Overweight on NHS IVF

[Marimul]

I'm wondering if anyone else is going starting the same process of fertility through IVF while being overweight.

I have pcos and anxiety(currently on sertraline)
The duo causes me weight gain and has made loosing weight near impossible, I've tried everything I can financially afford. ( Had been referred for weight loss injections but nothing came of it)

I've been referred by the GP for IVF 4 weeks ago.
I have read through NHS IVF and seen the criteria, which I currently don't meet due to my weight.

My question is has anybody had this same experience and how did you manage? Did the specialist decline the IVF or did they help with weight loss? Or was there an exception?

I'm worried I won't be accepted and won't be able to get pregnant.

Any advice or experience stories welcomed.

Private clinics will allow a higher BMI because they want your cash, frankly.

I know someone who had weight loss surgery before private IVF. I know someone who had PCOS etc who basically starved herself to get NHS IVF. Both were successful.

If you want to lose weight you could start something quite extreme and do it. But if you're not going to bother go straight to private IVF. I found NHS IVF a waste of time after I finally got there - and it took forever. Good luck

Oh and I cut carbs out completely. This was the hardest part hands down, and wasn't a sensible thing to do, but I knew it wasn't going to be forever

NHS is 30 OP, that’s what’s in the NICE guidelines and unfortunately I’ve never seen an nhs trust offer up to 35. Private clinics pretty much always offer up to 35 and some beyond that if that helps. My understanding is the NHS will tell you to come back when you’re within the weight range and won’t really offer any help other than guidance on healthy eating.

Can you pay for weight loss injections to get you down to below 30? Really sorry you’re going through this.

I have PCOS - did letrozole for DD1 when BMI was under 30 but had gone up to 32.5 when I wanted to try for a second child. I was already taking metformin (2000mg). GP agreed to refer and had the initial appt with fertility clinic. They said that they were happy to do the bloods, ultrasound and semen analysis but no treatment would start until my BMI was under 30. They set the appt for 12weeks time.

I did the Michael mosley fast 800 diet (although probably did around 1000cal per day). Lost 12kg in 12 weeks. Got my BMI down to 29. Agreed that treatment could start and then found out we had conceived naturally.

Fast 800 has an app, website with recipes that creates a shopping list for you so makes it really easy. After the first week, I found it quite easy to stick to.

Good luck

Dya mind me asking how many letrozole cycles you did ?

I ask out of curiosity as we are starting letrozole cycle 3

We did 3 cycles. First cycle I didn't ovulate (2.5mg), second cycle increased to 5mg and I did ovulate but no pregnancy and then third cycle stayed at 5mg and we were successful. The plan if the third cycle didn't work was to up to 7.5mg and introduce a trigger shot but obviously we didn't need to do that one in the end. I was allowed to do up to 6 cycles before discussing moving to IVF (this was NHS in London).

Was referred by gp for nhs ivf. BMI was too high and I was near the age limit so no real way round it as I wasn’t gonna lose enough in the space of time I had.
Could have went for private IVF but decided in the end not to.
good luck!

Thanks so much 4 info

I ovulate each time
( we check progsterone and its over 30)

Clinic dont offer monitoring...

They are suggesting tube flushing... soon

Next chat is mid sept ..

We did concieve naturally in past
But was early miscarriage - maybe due to low progsterone then due to pcos

Now im 37.5

My eggs are old..

Pcos may of wrecked them

Letrozole brings fwd my ovulation and regulates my pcos cycles

Metformin helped me lose weight, but I did have to work really hard at it. I still had the occasional treat but the rest of the time I lived off plain salads and things like chicken and veg or cod and veg plus exercised twice a day 5-6 times a week. With metformin you don't want fatty greasy foods otherwise you end up with really loose bowel movements. I stopped taking it late 2019 early 2020 mainly because I was awaiting a referral to the recurrent miscarriage clinic and also wanted to give me body a rest before ttc again. After I stopped taking it my periods went absolutely haywire again and stayed like that for another 3 years. Then last year whilst on holiday I cut out all gluten and wheat. I only intended cutting it out for a week but in that time I lost nearly a stone in weight. Had a period not long after I got back home. I decided to give it a couple more months and see what difference it made. I've been gluten free for just over a year now. Yes I'm still overweight but I eat far more shite than I should do, but in the last 13 months I have had 13 pretty regular periods in that time. I say pretty regular because some months I can be maybe a week late. I'm also trying to eliminate as much dairy as possible because neither is good for PCOS

I'm on Fertility Network UK, someone posted similar there. The answer from one of the partners was (see screenshot shot). There will be many other's in a similar position to you and will have great advice and support.

That makes sense to look at the tubes. For DD1, they offered this if letrozole wasn't working after 3 cycles. For DD2, you had to have this done before treatment could start, so different places obviously have different approaches.

Good luck - it's a hard road 💐

Thank you
It is indeed