First Fertility Consultation - What to expect/ask?

[Inthecanyon]

I have an appointment next week with a private fertility consultant and so far all tests with my GP have been normal.

Bloods - LH, FSH, Thyroid, HBa1c, progesterone and AMH (could be viewed as being high but no suggestion/signs I have PCOS)
Also had an abdominal ultrasound which appears to be normal although uterine lining may be a little thin.

I have spotting from about 7dpo until AF and AF only lasts 1-2 days and is quite light and has been since I stopped BC last April.

I’m unsure as to what they can offer me and what the next steps/investigations would be.

I want to be armed with relevant things I can ask for and what others would recommend

I went to a private fertility clinic at the start of our infertility journey. Waste of time and money, especially as you've already had bloods and an ultrasound. Like I had.

They did a scan and went off the NHS blood results. Agreed we were likely to be unexplained infertility. Agreed that my spotting wasn't a sign of anything wrong and that most likely would need IVF.

We stuck with the NHS, we were almost at the time needed to qualify for IVF there anyway.

In terms of the actual appointment, have your results handy and ask any questions you have. They did the ultrasound there and then for us.

This is what I’m concerned about, I really don’t want them to just say go for IVF as I really want this to be a last resort.

The only reason for going private is that the NHS waiting list in my area is about a year and I just really want some answers.

I think it’s starting to affect my mental health a bit now, I’m so anxious when I go into my 2WW and I’m testing constantly from about 9DPO which of course they are all negative. I don’t know why I do it to myself, I’m just finding it really hard.

I’ve only been to one private appt (unexplained secondary infertility & recurrent miscarriages) and sadly I think private clinics will all try and encourage you down the IVF route. Due to my age (40) the success rates of IVF are low however they were very keen to get me to sign up there and then for two cycles. Even if we could afford it which we can’t, it felt a little pushy. Just stand your ground and make it clear this would be a last resort for you. The only test I had there which the nhs couldn’t offer was AMH but other than that it wasn’t very enlightening

@Inthecanyon infertility sucks big time. It took us 2.5 years to get pregnant with our son.

I will say year 2 got a bit easier mentally. We'd started having tests done which felt like we were at least doing something. Sadly for us it was unexplained infertility which meant there was nothing to fix. IVF was our only option. Like you, I was very hesitant to go that route. I had this feeling that if we went that way, the baby wasn't meant to be ...

Year two was also easier because my mindset changed. I stopped expecting to be pregnant. I stopped acting like I was pregnant every TWW, I stopped testing, I stopped planning around being pregnant.

We were lucky in the end. I got pregnant naturally the cycle before starting IVF. I think my body saw the needles and decided to play ball.

Our doctor did recommend a supplement called proxeed to us. We delayed our IVF to give these a go and they obviously worked. They weren't cheap though. We both took it for 4 months.

When trying for our second we did a few months by ourselves with no luck, started proxeed again and 4 months later I was pregnant with DD. Only took 6 months that time.

@Twizbe thank you, and it’s great to hear that you didn’t need IVF in the end.

I will look into proxeed, thanks. Did you just take this or did you take other vitamins alongside it?

[quote Inthecanyon]@Twizbe thank you, and it’s great to hear that you didn’t need IVF in the end.

I will look into proxeed, thanks. Did you just take this or did you take other vitamins alongside it?[/quote]
We just took this. It has everything you need in it.

The woman one isn't too expensive but the man one is ... cheaper than IVF though lol