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.

Well I made some money selling old furniture so that's helped! I'll be ok, just feel a bit 'wow is me' right now.

I don't think she would mind, she used to use Nancy's name in posts, but yeah report yourself to be on the safe side. Tell her if she gets a chance and would like to pm me a photo id love to see him. Xx

Boris, sounds like you made the right decision in not going to London. Your next cycle will be here before you know it and at least now you can order the meds from Czech and save yourself some money.

That's amazing news about purdie! Her pregnancy seems to have flown by! Please tell her huge congrats from me too. I love the name as well.

Sammy, sorry you have been feeling down. If it is af then only one more cycle to go until your get your snow baby

I had a chat with my Czech doctor today and I have a back up plan ready for if the NHS round doesn't work now. I am going to give mini IVF a try. So basically low stimms and clomid to try to get a handful of eggs, maybe 2 or 3 but better quality than with higher stimms. I was a little worried about the low level of stimms but he has said that we have nothing to lose apart from the cost of the meds which will only be a few hundred pounds. He said that if the scans don't look good we can cancel then or if we have egg collection and they don't collect anything they don't charge us anything anyway so he is right and I think we are going to do it and look at it as a little experiment. I think I will feel a lot more relaxed doing it as I won't have any expectations. Seeing as we are only getting 2 or 3 eggs now anyway it seems like the way to go. It is a lot cheaper as well and he said they have had some very surprising results with it compared to higher stimms.

Hi ladies, hope you’re well

lucie excited for you to have your NHS cycle - how long will that be between stims cycles? Amazing to have the NHS funding as well as the blasts in the bank

Loads of women on my low AMH / high FSH thread on FF have done really well on mild cycles, including at Reprofit :)

Boris sounds like the right decision, all terribly stressful either way - hope you can get yourself prepped and on an even keel ready for next month

big hugs sammy it’s so tough - you’re doing amazingly, and so excited for you to start your FET. Exciting that you still get an NHS go after having gone private!

Trixie the immunes are a tough one - for what it’s worth, I asked my consultant what his take on it was, and he said in his experience the level II tests weren’t always terribly useful or reliable, and he generally treated empirically for implantation failure w/ intralipids, pred, clexane etc. He was very anti IVIG and Humira because they’re cytotoxic, however he isn’t an immunes or recurrent miscarriage specialist like Dr G or Dr Shehata (both of whom are treating friends of mine for various immunes problems), it's so hard to know what's right. I don't think there IS a right or wrong answer tbh with any of these things

mpp hope you’re well?

I’m 4dp5dt, obv 2ww is going at a glacial pace!

The big issue for me is my pain management, as I have chronic pain from a spinal injury (smashed my back up), which is usually controlled with a whacking great dose of morphine strength drugs . Except of course I’m now off all my pain meds (except amitriptyline which does fuck all, and OTC cocodamol which doesn’t even touch the sides) and I’m in agony

Work is not even happening right now as I’m essentially on semi bed rest, which of course is not ideal for keeping me distracted and off Google!

Hoping our little duracell blasto (as we have called our AA embryo!) is making itself comfy, not expecting anything but obv very much hoping…

Banana I love the name of your blasto. When are you holding out to test? You poor thing having to deal with the pain, I can't imagine how you cope. X

Banana, have been wondering how you are doing! Sorry to hear you are in so much pain. Really hope you little Duracell blasto is burrowing in nicely.

My NHS cycle will be starting on the second af after my last treatment. First af should be showing up in the next couple of days. I've tried leaving a longer period of time between cycles before but still end up with the same so I thought I may as well just crack on and go for it. Good to know about the mini IVF success. I will have to check out the low amh board.

Makes sense lucie - thrilled to bits you have the NHS cycle so soon. You're gonna have a whole football team of blasts (and a subs bench!) :)

Thanks Boris - OTD @ 12dp5dt isn't till Thu bloody 4th Feb, DH is rationally completely right that we shouldn't test early but obv by the time I get to next Mon (9dp5dt) I am obviously going to be itching to test

I will be seriously conflicted as obv I want to do this together and whatever the outcome I don't really want to do it alone. If I test early and it's BFN then I'll be still hoping I've just tested too early, whereas if I wait and it's BFN - whilst I might not like the result, at least I'll know I can trust it's pretty definitive.

But obv I am desperately hoping it'll be a BFP and I'll be able to find out sooner. I expect to go round the houses on 'do I secretly test early or not' quite a bit!!

Chronic pain really sucks but I realise now how well managed it was now that it's completely uncontrolled, and this week I'm feeling like a barely functional member of society.

Burning through the Netflix binge watching though in an effort to stay off Google!!

I was right, af is here.
Not even sure what cycle this is now.

It's my sisters birthday this weekend so at least I can have some drinks with her! Bright side I guess.

I started taking the selenium pills.... They smell vile, actually made me gag! Anything that bad must do some good! Xx

I started taking selenium too Sammy the pills I have are also vile. They'd better work :)

On the plus side with selenium your nails will grow ridiculously fast! Both DH and I noticed that when taking selenium, and he also found it completely cleared up small patches of dry skin he had too (which makes sense as medicated dandruff shampoos contain selenium as the active ingredient)

Hope it helps all our linings!

Hi all! Haven't had chance to catch up properly yet but just wanted to say hope you're hanging in there, Banana! I see your points about waiting to poas. I like to think I'd wait, but I imagine I'd pee on anything and everything out of impatience. Fx for you! :)

Lucie, not long to wait for the nhs cycle now then! Hoping time flies for you!

Sorry for AF Sammy Hope you enjoy the weekend though.

Can I ask, how much selenium is in the pills, and are they extra or the standard amount? I take seven seas trying for a baby which say they have selenium but should I be taking more than that? No news from me. I'm CD20 but haven't temped or used opks this month so assume I've passed ov but no idea what dpo.

Hi all,

Just a quick update on the lap and dye yesterday afternoon. I was down for an hour and he's managed to clear both tubes!!

I feel like I've done a million sit ups yesterday my muscles feel so tender but the shoulder pain is the worst. Hopefully it will go soon!

Still found it quite amusing as he handed me my IVF referral papers after telling me I'm in good working order, because DH's motility issues. Love an excersise in box ticking :(

Anyway, at least now it feels like a miracle might happen and takes the pressure off a single chance at IVF. With both of us challenged I felt like we were never going to get anywhere, but now it's only one of us our chances have improved!

itsme great news. Although I'm trying to wirk out how you get shoulder pains from a lap and dye. How long are your tubes?

mmp I take 100 micrograms of selenium with added vit d. I also take 400mg of cq10 and pregnacare and extra folic acid (spina bifida in family)

Haha Boris, I thought the same! Apparently it's where the gas tries to escape, they blow you up so they have more room to manoeuvre the keyhole instruments.

The stitches look tidy though and the trainee anaesthetist did a great job on my canula! All in all very impressed, good ol' NhS

Great news mmp! Any ovarian pain can be referred to the back and shoulders. My back was so painful when I had OHSS!

Boris I'm taking 200mg of selenium... Is that too much? The choice was 50 or 200 in Holland and barrett! Xx

Sounds like a sensible decision Boris and like Lucie says, next month will come around in no time.

Sorry for AF Sammy. What are the selenium tablets for? I think we used to all eat brazil nuts cos they contain selenium but I can't remember why. Enjoy your drinks with your sister this weekend.

Lucie, sounds like a really good back up plan. I'm really hoping you don't need it though.

Banana, I think you are absolutely right, there isn't necessarily a right or wrong answer when it comes to immunes. I've been doing a bit of research and really do not like the sound of IVIG or humira. Sorry to hear about your chronic pain, that's really tough. If you get bored of Netflix (is that possible?) then I'm a big fan of audible - it's so relaxing lying there listening to a book. You're nearly halfway now! It's soo hard to resist the urge to test early. fwiw I tested early both times (second time got a really faint line but then blood test at clinic was negative) in a way I found having a BFN but still a bit of hope that it was too early helped cushion the blow a bit when it came to a real BFN- if that makes any sense. But on the other hand I found that I spent the last few days of my first 2ww moping because of the BFN. Sorry, that's not very helpful!

Glad your op went ok Itsme, hopefully the pain goes soon.

Banana, I agree with what trixie has said. I tested early and felt it did cushion the blow for me. The first couple of bfns I held onto the hope that it was just too early but after that I knew it hadnt worked and by the time otd came and the blood test was negative I had accepted it. I was also glad that I had the chance to test as af turned up on otd. I think you would definitely get an accurate result quite a bit before your otd using a frer but all depends if you want to know or not.

Itsme, brilliant news about your tubes. Hope you get a natural bfp and don't need your referral.

I also have selenium tablets in my cupboard. I haven't opened them yet but they are still stinking the cupboard out. I was recommended to take them from transfer onwards.

sammy 200 micrograms if selenium is probably fine. The safe upper limit of selenium is 400micrgrams a day. You probably get up to 100 micrograms a day in your diet anyhow. As long as other suppliments you take don't have more than another 100 micrograms you should be fine. My pregnacare has 50 micrograms of selenium as well. So I take a lower extra dose of selenium on top of that to give myself a healthy but not extravagant hit of selenium.

Lucieloos I hope so too! Although we've been trying for almost two years already and with DH's motility we are pretty resigned to IVF but you never know! Our odds have improved for natural BFP that's for sure!

It's me nice work, hope you're resting up and feeling better soon. Great news on the tubes since as you say, although IVF gives you the best chance with male factor issues, there's still every hope of a lovely surprise as it just takes one extra determined super swimmer to get up to those lovely clear pipes - much more challenging if the route is completely closed!

Sammy hope you have a fab weekend and def have some extra on my behalf! Ever closer to your FET, so excited for you. Remind me cos I am crap, are you planning a natural or medicated cycle?

trixie I agree entirely re Humira and IVIG. Women who have them will claim it was that which got them pregnant - but would the cycle have been just as successful with less dangerous interventions. Dr sher writes a lot about immunes and he says they're both unnecessary and says intralipids are just as effective as IVIG. Which is also cripplingly expensive at £1600 per drip. My friend seeing Dr G has dropped £15k on her immunes treatment thus far. Yes she is successfully pregnant but it is very possible she would have had the same result without the IVIG - and that the intralipids, pred, clexane and Gestone would have done the job nicely. Oh for parallel universes to help us make decisions!!

mpp get to Monday and I think the temptation to POAS will be uncontrollable. Have a mental image of a Dr strangelove esque battle with myself, with one arm reaching for the FRER and the other arm pulling it back trying to resist

lucie and trixie I'm inclined to agree about testing early, although it feels bad going behind DH's back,I think we just need to do what we need to do to keep ourselves as sane as possible (or minimise the insanity!) Especially as the first time I'll have done a HPT will be this cycle, to have a BFN practice run seems like a sensible idea.

My consultant was brilliant re all the pain meds, we first went to see him for pre TTC advice about the implications of my medical conditions on TTC and a future pregnancy, and he referred me to a colleague of his who quite literally wrote the book on prescribing in pregnancy, one of only 6 consultant obstetric physicians in the country. Whereas obstetricians specialise in the reproductive organs of the mother / health and delivery of the foetus, obstetric physicians are doctors who specialise in the management of maternal medical disorders - so exactly the right guy to see. He was actually far more interested in making sure my epilepsy was well managed than in my pain management, but he really knew his stuff about what could and couldn't be taken safely. He said I could take tramadol and oxycodone in a second and third trimester but not during a first trimester when the embryo's organs would be forming. He said to come back and see him asap if I did fall pregnant, but may be that we go back and see him anyway even if this one doesn't stick, to see what's reasonable for our next 2ww (as we plan to go straight into a FET so would hopefully be having a transfer before end of Feb. Well not hopefully, but you know what I mean!)

I meant itsme rather than mmp, sorry girls!

Banana - I think we're doing a kind of combined FET/natural with estrogen tablets but no suppression, but will let you know after my appointment on the 3rd.

Trixie - I'm taking the selenium to hopefully improve my lining - we shall see.

Thanks Boris. I'm only taking folic acid so no selenium there so I should be ok. What does it do if you take too much?

Lucie - why have they advised you to take selenium after transfer? Does it help implantation? Xx

sammy selenium in high doses would be toxic to your system abd could negatively affect your skin, nails and hair and even cause neurological damage. One early symptom would be garlic smelling breath. You probably have to take significantly more than you are to lead to this. There isn't a lot if good science around this so its obviously not a routine occurance.

FX it does the trick Sammy!

Sounds like you're in good hands with your Consultant Banana. £15k on immune treatment - ouch! If we had all the tests Dr. G recommended plus another consultation it would set us back over £1.5k. We're going for a middle ground with just the TH1:TH2 test and then one more consultation to discuss the results and treatment. If we have a fresh and say one FET and no success with intralipids etc. I think we would have a rethink then.

Sammy, yes selenium is meant to help with the lining and implantation which is why people eat things like Brazil nuts after transfer for the selenium in them.

Your fet protocol sounds similar to what my clinic does. They never down reg with buserelin / suprecur beforehand they just use the estrogen tablets to stop the follicles growing and therefore prevent ovulation. I think it sounds better as I'm sure buserelin thins the lining a bit.

Banana, I've been reading up on the low amh group on ff and noticed that you take melatonin. Is there any particular reason for this or did you just think you would give it a try? I've wondered about taking it before.