Following successful donor embryo transfer, how long to continue taking recommended medications?

[Needingadviceandhelp]

Can I ask you all for advice?
I live in the UK.
Following a successful transfer of a frozen donor embryo at a clinic overseas, and now at 7 weeks, for how long have specialists been advising that one should be continuing with taking the he recommended medications in this situation - in my case these are prednisolone tablets, clexane injections, progesterone pessaries and oestrogen pessaries.
The overseas clinic have finished their job, and have told me to continue with the services in the UK.
However the GP is not helpful, and has been reluctant to help me find an expert in my area of country with the right knowledge and skills and who is happy to take on a pregnant patient who have had their fertility treatment overseas.
I really need to source that advice, especially regarding how many weeks post-conception one should continue with taking the medications. I never thought this would be so difficult.
I am very keen to hear what others in a similar position to me have been advised to do.
I am still seeking out medical help in the UK. I am happy to go private and to travel elsewhere in the UK for advice.
Thank you all.

@Needingadviceandhelp Congrats on your pregnancy! My first suggestion is for you to contact your clinic and ask them how long to continue the medication for, although you've probably already done this! They really should have given you the information and prescriptions for the medication that you need.

Another option would be to contact a uk fertility clinic although they usually also finish with patients at 7 weeks. My clinic told me to stop progesterone pessaries at 12 weeks, clexane at 12 weeks and oestrogen tablets at 9 weeks if that helps.

Hopefully someone else will have advice too.

Thank you very much ingkir. That information is really helpful, and appreciated. The fertility clinic in Europe did a great job in getting a pregnancy underway but they think that after 6-7 weeks the care should be closer to home and taken on by obstetric services in the home country (which as you say is what UK fertility services also do). The trouble is that UK clinics seem less keen on taking on people who have gone, under their own steam, abroad after multiple failed attempts here. The NHS and the government really don't seem to have caught up at all with what people in this country are having to do to have any chance of a baby and how incredibly strong the associated anxiety is, and in the UK there surely should be easier access to good quality information about what to do. A lot of private clinics demand a GP referral, which it may be hard to get from the GP. Really really pleased though that things are going well now.

Sorry it's been such an anxious time for you. Have you referred to the midwife service in your area yet? You should have a booking appointment around 8 weeks so you could talk to the midwife then and see if they can refer you to an nhs consultant.

The clinic abroad should have prescribed enough medication to last for as long as they say it's needed. The fact is their health system will work differently to the NHS and in other European countries I have lived in early pregnancy is much more monitored than in the UK. I currently live in Spain, when friends are pregnant they go to the gynaecologist at the first missed period and have an internal ultrasound scan to confirm the pregnancy and rule out an ectopic pregnancy.
I've had IVF treatment in Spain and previously in the UK. Spain is streets ahead of the UK for women's health and healthcare in general is more proactive. But the European clinics taking money from women resident in the UK should not just get them pregnant and leave them effectively stranded in the UK system without prescribing enough medication. Even if they charge more for further prescribing services they need to factor in the completely different (public) health system. If you have a patient coordinator speak to them. Mine did not believe me at first that no, my UK GP would not do blood tests to measure my hcg levels a few days apart in my successful treatment round , they wouldn't do them at all. My NHS booking in appointment was scheduled for when I was 12 weeks pregnant. Other areas vary.

OP congratulations on your pregnancy, at this point you could Google your local NHS hospital trust to see what their policy is but if you're willing and able to go private search for a private obstetrician near you and get an appointment.
I can hear your frustration at the GP service but what you're looking for is not really something they provide.
Once in the NHS system the care can be good but it's these early weeks that you are somewhat in limbo.

By the way I only took progesterone in my successful treatment, up until 13 weeks.

I had my DS by donor egg ivf. Really very important that you continue with the hormone-based meds (progesterone and oestrogen) until the placenta has developed enough to support the pregnancy, so 12-13 weeks. Normally the corpus luteum would be doing this but in a donor egg pregnancy there is no corpus luteum.

I took medrol till 20 weeks. Cant remember for clexane but someone will be along who does.

However, since you're unsure, I would call the overseas clinic and just ask them to reiterate the instructions for the meds so you know what you need to do while you're getting sorted with medical support here. They should have no problems clarifying.

Then just tell your GP you need to book on with a midwife as you're pregnant, and once you have a midwife ask to be under the obstetrics consultant's care as a higher risk pregnancy because its donor egg ivf.

And congratulations on your pregnancy - may it bring you all the joy you thought you wouldn't have!

Congratulations on your pregnancy!

I echo what others have said - the overseas clinic should provide the prescriptions and information you need to cover you going forward. They can't just abandon you at this point. I'd be in touch with them first thing Monday asking for the information and relevant prescription (again if you already have).

What country was your treatment in, did you say? I ask because every country will have its own regulations and you could check them to see what their regulations say about shared care/transferring back to UK.

I continued progesterone and estrogen until about 12 weeks and then weaned off over two weeks (more for my peace of mind than them).

Hope all goes well - I conceived with donor embryo and am happy to DM with others with similar experiences x

Thank you very much all of you. The country I went to was Greece. I think they do find it difficult to fathom why the UK NHS behaves the way it does.
I accept that the NHS may not want to pay for my ongoing care, but it is hard to accept that they don't seem to want to refer me to someone privately who will deal with things for me.
Once again, thank you all for such helpful advice, which I will act on.

I hope it works out for you @Needingadviceandhelp - the NHS can't say they won't treat you because you had the IVF abroad - but they can say they'll only treat you in line within the NICE guidelines, which generally do not offer a lot of very early pregnancy interventions because a lot of the interventions are not well evidenced.

Hi Nell80 or others -
Im starting treatment soon for frozen egg transfer with donor egg. I'm undecided whether to go natural cycle no oestrogen just progesterone or medicated route with oestrogen patches (less side effects) apparently.

Did you take oestrogen 12 weeks with progesterone 12 weeks. I'm concerned about oestrogen side effects as a long time to take. Any suggestions appreciated. Thank you

All I know is that you need to continue progesterone until at least 12/13 weeks, as that is when the placenta takes over.

I don't know much about the other meds you are on I'm afraid.

It does seem though like surely the NHS have some kind of duty of care to you now, as you have been discharged from the clinic. What do they expect you to do? Sounds like it's being poorly managed. I think in your position I would keep seeing different GP's until one of them listened/ understood, because ideally you need to get this advice from a medical professional, not mumsnet.

i will say that when I was pregnant, even NHS and a private gynaecologist had different opinions on how long I should take it.

I am only on progesterone and oestrogen. My clinic recommends taking both until 12 weeks. I don’t think the evidence for the need to take them is particularly strong but clinics recommend it to be on the safe side.