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 ☺️

Ha ha! I think if I called her an elephant I'd get something thrown at me ..... 22 weeks that should say

@Bubblegum89. I have been pregnant four times (three live children) who were all conceived first cycle but since the miscarriage last year - nothing.

My third baby had iugr. Which makes me worry that there's something wrong with me or DH. My first two have a different father, which also makes you wonder.

Hormonally since then, I feel different. I actually have a period every 35 days, whereas I didn't before. My bleeding is now heavier and I suffer from terrible pms. Like today, I feel ill and like I've been hit by a car!

The first two have the same father but a different one to my third - you know what I mean lol.

@bubblegum if you google there are some good studies on the stats of pregnancy with unexplained infertility. I’d just stick to the science based ones from research universities and the like rather than random internet people who will scare the shit out of you. A lot is based on age, length of time TTC unsuccessfully and previous children or not. Has your DH been tested?

OH has been tested and his results came back normal. I’ve been pregnant by him before so I know the issue is me. Nothing about my fertility/periods have been the same since I had a d&c in 2015 so I think that it’s something to do with that

Does work count, milk? CD 1 for a cycle number I can't even remember any more. 16? 17? What is the fucking point.

Thanks for mooncup tip bubblegum

Sorry about baby bomb rhi

@Bubblegum89. I always kind of lol when I read people saying "You're really fertile after a miscarriage" I'm like yeah...sure! I know a few days after my medical management, my bleeding stopped and started until it started to get heavy and I had to see an emergency gynae in the night. When she was rummaging around in there she said there had been a clot that had gotten stuck. I keep thinking to myself - is there still something in there??

If you were having heavy periods, would everything get "flushed out"?

Bubble - unexplained infertility isn't that there isn't anything wrong, just that they haven't been able to find it.

Usually because they haven't done the right (read expensive) tests. Eg they'd do a hysteroscopy rather than a full laparoscopy. Laparoscopy is the gold standard for diagnosing fertility issues (just ask Robert Winston) but they're expensive and rarely done.

When you see the clinic tomorrow, if they still say unexplained, ask for a laparoscopy

Thanks Nimble I want to ask for a hysteroscopy to check for scar tissue but I think they will want to do a HSG first. Either way, I’m pushing for more tests because my cycles are all over the place, I’ve not had a single bfp in 15 months and my periods have gone from being heavy/medium with bright red blood to being maybe a couple of hours of medium dark red blood and then very light brown spotting after that. I know something isn’t right but I have a feeling they’re going to try and fob me off with “unexplained” based on the tests they’ve already done

Robert Winston's view is that laparoscopy is better for picking up scar tissue (and other issues) than a hysteroscopy.

But deffo take whatever they offer. Crossing fingers for tomorrow

Oh, I'm talking total bollocks - it's the HSG he says is a waste of time. But yeah, they'll probably want to do one of those first

Yeah they want to check my tubes aren’t blocked first I think. I used to think that was my problem but I don’t think it is now, I think it’s scarring in my uterus (would explain my rubbish periods) but I don’t think they will do a hysteroscopy until they’ve done an HSG. If I had the money, I’d just go and get a hysteroscopy done privately as it would cut down all the NHS waiting lists I’ll inevitably be on. But thank you, hopefully they’ll be nice to me tomorrow :)

@Bubblegum haven’t you had a pelvic ultrasound though? Wouldn’t that have identified any scar tissue? I had one and they said my uterus walls/lining were normal so I am assuming based on that no scarring...

Just to update: zero bleeding at the moment. I must have ovulated later than usual.

Pibbee I have yeah but an ultrasound isn’t reliable enough to detect scar tissue. I’m part of a fb group for ladies with Asherman’s Syndrome (as that’s what I was told I have last year but another doctor then told me I didn’t have it!) and all of them had US done and told they had a normal uterine cavity with good lining and all of them pushed for a hysteroscopy and had some degree of scarring, some even had 100% scarring, so their entire uterus was heavily scarred, but it never showed up on an ultrasound. I don’t know the science of it haha but all I know is you can’t rely on an US alone to diagnose scarring

Does anyone know the order of investigations? I've had an internal ultrasound and bloods taken on day ?3-5 I think (couldn't do 21 as I have no idea if or when I ovulate).
Should I be pushing them to do something else? I can see I've got some serious googling to do!

Oh balls!! I didn’t realise that at all. Ultrasound is a bit useless then isn’t it?!

@wonky when you’ve had your bloods done, and DH has had a SA your GP can refer you to the fertility clinic but they can’t do that unless you’ve had the full suite of GP tests first.

Then it’s onto the waiting list which varies by area, as does the amount of help you’ll get if you’ve already had a child. In our area they will do all the tests at the fertility clinic but if we needed IVF we wouldn’t get it as we’ve already got DD so we would have to go private for that.

@WonkyDonk87 I had CD21 bloods, then CD3 bloods, then DH's SA. Then I was referred to the hospital (Gynaecology rather than Fertility) and had an internal scan then a HSG

We were due to go back in the middle of Feb and get the results from the HSG and be referred to the fertility clinic for actual treatment

@bubblegum hope you get some answers and a plan for further testing.

Wonky - if they don't know if you're ovulating or when, they can do a test where you collect your urine every morning and freeze it, then you give them 2-3 months' of urine and they test your hormone profile from it.

It's less accurate than a blood test, but is the answer if you don't know if or when you ovulate

Yeah, a friend of mine was doing it over Christmas - big sign on the door for anyone looking for ice cubes!