Over two years TTC

[KatY2610]

Hello

Just looking for some shared experiences really so I can feel less alone in my journey! My husband and I have been trying to conceive since our wedding in October 2020 with no luck. We've had one chemical pregnancy about a year ago but nothing since.

We made the call to our doctor a year ago and it's taken a long time going through all the blood tests and repeat blood tests, pelvic scans etc and my husband's just had his repeat semen analysis which we're awaiting results for. We're waiting for the fertility clinic to make contact as we've been referred so it's just a waiting game while we continue trying.

So far I've found I have a Vitamin D insufficiency and my prolactin is abnormally high (853 miu/L) so I'm also being referred to endocrinology. My husband also had reduced morphology (but let's see what the repeat test says!)

We keep going, hoping and wishing for our turn to come <3

I wish you good luck. I am already feeling antsy at 6 months so I can only imagine..
Are you eligible for ivf considering you have been ttc for 2 years?

Just wanted to wish you luck . It's been 17 + years for me with one loss a few months ago.
I also have high prolactin levels which can interfere with ovulation. I do have pcos also so my issue is not entirely due to high prolactin. Are your prolactin levels causing any symptoms?
My other half also has morphology issues.

Hi Jennifer thank you! I wish you luck too. 6 months isn't too far in so hopefully all is fine for you and you get your bfp soon :) I still had hope up until about 2 years in when I really started to feel like maybe it's just not meant to be for me, but I now feel like at least investigations are underway now and things are happening and hopefully something can be done to help get us there. We don't know about IVF yet as we're still waiting for the fertility clinic to contact us, but I imagine they'll want my GP and an endocrinologist to investigate my high prolactin first. I know there's medication that can reduce it and it's very possible it could be stopping me from being able to implant so who knows... if they can reduce it maybe I'll conceive naturally after all this time! I think as long as my prolactin is normal and if I still can't conceive then we would probably have to try IUI a few times before IVF xx

Thank you MK85! I'm so sorry you've had such a long journey and I'm sorry for your loss too. So far I've not had any physical symptoms of high prolactin that I can definitely put down to that. I've had a weird and stressful 3 years since the start of the first lockdown for various reasons so I think chronic stress may be the cause, even though I feel a lot better mentally than I have in all that time (who knows, maybe my prolactin used to be a lot higher!). I have always had regular cycles and suddenly from the start of the first lockdown I started to get a lot more frequent spotting in the lead up to my period. That seemed to get better after a while, but then my cycles started to become a lot longer and were averaging over 40 days which is so unlike what I'm used to. They are back to normal now thankfully, but still getting the week or so of spotting before my period is due so I think it's possible all of this could be related to stress and raised prolactin. In all this time I've still ovulated monthly and my blood tests confirm I am, as well as my pelvic scans.

Hi @KatY2610
I’ve been TTC since August 2020. Unfortunately I’ve had 6 losses in that time.

I was referred to my local fertility clinic after about a year (and a lot of fighting) and started clomid in August 2022. Before starting the clomid my husband had a great sperm result, but my tests showed that I didn’t ovulate every cycle. I conceived on my first clomid cycle, but only until 6 weeks.

I then started miscarriage investigations with my fertility clinic and found I had high prolactin in November 2022 of 740. All my other tests came back fairly normal. I then had a laparoscopic investigation in March, where they found I had endometriosis and a nodule. They removed it all and I am now recovering from surgery.

I had my repeat prolactin test yesterday, unfortunately 10 mins before the test, one of my surgical sites popped its stitches. I had a total panic and was sat crying and really worked up as they did the blood test - so I am not expecting a great result from that!!! I then had to go to the hospital for them to stitch me back up.

I’ve got a follow up appointment with my fertility clinic in a few weeks to go through my next steps from here (post endo and hopefully not a too high prolactin!!)

Hi Kitty thanks for your reply. I'm so sorry to hear about your multiple losses. I lost mine at 6 weeks too, exactly a year ago. I have been thinking about how much prolactin could be impacting my ability to conceive and carry. Oh bless you that sounds like an ordeal! I hope your follow up appointment goes well and that your prolactin levels have reduced (fingers crossed for you).

Quick update... my husbands repeat semen analysis came back with even more reduced morphology than before at 2%. The results indicate subfertility so we're going to do what we can to improve this while we await next steps.

Is he taking any supplements at the moment? My husband has been trained to take his every morning and knows he is only allowed to wear his baggy pants! He’s also on a limited cycling allowance and has been banned from all Lycra when cycling!!!!

The result took an age to come back - but I’ve just checked the NHS app and it’s gone down to 255. My thyroid has also come back as normal, so I am hoping when I have my appointment at the end of the month, I will be advised to start clomid again.

Hi OP I hope you are well. I hope you dont mind me asking how things are going. As for me I have been told I have high prolactin so further checks are ongoing. Its been just over two years now ttc and no luck other half been waiting for referral for tests but i keep telling him he needs to chase or atleast check if he has even been referred sigh...just feel like in the only one ttc sometimes and he aint bothered. We are both in our 30s with no children.

Hi KittyWitty sorry for not responding back in April (can't really believe it's been that long!). My husband has been taking multi vitamins for several months now yes. I had my repeat prolactin test come back with a reading of 367 mIU/L so it came way down. My GP put the increase down to stress.

Hi carsty thanks so much for asking and I'm sorry it's taken me a while to respond. I completely feel your pain and just know you're absolutely not alone in this! It's one thing after another but I promise that eventually you'll get there with all the tests you need.

So my prolactin levels came down after a repeat test in June, which is good. My GP put the increase down to stress (I was going through a lot at the time on top of all the fertility issues).

So that was back in June, and then I finally had my first appointment with the fertility clinic and they organised more blood tests for me to look for causes of miscarriage. One of those came back slightly raised (anti-cardiolipin antibodies) which can indicate a condition that causes miscarriage. It's been 12 weeks since that test so I can now get a repeat and if it's still raised they'll diagnose me. I think it's treatable with aspirin if that is the case (helps stop the blood clotting).

So I've also today been for a HyCosy. This is a test to check for any issues with the fallopian tubes. It involves a pelvic ultrasound and they insert a fluid with dye in and the aim is for the fluid to go through the fallopian tubes and you can see on the ultrasound if the fluid goes in and comes out the other side. For some people it's mildly uncomfortable but for me it was super painful :( and they couldn't get any dye through either of my tubes. They are going to repeat again next month because it's either caused by fully blocked fallopian tubes, or they went into spasm and contracted so nothing could get through. If it happens again next month, I'll have to go for a laparoscopy to have a camera inserted through key-hole surgery to physically assess if there's any blockage or damage to my tubes.

Basically, bit of a shit day and I'm not looking forward to having it done again but I'm kind of hoping this might actually give me a cause to why I can't seem to conceive. Hoping it means we're moving towards being able to receive the right treatment (whether clearing my tubes or IVF - but they won't allow me IVF until 36 months after my last miscarriage, taking me to 2025 😮)