Anyone else also diagnosed with Unexplained Infertility? IUI or IVF

[seaviewasia]

Hi there, just wondered if anyone is in a similar situation to me. I have unexplained fertility, in perfect health, all my tests including FSH levels, Lap and dye tests have all been perfect. I am 34 years old and we have been TTC for 3 years. Doctors tell me I am a picture of health. I have regular 28 day cycles - almost always to the day. I have never had a missed period, been pregnant or been on the pill. My husband's tests all came back normal too. He is 39.

I was slightly underweight and in order to qualify for IVF on the NHS I have had to put on 3kg. I am half a kg away from normal weight.
I was always extremely relaxed about getting pregnant but I am beginning to feel the pressure after trying naturally for 3 years. I will be 35 in January.
I have now been referred via the NHS to have IUI/IVF but after 3 months I am still waiting for an appointment. I also have an appointment with a private clinic this week as I feel I need to move things along now.

Just wondered if anyone here has been in a similar situation. Would you have IUI first before IVF if you were in my situation?

[Pending]

DH and I were also found to be in perfect health, but after ttc for 2 years, with one miscarriage, the GP referred us to NHS fertility clinic. We were both in our late thirties, so a bit older than you OP and therefore the clock was considered to be ticking. After a lot of unsuccessful clomid (bleurgh), we had two cycles of IUI and I conceived on the second attempt. Perfectly normal pregnancy and birth ensued! But I was persuaded into a induced labour on my due date (consultant wanted to do a CS) as statistically this was considered safest. Not sure if I agree with that in retrospect, but it was an ok experience and all we really wanted was a healthy baby at the end if it.

I consider myself profoundly lucky to have conceived and had a baby (now 3yrs old). My heart goes out to all those ttc.

[amumthatcares]

We also had unexplained fetility. I was 32 and DH 31 when we started the first of three cycles of Clomid, with no success. We then moved on to hormone injections & scans and I thankfully conceived on my second attempt and had a wonderful DD.

Lots of people said that now I had been pregnant once, I would easily conceive naturally. I never did. That was 18 years ago. It was my one and only pregnancy and I have never used any form of contraception. Like Pending I consider myself to be extremely lucky and blessed to have DD. Good luck to you OP and all other couples emabarking on this journey.

[AttilaTheMeerkat]

seaviewasia,

You had a battery of tests done, what tests did they do on your H and how long ago were these done?. Tests too should be done in tandem, there seems to be a presumption that subfertility is the sole preserve of the woman by some in the NHS whereas in some cases male factor subfertility is the root cause of the problem.

Unexplained subfertility is infact no diagnosis at all; it means that they have failed to find out what is wrong. It is sometimes given to couples when not enough or adequate investigative tests (particularly on the male) have been done. Any test result over 6 months old should be discounted, both of you need up to date test results.

I would ensure as far as possible that male factor problems are properly looked at by the hospital as possible cause for the subfertility; one semen analysis for instance is in no way conclusive of there not being any problems.

[changeforthebetter]

Hi, did both and thankfully successful. I know MN sages will accuse me of being woo, but I swear acupuncture made a difference. I had a Chinese doctor who specialised in fertility issues. She was also registered with the professional body her (sorry, can't remember name).

[seaviewasia]

pending & amumthatcares

Thanks for both your posts. pending your post gave me hope.
I am waiting for my AF which is due this week so I can start Clomid and then have iui. I am realistic but hopeful that this could work. I am prepared to move onto IVF if this doesn't work. I just don't know how long a journey this might be.

amumthatcares your story about only being pregnant once is an interesting one. My mother had 3 children. She never used contraception to the best of my knowledge and the age gaps between my siblings are 10 and 8 years! I often wonder if fertility is inherited.

attila my DH have also had sperm tests. He has had 3 tests in total and they have all been normal. I do understand that unexplained infertility is not really a true diagnosis, just that they don't know. I have friends who had the same diagnosis and after 7 IVFs and 2 IUIs, still no children. I think some people are perhaps just not compatible. I am hoping that DH and I are not one of them.

In the meantime, I am waiting for AF...

[seaviewasia]

changeforthebetter I am also having herbs and acupuncture. It hasn't made me pregnant so far but my periods have improved a lot - from very painful to full of clots (sorry if this is just too much info!) to v little pain to almost no clots. I will keep at it for the IUI too.

[MarieMar]

Hi All,

I thought I'd join in as I'm feeling a bit low at the moment (thought I might be pg but have gotten some spotting on CD30)...

I'm 31 and my DH is almost 40, and we've been TTC for 1.5 years. I know that I'm (relatively) young in fertility years, but I've had the wind knocked out of me by my mother getting cancer and wanting her to see grandchildren before it might be too late. I'm worried I've started my TTC journey late, as it took my mother 6 years to have a full-term pg, and she started when she was only 24!

It just feels like the process is so long, as we're in the 'unexplained fertility' bracket - all tests fine (Day 2 and 21 bloods, LH, FSH, HSG), and we've gotten as far as GP -> gyno, but not to consultant/assisted conception specialist. I've had 2 stressful trips to the gyno already, and they've given me an appointment to speak to them in October, which would just be a follow-up with them! Not even the referral for an assisted conception specialist yet, which I understand could take months even to book a date, after which it could take months to actually start the IVF/IUI process!

Could anyone tell me how long their NHS referral process (and the IVF / IUI process as a whole!) took them? I really can't afford it, but is this one of those things where it's worth going private? Can anyone recommend specific private clinics that I can at the very least have a consultation with? Sorry all, for writing such a stressy message, but it's been so hard keeping all this to myself and my DH, and I could really use the advice . Thanks for any you can offer!

[whiskymiller]

Hi

I'm 32 and my DB is 34, I thought I would say hello we have ttc for about 3.5 years, all tests for us are normal we have been through a few cycles of clomid and unfortunately I have had 2 MC and an ectopic which has resulted in a tube being removed. All this means is like others on here we are also in the 'unexplained fertility' bracket.

We have been referred to IVF on the NHS. All tests were done by January 2013 and we were referred to Hammersmith early Feb. I had my first appointment at Hammersmith last week and my co ordination appointment is booked for July so things seem to be moving very quickly.

It can take ages to be referred though I think we first went to our GP in 2009 when I had my first MC and started going for tests in 2010. I seemed to be on clomid for ages and I think it was only a change of consultant that stopped all that and referred us for IVF straight away thankfully!

I am now more hopeful about getting pregnant as I have had no faith for a long time.

Good Luck to all you ladies and men on here I hope we all get our little miracles xxxxx

[EuroShaggleton]

marie for us it was just under a year from the first GP appointment to the point when we could have started IVF (but we decided to put it off for a few months for our own reasons). The timing seems to vary hugely from area to area. If you have the money, going private would be likely to speed things up.

[MarieMar]

Hi EuroShaggleton, thanks very much for the response! Sounds like you had a bit of a speedier journey, but perhaps you'd been trying for longer than 1.5 years? Did you end up doing IVF/IUI privately or via the NHS?

[MarieMar]

Whiskymiller: you sound like you've had an arduous time of it... Really crossing my fingers for you that your July appt leads to good things! Haven't been recommended Clomid by my gyno as I seem to be ovulating like clockwork, and they say that it isn't suitable in that situation. Only time / an actual fertility specialist will tell, I guess!

[nettleshipe]

My DH and I had been trying for 2 years and were put on Clomid. We became pregnant on the second month using this but had a heartbreaking miscarriage after 9 weeks. We have now been ttc for a further 3 months. Still had a few months left of Clomid due to the pregnancy in the mean time but I have just come on and will be using my last 5 tablets up this cycle which is terrifying.
Went to our clinic a couple of weeks ago and they have referred us for IUI.
I am so scared and so depressed.

[nettleshipe]

oh I should add, I am also unexplained infertility and both of us have clear results.

[BlindKitty]

nettleshipe apart from your very sad mc, we are in exactly the same boat (2 years ttc, clomid, unexplained and awaiting iui). Feel quite lost myself atm. Have you had your amh checked? I haven't but lots if people on here seem to have.

[Happilymarried155]

Nettle ship and kitty, I have been ttc for 2 and a half years now. Can honestly say its been the most frustrating and heartbreaking time of my life. We too are unexplained, due to finally start iui next week. It's been a long hard road but now we are starting treatment I feel a little better.

Try and keep positive and tell yourself that one day you will have a baby! I would have gone insane by now if I didn't have faith that it would happen one day! Good luck

[BlindKitty]

happily oooh good luck! Can I ask if you've had any scans or amh checked?

[Happilymarried155]

Yes had them both all fine, it's really frustrating to think there is nothing wrong and it just isn't happening. I try not to think about it! What tests have you had?

[BlindKitty]

Well had the usual blood tests and a Hsg but never had a trans vaginal or amh, amongst goodness knows how many others. Did you get them on the nhs? I'm wondering whether I can just get them done privately if my nhs consultant refuses

[Happilymarried155]

Yes had them done on the nhs on my very first appointment at the fertility clinic. Think the scan is quite important, they told me I had loads of eggs, look for cysts and check the shape of your cervix and things.
Have you had your referral yet? I had to really push for mine and ended up changing doctors in the end!

[BlindKitty]

Yes, I've been under a fc since sept yet never offered either of those. I'm going to contact her tomorrow. If she refuses, do you think I should just get them done privately?

[Happilymarried155]

I would definitely enquire to why they haven't been done. I thought it was common practice up do both of these first. Have you had a hycosy yet?

[BlindKitty]

No, just a Hsg. I'm sure there's something she's missing

[eurozammo]

Marie we'd been trying for 6 months when we went to the GP initially (although we hadn't been using contraception, just rhythm/withdrawal for a long time before that), and 18 months when we first got to IVF.

I did 2 rounds of IUI privately as it wasn't offered on the NHS in my area. They didn't work.

I then started long protocol IVF for my NHS round last summer. I had an awful time downregging and quit the cycle.

We took a few months off AC and went for (private) natural IVF at Create in Jan. One egg, one embryo, BFP, although I went on to miscarry.

I'm now in the 2ww after a cycle of natural modified IVF (low dose stimms) which produced 4 eggs and 2 embies.

We'll give natural IVF one more go in the summer if this doesn't work, and then reassess.

kitty I'm surprised you haven't been given a scan. That was one of the first tests I had and shows a lot of things- ovaries (so they can look for cysts or polycystic appearance), womb (fibroids), womb lining (thickness), etc. I don't think all NHS areas test AMH though. Mine was done privately. I think most clinics use either HSG or hyscosy, and it's not common to have both.

[BlindKitty]

euro tbh I'm thinking about just paying for one. Can u ask why you had to drop out of the first ivf? Just trying to understand it better. Really hope this cycle works for you!

[eurozammo]

The downregging drugs hugely affected me. I was depressed and anxious and like another person really. I had almost every side effect listed in the packet and woke up every day I was on the drugs feeling like I just couldn't go on. A lot of people feel "a bit down" on the drugs but I have only ever come across two people online who have had such an extreme reaction. My husband and I decided that if that is what I had to go through to have a baby, it wasn't for us. And then we moved clinics to one (Create) that takes a more holistic, low drug approach, and I have been fine.