Fertility tests start this week! Starting the journey to...???

[daisiesandpeonies]

We've been TTC for a while and no joy.
Have decided to go for tests privately - my scan and blood test are this week!
Just wondering if anyone else is out there at this stage??? Either NHS or otherwise?
In terms of 'symptoms' my skin has erupted with acne since being off the pill and my cycles are 6 weeks long, periods very heavy. Am trying not to self-diagnose with Google, but have some ideas of what they could tell me!

Hi @daisiesandpeonies

I'm quite similar except i'm through the blood test stage (mostly). After coming off the pill I had long cycles (longest of 68 days), acne, migraines worsened and generally have felt very low in mood (although TTC might have something to do with that).

My first lots of blood tests were progesterone tests that established i'm not ovulating. I was doing a lot of research on 'Dr Google' about ovulation disorders after this and was very confused because I didn't feel like I fit within any of the common disorders especially because I had a scan which came out normal. After that I did some private blood tests: prolactin (normal) and AMH (high for my age) and then saw a private consultant. The consultant said that high AMH, a high LH to FSH ratio, anovulatory long cycles and acne indicated PCOS. I was really surprised by this as my scan was clear and I always associated PCOS with being overweight, while i've always been slim. However, he put me on Metformin and my first cycle after that was much shorter so fingers crossed he might be onto something. I'm waiting for my testosterone blood results to come back to see if they confirm PCOS but i'm wondering if the Metformin is going to have reduced my levels anyway as i've had a good result with it so far. We shall see! Good luck with your tests. I used to be scared of blood tests but after TTC it becomes so routine.

I found out yday my fertility referral was marked as urgent by my GP but downgraded to routine at the fertility clinic. Waiting list for urgent is a month, for routine is 6months 😰

@Broodyaf

Sorry to hear that might be worth going private, my friend did as NHS was slow and then slotted back into NHS for treatment.
I'm sure someone on here knows a good private clinic near you

@MayZ thank you so much for your quick reply.

I live in Northern Ireland 😏

I was thinking of going private but I had it in my head that if you go private and u need treatment (like IUI or IVF) that u have to stay private? Is this right??

@Broodyaf

Not from what I've been told but it may be worth asking the 'rules' for your area. Seems to differ everywhere
I'm likely having to do it the other way around! The NHS have seen me urgently for initial referral but unless I have an issue that qualifies me quickly any treatment will have to be private!

@MayZ can I ask what 'criteria' allowed them to process ur case as urgent?

I have emailed the ONLY private healthcare place that's any ways close to me to see what they say

@Broodyaf that's so annoying - how insensitive and unfair of them to move the goalposts like that! Idk about go private/stay private. I'll have to wait and see what happens if I go back to the NHS.
@LuYi that does sound very familiar to me - I've always been slim and am not at all hairy, a family friends who's a nurse said that I didn't seem the 'type' for PCOS but a lot of my symptoms fall that way.

So I've had my scan.... it was good/bad news. Good in that everything looked healthy and there were plenty of egg follicles, bad in that my ovaries look a bit polycystic - the nurse says that you can have polycystic ovaries without having the syndrome, which confused the hell out of me! Hopefully the consultant will be able to offer more insight when we see him next month 🤞🏼 I feel half sad that I will probably need some sort of intervention (and weirdly vindicated from DH and my family telling me to just be patient) and half happy that nothing was majorly wrong.

@Broodyaf
I guess my age (39) TTC 9m with 1MC. Bloods showed slightly high FSH (13) and OH sperm normal. It really is a postcode lottery. Although my friend who's 36 is the one who went private so if you're younger they will interfere less quickly! After all of you conceive naturally it costs them less 

@daisiesandpeonies
So what's the next step for you?
How long did you appointment for scan take? I've been sent a follow up consultant appointment but not scan yet!!

I am 39 and partner is 36. This is our 10th cycle of trying. After cycle 8 we went to our GP, they did day 3 and day 21 bloods. I was told everything was fine with me, l requested print outs of my bloods -lm a nurse and wanted to delve into the detail of the results. Quickly l realised my progesterone was low so l am not sure why they said things were fine. Partner got some sperm analysed. We were told the abnormalities were sky high and we would never conceive naturally. Doctor then said IUI was needed, l realise this isn’t correct and the NHS don’t usually use that for our issue. We were told a referral would be made to the fertility department at our local hospital.

We then decided to pay to go private as the NHS doctor we saw at 2 different surgeries don’t appear to know what they are doing. The private clinic were scathing about the tests done by the NHS, saying they were antiquated and aren’t really useful. They did my bloods and did an internal scan. All was fine, my AMH is great for my age and all looked good inside. They said my partners sperm is great. Diagnosis is unexplained infertility and they suggested we try for another 3-6 months then do IVF.

From our perspective it was worth getting a 2nd opinion. It’s now the waiting game to see if anything happens. Financially we aren’t really in a position to pay for IVF. If nothing happens by winter then we are going to give up

Today we got a letter from the fertility department at our local hospital. It lists lots of tests our GP’s should have done but of course only half of them have actually been done. There were some lengthy questionnaires and they said unless the tests and questionnaires are sorted in the last fortnight they will discharge us. It all got thrown in the bin as it’s a waste of time really. They won’t give us any IVF in our local area, of course the GP didnt tell us this. We had to work it out for ourselves. It is a total postcode lottery e.g. if we lived a few miles down the road we would get a few cycles. I’m sure it’s the same with getting an appointment with fertility departments

Happy Easter all!
I'm strongly thinking of going private cos I just know my head will go mad if I have to wait 6months for my 1st fertility appt! I'm just so scared that if I go private and I need expensive treatment like IVF or IUI that I'll have to stay private and will cost me thousands. I know I can get it in NHS but it's just such a long wait!!

Just getting some kind of answer helped us. Huge waits massively increase stress. My understanding is private don’t meant you can’t have NHS treatment? Might be worth checking that with your doctors / commissioning group

Thanks @EL8888 - this is a grey area for me. I thought if you went private u had to stay private until you were pregnant and then u can move back to NHS for midwife and delivery?
Do you or anyone else here know of any cases where you can go private for initial investigations, and if treatment is needed they can slit u back into NHS?

My understanding is it’s an area by area thing. It’s the commissioners for your local area who make the rules up themselves. They don’t even follow NICE guidelines most of the time. You will get a definitive answer off them

I don't think that the NHS can say you have to stay private if you've just had tests - I can see that they might insist on you having investigations under the NHS again in order to prevent queue jumping, but if they find something wrong privately like eg a fibroid which need to be treated they can't then refuse treatment that's unethical.

I am fully expecting if I get pregnant I will go back to nhs...have had private tests etc. I guess to some extent do you even have to tell them if you had private tests etc, was thinking surely preg = preg no matter how it happens!!! Gaaah, now concerned I may have missed a serious point here...

Hey @Doris19
No that's not my point. I know if you get pregnant there's no issue going back to NHS for scans, midwife, delivery etc.
My point is if I go private now for scans etc and they tell me I need some expensive treatment like IUI or IVF can I go back to NHS for these treatments for free or do I have to stay private and pay for the whole shibang! It's a shame to miss out on free NHS treatment, but the waiting list just to be seen by the fertility clinic is sitting at 6months atm, before the diagnose any issues!

@Broodyaf ah I see what you mean...sorry my mind racing too quickly!
I don't actually know, could you discuss with your Gp? I wonder whether you could book your nhs fertility appt, and simply take your private test results with you? It would seem that would be fine as it actually saves nhs money but maybe that's being too sensible!!

Yeah maybe I will do that. My OH is registered in Republic of Ireland, so he has to get his SA done in the republic and pay for it down there... it's so complicated one of us living in UK, the other not, and yet only a few miles between us 🙄
I was supposed to get my 21day bloods redone this cycle 7days after I got a positive OPK, and I ordered OPKs off eBay on 10th April and they STILL haven't arrived, so u have missed my positive OPK this cycle 😡😰

Hoping to tag along on this thread please?

We're ttc our first, dh has a child already.

We've been ttc for a long time with no luck. I have endometriosis and I'm overweight which is likely to be a factor. I'm on weight watchers to lose weight ready for IVF, should it be needed.

All blood tests for me have come back normal and I'm ovulating. Although my cycles are long and random, so it's difficult to tell when I'm ovulating.

Dh's SA has come back all clear and healthy.

I've been referred for an ultrasound to check for PCOS.

Taking it from there, but hoping that losing the weight will help.

Hey everyone did you have a good Easter weekend! Thought it had gone a bit quiet on here so we all must have been busy. My weekend was Ok until I went to see DH's cousins and their adorable children - then lots and lots of baby questions... It somehow feels worse when it's his family, like I'm letting him down 
Anyway, counting the weeks to the consultation and DH's tests 🤞🏼 I'm seeing the NHS GP next week too, so am going to ask about the going private and having to stay private thing, will let you all know what they say. Tbh I think I'll be doing whatever I can to stay private regardless, I had a read of my local CCG's rules.... 3 of trying before IVF!!!! I'll ask the GP if that's really true.
Welcome @torthecatlady - when's your scan?

I haven't got a date yet! Our gp referred us a couple of weeks ago (seems like much longer!) so just waiting to get the letter in the post. If I don't hear in a couple more weeks I'll chase it!

Dh's family also ask all those questions about babies which pretty much started the day we got married! Although they haven't asked in a while, so maybe they have given up

@daisiesandpeonies

Yes busy weekend-trying to keep busy waiting for results! Has anyone on here had thyroid and AMH tests, how long did NHS take to process?
I tried to chase yesterday but got answerphone repeatedly at clinic and my Dr hasn't had a letter yet am finding all this waiting frustrating.
I'm in the stage of wanting someone to find a problem as I think unknown is even harder!

I hope everyone else is having better luck with answers

Hi everyone,

I’ve been lurking in the background of this thread whilst eagerly awaiting my first infertility appointment which I had during the week.

We have been TTC baby #1 since Jan 18. My periods are very irregular, sometimes 95 days apart which makes it difficult to find fertile window. I’ve had 21 day and 28 day bloods done which shows I’m not ovulating so Consultant wants me to start clomid on next cycle to kick start my ovaries and get them ovulating as they should. I had ultrasound though GP which appeared normal.

Wishing you guys all the luck x

@Daiisy how has it been with the clomids? Any side effects etc. I'm wondering if that's what I'll end up with.

So I went to see my GP yesterday - thought you'd all like to know what he said about the private/NHS thing. He said that it's absolutely fine to have tests done privately and then begin treatment with the NHS in my CCG, he asked us to book a long appointment for after I get the results back and to bring them in so he can understand what they've done and what they might then want to do next (if I don't want to stay private.) The issue in my CCG is if you start having rounds of actual IVF privately. If you've had a round of IVF privately then you would not qualify for NHS IVF - but then he said that's not necessarily true for everyone as it's considered on a 'case by case' basis, whatever the fuck they mean by that.
Anyway, hope that's helpful! But if you're worried check with GP before booking a private appointment. I've been really happy private so far, whereas this trip to the GP left me in tears as usual - 10 minutes isn't enough time to talk through everything I need and ask all of my questions, but you're only allowed a double appointment if the GP offers one... feels so rushed and not thorough. I know the NHS is mega stretched and don't blame any of them personally such a shame.

Thanks @daisiesandpeonies for the update.
I must check in my area if I can go private x