TTC 35+ Thread 12

[Misty84]

Hope this works girls, haven’t done this before, we’ve run out of space on the other thread.
@thislittlebird @ElsieG3m @Marvellouslymadmum @KatRee @Anxiouswannabe

@Henslovetoscratch! Hi!! We're in a similar position - cycle #7 of trying for no 2. SA showed up a morphology issue and I have endo/adhesions so all Fun and games.

@ElsieG3m hello! Nice to hear from someone in similar position. How did you work out the endo/adhesions situation? Hopefully things can be done to help you guys out soon! X

@Misty84 were you given your prescriptions when you saw the nurse with your DP? I’m trying to get that appointment done before he goes away, and then I should have plenty of time to source the meds too from Asda.

Nice to see you back @Henslovetoscratch!

@thislittlebird Yes the nurse had the prescription all ready for me.
Then I took it to Asda to price it for me. Ordered and paid for. Nice and simple 👍

@thislittlebird ah, ok- I like your explanation. Shane everything costs so much money, but really good they seem to be tailoring everything to your situation

@Henslovetoscratch Good vibes and positivity right back at you hen x

@Misty84 Do you know what date you're due to start? Must be soon? Are they starting you on the stims straight away or do you have to do the down regs thing first? I've joined a thread on the infertility forum for those of us who are going to be doing ivf in august/September. Lots of ladies there on their second cycle and finding am it helpful

@Henslovetoscratch - I had a hycosy earlier this month and they found that my left ovary is stuck to my bowel or uterus (had two different answers) so they think adhesions and I have endo in the family so seems pretty likely. My uterus looked ok though they thought and triple layer endometrium which was good. My husband has low morphology which could be a factor so he's working super hard on that at the moment. They've told us to give it a few more months then go for ivf/icsi but it's really complicated as I had a stroke during a previous pregnancy (miscarried twice before my daughter). So basically ivf is super risky as it requires you to be in a pro-thrombotic state (ie higher risk of blood clots which causes my stroke). Finding the decision making very hard and just want someone to give me some real answers on odds and risks 😬I'm still thinking natural cycle could be an option though the consultant I spoke to today didn't! How old is your first child and did you conceive naturally previously?

@KatRee I saw that thread but didn’t join because it was the wrong month for me 😔. I optimistically started a September October one and no one joined. As ever, my threads flop lol.

Yeah, I mean I didn’t feel tailored to tbh, the guy seemed in a hurry. It’s hard to get a sense of if you’re expecting too much and that there really isn’t much to discuss on these calls.

I'm getting a lot of traction from my clinic now ...loads of forms to sign. Stork reaching out. And it's freaking me out. Sigh

There’s a house I like in Cornwall, super annoying that we can’t move yet because ivf. I can’t stay here without DH forever purely for the nhs referral ugh.

Hey @KatRee I am going straight to stims, on day 2 of my cycle (approx 8th Aug).
What’s the name of that group I will have a look at it 🙂 Thank you

@thislittlebird My clinic don't seem to do many extras at all- I think they've just put me on one of their standard protocols. Feel like we don't get a lot of opportunity to ask questions- I need time to absorb info and then I'll think of questions later, but feels like if we have something we didn't ask in a consultation we've missed our opportunity

I know the feeling of putting your life on hold whilst all this is going on. So frustrating! Got to take it one step at a time and trust other houses and opportunities will come along when you're ready, but it's tough

@AnxiousWannabe There are so many forms!

@Misty84 It's this one IVF August/September cycle buddies www.mumsnet.com/Talk/infertility/4259746-IVF-August-September-cycle-buddies
Looks like it was very quiet to begin with but more people joining as we all get closer to our cycles. Mine was also pencilled in for exact same date as yours to begin with but last 2 cycles have randomly been slightly longer than my usual 24 days so it's been pushed back slightly

Hello everyone! I’ve been a bit quiet as it has been a crappy month.
Welcome @Tofu35 I’m a newbie here too (though not new to trying to conceive! I’m in the anxious wait period. Now my second day late but Clearblue ultra early pregnancy tests are saying negative. 🤷🏻‍♀️ I had stressful news this month of hearing the NHS rejected me for IVF funding so I’m probably late from stress I guess.
@thislittlebird are you at lister? Which doctor did you see if you don’t mind my asking? As I’m leading towards them for private.

Hi @MargotChateau, sorry to hear you’ve had a rough month. I know what it feels like to be rejected for NHS funding. Like @thislittlebird, I’m at the Lister too. My consultant is Parikh. I wouldn’t recommend, we were very rushed and didn’t feel listened to. Considering the initial consultation is £220 for an hour, she was wrapping things up after 25 mins! It’s a hugely emotional time for us and it made me feel so much worse. Seemed in a rush to get on with her Friday evening.
The only reason I continued is due to their good reputation (and couldn’t afford to have multiple consultations). Anyway now that I’m in the mixer and dealing with the nurses it seems to be better.

@Misty84 thanks for reaching out so quickly. I thought I’d maybe had a miracle pregnancy when I was a day late and thought I’d cheated fate after the NHS decision but the negative test deemed it not to be. (I know they can be wrong sometimes but I doubt I’ll be that lucky)

Ah that’s interesting that you are going to the lister too, a friend had a similar experience to you with another dr (name escapes me) and swapped to Dr Bora. I’m leaning towards Dr Faris as he is is an endo specialist and I’m nervous there are more problems that I’m not aware of.

Excuse me if I’ve asked before, or if none of my business but what are you and your partners fertility issues?

I need to book a consultation but I’m dreading being told it’s highly unlikely by another doctor. I also need to get my partners sperm rechecked which takes a couple of weeks on the nhs, I should probably just pay for it privately to speed things up.

@Misty84 sending baby dust. This journey is so overwhelming isn’t it?

@MargotChateau My issues (so far) seem to purely be the very low AMH. My other results and my partner’s results are normal. I have regular cycles, ovulate, so it might be a quality issue as well as the low number of eggs. I have 9 follicles which I know isn’t great but it’s not too bad for someone with low amh. Not sure about endo- I don’t have any obvious symptoms but the NHS wanted to do a laparoscopy to rule it out, I was on the waiting list for that indefinitely and gave up waiting and moved to private ivf. Low amh means I’m not predicted to respond well to stims but will just have to see what happens as we have to try. It’s so stressful. I’m on a load of supplements and have quit alcohol and caffeine. Exercise regularly, good BMI. Don’t feel there’s anything more I can do 😕

What are your fertility issues? Sorry that your body is currently playing tricks on you! I can’t wait to be off this TTC bus!!

@katree Lister do lots of extras but they issue guidance on what they think about them all, it seemed quite balanced to me. So far they haven’t been pushy either, unlike when I saw Care London in Feb. The obvious option for me is clomid etc but they really did not seem to want to issue it and just kept talking about ivf. Hence why I left. I liked the staff there, just not this approach.

Yeah I did that yesterday. I keep forgetting to tell them I get/got hormonal migraines. I probably keep forgetting because they mostly stopped since last year which isn’t a good sign imo. On the plus side Dr Faris gave me his mobile and said to text or call (for free) if I need anything or have questions, so that’s good. I might message him about it one day.

@MargotChateau it’s so horrible when you think it might finally be your month but then it isn’t. Really sucks. Happened to me recently and broke me tbh. We can’t try now because I had to get the MMR, so it’s straight to private ivf in early October.

Did they say why they rejected you? I have a referral in but I’m not waiting for them because I also expect to be rejected. I was with Dr Taylor who was really good but she’s retiring in August. Now I’m with Dr Faris who seems nice. He’s a little more relaxed and quite quick in the way he speaks which took me some adjusting to but he was the first person to say I have PCO(S) out of 4 nhs and private gynaecologists I’ve seen. So I guess that’s good????

I have PCO/S (without the main symptoms) and DH has low motility. I think you might have said your dh has an issue as well but I may be misremembering?

Create is another one that’s supposed to be good for low AMH. I’ve considered it because I have high AMH and mild ivf appeals to me.

The good thing I will say for the Lister is swapping consultants is very easy. My initial appointment was hard to come by because they weren’t answering the phones but after that it was ok. Misty has had a more mixed experience.

@thislittlebird sounds scary but good progress! I've never heard of IMSI 🤔

Hi @Henslovetoscratch hope you're doing well

@MargotChateau oh what a nightmare did they give you a reason for turning you down?

I'm so jealous of you all going forward to ivf, think I'll still be on the natural train until it's no longer viable or we just can't keep going anymore lol

@Misty84 that sounds really positive. I have really low AMH (0.6) and very low follicle count (3) and my NHS fertility specialist gave me a 5% to 15% chance of falling pregnant with IVF and close to none naturally. (Not an IVF consultant however)

9 follicles sounds great! Are you using it starts with the egg? My friend with Dr Bora has been put on DHEA and Ubiquinol. I'm going to start Ubiquinol when my period starts (in the VERY unlikely case I am pregnant I don't want to add anything new to the mix) as it won't do anything harmful, but holding off on the DHEA till I see a consultant as I have endo and it may cause issues.

I've done the same as you, switched out my diet to Mediterranean, cut out alcohol completely and cut down my litre a day of coke to one can which I'll hopefully get to none soon.
Taking vitamin C, Folic Acid, vitamin D and pregnacare and Ubiquinol once my AF arrives.

Let me know if you ever want to chat through the process both of the lister girls as it's good to know someone going through the same process.

I was told @thislittlebird and @Marvellouslymadmum that the criteria had changed and now my AMH too low, apparently 5.4 is the cut off point. I'm in South West London CCG. However my NHS dr told me I was guaranteed to get it, told me to stop researching private IVF and cut down on work, so I'm furious she gave me the wrong info when that criteria has been in place since 2020.

@thislittlebird Yes that's right my partner (I'm 38 he is just turned 30) has low motility and low count). Also that is so so heartening about Dr Faris, I had a good feeling based on his background and this has confirmed it. Thank you! And giving you his cellphone number is so kind, what a relief to know you haven't just been dumped into the system. I have diagnosed endo and had surgery years ago but haven't really had an issue since but obviously this is why I'm having issues now.

I get hormonal migraines too. I'm def going to have to warn them about that.

Argh I'm so glad I found this group, keeping me sane. I've really sort of shut down and out of my friend group atm as everyone is having babies.

@MargotChateau Yes I read It starts with the egg, found it so useful especially for the supplements and all the toxins to avoid.
I’m on Ubiquinol, Vit E, Naturelo prenatal, Vit D, Omega 3, R lipoic acid, NAC.
Didn’t take DHEA because checked my current levels and testosterone first. My DHEA was already very high and testosterone was normal so I didn’t want to mess myself up.
Very happy to chat through the process at any time!

I know what you mean, my friends just don’t have a clue about any of this. They are lucky enough to all have had children easily, it’s impossible for them to understand how complex and emotional this process is.

@Misty84 and @thislittlebird did you use Access Fertility to pay for your cycles? I'm looking at our options at the moment and deciding!

Also did either of you get your the medical files from your NHS fertility specialists sent to the Lister, I can't figure out how to do it?

@Marvellouslymadmum I wish I could shake a money tree so we could all have unlimited IVF and drugs with a side helping of massages and icecream for the tough days xxx

Can I join too please? I'll be turning 36 in a few months and TTC for our first. It's quite overwhelming. All my friends have kids already and it's scary to be several years behind our friend group. Just hoping it won't take an age to see that bfp!

Welcome @Lucylaroo I'm new to the page too