This could turn into a long rant, apologies! I'm feeling very annoyed and i'd like to find out if anyone else has had similar experiences to us.
We've been ttc for 20 months now. We conceived on our second month of trying, but unfortunately mc'd. I have irregular periods, (between 24 and 34 days) but apart from that, everything was was seemingly normal. We were quite relaxed about it for the first half a year, because we assumed that being young and healthy, we wouldn't have any problems. After a year of trying we decided to go to the doctors. DP's semen was fine, so obviously it was me with the problem. Of all the tests i've had, i feel that i've never had a proper explanation of what they're for, what the results show or been given ANY advice about improving our chances of conception (except for the last consultant we saw who told us to focus our attempts around day 14 of my cycle, something i know to be total bulls**t, especially since i have irregular cycles). The only real advice or information i've been given is from the internet.
I'm also totally narked that we weren't taught more about our cycles in school. I'm 24, so it was only about 10 years ago that i was having PSHE, but apart from the basics, i feel that i have been left quite clueless about the inner workings of my reproductive system.
This month we found out that we only had 3 months worth of Clomid left (something else i wasn't told about by my doctors, found out from the net) I've since read 'Taking charge of your fertility', found out about pre-seed, and i feel that ive learnt more in the last 2 weeks than i have in the past 6 months of seeing a doctor. I feel very frustrated that we've wasted a year and a half trying and failing and the steps that could've potentially helped us were so unbelievably simple and already there (BBT, cervical fluid and position etc). I already feel so much more empowered, because i know exactly whats happening with my body. Yes, we probably should have researched more thoroughly earlier, i realise that. We didn't want to put extra stress on ourselves and as i mentioned, i wasn't told that we only had 6 months worth of clomid available to us. It still doesn't change the fact that i think the doctors should have at least given us SOME sort of advice/ clear explanation.
In my experience, every test that the doctors have done has been geared around having a 28 day cycle, with a luteal phase of 14 days, which clearly has been no help to someone like me. I also think my tests have been quite ill-timed. For example, my hycosy scan was arranged for 3 months into my cycle of clomid. If my tubes had been blocked (which thankfully they weren't) we would have wasted 3 months worth of clomid when my tubes weren't even viable! When i told them that OPKs had indicated that i ovulated early on in my cycle, i was completely ignored, which left me very confused about how the hell i was supposed to know when to have sex!
I really do have a lot of respect for the NHS (Honest!), but i feel that we have been misinformed and almost ignored on this occasion and that simple and clear advice could have saved us a year and a half of heartbreak and confusion.