One year+ TTC part 3

[BritInNZ]

Hey ladies - new thread here we come! Changed it from 9 months+ seeing as we're pretty much all over a year of TTC now (boo!)

Feel free to add anyone else I may have forgotten 😊

@Carla2601
@lemons44
@LucyAnne34
@NatW2021
@Indianna2006
@KatieLooLa
@Hoping43
@Flyonthewall89

Newbies welcome too! Just a bunch of lovely ladies going through a tough time TTC and having a good old time venting and supporting one another 😊

@NatW2021 oh it’s awful isn’t it - you’re excited then you convince yourself you’re an idiot but once you’ve thought it that hope is there. I am hoping it is a sign and if it is, v good excuse for everyone to book a trip to Mexico haha x

@NatW2021 glad you’ve been enjoying your break away 😊 I have my fingers and toes crossed for you! Sounds positive. 🤞🏼

welcome to the newbies xx

@Carla2601 oh congratulations! Was that your first round? How did you find it all? I’m very nervous about the injections and generally just having to get it all right in terms of timings and scans and medications. Feels like there is so much room for me to mess it up!

@FlyOnTheWall89 yes UK based and diagnosed as unexplained but told nothing more that they can do until it’s been minimum 3 years! A friend said to try to get clomid but the doctor I spoke to was definitely it going to even entertain that as I ovulate every month so feels like IVF my only real option now

@Scrambledeggz honestly, way way way better than I was expecting. You won’t get the injections wrong (you literally can’t) and they don’t hurt at all. I was incredibly lucky had one round, they got 15 eggs, 12 were mature, 12 fertilised and 9 made it to day 5 and then my first transfer was successful (so there are 8 in the freezer). I did get sick when I was around 4 weeks pregnant (basically I’d been given hormones I already produce, rightly, and I was sort for overdosed on them) and ended up in hospital for a couple of days but otherwise it was not what I’d been lead to believe. It wasn’t painful, it wasn’t scary (apart from the obvious fear it won’t work) the egg retrieval was fine (I’d never had an op before so I was worried) but all in all I’d say try to go in positive because none of it was as daunting as I thought it would be.

the other thing I should say is we had a rare but kind of lucky problem (my husband is missing a pipe) but it turned out his sperm and my eggs were in really good shape which is of course quite rare for IVF so whilst we’re always stuck with IVF our results were much better than we could have ever hoped for and I know the results vary by loads of things but mostly the condition. Ours was also identified so I guess it’s a bit easier when you know the problem you’re solving.

Do you know when you might start and have you found a clinic?

@Scrambledeggz also that three years doesn’t sound right - I thought they had to start helping much before that or they did where we live (London) so might be worth pushing them
and seeing what happens

@Scrambledeggz ah one more thing - the worst bit for me was having to be regimented. Having to be home by 7.30 every night to do my jab (although I did once do them in the theatre loo haha!). I definitely felt like it was a bit all consuming and took over but it’s not for long. And I’ll shut up now!

@Carla2601 thats so so so reassuring, thank you!! I see people discussing IVF on threads and a few people I follow on Instagram and all the scientific language and acronyms have made me very nervous about it all but you’ve made me feel a lot better!

im a bit of a homebody so shy excuse to have to be home in the evening is great with me 😁

so…we went to GP after a year and she did an internal exam there and then, and referred me for day 21 bloods, an ultrasound and husband for semen analysis. It then took a few months to get those trough and I got impatient in the meantime and had a HyCoSy with SIS and a follow up hysteroscopy ( thought there was a polyp on the HyCoSy but there wasn’t).

in that time my NHS referral to the fertility clinic came through and I went to see them a couple of weeks ago armed with all my results and the doctor literally shrugged his shoulders and said there is nothing we can do, come back when it has been 3 years.

so infuriating!!!

All our results are entirely normal, have had AMH checked, follicle scan etc. the HyCoSy and hysteroscopy showed my tubes are all clear and uterus is all good, and DH semen was also perfectly healthy (not even borderline or anything) so it’s very much unexplained

im slightly worried that maybe I have an inhospitable womb or something so even IVF may fail but I guess we won’t know until we try!

you must be sooooo pleased with those embryo numbers! I’ve not heard of anyone with so many to freeze from one go. Would you recommend the place you went? I’m looking at London clinics, or potentially going abroad as heard good things about Spain and Greece (and apparently no waiting lists at all so can get on with it quickly which is tempting me!)

Wow really long post- sorry!!

Any excuse not shy excuse!

Welcome to the newbies @Scrambledeggz and @Netflixnchilli 😊 we have a wonderful thread here full of amazing women who have all been doing it tough for a while, so you're in good company!

@Scrambledeggz I am also unexplained infertility. Been TTC for 16 months and never had a positive pregnancy test. It's the most frustrating diagnosis so I know exactly how you feel. Well done on taking control and booking in IVF though! I am in a similar position in NZ where I have to be trying for 5 years to qualify for IVF!!! What a joke! So I'm on letrozole now as last chance saloon before we have to bite the bullet and pay, but will do that at two year mark.

I have my ultrasound scan tomorrow to check how I'm doing on first round of letrozole. Hopefully it's good news and we can get back to DTD normally... we've had to use condoms since AF finished and can't say I miss those days. Felt odd to not be 'trying'!!

@Scrambledeggz i don’t know why you’ve been told 3 years. If you look at the NICE guidelines it says referral for IVF after 2 years. Remind me how long you’ve been trying? May I ask your AMH and follicle count? I wouldn’t worry about the inhospitable womb. I’ve had two children and I can’t get pregnant again and my womb must be ok as it’s done it before! I really think it’s just luck sometimes 😕 x

Hi @Netflixnchilli how long ago was it that you conceived your first child? No real issues for me. First baby, first month. Second took longer, eight months which felt like a lifetime but looking back now feels like nothing. I just wonder if my fertility was going downhill rapidly and that’s why it took 8 times as long. And we started TTC when our second was 20 months old and maybe it’s just too late. Although our test results are normal x

@BritInNZ good luck with your scan let us know how you go on.

@Scrambledeggz no problem at all - if you’re a homebody all the better (I work in music so I’m used to going to gigs in the evening and coming home late etc. so I felt a bit meh about that bit but as I say it’s really not long).

I know I haven’t either which is why I always flag we’re an unusual case as we’re putting good quality sperm with good quality eggs (hate the use of the word quality it was certainly nothing I ever did to make them ‘good’) which is of course not the norm in IVF and we’re solving a big (terminal for our chances if IVF didn’t exist) but actually really straightforward problem….it was a transportation issue really so once they were together they did their thing as they should. But yep I’d recommend my clinic. We didn’t really research as this was the clinic my husband had his surgery at so we just stuck with it. I think it’s on the expensive end so that’s something to bear in mind too. We’re at the lister in Chelsea. Although I would say you have to go every other day before work for a couple of weeks so somewhere that works location wise is also important or you’ll end up really stressed. There was no waiting list for me I actually could have started a month earlier so I guess it’s still the same now as I only called them in January and they could have started me in Feb but OH op wasn’t till later than my AF so we waited till March so I can’t imagine much has changed in that amount of time. Good luck and keep us posted!

Hello, please may I join this board? Officially at 12 months trying today and finding it really hard without a support network. We're both 30 TTC #1 with no BFP at all. Feels like everyone around me gets pregnant so easily and I hate how jealous I am! Going to contact the GP next month as DH is so optimistic he wants to wait til we're over the 12 months. I've no idea what to expect from the GP though. Any advice or tips very welcome!

@Hoping43 we’re at about 18 months but my cycles are shortish at 25 days so cycle wise I think we’re on more like 22-24 cycles!

do the local services have to stick to NICE guidelines? I was under the impression each local health authority was able to set their own rules and unfortunately where I am it’s 3 years unless you’ve got something which would definitely prevent I.e. no tubes or something.

my AMH is 19.9

I am a bit confused by follicle count to be honest…I’ve had two scans which have both said 8 on one side and 9 on the other but then I went for a follicle tracking scan last week on day 2 of my period and in the report she’s listed out 33 on the right and 15 on the left?!

@Carla2601 ah I’ve heard a lot about Lister on these boards, it’s on my list but as the other UK ones I had contacted were all suggesting July/august for initial consult I had sort of given up on the UK!

I can either WFH or work in Central so not too bothered about going in to London every other day, so might be a good option for us!

thank you!!

@FarMagic hi! I found my first appointment with the GP she was very sympathetic. She performed an internal exam on me to check my cervix I think. And then she referred me for day 21 bloods, an ultrasound and my husband for semen analysis. These took a little while to come through which was frustrating! I also then privately had a HyCoSy and AMH test.

I’ve also had multiple trans vaginal ultrasounds and a hysteroscopy following further consultations

Thank you that's very helpful and reassuring!

@Scrambledeggz ah I’m not sure. It does seem like everywhere is different but 3 years does seem a long time to wait! But I have read a lot of research which suggests that most people with unexplained infertility do get pregnant eventually and one study showed ultimately the same percentage of patients got pregnant who had fertility treatment versus those that didn’t in the end. Not sure if that’s reassuring or helpful!

I’ve only had my follicles counted once but that does sound a lot. Mine were 8 and 5 and my AMH 18.6 but my FSH was 9.6 which has been a constant worry to me x

@FarMagic welcome to the thread. I had day 3 bloods done at the GP and husband had semen analysis. They were really good and referred us to the fertility clinic once those tests were done after about 8 months of TTC. We then went to the fertility clinic where they took a lot of history and I had an internal ultrasound and follicle count etc and then waited another couple of months to see the consultant. So overall wait after referral from the GP to seeing a consultant was around 6 months. Consultant referred me for an HSG due to having a previous c section and that all came back clear. They have said they can’t find any issues and they’ll see us again after 18 months to discuss next steps. We have around 4 more months to go now until we are at the 18 month mark x

Hi @FarMagic ! I feel like this comes up a lot... the DH is more relaxed and wants to wait when in reality you could have zero chance every month and you have no idea rn. I think even if he doesn't want to have a SA just yet, you can get going with your own tests. Book your day 3 and day 21 bloods and a transvaginal ultrasound. Those 3 things, plus a SA from your OH are needed for referral to a fertility clinic at which point they'll go through your results in detail. There may be some things that come up in your own results that you can work on via vitamins / lifestyle changes. As an example I'll use what happened for us... I had all my tests and everything was coming back pretty textbook. Finally my OH went to get a SA (this was after 9 months) and it came back 0% morphology and low count. We have massively improved that since via vitamins and medication basically but we are still not pregnant and I wish we had got his SA earlier so we would have known. We are likely starting IVF in July / August. Good luck - this is a great board to be on ... we have an array of stories so lots of experience to draw from x

@Scrambledeggz I don't think I've ever heard of 3 years in the UK. That is terrible luck in terms of the location you're in. Are you taking supplements to give yourself the best possible chance (I know with these things you can never really tell)? Have a read about affordable IVF clinics... they do exist and they're not as expensive as I imagined them being. Hugs xx

@Scrambledeggz 8 and 9 sounds absolutely normal (I was 8 and 7 I think) and they’ll do a baseline scan anyway on day 3 of your cycle when you start so don’t worry too much.

The only thing I’d say about clinic prices is I never found they included drugs and I spent about £2,000 on those I think. We also had ICSI which added another £1,500. Also check where it goes up to (I had no idea embryo freezing and storage would be another £1,000) so you can make the right call. @FlyOnTheWall89 is absolutely right there’s big variation in pricing and to be honest if you read up on the lister they are experts in those complex cases other hospitals won’t take on and none of us here are anywhere near that stage yet (and hopefully won’t ever get there!).

id be amazed if you called today if they couldn’t get you a consultant appointment next week and then a nurse booking in the same week and start on your next period (depending where you are in your cycle) but I might be wrong of course. Good luck!

And to add to what @Carla2601 said, ABC in St Paul's which is now known as Create I think or they're partnered clinics could see me the following day to do scans regardless of the cycle day and then I could have started straight away. I think their prices do include meds, but there website is very clear so have a look! X @Scrambledeggz

@Hoping43 thats so interesting about treatment! I’ve not done too much research as it all just seemed to point to IVF. I’m going to do some more reading!

I’ve not paid any attention to FSH, I’ve got a 21 day blood test that says mine is 4.1- not sure if that’s good or bad. The ranges listed on the sheet are huge though I.e. luteal 1.5-9.1 which I think is the phase I was in when I had the test. It moves around tonnes though so I think yours is probably also fine?