First Fertility Clinic Appointment Tomorrow

[dogmam]

Me and my partner have our first appointment with our fertility clinic tomorrow!

We went to the GP after a year of TTC and after 21 day bloods and partners SA, we were referred straight away to the fertility clinic. GP tests were in October/November so it's moved along quite quickly so far.

Feeling slightly nervous but also excited to hopefully get some help! My partners SA showed low motility and morphology so I assume that will be discussed..
What else should i expect from this first appointment? Is there anything I should be asking?

Thanks in advance! I'll update this after the appointment tomorrow as I know there are a few others on here who are in a similar position and might find it useful.

@thislittlebird that is poop. I would really recommend a supplement called Bulk Dominate for him. I used it on my husband and his count shots up after about 3 months.

When is your next appointment?

That sounds like a weight lifting thing @PurpleUnicorn01. I’ll google it.

Appointment is May 17, it’s our first referral.

I’ve had a really bad day at work today too and I’m so done with everything. I just want to go to bed and stay there but I can’t, I have a deadline for 11am and need to get some stuff finished. Just struggling to convince myself to work right now.

@thislittlebird I think they will. If he's had 2 SA and both are crap then it tells them all they need to know i would have thought? So they should go to ivf without messing about. Fingers crossed for you.

Would my low progesterone have an impact on whether they'd send me to ivf? @paintfairy

I'm assuming IVF drugs override that problem, but I don't know.

@thislittlebird yeah your eggs will be mega because they pump you with drugs. And they give you progesterone after. None of it relies on your own body doing anything. So that won't matter.

@paintfairy I was interested in ivf without the down regs because I'm a little worried about that but now I don't even know what to think. I have lots of eggs and decent AMH but low progesterone, they may or may not be coming out. I need to talk to an expert I guess, maybe get a consultation with a clinic or two lined up as well.

If I'm allowed one free round on the NHS then I'd obviously take it.

@thislittlebird they can still support you if you do it naturally? With the IUI they'll give me injections before and progesterone after.

@paintfairy support for ovulation you mean? I don’t know if it’ll work with his results. I wish I could know for sure.

I just went to the infertility boards to try to work out the process of ivf, I don’t feel more enlightened yet, need to read more. I also booked a webinar with create and need to look into some others.

Just catching up!

@juno231 the laparoscopy means you need to take 2 weeks off? What exactly is it? I've read about ladies getting one but haven't googled that one yet!

@thislittlebird oh no, no improvement with the motility, had your partner been taking any vitimans or anything just out if interest? Our first SA the motility was 15% and get the results of the second one soon and hoping wellman has helped.. a question I'm going to ask my clinic is what circumstance do you need to be in to be offered ICSI because I assumed that would be better for low motility but our last appointment only IVF was mentioned.
In terms of more tests, no, I think if SA is found as an issue then that's enough for them to offer IVF, which does worry me slightly as I feel like I would prefer a few more tests on me to see if there's anything else along side the motility issue.

I totally get the whole life on hold feeling, it's like absolutely everything depends on getting pregnant or not, and I think it's going to be even worse when lockdown ends.

@dogmam that's a good question. I would be interested to know that too. I should ask when we go. How does IVF work with low motility? I don't really understand but I know why ICSI they select a sperm and put it in, don't they?

He's been taking impryl as recommended by the fertility consultant we paid to see privately. But they say it needs three months and he hasn't been on it that long, probably half that time by the time he did the second test. I think he was really feeling quite fragile when he got these results, I felt bad for him. I think he's blaming himself a bit, which I don't want him to do. On the plus side his vitality did go up, and his sperm count is high, but the morphology got lower as did the motility. Ugh, very frustrating tbh.

@dogmam @thislittlebird with ivf the sperm only need to swim like a cm in a dish. And they pick the best ones. So even with low motility it's achievable. But if the sperm is pretty dire then they do ICSI which means they physically pick a sperm and put it in the egg. That's a lot more expensive though.

@paintfairy I had no idea it was pricier. Ugh, I don't know if I want to know how much but I probably should investigate in case we need it.

@thislittlebird about 1500 i think. Its a lot.

@paintfairy yeah, it is. Seems unfair that the short straw just keeps being drawn .

I was reading about Create's prices earlier, and the '3 cycle package' they do makes it sound like you get 3 attempts at IVF for the price. But they're actually only doing one attempt and collecting eggs over three cycles. It's all so confusing.

@thislittlebird I've not looked into private heavily. But I've found it quite confusing. Because the ivf cost doesn't always include drugs. And then there's loads of add ons you have to have that aren't really obvious- all at extra cost. I suppose if you contact them and go through it properly you'd get a clearer idea on cost. But it makes it difficult to compare clinics on glance i think. Reminds me of budget airlines. 🤣 Looks cheaper but by the time you have paid for your luggage, seat, and then got stung for something else you didn't know about, it wasn't cheaper at all and you'd have been better having a more decent experience elsewhere.

@thislittlebird if money is a concern I would genuinely have a look at eg Prague or Copenhagen for ivf. Their stats are just as good for a fraction of the price. I think Copenhagen is at least a third cheaper a d Prague 2/3s. You can send your results over, do virtual consultations and they send the meds over. If it's short protocol it's very doable from what I gather.

@dogmam yeah so it checks for endo or scarring. Apparently a third of unexplained infertility cases are due to endometriosis? So I'm glad they're checking tbh. If they find anything whilst in there they'll excise it on the spot.

Yeah exactly @paintfairy. It’s very annoying the drugs aren’t accounted for in the packages.

@Juno231 yeah it is a concern because it quickly adds up and you don’t know how much of the money you’ve saved it’s going to take. My issue is I suspect I would be very, very stressed by going abroad. I was looking at Kings and Guys just now which are more reasonable than the others I was looking at before. I think at least at first I’d need to stay local, I find new things in life very anxiety inducing and any additional thing (travel etc) on top of the already stressful process would be another worry.

What do you guys make of this doc? www.kingsfertility.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Full-Price-List-V2.2.pdf

There’s a weird format where they list “TOTAL COST” and then another column with a price (often £9,500) but I don’t understand what the second column is?

@thislittlebird the price in the far right is the package price. The column to the left of that shows what everything costs separately. Then the total of what it adds up to/the saving you are making by buying the package.
It's useful they list medication prices on that too. So you've an idea. I've not seen one do that before.

@paintfairy I felt like it was too big a discount to be the real price 😂

I suspect they’re quite transparent because private area of nhs hospital or something??? Not sure. I’m probably going to consider them as an option though, I like price transparency.

I trust you all more than my own eyes when reading this stuff. Based on the attached (from my CCG assisted conception policy) I could go ahead and up to 2 private cycles of IVF before my NHS one, is that right?

I'm just thinking if I have to wait months, maybe I could do the Create option or a 1 cycle option elsewhere in the meantime while I wait. Rather than lose all the time it might take waiting for the NHS. But I will raise this when I go to my appointment.

@thislittlebird yea a private cycle seems like a good idea

I’ve booked onto a Create webinar. Thought it would be worth doing some research in the meantime while I wait for this appointment. Hope you’re all well x

Definitely considering it @PurpleUnicorn01

And they’ve cancelled my May 17 appointment. Sigh. I’m so tired of this, at a loss for what to do right now really.