Can GP help with conceiving if have been pregnant before?!?

[meganamy8711]

I already have a 9 year old child. I have a different partner now and have been trying to conceive since March 2021. I got pregnant in November 2021 and miscarried at 7 weeks. Still had no luck conceiving, have cut out alcohol and trying to be really healthy, tracked ovulation etc and still it hasn't happened. I'm 34 nearly 35. Would GP help as we have been trying for over a year or does the 'clock reset' on trying if a pregnancy happen even if it ended with a miscarriage at 7 weeks?? Do I have to carry on trying and wait til December to call the GP or would they help now?

I’ve been down this road. Dunno what exact GP policy is these days but am sure they would see you as you’ve been ttc for a year BUT I strongly advise you to get private gynaecologist advice asap.

Here is what happens if your GP does ‘help’

• refers you for blood tests (wait)
• refers you to consultant (wait)
• consultant will do a hycosy to check if your tubes are blocked. If done privately or in any country apart from UK you woukd get givrn antibiotics for this. NHS did mine. Yes I did get an infection.
• if tubes clear you back in the queue for the consultant, who will probably suggest clovid, a drug that makes you produce around ten eggs each month instead of the usual one. This gives you more chance of getting a good egg (by mid-thirties many eggs just aren’t good enough).
• the consultant will then ignore you for 3-6 months to see if the pills work. In most countries you would be getting scans during this treatment to see what your ovaries are up to, but the NHS no longer bothers.
• If clovid doesn’t work, the consultant will tell you that the only other treatment is IVF. You will have to pay for this as NHS only funds it where neither partner has any children.

So you’ll end up with private treatment anyway, but you’ll have wasted a year or so messing around with the NHS who mainly do the low budget checks, don’t tel you that more thorough checks are available, and make a lot of mistakes on gynaecology.

Sorry to be so negative but I was very let down in many ways and if things had been done better quicker, perhaps I would have conceived 😔

Good luck!

We started trying to conceive our second in March 2021 as well and when nothing happened within 6 months I went to my GP as I'm over 35. They did blood tests to check thyroid, check for ovulation, prolactin, maybe others I can't remember. Also got a alert analysis for my husband, push for that asap as it is so often overlooked. That was all clear so I got referred to the fertility clinic, which was basically a 10 minute phone call telling me since I already have a child and all my tests have been fine there's nothing the NHS can do for me and that I would have to pay for IVF if I wanted to take it further. They did say I should get a hycosy but that the waitlist was a year so recommended going private. I did that in February 2022 and fell pregnant same month (I'm 12 weeks now). It was £500 though so a lot of money, obviously feels well worth it to me but it's a lot with no guarantees. I would recommend the book 'it starts with the egg' for supplements but I would also go to the GP for tests. Also don't take no for an answer from them, don't let them fob you off, you're entitled to the same tests as everyone else just not the IVF. Good luck!

Ask the GP. Depending on trust they may be able to offer testing or nothing at all. For us (TTC number one), miscarriage reset the clock on waiting for the fertility specific assessment (hycosy, AMH, semen analysis) so we ended up going private for that but GP did initial bloods for thyroid, ovulation, iron, etc etc.

Private assessment is about £500 all in and MUCH faster than NHS even if you are eligible for NHS testing. Also NHS will not offer you any intervention as you have a living child

Sorry I should say ask GP but also read your CCG and trust/board policies and the NICE guidelines as many GPs don't know a whole lot about fertility

For us a miscarriage reset the clock. I then waited another six months after the miscarriage (I'm over 35) and the GP refused to refer me as I'm 'obviously fertile' enough to get pregnant. We were looking to go private but then got pregnant that month