington Spa for £60 too and they will relate the info to NLC if you went down that route with them. (Although that involves the initial consultation costs of £250 to see Dr S privatley). but as you are on treatment already I wonder if Dr S will fast track you straight onto Sup Ov. As duggs says drugs on their own are not too bad cost wise.

lisa I am so sorry you had a crap appointment :( I can't believe she said to you 'do you think you are the only one in thios position?' what a dreadful thing to say. You should have said 'no but I don't really give a shit about anyone else - we are here to discuss me'. However it sounds like you were very upset and it's always easy to think of things to say after the event.
Don't be disheartened. You are entitled to be upset, and emotional. Would you consider writing a letter of complaint? Honestly I don't know why these people choose such a sensitive specialism if they have no compassion. xx
mercator I will be thinking of you for the scan this week. I would like to try and reassure you RE symptoms. If you look back at my posts like week I had worked myself into a right state thinking the baby had died as I lost my sypmtoms. Symptoms come and go, but I know you won't feel reassured until you see your dancing bean xx
duggs Still keeping my eye on you :)

Big wave to everyone xxx I told my boss today about being pg. I wouldn't have normally told him so early but I need to sort out leave etc so had no choice. I hope I haven't jinxed anything xx

snoopy its not the cost, I'm paying NI so its not free on the NHS really. I'm going to see my GP next week and see if she will refer me. The question is how many months will I have to wait before they would consider putting me on the super ov treatment.

battery I'm worried about making a complaint as I will have to see her again, DH said I should but I don't want it to work against me

coconut great idea, had more spotting today with more sharp pains so lets see what happens, there is a guys at st anthonys that my husband used for acupuncture as well, i didnt know it would do anything, will do some research, thanks for suggestions.
lisa DONT YOU FEEL BAD CAUSE THAT WOMAN IS A BITCH!!!! i was furious when i read what she said to you, who the hell does she think she is . when i went to the fertility clinic , one if the assistant was so rude to to me, i was in tears by the time i left the hospital and so mad. i went stright home, went online to the complaints dept where you can send an email and compnained about her , stupid cow ! i got a lot of responses re my complaint and felt a lot better afterward. you may not feel comfortable doing that and thats fine but dont believe anything she says ,she needs to go back and learn some cust service and empathy and should not be in this line if she cant. how dare she ! im so mad honestly. i wish my job was sorting people like this out, they dont even know the damage thay can cause with their ignorance and are prob so stupid she doesnt care...

You can choose not to see her, if there is another Dr there. It is up to you - you must do what makes you feel comfortable. Please don't think yourself as a failure though - I think if she talked to any of us like that we would feel just as bad xx

battery I'm looking into seeing if there is another Dr, I don't to rock the boat if she is the only one, I've got a long way to go in this journey.

pico thank you, I feel totally distraught, I might complain later on when things start to happen, I just don't understand how you can be in this line of work and have an attitude like hers, she was just so dismissive of me. I'm an emotional person anyway, I did say that to her. I hope things start to happen for you soon so it is over with sooner rather than later and thank you for responding x

Picolina - Hopefully it won't be too long for you then, if you're spotting already. I know in my case it all started about 3-4 days after I started spotting.

Lisa - Sorry you had such a terrible time today. I really fail to understand why anyone so insensitive would choose to work in such a field. I would definitely consider making a complaint. What happened today is wrong on so many different levels - attitude to you, conflicting information given etc. You could also ask to be transferred to a different consultant. If you don't want to make an official complaint, you could speak to PALS who may be able to let you know whether it would be possible to switch doctors. Different scenario but I made a complaint by email following my ERPC and the hospital's failure to refer me to the recurrent miscarriage clinic despite repeated reminders. It was handled really well and I felt much better for having done it as they have now apparently changed their systems. It could be that others have made similar complaints and it could add weight to any procedures that they're following re discipline etc.

lisa a dead person would be emotional with what we all have to go through but so what, it does not excuse her behaviour, but its her problem not yours, i dnt care if you were crying and wailing anf jumping up and down she had no right!

pico I just felt like it was such a personal attack, I couldn't believe she would take the steroids away, I couldn't see how that would help

coconut I do think I should complain and yes I think it could help to improve the service but I do worry that it could go against me and I can't afford to take that risk. The last 10 months have been tough and its not going to get easier, I like all other women in this situation just want their take home baby.

I completely understand Lisa. I don't think requesting to change doctor would have an negative impact on your care. It might be worth having a quiet word with PALS and asking them what they think.

Ooh and I meant to say before - Kittens hope you have a lovely time. God knows you deserve a nice break.

Coconut I will do I don't like the idea of this woman getting away with it and I wouldn't want anyone else to go through that kind of crap. I never thought having a baby would be this hard, I don't know what I would do without places like here and wonderful ladies like you x

Lisa words fail me, what an absolute disgrace. So much for the "caring" professions. As the others have said, how she can treat you like that in the job she's in, where she must see women in our situation all the time, I just don't know.

I know you feel very vulnerable and are cautious about rocking the boat which is totally understandable. Do think about contacting the nurse, or making a complaint though maybe leave it til you've got some distance from today.

If anyone else is going to see Mr S at NLC soon maybe they could mention it, with your ok... Dh told him about the way we were treated by a sonographer when my mmc and he made dh give a description of the person concerned, and he certainly seemed v bothered that one of his NHS team had treated us like that.

kittens have a wonderful holiday, you so deserve the time away. Xx

pico sounds like things are beginning to move, which is good. Thinking of you.

Oh my god lisa, I can't believe the way you were spoken too! I would definitely complain!

I started out seeing Mr S at St Helier on the NHS. My first appt was with him and he was lovely, my second with another lady, who was very nice but a bit more on the vague side. Especially with the interpretation of my test results and my concerns about my light periods. BUT nobody made me feel like you have just been made to feel. That's unacceptable.

When I went for my second appt it was because I was concerned that I'd not yet fallen pregnant. They said they didn't offer any treatment, like Super Ovulation in that clinic as it was purely for miscarriage investigations but wrote to my GP to recommend he referred me to their fertility clinic. As it was, this took so bloody long that at the ripe old age of 42, I decided I couldn't wait any longer for the NHS and am now seeing Mr S privately.

I went to see him today. He was happy with my test results and says my fertility is acceptable, if not reasonably good for my age. OH's Sperm is just within acceptable range which he says shouldn't be a problem with getting me pregnant but the morphology is 5% which means that 95% of them are not suitable for achieving pregnancy. He didn't seem bothered about the scarring that was mentioned before. He didn't even mention it actually. He did say my lining was pretty thin and has given me medication to help build this up. He made two suggestions, one was the Super Ovulation programme which I mentioned to you and the other was IUI. I am now pondering which to go for but duggs has given me some food for thought on the SO thread. So, we'll see how we proceed when we get back from holiday. The joyous thing is, after reading free's and pico's comments on Cyclagest, is that I now have to use it from mid cycle, same as preds, even before BFP. Yay!

I'd better go and pack now. So disorganised!

Sorry again for lack of personals. Not had much time in front of the computer!

choccy Thank you x

kittens Perhaps you were the patient Dr S was wit when she called him today to tell him what a mess I am. I haven't seen him at all, I've only dealt with this woman, I would like to meet him and might have to consider seeing him privately. Can I ask how long you tried for before seeing him about super ov. She first said she would send a letter to my GP to get me referred then changed her mind, I can't remember if that was before or after speaking Dr S. Anyway thank you for your support and I hope you have a lovely holiday x

Thanks lisa. I did 6 cycles of pred, then had a 2 month break and went back to see the other lady just before I started back on them again. So, I've been trying now since May, I think. I don't know if there is a consultant also called Annabella but his PA on the NHS is called Annabella and she is really sweet and helpful. I must say that initially I was really pleased to have got an NHS referral to Mr S but in a way, now i am thinking it would've been good to have seen him privately from the outset. It's hard to know that at the time though as I had got pregnant at the drop of a hat/my knickers before, 6 times, so I didn't expect to have such problems this time. Such was my optimism that I bought my Cyclagest straight away to have ready for my BFP, which I thought would happen within the first couple of cycles. How wrong I was....