TTC 12 months next steps - is there any point?

[MrsA9]

Hello everyone, I'm hoping for some wisdom/advice or just to see if anyone else is in the same boat.
We're currently in the TWW of cycle 12. The pessimist in me is already thinking about how to move forward when this cycle inevitably ends in AF.
The logical thing is to contact GP and start the ball rolling on testing etc, however, this is what leads me on to "is there any point". Given the time of year and with everything going on in the world, is it unreasonable to use NHS resource at a time when they're already stretched? And because they're so stretched I imagine we'll be waiting a fair while anyway.
We also would not be entitled to any IVF/fertility treatment on the NHS anyway (TTC #1 for me but DH has a child from a previous relationship), and we'd be hard pushed to afford private treatment, so is there any point going through testing if we can't do anything about it (if there is something wrong).
It's been a long 12 months, I've had all hope knocked out of me along the way, and reaching this milestone is playing heavily on my mind.

Worth mentioning that I stopped the pill a year ago, first AF came after 28 days and I've been like clockwork ever since. Have been using OPKs and charting BBT which seems to show I'm ovulating as normal.

Has anybody reached 12 months recently and reached out to their GP? How did it go? Any words of advice/wisdom/tell me to get a grip all welcome!!

I think it's certainly worth going for testing. Not all fertility problems require ivf. Other treatments may be of use and available to you. It won't go you any harm to explore your options. Good luck

@MrsA9 I think you should definitely have some tests done. I think it is perfectly fine to get the ball rolling with the NHS. If it is weighing in your mind and getting to you, it means a lot to you and therefore is worth investigating. There are tonnes of threads on here with little things that people had wrong with them that were super easy to treat that have since ended with a pregnancy. ivf isn’t the only way! If you want to speed things up and not bother with the NHS, maybe start with a private fertility MOT for you and your partner. You can usually buy a his/hers package and it may highlight something you hadn’t realised was a problem. All the best x

Thank you both so much for taking the time to reply. It's so easy to end up completely downtrodden by the whole process and I think I've made the mistake of seeing it as being all or nothing, you've definitely reassured me. I'll definitely have a look into private testing if/when we move on to cycle 13, I can't believe I hadn't thought of that as an option. Thank you both, I feel a bit more positive after reading your comments x

We did a private fertility test so definitely look into that, it was about £300 but if you can afford it I’d recommend it. It was very thorough. If your DH has a child maybe just pay for the female part of it first which would be cheaper.

A friend of mine who has also been TTC for about 12 months did a fertility MOT. They told her everything was fine and to stop stressing, 3 months later she’s pregnant! Sometimes it just takes time. Good luck xx