Where there’s a Yam, there’s a way

[Bubblegum89]

Thread numero four-o.

A safe place for those of you who have been trying to conceive for 6+ months and even yams aren’t helping. Come and have a good ol’ bitch and a moan without judgement.

The Yam Commandments are as follows;

• Thou shall not arrive one day and post BFP next day

• Thou shall not give advice to others when TTC for one month only

• Thou shall not participate in one-up-manship and realise TTC is shit for everyone in different ways

• Thou shall allow posters to be fucked off with the world and everything in it at regular points in the month

• Thou shall not be offended by strong language

• Thou shall not tell everyone to eat yams

• Thou shall accept being called a muppet for testing at 7dpo at 9pm at night

And most importantly...

• Thou shall not symptom spot during the two week wait and must be prepared for a telling off if they do so.

Welcome and welcome. We’re all very nice and friendly despite being horrible bitter old cows ☺️

Can I join?
Ttc #1 since Dec 2016.
Progesterone result was 12 (@Pibbee apparently over 10 is 'acceptable' but apparently over 30 is ideal ) so I told my gp I wanted Clomid. So this is cycle 1 with Clomid. I work shifts so to dtd are the right time is a nightmare, only managed it twice but they were on the day of positive opk and the day after so hopefully should be ok. In the dreaded 2ww but I've combined myself it'll be a negative as no spotting etc. Got my post Clomid progesterone blood test tomorrow to see if it's worked....

Oooh thanks. Have been perusing them. It seems to say that for people with unexplained infertility (which I guess I am for now), not to prescribe Clomid. My doc said it may well just be a case of them prescribing Clomid for a bit of a boost. Rapidly coming to the conclusion my GP is useless.....

Hi Dolwar
Welcome, hope you're not here long!
Have you got PCOS? (Sorry to be blunt!) My old GP said she wouldn't prescribe Clomid without it, and just having re-read the NICE guidelines there's not much suggested for unexplained anovulation. Shift work = 🤮 glad I don't have to do it anymore.

Thanks so much @Milk. I also had TSH tested as part of a private medical assessment (private work gp) and it was 1.79 I think, and that was in September so clearly it can fluctuate a bit. Good god. Why are there so many things that have to be just so, in order for making a baby to happen?! I’m a generally very healthy person and should Be able to do this! Sigh....

@Bubblegum what I meant about scarring and pre-AF spotting was a theory (of mine) that the brown stuff which comes before my AF is clearly old blood, which may have been trapped there (in scar tissue) since the previous cycle, if that makes sense. Probably not, but I know what I mean! I had chlamydia when I was younger which can apparently caused blocked tubes, but I don’t think I had it long enough for that to happen altho god knows. It didn’t turn into PID, I know that much. Still very worried I’ve done damage tho and if that’s the case then I will never forgive myself

Hi @Dolwar! Interesting that your GP prescribed Clomid. I hope your next blood test goes well! The process here seems to be that the GP doesn’t prescribe it, they just refer to the fertility clinic. I get the impression my gp does the actual bare minimum tbh.

As far as i know no pcos, i had been on the combined pill for about 12 years though. At risk of putting myself slightly I am a doctor although not done any Obstetrics or gynae since medical school. She did say she wouldn't normally prescribe unless under 10 but I insisted. My gp is very experienced and has friends who are gynae consultants.... she just phones them up and they give the go ahead for Clomid if appropriate. We also have to get dh tested although he is not forthcoming.

Oh really so you got it without DH being tested? Hmmm I am wondering if I should really push for it at my appt on Wed. Docs here told me they can’t even do a referral until both me and DH have had the basic tests. Given that DH has got super sperm apparently, surely they have to give me something at my appointment and not just fob me off! How did you cOnvince them to prescribe it to you contrary to the guidelines?

Well there has to be some benefits to being a doctor!! So I'm guessing early clomid is it! I had gone armed with all my cycle length data (after 11 months of TTC), I'm 33 and never been pg.

Clomid......Honestly...I hated taking it. I had terrible night sweats (to the point that I was almost diagnosing myself with B cell lymphoma as the other option was TB and I've been vaccinated!!)

Exactly @Wonky.... I don’t even know what’s wrong with me yet (if anything) and I’ve got fixated on the fact that Clomid is the answer despite the fact that I think it can have some pretty bad side effects, I’m like “I need dis” 🤣🤣

I have been tracking every sodding thing for over a year now. I’m 37 already and therefore don’t have a huge amount of time left to faff around with protocols (although I do understand why they have to have them in place....I just wanna circumvent them!!). In my head, I think they might as well prescribe me the mighty Clomid so I can give that a try while I am waiting for a laparoscopy or hycosy or whatever. Multitask, so to speak. Rather than wait ages for the next phase of tests and then possibly get a prescription for it. Sod it, I’m just gonna wail about my advancing age and see what happens....

Sorry for being so self absorbed by the way. I’m just starting to freak out a bit about this goddamn appt and really wishing it hadn’t come to this. And I just really really don’t want it to be a waste of time...

@Milk let’s do it!! Test results and Clomid for all!!!!

Oh I see Pibbee what are your periods like? From what I know, brown spotting pre-af is completely normal and most women get it. I do. It’s just old but not necessarily trapped blood, just leftover blood that didn’t make its way out last cycle. I get 90% brown blood/spotting during af which isn’t normal. I had an infection after my termination which I personally think has caused scarring in the upper part of my uterus (where embryos normally implant) and in my tubes. All signs point to it tbh. Do you have any other symptoms of scarring? I know how you feel, if/when I find out I have scarring or blocked tubes, I’ll know that I caused it myself and I will feel horrible :( I already feel horrible anyway.

I was round at my mums earlier and my OH mentioned twice and I mentioned once that we had a bunch of hospital appointments this month and she didn’t ask anything about it. Although she took the time to tell me about how my sister is going for blood tests tomorrow to check for gestational diabetes. Obviously her stuff is more important/interesting than ours...

Well seeing as we're breaking in..... sod the Clomid - I'm getting me a whole FP10 pad 😉

@Bubblegum89 Raging on your behalf.... want to introduce myself to your DM and when she does that to you shout "BORING!" at her.

WonkyDonk I don’t want to go on and on as I know it’s not particularly interesting, talking about putting catheters up vaginas and having blood taken for the millionth time but i dunno, if your daughter and her partner wanted something more than anything in the world and they were having an outright struggle that could end with them never being able to have that thing, then why would you not care? I’m probably being silly saying she doesn’t care, she probably does but it’s like, my sister IS having a baby. Baby clothes and nursery decorating and imminent birth is more exciting than HSG’s and potential infertility. One is nice and the other one is depressing.

Wey-hey @Wonky!!! Bring on the fun stuff!!

@Bubble that is really hurtful that your mum isn’t asking you anything about your stuff. She can’t even claim that maybe she’s not taking about it cos you don’t want to talk about it - you are volunteering information about it so clearly the opposite is true! Sorry this is happening. I don’t understand it. Have you asked her why she is reluctant to acknowledge any of your attempts to discuss?

My periods are not too bad but a bit crap I think. I have several days of really small amounts of brown crap, and then normal AF for 2 or 3 days, then maybe one more day of tailing off. Sometimes bad cramps but only for a short amount of time (eg a couple of hours max usually). Thing is, I know various girls who had the same thing at uni and they all have kids now. Sod’s law id be the one to fuck myself up in that respect though. I almost don’t wanna know....But also have to know

When I say bad cramps, actually they aren’t that bad at all. As in, I never take painkillers for them. Wish there was an edit function on here!

When you go for your hycosy, will they just look at tubes or uterus too? I thought hycosy was just tubes isn’t it? I want both looked at I think

😂😂 Milk I've designated a Nutella glass from the 90's that has Scooby-doo characters on

Pibbee I know tonnes of girls who have had surgical terminations and all of them have gone on to have kids with no issue. It frustrates me so much. One that I did something so regrettably stupid and two that out of the tonnes of people who have had the same experience as me, I’m the one who is now suffering. Mind you, I guess it had to be someone. My AF is brown spotting, few hours of dark red bleeding on day one and then two-three days of brown again. My lining looks good apparently but I’m not convinced. The symptoms of Asherman’s Syndrome are periods that have stopped or got lighter since some form of infection or surgery like a d&c (chlamydia I think can turn into PID and that’s what causes the scarring, not the chlamydia itself) infertility and pain throughout your cycle. Drs think it’s very rare but it’s mostly just underdiagnosed. I’ve been on an AS support group since last year and it’s really interesting what some of the ladies have been through.

As for my mum, like you said, I present the opportunity to talk about it and she chooses not to ask. I don’t get it. I could say something to her about it and ask her why she isn’t interested but tbh if she doesn’t want to make the effort to ask us how things are or how we’re getting on, I’m not going to make the effort to inform her. I’m lucky OH’s mum is very supportive as I don’t really have anyone to talk to other than OH.

Oh and the hycosy, that’s just to check my tubes but it can pick up adhesions in the uterine cavity too as they inflate your uterus when they inject the dye in. The consultant said that if anything is picked up, she will go back in and do a hysteroscopy which is a camera inserted into the uterus to look properly at it which is the only thing that can accurately diagnose scar tissue.

Thank you milk just makes me a bit sad that she takes no interest :(