TTC for 10 months and the rest. Ten plussers welcome. Thread 2.

[lucieloos]

We have been so busy chatting I've started a new thread. Welcome all 10+ ladies. Hope we all have some luck on this thread.

Hi ladies, meant to update last night but my laptop is pretty slow and hate doing long posts on my phone so do most of my posting at work. Went as expected but Dr. suggested a few things. Will write more a bit later.

Went through all my recent test results with the Dr. at my clinic yesterday. The biopsy result is fine, he said it doesn't matter when it is done, as long as it is within the normal range for that point in the cycle. I'd still quite like to have it done later in my cycle but it's expensive and painful to go through again!

One of my blood tests (MTHFR which I'd never heard of) came back showing that I need to increase my folic acid intake and will need to continue taking folic acid in the future - I've been googling and it all seems pretty complicated but apparently it is quite common.

Mainly we were talking about my NK result and next steps. I asked about having intralipids whilst trying naturally and he said he'd not heard of that before. In the book I have (Is my body baby friendly) the Dr. says that he suggests two natural cycles with immune suppressant and around 30% of couples conceive. My Dr. said to start taking a low dose of prednisolone (a steroid) which could help reduce my NK cell level and apparently it is good to do in the lead up to a cycle so plan to start that in the New Year.

Oh and my glucose levels are just above the normal range so he has suggested another blood test where they take a fasting blood test and then make you drink something sugary to see how your body processes glucose. With my PCO he said it is worth doing so going to see if my GP will do it.

I think we are going to wait for our appointment in January and see what the NHS waiting list is. If it is short we will wait and go ahead with a fresh IVF cycle. Whilst it is tempting to do a FET and avoid another fresh cycle we are thinking long term and if we use our frozen embryos on more FETs ttc #1 and then have problems in the future we won't qualify for a fresh cycle on the NHS, my eggs will be older and it would be harder going through IVF with a little one already. Also, I worry that we've used our best embryos already. If the NHS waiting list is really long then we may well change our minds. At the moment though a fresh NHS cycle seems a better option than a FET we have to pay for.

Sorry for AF Star. It's so hard isn't it. I've had months where I've had my hopes up and then they've been dashed but I've been ok. Other months I've not really had my hopes up but have been absolutely devastated. It's emotionally draining.

Thanks MPP, was a really awful AF this month but over now at least. How did your appointment go?

That's all very positive trixie and good that you have some new things to try. Your gp can prescribe a stronger form of folic acid for you. I take them just incase as I haven't had the test. Think it's 5mg.

Where you taking the prednisone for your other treatments?

I hope the NHS wait won't be too long for you. We are in a similar situation at the moment banking up our embryos.

Sorry for temp drop Star. Every time mine drops, I drive myself insane by looking at 'charts like mine' on ff to look for pregnancy charts that have drops too. I'm silly like that.

Lucie, thanks for the info. After discussions yesterday we think having ivf here would eat away our money too quickly, so we're definitely looking at Czech. We're going to have a think over Christmas and formulate a plan and get the ball rolling in January.

Trixie, like Lucie said, it's great you have some new things to try. I can understand why you are holding off on an FET and I really hope the NHS wait is a short one.

AFM, appointment went pretty much as expected yesterday. Doc said never say never, but generally DP'S count is too low for natural conception and they recommend icsi. In my scan, he said I appear to have one polycystic ovary (I had no idea you could have just one!) and that my lining was too thin (5.7) though I told him I was CD10 and don't usually ovulate till CD16 so he said maybe there was time for it to thicken. So, after a long and exhausting chat last night, we decided to decide after Christmas. As I said above, this country is pretty much out so we'll be looking at abroad. In the meantime, we've ordered fertilaid and countboost, just to try and help. Feeling a bit down today in general but I think that's because we don't have an actual, solid plan in place atm.

That sounds a sensible plan Trixie, saving the embryos for later. Will the nhs do anything about the nk cells issue? I guess you won't know until your appointment but I hope so. No point wasting public funds by not taking your test results into account. Fingers crossed for a short wait for ivf.

Yes, feeling really blue today. There's just no predicting how each month will go.

I can't remember now, have any of you ladies been pregnant? I've never even taken a test. Obviously a miscarriage would be awful but I feel very abnormal having not conceived in 13 months - let alone whether my body can carry a baby.

I have a 12 year old, Star. Bit of a surprise at 22. Didn't consider having any more until I met my DP at 31. He doesn't have any. We decided I would come off the pill and we would 'see what happens' but after 2 months that turned into peeing on things and charts and temps and the rest. It was kind of exciting. I was very naive and honestly believed it would happen straight away. Now, I hate everything about ttc, and I can't even begin to imagine how much worse it is for everyone ttc #1.

Sorry mpp, crossed posts.

Sorry you're feeling down in the dumps today. We can be blue buddies for a day and wallow, but then hopefully pick up, make a plan and enjoy Christmas! After 17 months trying and an 18 month nhs wait, I would get going. From what Lucie has said, Eastern Europe sounds a good, cost-effective option. Obviously a hard decision though and some of that will be giving up on it happening naturally. Still, from what I've read, you're a good prospect for ivf as your cause is male factor.

Good luck with making a plan. Once that's done things will look a lot more positive.

Did your Dr suggest fertilaid? I've never heard of it - been taking pregnacare conception his n hers for 4 months, obviously not working so maybe time to switch.

MPP, sorry to hear the news wasn't great. Formulating a plan will help though and give you something to work towards. There is a large group of us on the Czech part of Fertility Friends forum if you want to pop over and say hi and get a feel for things. The main threads are reprofit cycle buddies and reprofit friends past and present.

Thanks both!

Blue buddies! I love it star! Can we wallow and scream a bit? I feel like a good scream! I've been trying to lose weight lately and since out appointment all I've done is stuff my face with chocolate. Great. Still, I'm telling myself it's Christmas, so I'm allowed. Major dieting afterwards, so I fit in my wedding dress though hoping I won't anyway because of a lovely bump
Actually, I think Lucie mentioned fertilaid to me, and I Googled it. Combined with count boost, it has pretty much everything DP was taking separately, plus a whole extra bunch of stuff, so we thought it would be worth a try. The reviews are incredible, but then I guess it would mainly be people it worked for who would leave reviews in the first place maybe?

Thanks Lucie. You are an absolute wealth of information, and thank you for sharing it. I will definitely take a look and say hi over the weekend.

Yes! We can wallow and scream and cry at nothing - like this morning when I cried when I missed my train

Just googled Fertilaid - it's expensive! Maybe I'll go one more month on pregnacare as it's already shipped and then switch.

I imagine, if I had missed a train this morning I would have cried too! I borrowed a dress from a friend who asked me to drop it in on my way out this morning and when I realised I had left the house without it and had to go back for it, my eyes filled up for no apparent reason. Completely random and disproportionate to the actual thing!

Yeah, the fertilaid was expensive, but we're spending a lot on the different supplements anyway, so thought why not give it a try. Our thoughts are, depending on what decisions we make of course, that he'll try it for 3 months, then we'll book another SA. If there is a decent improvement he'll keep taking it, if not we'll go back to something cheaper. I'm on seven seas, which is much easier on the pocket.

Sorry Star, realised it was a temp drop and not AF. It is awful when you have that thermometer in your mouth and you are just willing it to go high. I have thrown my thermometer across the room a few times in frustration.

Lucie the Dr offered to prescribe the 5mg but the clinic charge more for a prescription than NHS so since I am going to try to get the glucose blood test on the NHS I will ask for an NHS prescription. I have plenty of 400mcg so will use them up for now. When I mentioned it to my GP before he asked for a letter from the clinic as he'd not come across it before. Yes, I hadn't thought about banking until you mentioned it and it just seems like a really sensible option. For both previous cycles I had 20mg of prednisolone a day for the first 5 days from collection and then 10mg until negative test. With that in mind I'm not sure that 5mg a day will do much but I have some left over so no harm in taking it.

MPP, I think deciding to decide after Christmas is a good plan. I think having a really nice long chat about things is good and then you have time to mull it over a bit before actually making a decision. We've sometimes just had a rough plan, or a plan in progress but it is still a plan. I think one of my ovaries is only boarderline polycystic and the other is polycystic. It's amazing how much we learn whilst ttc.

Star, I don't think the NHS will do NK treatment as the HFEA are not on board. I will have to go to my clinic for the treatment which will be a bit of a pain but hopefully worth it! I used to take tests most months as I had quite a few long cycles last year - I think I was stressing myself out and was also taking loads of supplements and think I delayed AF. I had a faint positive after second IVF but then blood test was really low so either false positive or very very early chemical. There have been so many stories on here of ladies not having a whiff of a BFP for months and months and then BFP! I used to fantasise about posting one of those success threads.

Star and MPP, here's to a much less blue day tomorrow.

Thank you trixie

My goodness, I can't imagine how devastating it must be after getting an IVF positive. Well, I'm crossing my fingers for a nice short wait for your NHS round.

Trixie; I'm in the same position with the intralipids. I want to use them for my NHS cycle but obviously they aren't available on the NHS. I'm hoping the clinic I use in the uk will be happy to prescribe them otherwise I will have to travel to a clinic in the midlands which does it without prescription. I'm lucky that I have a massive supply of pred, clexane and gestone though partly from when I was going to do a transfer in Czech and thanks to a lovely friend donating lots and lots of meds so I'm going to take them for my NHS cycles in the hope they might help.

Urgh. CD1 today. Feeling sad and angry. But true to form I'm looking for something new to try this cycle and following up Chinese medicine recommendations. From the sound of their websites I should be pregnant in no time! Anyone else tried acupuncture and/or prescribed Chinese herbs?

MPP, are you feeling any better after the weekend? I was, but then my period arrived, so a bit low again although not as bad as Friday.

Sorry to hear that star. The start of a new cycle is always hard. I did acupuncture every other week for 4 or 5 months. It didn't do a lot for me if I'm honest. I felt I had to lie and tell her I felt more relaxed and stuff when to be honest it didn't make a massive impact. She also said it would help lengthen my cycles but it didn't. It was expensive so I gave it up in the end. Maybe you will have more luck with it though and everything is worth a try.

Thanks Lucie, Yes I'm not holding out too much hope but I figure it's worth a try. Have booked in for Wednesday.

Sorry for AF Star. I always found trying new things helped. I had a few months of acupuncture and Chinese herbs last year after reading good things. The herbs weren't particularly appetising but I found that AF was much less painful taking them alongside the acupuncture sessions. I ended up switching to reflexology which I find more relaxing and I seem to get the same results without having to take herbs so works out cheaper as well.
I really hope it is a short wait Star. Actually, on the subject of acupuncture, the nurse at Kings said that they are running an acupuncture trial alongside IVF.

Great that you have a big supply of meds Lucie! I've not actually got as much prednisolone as I thought so may need to get a prescription from my clinic. Hopefully your clinic here will do the intralipids to save you having to travel. I've been doing a bit of reading about the MHTFR mutation and taking extra folic acid. It looks like the problem is with the body breaking down folic acid and some articles I've read suggest taking folate instead. Most of the info online is pretty complicated to understand and there is only one page in my book on it. I just feel a bit wary about taking so much folic acid when my body isn't breaking it down properly

Hi all!

Sorry for af star. It sucks that she arrived just as you were feeling better :( I vaguely looked at Chinese medicine and pointed out an acupuncture place to DP a few weeks ago, but I decided against it for now interesting to hear your experiences with it Lucie and Trixie.

Afm, i am feeling a bit better atm. I'm due to ovulate in the next few days, so DP us currently saving his boys up in readiness, as information online seems to indicate this may help with low numbers. Every other month we've just dtd as much as possible so I thought it couldn't hurt to give this way a chance for a change. Fertilaid arrived yesterday so today was his first day taking it. He says it smells awful. I phoned him at one like a right nag to remind him to take his lunch time dose. So far so good. My current obsession is googling fertilaid success stories!

I think that's a good idea mpp, they say every other day gives the sperm a chance to replenish so should help with a low count.

So I've just been for my acupuncture and I'm not sure I can afford this! OH came for the consultation after the session and ended up being prescribed herbs as well. We left the place £250 lighter with an appointment to come back in a week. That's £1000/month! It's hard not to feel silly having booked this on a whim to beat the period blues on Monday and I now have the distinct feeling that acupuncture isn't going to do much to the big fibroid in my uterus. Not sure how long we'll keep going.

Hope everyone's feeling positive and looking forward to Christmas.

Hi girls, how is everyone? Sorry I've not been around :(. I've been doing my very best to distract myself from all this. Xx

Wow star that's an incredible amount!Could you maybe just have the acupuncture and not all the herbs?

MPP, glad you and dh are getting going on the vitamins.

Sammy, hi lovely, hope you are ok. Nothing much to report here. I'm due to start buserelin on Tuesday and then coming off birth control next Friday to await the arrival of af! I've booked in 2 scans the second week of Jan ready so hopefully af will turn up on time and I can get going again.

Hope everyone has a great Xmas [santa]

Ooh Lucie, it's all starting again so soon for you! Good luck! Xx

Yes not long to go. Ahh not sure I'm ready for all the highs and lows again but it's got to be done I guess.