Fertility Appointments and Beyond.... the next chapter

[Tinkerbell098]

I have created a new thread as the previous one is about to fill up. I've tagged some of us here, but apologies if I have missed anyone.

The thread is for anyone who has started/ about to start fertility investigations or treatment. Come join us, we are a lovely bunch :)

@tillybabs
@thislittlebird
@kay00
@jeaniej
@PurpleUnicorn01
@paintfairy
@dogmam
@flutterby8
@Ughmaybenot
@dancingfairydreams
@beckycarlos
@jkjellyhead
@juno231
@decaffe
@bumble44
@BritinNZ
@tinkerbell098
@pinkginpls
@thedaydreambelievers
@everymumday
@wanderlust16
@lori23ttc
@Gracie2021
@Sofasogood1
@99pctpractice
@magnoliasinbloom

Hi ladies
Any paying patients who would be doing a round soon? I had meds I don’t need and can pass on(for free)
In Feb 2022, I was supposed to do a second round of IVF at Guys (on NHS) and to my surprise I found out I was already 6 weeks pregnant. So cancelled IVF. But I had already received all of the medications, which due to COVID, I’ve been asked to just dispose of them - but I don’t want them to go to waste - I’m sure someone else can make use of these esp those who don’t get help on NHS. Please message me if you are doing a paid round and I can give you a full list of what I have. I’d love to help all of those who are still trying in any way I can.

Hi everyone. @thislittlebird that's so frustrating that your body isn't doing what you want it to. I know the feeling of time slipping away, and all this energy being expended on a process that doesn't seem to get you where you want to be. I have also been going through a phase of pregnancy announcements, lots of which are due around the time I would have been if I hadn't had an mmc. Ffs. Anyhow, fingers crossed for Wednesday's scan!! And those embryo gradings are awesome!! So great that you have 4 tucked away in the freezer!

I am on my 3rd round now and @beckyCarlos I totally understand how you feel but I also get why people keep trying because there's that lurking feeling of "but maybe next time". We're doing duostim this round which means that it's kind of one cycle but with two egg collections. I turn 41 at the beginning of June so really just want to give it one last push and then I think we'll be done. If we haven't got any good eggs by the end of this round, then I don't think we're going to and I feel like we'll need to move on because the rollercoaster of hope and disappointment is making me so sad inside.

My egg collection this morning had 4 eggs, which was 1 more than I expected, but there's a bit of a question mark whether 2 of them are a bit small so may not be mature. I'm going to ask for email rather than phone updates this time because I find the phone calls so stressful and I never remember what questions I wanted to ask anyway....

I'm sorry @thislittlebird you're feeling so down! You are 38 though not 108 - and you have four embroys in the freezer which is great. They're not aging!! And it's the egg age that matters not 'you' if you see what I mean?

I had my scan this morning and my lining was better but not perfect - measuring 6.5mm. they've decided to push ahead with frozen transfer next Tuesday so I start progesterone on Thursday this week.
They said my lining might not get better than this so why not have a go.

Saw the same shit nurse again today and she gave me the wrong dosage information for Lubion so that's not a surprise... Again it was me double checking with someone else that made me aware

@TheDaydreamBelievers you have PCOS? It’s such a nightmare to navigate all this crap. I have regular cycles, but they’ve ummed and ahhed over whether I could have pcos but I mostly have a lot of follicles and no other signs. It’s been 2.5 years for us now, so not that much more.

@99pctpractice exactly, yeah. I just feel like I’m treading water, or treading sand is maybe a better analogy. It’s all so slow and lumbering. Announcements are very hard, I think some of my friends will start announcing their second pregnancies this year probably. Sigh. What I find really weird around the whole time slipping away aspect is when people get pregnant who have been on the infertility threads. I’m pleased for them but suddenly they’re speeding ahead. They come back with updates and they’re 20 weeks pregnant when it feels like just two minutes ago they were on here being infertile. Then they’re 30 weeks and you’re still where you were when they last dropped in. Time slips but also somehow stops when you’re infertile, and it stopped in 2019 for us and no progress has been made since then, in real terms. But obviously I am pleased we have embryos now, but I still don’t feel any nearer to having a baby.

Glad you’re past the EC! 4 eggs is good though because it’s a chance. Fingers crossed you get that one you need and you don’t need a plan B.

@Sofasogood1 That’s true, but I had this stupid idea that I wanted to be under 40 if we did have a kid and it feels like that’s slipping away, along with all the other stages we sort of planned. The milestones in the process are really annoying. I guess I feel old, even if there’s plenty of women doing this my age. The baby is supposed to be the hard bit, not the bit before that :/

What cycle day are you on today? My lining was 7 point something so not much different, yours will have grown more in a week’s time!

@thislittlebird umming and ahhing is right..basically I don't fit PCOS 2 out of 3 criteria. I clearly have an ovulation disorder. The origins of which they aren't clear on

@TheDaydreamBelievers ugh god, it’s such a pain in the arse. I don’t either, I have regular periods 90% of the time, longest cycle is about 36 days a couple of times per year. The many follicles is all I have, oh and low progesterone/uncertain ovulation, but it makes me think their definition of pcos is a bit rigid and their knowledge of ovulation disorders is rather poor.

@thislittlebird agreed. I'm also worried that I'm going to get more years in and someone will say that my thyroid numbers are actually not good or something. I don't trust doctors at all with fertility things.

I really should lose some weight and stop eating carbs. But just feel so disheartened by life across the last 2 years, particularly since November 2020 (misscarriage)

@thislittlebird cycle day 17, day 15 of drugs. And I hope so but it could also collapse! And I think progesterone might actually make it compact? Not sure they measure it again... Not much I can do hey.

Absolutely gutted been told by the nurse to stop exercising. I do something most days, I'm really going to miss it. No exercise, no booze - what am I going to do with myself?!

Omg, so much is going on with you lovely ladies this week! I will take the time to read through all the messages and catch this evening in the mean time good luck to you all!!

Quick question. For those doing an NHS round, did you pay for your drugs? I have been contacted by the pharmacy with my prescription and a bill for £340. I'll obviously pay if needed, but I was under the impression (perhaps falsely) it would all be covered by the NHS?

@Kay00 you pay normal prescription charges, yes. So maybe that's 35 items at nine quid odd each?

You can also get an NHS prepayment prescription card which costs around £30 for three months and covers everything. Worth it!

I didn't pay anything as have a medical exemption card.

@kay00 (if you weren't NHS it might be costing you two grand! Or more, or a bit less if lucky)

@kay00 I didnt pay anything for my drugs (even the top up 'just take two more days and see what happens') but I am quite scared an invoice is just going to pop through the door!

Hmm, thank ladies. I have an itemised breakdown and the total comes to £340. I'm definitely paying more than the £9 per item. I'll give the Pharmacy a call and see what they say.

@Kay00 I didn’t have to pay, didn’t receive a bill, just an email with what drugs and had to organise delivery. Maybe your ccg doesn’t cover it, but most seem to so I’d assume yours would too. The only thing I’ve had to ‘pay’ for are prescription charges for adhoc meds I’ve needed during the cycle (like the rectal suppository pain killer pre EC) but I have a pre paid prescription certificate so didn’t have to pay anything.

[quote Sofasogood1]@thislittlebird cycle day 17, day 15 of drugs. And I hope so but it could also collapse! And I think progesterone might actually make it compact? Not sure they measure it again... Not much I can do hey.

Absolutely gutted been told by the nurse to stop exercising. I do something most days, I'm really going to miss it. No exercise, no booze - what am I going to do with myself?![/quote]
Hmmm of our cycles are going really well 🙃

Why did they say stop exercising? I need to start exercising. I’m very unmotivated right now.

Sooo it’s cycle day 18 here (I’m on the same day as sofarsogood) and still no LH rise. I got really upset this morning. Although my follicle is slowly growing, and my lining is ok, they said they might have to cancel because we won’t be giving enough of a chance to the embryo. I’m fed up, there’s never any progress for us and I kinda just want to go to bed and cry. Instead I have to do another job application because I didn’t even get an interview for the last one I applied for.

@TheDaydreamBelievers have you had your thyroid etc tested? I absolutely know what you mean about being disheartened.

@thislittlebird yes thyroid was done many times in past for own health then after 11 week MC. They said fine but declined to give the actual values which provokes anxiety for me!

@thislittlebird 😔 I'm so sorry xx about the job and your slow growing lining. Have they discussed the next steps with you yet?

I had a chat today with a lady who I manage in Greece. She broke down crying and told me she had just got a negative test following her 2nd egg transfer in IVF. I didn't even know she was doing IVF so it was a revelation! We had a good chat and I told her that I too an going through an IVF cycle. I was a very emotional conversation but I feel really pleased I was able to provide support to her. She has two more day 5 blasts in the freezer and she's going to implant later in the summer once she has had some holidays and has fully relaxed.

@Kay00 That’s nice that she shared with you and you could chat about it all. Not a fun situation but good to have support.

It’s not my lining which is always fine, it’s my stupid ovaries. There’s 35 follicles but they can’t produce one bastard dominant egg when I need them to. Sigh. I really want to avoid oestrogen so this is very stressful.

I’m so sick of my job and so stuck here. I want to move house and ivf says nope, as do my ovaries. Not helped by our cheap b&q “new” (a few years old now) kitchen getting more damaged as the years pass and we really want to sell up before that thing looks worse still. Not helped by the washing machine flooding the kitchen last night.

@TheDaydreamBelievers ah, yeah ok well, just try to trust that it’s ok I suppose. I worry about all sorts of stuff around this process.

@thislittlebird I see. Why do they need a leading follicle in order to implant? Is it a hormone thing?

Are you looking to move far away from your current house (was it you who was looking to move to Cornwall)? Are you keen to stay within the same field of work? Or are you open to try something new?

@thislittlebird gosh I identify so much with what you say. When people who were with you in the thick of infertility suddenly start talking about their birth plans it makes you realise how long you've been treading water. It's so darn hard. Sending hugs and fingers crossed for your scan tomorrow.

@Sofasogood1 I can't believe the nurse got the dosage wrong again. That is just unbelievably negligent. It's lucky that you're so on the ball, but you shouldn't have to be!!! Exciting that you have a date for your FET now!!

Had my update today and one of the four eggs was immature, but the other three fertilised. So feeling pretty pleased about that. Though obviously also annoyed that my partner apparently produces a "top quality" batch of sperm after continuing to drink, running half marathons and generally not giving a sh1t, whereas I have spent the last 6 months cutting out (mostly!) alcohol, taking supplements til I rattle and being a human pin cushion, which probably won't make any difference to my egg quality either, but i would have kicked myself if I didn't do it and we had another failed cycle. I have asked for an email update on day 3 because I find the phone calls a bit stressful (plus they always call when I'm on a work call!). Will see if I find that easier.

@99pctpractice three fertilised is excellent!! I also love the email update idea. Gives you the space to process the information in your own time x

@99pctpractice 3 fertilised eggs is fab!

@thislittlebird I'm sorry your lining is playing ball. This is my worry but I'm oestrogen now and have a lining scan next week Friday. There's so much we have to go through and the men get it so easy don't they.

@Kay00 I haven't had to pay for any meds. I'm worried now I will get a massive bill lol. Nothing was mentioned about paying so I find it off if it wasn't mentioned to you. I would enquire

I'm now on oestrogen and buserelin. I'm worried the oestrogen will make my adenomyosis worse. I feel like the Dr has dismissed my worries because I asked to downreg for longer and she said I don't need it and it doesn't always work but still it's worth a shot!

Will see what my lining and uterus looks like next week and raise concerns if needs be. I don't want to waste a transfer if I'm having a flare up

Just catching up properly here now. Work has been crazy and everytime I clicked in I was so far behind I knew I needed a good sit down to do a proper catch up on everyones progress.

@tillybabs fingers crossed for a good scan on Friday and really hope you don't have a flare up. Hate when you feel you're being dismissed. Feel like even though doctors are the medical professionals, they're looking after so many patients while we only have to advocate for ourselves and will know whats normal or not for us much better. Hope things stay positive either way!

@kay00 so excited for you that you're officially in your IVF round. How amazing. And great that you could support your colleague and also have a good chat yourself. This whole thing feels so lobely and actually connecting with someone who really gets it is so so rare. Hope ye can support each other a bit in work too?

@beckycarlos I'm so sorry I've missed massive steps for you. Congratulations on being PUPO and every finger will be crossed for a sticky embryo for you. Hope you're feeling ok and managing the TWW ok. Hopefully shortly it will all have been worthwhile!!!

@99pctpractice I'm so so late answering your duostim question, will pop in a separate message after this one with all the details of mine and what we're changing for next time in case its any help for you at all. Congratulations on 3 fertilised out of four, thats a brilliant start. About to head into our last duostim and what we've decided will be the last round with my eggs so whatever we get now will be transferred and after that we'll go to donor eggs if we need to. Just can't justify more than 5 rounds with my eggs financially and emotionally. So many similarities with you as well, my partner always get kudos for his amazing sperm, really drive sit home for me each time who the dodgy one in the relationship is..... but thankful only issue son my side. Hope your mam is doing ok and recovering well? When do you start into the next leg of your duostim?

@Sofasogood1 well done on your eagle eye. You have to check everything don't you! Just had to get a prescription reissued today as there was incorrect/missing things on it. Best of luck for you on Tuesday and a nice thick luscious lining!

@TheDaydreamBelievers I wonder sometimes that so much of this side of things with the medical community seems to be guesswork in terms of diagnoses around PCOS, low ovarian reserve etc. I often wonder how much more advanced things would be if they investigated and treated earlier instead of masking issues with BCP. Hope you get answers.

@thislittlebird my heart goes out to you hun, so sorry you have so much landing on you at once and really sorry the job didn't work out. Really hope things turn around and you can go ahead with your ET. Know the frustration of seeing people you've gone into treatment at the same time as and some are even pregnant and the very soonest for an ET for me will be June if I'm lucky. That said really hope this month turns around for you and you're not stuck waiting any longer and no matter what happens 4 fantastic embryos in the freezer and just know your happy ending is on its way. For now it just sucks and all I can do is send the biggest virtual hug your way xxx

Literally synopsis of my duostim in case its of help @99pctpractice. First egg retrieval was CD8 after 7 days of stims. Out of 5 follicles, 2 eggs retrieved, 1 fertilised, 1 blast.
Second leg, started stims 5 days after ER and first scan was 5 days into stims. ER was 12 days after starting stims. Out of 16 follicles (10 of which looked promising), we got 8 eggs, 4 of which fertilised and once again got 1 blast frozen. Doctor thinks the longer time on stims may have been a factor in the higher attrition rates on the second leg especially as I was on max doses of everything.

The good news is we have a 4AA and a 4BA frozen and while averaging one embryo per round is an expensive way of doing things its still progress.

Period arrived 10 days after second ER in case thats any help for you also.

We're doing another duostim in May and that will be our last try before we move to transfers hopefully in June. If I got 2 more embryo's from this I'd be happy as our doc says thats actually an excellent result for us even though it would be a terrible result for some.

This time we're:

• adding estrogen priming ahead of leg 1
• swapping testosterone priming for DHEA supplements
• added meltonin supplements
• moved from 200 CoQ10 to 600 which I'm really nervous about as last time I tried 600 it made me very faint but gotta do what ya gotta do)
• Moved to 50 Clomid on both legs instead of 100
• Stocking with 450 gonal F and 225 luveris on leg one but going to try slightly reduced stims for second round and go for a stims day 5 scan again.

Thats about it, will probably start estrogen priming late next week depending when I ovulate (no idea what my timings will be as this is my first unmedicated round since last June) and on the supplements already so just crossing the fingers all goes to plan. Hope this is of some help to any of ye considering duostim.