Preparing to TTC - coming off pill, family history of Spina Bifida and living abroad (so no NHS guidelines)!

[jauntyofarabia]

Hello there - just new to Mumsnet so please have patience with my use of acronyms etc!

Me and DH to be want to start TTC after our wedding in August (also August is the first date our maternity health insurance coverage starts!), I stopped taking the pill 2 weeks ago so still don't know what my cycle length etc will be.

I have read elsewhere that when you have a family history of neural tube defects in the UK your GP will prescribe you a higher dose of folic acid and advise that you take it for 3 months before TTC.

I would love to hear from ladies in the same boat as I'm not in the UK and don't know what typically happens here (although the GP here broadly follows UK guidelines on other things such as pap smears etc). I just want to go into the GP armed with some info on what happens in the UK just incase they try and fob me off because obviously I want whats best for our potential baby.

This baby making business is a bit of a scary thing to commit to but very exciting at the same time! :)

Bump

Does anyone have any advice?

Hello there. I don't have a family history of Spina Bifida, however I too have to take a higher dose of Folic acid as I have Type 1 Diabetes.
It is normal practise here with Type 1 so I simply asked the GP and he prescribed, as you can't buy the higher dose without prescription.
Its apparently ten times the regular dose of Pregnancy folic acid, which is 400 micrograms daily. My daily pill is 5 milligrams.

I don't see why they would fob you off, as it won't cost them anything to prescribe it to you - it will just cost your insurer I presume.

If you encounter any challenge I would just be firm and say 'I have been specifically told my medical professionals that I need this whilst trying to conceive and during pregnancy.'

Good luck!

Thanks Esker, my concern about them fobbing me off is due to cost - although I use the term 'insurance' DH to be's employer is such a huge employer over here that they have their own GP and dental clinics where employees and their families go, they directly employ the clinic staff and so do not use an insurer.

If and when we do become pregnant the company just pays the medical bills from the hospital and obstetrician up to a maximum figure (or at least thats what I have worked out from reading the employee handbook!).

So since all the medication the GPs prescribe directly affects the bottom line of the company DH works for, I was a bit worried they might not prescribe the 5mg.

That said I haven't visited them apart from my new patient appointment so not sure how willing they are to prescribe or not, especially if prescribing the 5mg due to family history maybe isn't commonplace in other parts of the world.

Good luck to you too, hope to be seeing some positive news from you on this board soon :)

Oh I see re the insurance situation. Well, fingers crossed they aren't obstructive. In my experience insurers are always as risk averse as possible. It wouldn't look at all good for them if it was on record that they had denied additional folic acid when requested for a known risk factor.

Good luck!

Ah ha - I hadn't thought about it in terms of it being it being on record that folic acid was requested and refused in a higher risk case. Off to the docs I go then!