what's your experiences of GP giving sick notes for ivf treatment?

[herewegoagain18]

Hi there
Have name changed for this

I have been reffered for my first (and only) funded ivf cycle. I have not told my employers as they are not very understanding or i feel very discreet.

I work in care and deal regularly with clients with dementia /alzheimers and mental health issues.

The job can be very physical as even with using correct training to safely move people i can feel the strain as those with the above issues are not able to support themselves properly.

I also use public transport during the day to get to and from work and to the clients and am rushing to try to keep to appointment times as they dont really give you enough time to get to and from one call to the next!

I feel that taking the time off following transfer will be beneficial as i wont be rushed , stressed and when manovuering people constantly worrying did i just do any harm or feel every little niggle, ache or pain is a sign i have overdone things.

I filled out a holiday form to cover the tww after e.t give to my employer and (after they questioned dates) i have said i am having a procedure done and its personal.
They are insisting i take this off as sick instead of using holiday so i dont use it all up on this. I appreciate that in a way.

But the point of booking it off is so i can relax in the knowledge its all authorised (well ahead of time) and planned for and not to have to give explanations or provide personal letters or proof.

Also so can have time out from work and relax and try and give myself the best possible chance of sucess as and i know im very lucky to have even one round of the treatment funded, i have one go at it.

Im willing to use my leave to do so, so i can have that peace of mind at least i did my best on reducing stress levels .one of my family members also recently passed away and they were not very understanding about it and basically said i had to go in and get on with it. So that in itself has been stressful and reinforces my belief they wouldnt be understanding or accomadating if i was to tell them the situation.

They have said to get note from GP. But i dont know how realistic this is to ask? I feel it seems quite cheeky to ask for this although my gp is pretty understanding . im just not quite sure how to go about asking.

Any advice greatly received
X

Depending if you have an understanding doctor. However you can ask him/her to put Gynae problems on your sick note or Gynae treatment :) they should happily give it to you.

But on a side note - work shouldn't tell you how you can spend your holidays. They can refuse them but they shouldn't need a reason for you to take them.

Good luck OP

Hello, I work in a gp surgery and they'd sign you off for this. X

Hi, my fertility clinic have always given me a sick note which runs from egg collection to OTD. They just put down gynae procedure. I haven't always took the full time off sick but they said that way it's there if I want it x

What does otd mean @Zigzag99? X

Official test date - OTD. You should have no problem getting a sick note from your doctor. I had to a few times during my treatment. Good luck!!

Sorry, its official test day. The day the clinic do the blood and urine test to confirm if the treatment was successful x

I’ve had 2 rounds, the first I took off (actually as annual leave I didn’t think about sick leave) but I found it made the 2WW even more unbearable. Second time I worked and was a lot better distracted. I work I’m a similar type of role.
Just a thought. Fingers crossed for you

I took it as holiday before I realised I could have got signed off sick. I would get the note and save your holiday. I definitely think it was worth having the time off by the way. But I only had one round so not sure what I would have done if I'd had a second.

I took holiday for my first cycle, then my boss suggested I take sick leave for my second so i didn’t use up my holiday My GP refused (as apparently “normal women carry on ok and don’t even know they are pregnant” - hence I now refuse to see that particular Dr!)
If you GP will sign you off I say go for it. For cycles 3,4 and 5 I took a couple of days holiday for day of collection and transfer, then a couple of days working from home and the rest I had to work as normal. I really believe the stress of work ( even though my job isn’t that stressful in the grand scheme of things ) didn’t really help me. If i can persuade my GP to sign me off for the upcoming sixth cycle I think it will give me a better chance of success.

I got signed of sick when I discovered that my third cycle hadn’t worked and I was very upset. The doctor just signed a certificate for two weeks sick leave with the reason “unwell”

I’m sure you will get signed off but to be honest you would be better taking it as holiday so that you won’t be stressing about it!

Good Luck 💐

Hi all

Thankyou for your kind replys and so sorry for the very delayed reply.

I did type out a individual responce to each of you, kept losing it though.

Thankyou to hoping2018 thats reassuring to hear
Thankyou to Turquoisetamborine also .

Sorry to hear of your 3rd cycle failing angelswithsilverwings im glad you had a supportive gp

I plan to take off the day of transfer and following tww to otd , before that i will be at work ( though i plan to take off the day following e.c as may feel unwell ) . just wondering how to word this all to gp?

Thankyou again
Xxxx

Just an update
Went to see my gp, wrote out what i wanted to say on some paper so I didnt forgot. He said straight away he would do that no problem, was really reassuring and said not to stress relax just come in when i have had it done and he will do the note. Its on his computer on a note.
So thats one less thing to worry about
Thanks again ladies
Xxx