Any tips or advice? TTC for nearly 1 year and losing hope...

[Tryingtobepatient001]

Hi there! I'm a newbie to mumsnet although have lurked in the background for a while. A bit of background - my partner and I have been TTC for nearly a year now, we're both 38. We've had initial fertility tests - his looked pretty good, high count and motility although morphology isn't great. My AMH isn't bad for my age, but had a transvaginal scan and I have cyst on one ovary and potentially a heart shaped uterus.
I'm losing hope, as I feel like we've literally tried EVERYTHING. I measure BBT on natural cycles every month, I do LH tests. Trying to follow SMEP and DTD lots in fertile window. I'm taking so many supplements I'm sure I rattle (including Unbiqunol, high vit D, folic acid etc), and this month to add to the mix, I had my first session of acupuncture.
I'm a self confessed control freak, so am finding this super hard. If anyone has any other tips on what we can do, that would be amazing! It's looking like it might end up being IVF, but would love to try and conceive naturally if possible!
Thanks in advance for anyone reading this x

*history of PID (pelvic inflammatory disease) not PIV, though I do also have a history of that but hope it wouldn't affect my fertility 🤣

Do you think it would be worth going private for this?

When I was going through this, pre-covid, I worked abroad part of each year and paid privately there for the testing. I was fed up with the long waits in the UK, plus my GP being so dismissive of my concerns. DH and I have STI blood tests, he had a semen test, I had a hycosy.

I still had to wait to see the fertility consultant in the UK, but they accepted all the tests I'd had abroad. I vaguely think that before I even got to the fertility specialist, I had to wait for my GP to get approval for my IVF on the NHS. I can't recall which happened first though- but I still had to wait for things.

You can also do the entire testing and then IVF if needed as a private patient. I don't know where you are, but these are the prices at Guys to give you an idea:
https://guysandstthomasprivatehealthcare.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Self-funded-price-list-2023.pdf

I'm not sure why they want you to wait for 12 weeks after your scan. Do you mean ring them back in 3mths- to then book an appointment?

We’ve been referred to the fertility clinic from the GP (although unsure if that means we’ve been approved for funding or not?!)
When I went in for my scan and bloods I was told it’s a 10-12 week wait for a meeting with the consultant, so that gets us to around start Oct. Randomly we’ve had all results back earlier though (shared on an app). Dr Google came to the rescue then!

My DH (47) and I (37) had been trying for a year with no success, fertility tests were all fine so we decided to keep trying for a few months but still nothing happened. We decided to go straight for IVF (went private as didn't want to faff around with NHS waiting lists) and everything has gone really smoothly so far, currently 6+4 after fresh embryo transfer and first scan in a week. I do wonder whether we would have eventually conceived naturally if we'd kept going but I'm sure there must have been something stopping it.

Anyway, I have no regrets and we now have a few good quality embryos frozen as well if we decide to have another, or if this one doesn't work out.

Wishing you ever success whatever you decide to do.

That’s so positive to hear! We’ve given ourselves until Oct for the first NHS consultation then depending on what they say we will go private. We can only really afford one time for private so if we can get a round for free I’d like to try that first. Although let’s see how impatient I get! Did you do anything to prepare yourself for IVF? I’ve read it starts with the egg and am trying to be as healthy as possible, not too sure what else I can do.

Any updates OP? Xx