OK so where do I start? Well I think I talked a bit about my first Hypnotherapy session. This week has been busy though.
Monday night was my final reflexology session - that's been one for each week of my cycle. They are certainly relaxing and my spotting started much later this month so maybe doing something? Not pregnant yet though 
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Then Tuesday I went to the other clinic. Again I think I've touched on this but to expand. OK so even though my AMH is low this doesn't mean I'm suddenly going to stop ovulating. The age my Mum went through menopause is the most telling and the doc reckons there is at least another 5 years of good ovulation based on this. As I think I said before, Flare protocol is recommended. The doctor was much nicer than the other one, was much more positive albeit did check I was aware that I'd likely not respond as normal, but there was no talk of not doing it. Again think I said this but I was heartened by the report via the Lister guy that odds were good over a few cycles. Just need to raid the bank account then. He also said that age was still the best indicator of egg quality. Which doesn't entirely help me, given I'm no spring chicken.
Thursday morning I had my first accupuncture. Again have briefly touched on this. Main thing was to try to put on a few pounds as perhaps my body doesn't think I can cope with pregnancy. I'm not entirely convinced as my body knows I am freakishly strong (little choice with the random hobble chores I have to do!) but I'm going to try. Of course the 8 hours of physical labour I undertook today probably offsets the 50g of pistachios I ate 
. But I'll give it a go. She also said she was a fan of teh AMH test (really???) as it gives woman information that allows them to make informed decisions. Hmm ok I half buy that, it's certainly making me get serious asap; but like critter's sister it's no use if you aren't in a place to start your family, and only serves to worry. She said the clinic I am now using have a good reputation.
Then the NHS appt on Thursday afternoon. This was actually quite enlightening. We saw the same consultant as I'd seen at the very end of my first appointment 4 months ago. He was actually very nice. We had 3 female docs in the room with us who were going to be GP's, and they wanted to learn a bit more about fertility medicine. I found that very heartening actually. So firstly he asked if any change. I told him about the AMH which he said was maybe slightly worse than anticipated, but we'd had a hint with the high FSH. But he didn't send me away to adopt . So the main thing is, we have good sperm and there are still eggs, my tubes are clear, so he was at pains to point out that there is a chance every month. Nice to have the reminder. I asked the obvious question about why it hadn't happened yet. Previously they would have done a whole barrage of tests to investigate, including things like PCTs but the end result was usually the same - IVF. Then we talked about that being quite a big jump. He said the 6 scottish clinics all got together about 4 years ago and statistically analysed a huge bunch of couples who were seeking treatment. They had about 200 in each tranche, doing either nothing, Super Ov, or IUI. There were no differences in the pregnancy rates of all 3 groups - the only measurable difference was in their satisfaction. ie the more that was being done (IUI) the happier they felt. He also said that the no 1 reason for not getting pregnant was sperm issues. 2nd was unexplained. And for those people, they "get pregnant" (direct quote) with IVF. Not a promise of course, but again nice to hear confidence rather than doom. We talked a bit about protocols and he surmised that mostly, you'll get the result you are going to get, and that the protocol won't be the biggest factor. But this makes me happier to be going for the less invasive version. This was in the context of the clinic we are using, in that they try to tailor the drugs based on the AMH level, but he didn't think the science was actually that far advanced yet. what else? Oh yes the rest was about NHS treatment. So good news is that the wait list in our area has come down to 12-18 months. Bad news, you can't go on until you have been trying for 3 years, you are entitled to 2 cycles but any you have paid for privately come off that 
. However there is a possibility that firstly the Join The Queue time will come down to 2 years, and secondly that they'll remove the restriction on paid cycles counting against your NHS goes (it's pretty bloody unfair really). So we'll keep an eye on this as it might mean in a year or so if paid rounds haven't worked we are able to have a couple of NHS goes.
Towards the end we were generally chatting about the fact that women who come in know so much, and that is why the other docs were there, but he said they'd all looked alarmed when I started talking about Flare protocol 
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Sorry that was very long! Really just wanted to note it all down to remind myself of it. I do feel more positive, albeit when this spotting turns to CD1 I'm sure I'll be in the pit of doom again.