PLEASE HELP!!!!!!!! Anybody else had fertility checks at DR's..? Can you help me..??

[rosycheekss]

Hello,

I just wondered if anyone else has had tests (bloods) done for fertility with the doctors before and can help me out.

I've been told by the receptionist team that my results came back, and that some have a '+' against the results whilst others don't.

I don't know exactly what they're testing for anyway, but I'm now worried and don't know what this may mean.

Has anybody had this before? I've now got to wait until Thursday next week before a DR can call me (the surgery aren't great) to explain the results.. so my minds going into overdrive.

Does anybody know exactly what they're testing for and looking for with fertility blood tests? I had 8 tubes taken if that helps.

Please can anybody help?
I just can't stop panicking!!!!!!!

Thanks guys in advance ❤️

Bump

Not thing can advise is to request to speak to your GP who will be able to explain the results.

Only thing*

Also wanted to say try not to panic. If it was anything serious then you would know as they’d have to tell you ASAP. I’m general depending on what day bloods you had they are testing hormone levels LSH and FSH as well as thyroid function and full blood count etc. When I got my results they said something like ‘results confirm ovulation’. So maybe your ‘positive’ just means positive for ovulation which is a good thing. Best of luck.

Did you have the bloods taken on day 3 or day 21?

Also if get access to the NHS app all your results will be on there already so you don't have to wait until the GP appointment.

Thank you so much everyone. I'm trying not to panic, just horrible being told there's an anomaly but they can't tell me what yet 😔😣 xx

@Juno231 oh what app is this? I would love to be able to have a sneak and see!

@Juno231 unfortunately the NHS app is only for certain healthboards, but I hope yours has it @rosycheekss

My experience - they test hormones (FSH, progesterone etc), androgens (testosterone, androstenedione), thyroid (TSH and the other one), some general stuff (like iron count and infection markers). If they were day 21 (or later in your cycle) they will want the progesterone to show you ovulated.

PS: to be honest its blooming stupid that the receptionist will tell you something is off but you cant discuss it for a week. Obviously thatll make people worried!

@TheDaydreamBelievers thank you. Yes I know - they've been horrendous throughout the entire thing.

I'm at the very beginning of this stage of fertility checks, only I've had the tests so far snd it's just been one lot of bloods, they didn't ask me to go in, in certain times of my cycle etc so I actually have no idea what point in my cycle it was that I went in for the test..
They have made me feel like a mad woman, I actually went into the surgery the other day to speak to them, to ask if anybody there can help me and they told me I'm being unreasonable coming into the practice and that they can't advise etc etc.. they've lost my trust entirely as I was told nothing is wrong, and then there is, and then there isn't snd then recently got called to say there is. They've completely messed with my head!

@rosycheekss so the bloods are meant to be done on day 1 and day 21 (to show different things) but my experience of GPs is frankly that they have very little knowledge about anything fertility related. All my results showed (blood taken on Cd33) was that I hadnt ovulated yet, which I knew. Although I guess it was good to rule out 1) a thyroid disorder 2) an androgen disorder and 3) diabetes. (and have my iron levels checked again but its not as closely related to TTC)

@TheDaydreamBelievers ah I see. Thanks so much for your help! It's good to know what they're looking for, but also sadly sounds as though they have no idea what they're looking for either..

Another thing is when you do get the results - get the actual numbers and details! I've seen so many GPs tell women everything has come back fine when in reality it really hasn't.

@Juno231 oh goodness! That's just awful. I will do, although I don't know how to read the results or what means what.. xx

YES, hard agree with @Juno231 - get the results and the units too. I had this the first time I had bloods done - told me everything was normal when prolactin was in the pregnancy range (had never been pregnant at that stage). GPs also have a much wider range of 'okay' thyroid results than a fertility specialist would say are okay. You can always ask mumsnet users to help with what they all mean.

@rosycheekss they have all the parameters on them and all of it is easy to google or just ask us on here xx

@TheDaydreamBelievers thank you all so much, it's so nice to feel supported on here.

I feel like I just constantly get fobbed off by the GP surgery to be honest!

OP I think the best thing you can do while you wait is familiarise yourself with what's going on with your body and what's meant to happen. I really really recommend a book by Toni weshcler (sp?) called Taking charge of your fertility.

Your menstrual cycle is exactly that - a cycle, and its all interconnected. So, it needs some hormones at some times of the month, to get you to ovulate, other hormones at other times of the month, to help the lining break down and start a period, assuming you haven't conceived. The tests are generally done on day three (just after your period) and day 21 (after you've ovulated) to check hormone levels to show that's happened, but equally some women have longer cycles and ovulate late so a day 21 test may suggest you're not ovulating but if you actually have a 35 day cycle you wouldn't have ovulated yet anyway.

There are also lots and lots of other tests that can be done. Some of your bloods may be out of range - I don't; really understand what you mean by a 'plus' next to them - so they may be higher than they should be at any point in the cycle. But a lot of GPs aren't great with this. I think Toni Weshcler, and possibly 'It Starts with the egg' are good books but I'd hold off on it starts with the egg until you've read the other as its really for people with fertility problems / over a certain age and suggests you do about a million different things so can be quite overwhelming.

Also: I have anovulatory cycles. I had bloods done by the GP that were out of range, she suggested we re-do them the following month and the day I got those results when she said 'You ovulated this month!' I was able to say 'I know, I just got a positive pregnancy test'. Things being 'off' don't mean they're permanently off, so don't drive yourself too crazy.

@cindarellasbelly thank you for your comment - that was really helpful!
Having never had fertility bloods done before I have no idea what they mean by a + next to some of my results, either.
They weren't able to tell me anything so I feel completely in the dark.

Very strange that I'm also getting positive / near positive ovulation tests for the past /
2.5 weeks, too...

This sounds incredibly worrying and frustrating. Can you ask for your results to be emailed to you? You will be able to see which results are outside of the ‘normal’ parameters and also check some things that the GP might not be aware are sub-optimal - eg thyroid parameters can fall within ‘normal’ for the general population but be out of whack for fertility.

@Totallydefeated thanks for your reply! Yes I'm so worried, I actually feel the most anxious I've ever been 😔
I know it could be nothing to worry about, but it's the not knowing that's getting to me now.
I just want to know what's going on!

The gp surgery are just terrible, they told me off essentially for going there the other night to ask for some guidance / if someone is there to help tell me, and depict the results. the fact I have not even got the results to look at myself is just infuriating.

@rosycheekss - are your cycles normal in length etc? Guessing not if you are having investigations. I ask because the two main reasons for LH (tested by OPKs) remaining at a standard high for weeks are 1) PCOS or 2) pregnant (but would have to be a few weeks in)

@TheDaydreamBelievers unfortunately I don't really have typical cycles, they range from 4/5 weeks between periods.
I have been referred for tests as we've been TTC for a year and I keep having what they think are chemical pregnancies, I get faint positives and then heavy painful bleeding shortly afterward.

Me too on the crazy cycles @rosycheekss - mine are between 45 days and about 80. Longest has been 100-odd days (141 when i came off the pill but I think partially post pill effects). I think I have an ovulation disorder of some kind.