Prep for fertility consultant apt...

[windsor22]

Hi,
We have our follow up consultant appointment (phone call) this week at the fertility centre. It’s an NHS centre but they do also offer treatment privately.
We’ve been TTC for 18 months but I have a short luteal phase (spotting from 7dpo and a luteal phase never longer than 9-11 days) and hoping to be prescribed progesterone.
My husbands tests were within normal limits other than a mildly low count (morphology and motility were fine).
I’ll also be getting my AMH result too.
Just wondering what sort of questions we should be asking and what to expect from the appointment? It’s a double slot (20 mins each) so I’m hoping we will have loads of time to ask questions and be clear about next steps.

Some things I’ve thought of already:

• timescale for assisted fertility
• would we try IUI or go straight to IVF? (I purposefully haven’t really researched this as hoping we will be able to conceive naturally?)
• waiting lists & benefits of paying for treatment privately if needed?
• what else we can do to help things? We always try in the fertile window. We are both taking supplements. Husband has made lifestyle changes to improve his count.

I’m feeling really anxious so any tips or things I might not have thought of would be really appreciated. Thank you.

Bump

Hi op.

So far, have you only had blood and semen analysis? Or have you also had HSG and ultrasound? Push for these if you've not had them.

Re. Blood results, if your amh is high, can be an indicator of PCOS; ultrasound would confirm. Letrozole is a good treatment for Pcos; I'd be asking for letrozole plus progesterone whilst you wait on fertility clinic referral. They may be hesitant eith progestetone unless you've had 2+ losses - but ask anyway.

IUI (in my opinion) has quite low success rates. Depending on your age and findings, I'd consider moving straight to IVF.

Age and findings, plus referral wait times, would also determine whether I'd be moving straight to private. Some health authorities will allow some private rounds and still offer nhs so worth looking at guidance in your area.

If any issues with your findings crop up, or you're close to 40 - I'd at least ask if you could be prioritied for referral.

In terms of what you can do, COQ10 or ubiquinol is good for egg quality (I used with pregnancare plus many other vitamins!), and impryl is proven to have positive results for sperm.

The most important thing in this process is advocating for yourself; understand as much as you can and what you can ask for (as you are doing ☺️) and push for what you think you need.

Best of luck! Sorry you are going through this, but there is hope :) I have a 17 month old from my first round of IVF :)

@windsor22 should have tagged you!