Assisted Conception and the bits inbetween

[soosy]

Welcome to the new thread I only hope I can link it to the old one

Oh Rah Rah I have heard of similar things being quite common, I know its really cross making when people say, you just have to relax, but maybe by starting the IVF process you took the pressure off, facile argument I know, but I am keeping my fingers crossed for you.

OAP How annoying, when you finally get organised to have someone beat you to it!

I have had the most bizarre af and am worried after all my IVF that I am heading for the menopause as I had normal, although light af followed by a week of spotting. I haven't had any hot flushes, but I have a face full of teenage acne. I am at the moment putting it down to all the stress of the move, but will be grilling my doc when I see him on the 3rd Oct.

love to you all

Sx

Not quite the method of success this thread was hoping for Rah Rah but we'll take it all the same. Finger's crossed for you.

Soosy, glad you have closed the deal, and I am sure your cycle is crazy due to stress. Whenever I go to India I stop menstruating completely and start as soon as I get home. Also when I last moved I had an extended cycle. I think stress does play a part in your cycle - which is not to say it has an impact on fertility . . . am I on shaky ground here? I guess what I am saying is I have experienced stress related irregularities, but they are never long lasting so don't worry too much.

Glad to hear you are back in the saddle OAP, I am hoping to join you in November.

Sooty thanks I am not going to get too anxious at the moment and hope it will all sort itself out next month. You are hoping to start a cycle in November, great month, I got married in November, it rained! I hope Rah Rah is going to be like a bus, IYSWIM, with several coming along at once!

S x

Thanks everyone. So pleased to hear positive information about people also getting pregnant whilst on down reg. I think the clinic are just being cautious, but they have made me panic a bit that the drugs might have done some damage.
soosy - I hope I'm the first of many buses, but nice slinky new ones that are streamlined! Not an old fat knackered ones!

rah I love the way you never do anything by halfs!! I am so pleased that both your DH is in one piece (mega scary) and that the test was positive. It must happen a bit, as our clinic say thats one of the reasons for the Day 4 blood test, to make sure you are not pregnant. I have everything crossed for you. You seriously deserve this, just relax keep breathing in and out!!

OAP yeah there are quite a few of us downregging at the moment then.

soosy thanks for asking. It is going OK, apart from a chesty cough and a stomach upset that have made the last few days really tough. I am pretty short tempered, like I am wired on Caffine.

After the first injection I have had no more reactions and just do them in bed in the morning about 30min before getting up.

I am expecting AF any day, because if there had been no drugs, it would have started tuesday.

I have to admit that having already had a baby I have this lovely baby belly aka "chubby tyre" to stick the needles in!! (I am a size 10/12 btw) I would hate to be doing this if I was skinny. I am not sure I would be so brave then!!!!

Has anyone else downregging moved on to the next stage??

Hi Guys

Just a quick update, had a M/C yesterday. Confirmed by scan, was 6 weeks. So very early but incredibly painful. I was a bit scared in case it was an ectopic, but thankfully all tubes were clear.

Very gutted and disappointed, I think I had got a bit carried away with myself and even had a quick look at prams. GRRR

The hospital telephoned my clinic and they said I can start the IVF again in 2-3 months, but we will have to see how we feel, as emotionally I feel very low at the moment.

Thanks for all your message of support.

Love Rah Xx

So sorry for you Rah Rah .

How awful RahRah. Thinking of you.

RahRah, so sorry to hear about your m/c . I had been keeping quiet when you posted because exactly the same thing happened to me but I also m/c. I was down regging, no AF, went for scan thinking I had a cyst and there was a baby. I also lost mine at 6 weeks. Totally devastating.

Take care.

oh Rah and Spongebrain - I'm so sorry for you both - must be absolutely gutting. I'm thinking of you both. it's all just so unfair.

Lots of love to you both xxx

Actually Rah Rah I remember the nurse saying to me that I should avoid becoming pregnant when downregging as the drugs would probably cause me to miscarry . . . not great news, but if you do have to wait 2 - 3 months before you go on IVF - maybe you will get lucky? After all it's happened before . . .

Thanks guys...

I asked the nurse specifically at our IVF session i we should use contraception and she said no. I could bloody kill her! GRRR

Sorry to hear about your M/C too spongebrainbigpants. Big Hugs.. I can't believe the same thing happened to us both. Totally gutting!

Hope everyone else is OK and thanks for all the messages.. XX

oh rahrah I am so sorry for you. Life can be so unfair. But be uplifted by the fact that you did manage to conceive again naturally. WE werne't told to avoid sex either, although in our case it would be a minor miracle for me to get pregnant.

My AF finally arrived Saturday, so blood test on Tuesday to see if downreg is working. I am having very few side effects, which is a real answer to prayer. Although I had very few hormones there to downreg in the first place!!!!!!

It was 29 days from my last period, which is the longest time for over 18 months!

So hopefully we start phase 2 next week, but I am not counting any chickens until I get the blood test back.

Rahrah and sooty, interesting about the conflicting advice - nothing was mentioned to us about contraception during DR either, although I think it was generally believed that it was completely impossible for me to conceive naturally so I don't think we'd have taken the advice seriously anyway.

My consultant did assure us that the drugs had played no part in the m/c but whether that is true or not we'll never know. Or was she just trying to make us feel better?

Heartbreaking rahrah, absolutely heartbreaking.

Nappy, fingers crossed for your blood test results.

May I hijack a little please?

I am trying to get some advice on the best way forward with ttc. For those of you who have gone the private route, did you just call up a decent clinic and go speak to them? If I make an appointment at a fertility clinic will they tell me honestly if I would be better off trying to conceive naturally? It's just that I need someone qualified to tell me whether it would be best for me to go for IVF or not and I don't qualify for NHS treatment so might as well go private from the start.

Thanks in advance.

Rahrah I am sorry to hear your news.

Hi unituber, I would see if you can find someone to recommend you a clinic if poss - if you don't know anyone personally then fertility friends has a clinic review section:

clinic reviews

Worth checking out.

The HFEA also has alot of info on their site, here HFEA.

Go and visit the clinics too. We actually had initial consultations with two clinics - worth doing if you can afford it - which was great cos we then knew that we'd picked the best one for us. We didn't go for the one with the best results either, we went for the one that felt right. Hard to put your finger on really but you'll know (are the staff friendly, do they call you back promptly, etc).

Do you have a clinic in mind?

Thank you spongebrain

I'm thinking about ACU at UCH.

It seems to get good results, is in a handy location and (for some unknown reason) I like the fact that it is attached to an NHS hospital.

Do you just call up and go? I'm not even sure that IVF is right for us. Would they take us through all of that?

Were your initial consultations with a consultant? I guess the advantage of going to a clinic to talk about the future is that if we did decide to go for IVF at least we would already be in the system...

Hi Everyone,

Just wondering if anyone knows wether 'natural ivf' is available on the NHS? I am not too keen in the 'full monty' unless it is absolutely necessary!

Also, does anyone have experience of Dr. Nargund's natural IVF at her CReate clinic in London...

any info would be very welcome!

Unituber get your GP to refer you, some ACU's won't see you straight away as the tests are done in Gynae. I would go NHS, at least for the tests as you don't really want to pay for the tests even if you decide to go private later.

ChoChosan, I think St George's in Tooting does some natural IVF.
Rah Rah, I was so very sorry to hear your news and you spongebrain. I hope you are being kind to yourselves. sending lots of love to you both.

Hello to everyone else, I am just hanging around waiting for the appointment!

Sx

Unfortunately I don't think the NHS will help me, Soosy. At least not on any decent timescale.DH and I are both "fertile" as the NHS defines it. We already have a child. I have been pregnant a lot (x3) this year and so we don't really need a lot of the standard tests. The only issue is that I have had 2 ectopics in the last few months and am now down to my last tube, which looks fine from the outside but who knows. I have previously been told I don't qualify for an HSG on the NHS as I "do get pregnant". What a crock. Anyway, for me IVF might be a way of reducing my chances of another ectopic (as it is absolutely heartbreaking every time), and of assisting things in happening more quickly but that's what I need to speak to the Drs about.I would have thought a private ACU would see me right away since I would be footing the bill, no? UCH claims to have no waiting list.

Afternoon all:

Update from the South coast: Had Day 4 blood test today and we are officially suppressed and have just done my first injection of puregon. Which was fun. This is the first injection that actually made me bleed man that needle is long! I have to do the rest in the mornings starting tomorrow, but at least my other injection bureselin) goes down to half the dose.
Scans are Wed and Fri next week. we shall have to see what happens - grow eggies grow.....

Other stuff: Told nurse about rah today, as she mentioned doing a preg test on my blood if I was not suppressed. She was gutted for you too and said that they get about 5-6 a year at the clinic, but they don't necessarily miscarry. Apparently the reason is that the suppressant drug gives your body a sort of kick as in "hang on here comes the menopause quick dump and extra egg in there". I hope that makes sense. anyway just thought you guys might appreciate the info.

UniTuber - sorry to hear about your eptopics. that must be very distressing. Our clinic did an open day that was helpful to get a feel for the place without committing funds. Personally I love the fact that ours is a purely fertility centre and NOT attached to a hospital. Policy about drugs and staff etc is set by them and not by a higher power. the vibe of the place is fab and everyone is very friendly and supportive and take a personal interest. There is also a 24hr on call doctor in case of any problems. The down side I suspect it is more expensive maybe.

ChoChoSan Our clinic does not do natural IVF, as they feel the cost involved is not a fair cost for the chances of success. With only the 1 egg to use it really limits the chances, but obviously the labour costs for the extractions/ implantation are the same. And result statistics are apparently not great. Or something like that.

Sorry for the long post girls!

Unituber I can understand your wish for not going the nhs route, and I am with you a clinic attached to a NHS hospital means they have everything to hand. UCH is a good hospital and I think it highly likely you will get pg so I would worry less about the clinic in your instance.

Nappy valley where are you on the South Coast? Do you have doctor called Carole Gilling-Smith???

I am in Sunny Southampton. I don't know that doctors name, sorry.

hello all. sorry for the long silence. Various reasons including no time to get online. I haven't caught up on everyone's news since I was last around (august, I think) but I wanted to let you know what's been happening in my world.

we had another cycle with a poor harvest (I blame the rain) in early september. We ended up with 1 decent embryo out (plus one low grade which was also put back) of 10 eggs. I tested last friday, and would you believe it, BFP! I was so sure it hadn't worked. I still don't believe it. So goes to show, you only need one.

How's everyone here? I'll try and browse through your news in the next few days.

Hi Guys

NappyValley - thanks for the info. So looks like I M/C for other reasons than for down reg. My clinic have not even bothered contacting me, so they have not suggested anything. Still getting a slight positive pregnancy test, but nothing like my original 4 pregnancy tests when I first found out. So hormones must be nearly out my body.... I had a slight wobble yesterday where I had convinced myself I must still be pregnant and the scan was completely wrong and I felt sick and had sore boobs... but its pretty evident its just a normal natural m/c, no major miracles etc happening here!
To top it all off a good friend annouced she is 12/13 weeks and has only been married 3 months and got pregnant by mistake... I am naturally pleased for her but I can't help but feel bitter & frustrated!

spongebrainbigpants - do you mind me asking when you had your M/C and are you doing IVF at the moment. Sorry I have completely lost where everyone is up too.

swerve - many congratulations on your BFP... It only takes one little miracle!

Hello to everyone else... hope everyone is well. XX