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.

@dogmam yeah, you sound similar to me. Because you don’t have those main symptoms like me they think it’s fine, I guess. I get some of those other lesser symptoms attached but it’s hard to say what the cause is.

I’m not sure what to do about ICSI right now. I know they wanted us to try Letrozole but I don’t think his results will be good enough for that, so I’m keen to move to ivf. Not sure what else I can do while I wait for a plan with the lister doctor.

I am trying to get my list of screening tests done. Booked a smear, need to ask the GP for help with hep/hiv/chlamydia and so on. The form I have specifically asks for a urine chlamydia test, but I’m guessing my surgery will swab me during the smear. Any idea why it’s urine?

I’m trying to get rubella sorted too but I don’t know how to do that without going private because my GP has no files on me. I guess I could just ask for an mmr to speed things up, rather than have the screening.

My husband keeps saying you will have had the mmr but I can’t be sure I had both doses and I did get mumps as an adult in my 20s.

Pressed send too soon. Is there anything else you think can be done while waiting? @dogmam

When is AF due? I hate all the waiting so much. I feel like I’m losing my mind here because I know I’m not getting pregnant without help but the help is so slow.

@thislittlebird the NHS seems to focus mainly on diabetes symptoms:

feeling very thirsty
peeing more frequently than usual, particularly at night
feeling very tired
weight loss and loss of muscle bulk
itching around the penis or vagina, or frequent episodes of thrush
cuts or wounds that heal slowly
blurred vision

And insulin resistance symptoms (according to some random website online) are similar:

Darkening of armpits, neck, and groin
Absence of menstruation
Lethargy
Brain fog
Hunger
Frequent urination
Extreme thirst
Abdominal Obesity

I think I only really have frequent urination (esp at night) and the hunger (lol... i'm always starving, but this might just be habit?) but have had long periods in the last few years where I have had tingling fingers, toes, face and back. I get Thrush from time to time too, but put that down to all the DTD we have whilst TTC . Oh and I have PCOS, which seems to have a strong correlation with IR. Maybe I'll ask for a blood test.

@dogmam ooh, exciting that you are so close to starting IVF, I will have every appendage crossed for you!!

@thislittlebird They asked me to do a chlamydia blood test specifically, as they are looking for Chlamydia antibodies, not the active virus. They did not want me to do the swab.

Hmm interesting @Kay00, in the first list I get these two: itching around the penis or vagina, or frequent episodes of thrush
cuts or wounds that heal slowly. I’m not sure how frequent is frequent though with thrush.

Nothing in the other list for me bar hunger and I hesitate to call it that. More like poor discipline and snacking on my part.

So your lot wanted a blood test? Mine says urine. I’ll have to ask for that specifically, I guess

@thislittlebird when going through the NHS route they test for rubella resistance via blood test so see if your gp is willing to do that for you.

@Juno231 yeah I’m going to ask for it, just super aware of more delays for one test. Hoping it’s fast.

@thislittlebird I called my GP to ask for a test for insulin resistance, but the grumpy receptionist snapped that GPs are only dealing with emergencies today, so I have to call again tomorrow morning if I want to speak to one. Meh! Maybe I shouldn't bother, its really unlikely I'm insulin resistant anyway.

I'm re-thinking about giving the Metformin a go again. There are some people who say it can work well with the Clomid to get a BFP, and it can reduce the risk of miscarriage if taken in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. It might also stop me urinating every half an hour (its more like once an hour, but still annoying), and 4 times throughout the night! And if it helps me shed a few pounds then woohoo!

On the downside... sickness and bad belly. But maybe I could give the slow introduction a go?

@kay00 four times a night?! Jesus definitely take it 😅.

😆😆😆 it's so annoying @juno231 I had a wee before I left the house after work, and by the time I got to B&Q I needed to go again... 15 mins later! And it's not like I drink a lot of water either. 🙃

Maybe I'll call the fertility clinic tomorrow for a prescription.

@kay00 I had to have a cry in the doctor’s surgery this morning to get an appointment with my GP because they only deal with emergencies! I’m so tired of this stupid system, healthcare that isn’t an emergency is important too ffs. Now I’m bricking it because I need to talk about ALL this fertility stuff again, and then request screening tests.

Four times a night is a lot!

After a 30 minute phone call to my new GP he’s going to do a referral to Guys ACU. I’m so relieved, I could cry for a different reason now lol

@thislittlebird thays very good!! Sounds like it was a productive meeting 👏

Yeah, it was! Now I'm going to have to make a nuisance of myself and try to speed it all up.

@thislittlebird what?! Just goes to show the other doctor was crazy! I hope it goes quickly for you!

@Juno231 yeah, he was very confused as to why we were dismissed. I hope so too, but I’m not sure it will be fast . My age has to be a factor???? I still have that formal complaint logged and I’m hoping I can use it to speed things along somehow. We shall see.

If it’s going to be 5 months I don’t know if I can wait that long, might get going on a private round in the meantime since that’s allowed in my ccg.

Morning ladies. So today I had my Hycosy test.

It wasn't too uncomfortable and was fairly quick. The Dr said my tubes are not blocked and all looks ok but that she would look more in-depth at the scans and send the results to the consultant.

I've now got a far bit of what looks like old blood. Anyone else experience that?

How are you all?

@Tillybabs glad it went ok, I didn’t have anything afterwards but the doctor did say to me I could bleed after.

@PurpleUnicorn01 how are you? I’m feeling very down in the ttc dumps today. It’s the tww, can’t stand it that this is unlikely to work for us naturally but still have to suffer the tww.

@thislittlebird i feel your pain it is literally the longest 2 weeks of your life every month lol

I start my downregs this week hopefully.

@tillybabs, I bled a little after, but I was still a little bit on my period. Sounds good that nothing was blocked, did the doctor say anything about your ovaries or ovulation? You are CD 14 ish??

@thislittlebird xx hugs xx im not sure how I am going to feel in this tww either, as I have been told I'm not ovulating. But I might pretend I still am, just to hold on to some hope, and I might even convince myself I have ovulated if I get a decent temp increase 🙃

@Kay00 no she didn't and I wish I had asked more questions. I asked her if everything looks normal and she said yes but that she will be having a more in-depth look at the scans and will send a report to the consultant.

Your appointment was private wasn't it? Yours sounded more in-depth.

Thanks @thislittlebird

The bleeding has stopped now and tbh looked very much like old period blood. Although I am cd14 so wouldnt expect that

On the plus side, I haven't ovulated yet so we can still try this cycle so I'm happy about that. She did tell me it's the best time to try but don't want to get my hopes up

@PurpleUnicorn01 does it feel slow getting there?

@Kay00 @Tillybabs I think this best time to try thing is making it worse lol. I’m miserable. I have sore boobs for a change but they’re not that sore, just slightly. At the very least I think this means I might have ovulated this month, which makes a change.

I’d just carry on as normal if I were you @kay00 and don’t expect too much. It’s all such an inexact science imo when it comes to PCOS and predicting things. Sucks though. All feels so fruitless.

Mine was private too and they were very forthcoming with info which was good.

@tillybabs hmmm. Mine was private but I'm not sure it would have been any different through the NHS. I think the difference is that the consultant did my scan and I asked a lot of questions (I asked to see the screen and asked about all the shapes I could see, and she was very happy to explain it all too me). Maybe the doctor that did your scan didn't actually know that much, so they took pictures and measurements for the consultant to interpret? Hopefully ovulation is imminent, esp. If your doctor said 'it's the best time to try?

@thislittlebird aw I am so pleased your GP has referred you! I would ring the clinic later thing week to check they've got it and ask when your first appt is likley to be. You've already had all the investigations so I think you'll be on your way to treatment sooner rather than later.

@purpleunicorn01 how exciting for you! How are you feeling? Do you know what stims etc you're on?

So I had to ring the clinic when AF started to see if I could start and AF of course started Friday night when the clinic was closed so I am rining them first thing in the morning to hopefully get the go ahead to start!