Anyone else awaiting fertility referral?

[MallonMary]

Hi all,

Been ttc (unsuccessfully!) for over a year and just found out there's a problem with DH sperm (low mobility and zero normal forms), so awaiting referral to fertility clinic to seek further help/advice.

Just wondered if there's anyone else in a similar situation about to embark on this journey too?

Also similar success stories welcome :) x

@willithappen yes looks like hycosy is ultrasound and hsg is xray x

@whatsthecraic91 My GP said my prolactin was too high. She thought I was pregnant. But obviously wasn't. I know it could be control by medicine. But I opt for the Chinese Dr. route.

@willithappen Thank you for your information! It is very helpful! I had my day 21 blood before so hopefully they will have it on the system. Internal vaginal scan, I won't look forward to that.

@Beddie11 hi hun, thank you for letting us know about the HSG, I am officialy bricking it now lol!
im not good with internal pain at all, but external im fine! I have a really high threshold, but unfortunately I think my mental health takes over with internal pain, I think too much about it and end up passing out.
I have booked the day off work now and my husband is taking me.

I was so praying I wouldn't need it this month and maybe af wouldn't show! I literally was praying to not have to go through a HSG lol!
anyway AF hasn't shown yet, but my temp has dropped today so im sure she will be here later today or tomorrow.

weirdly though I put my temp in fertility friend and the app has moved by AF due date til the weekend, and said I ovulated later which is odd? anyone else had this? iv had a temp drop so why has it moved back lol! I was having HSG originally on day 9, but now it will be day 6!

I hope everyone here is okay and had a lovely weekend! xx

how is everyone getting on? xx

Went to docs for referral yesterday armed with DHs poor morphology SAs! My referral will go but need my smear which is due and a chlamydia swab done before it can go! Both booked for two weeks done

After being referred early December we finally have our first fertility appointment this coming Thursday at gynaecology part of hospital.

All we've been told is to bring our results of SA and bloods/my scan along with us.

Anyone had their first appointment and can tell me what to expect ? Also how long approx the appointment is? X

@MallonMary during our 1st appointment we went over history of trying to conceive, general health, periods and then discussed investigations to do. Husband was to do sperm analysis, I had to have ultrasound and HSG. This appointment took about 30minutes. Our letter said to allow 2 hours. I also had blood test during this appointment.

A few weeks later I got appointments through for ultrasound and then HSG 6 weeks after 1st appointment.

At HSG we discussed results of all tests and consultant told us what the options were.

@Chochaw I didn’t realise they discussed your options in the HSG, do you mind me asking what options they gave you?
They have told me I’ll start clomid, but if I’m fine I don’t understand why I’d take that when my husband has such a low morphology? Me taking clomid isn’t going to help that? X

@Chochaw I had to have the ultrasound and bloods (as well as dh having sa) in advance of our appointment on Thursday- so not sure what they'll do during the actual appointment 🤷‍♀️

@Morpho123 ive got a feeling they'll say clomid to me, but I don't understand it either! We know we ovulate so why give us clomid?

I ovulated every month according to OPK and all bloods, scans and HSG came back clear.

Husbands SA came back good too. My consultant did the HSG so after he knew tubes were fine he told me we had unexplained infertility and offered us 4 cycles of monitored IUI and then 2 cycles of IVF. He said I didn't need to do IUI- I could be referred straight to Glasgow for IVF but I felt it was worth the chance with IUI.

I was scanned on 2nd day of period and then I injected myself every evening with gonal f for about 2 weeks. I was scanned every 2 days to see how follicles were. 1st cycle had 2 big follicles and a smaller one and husband had 43 million sperm after washing but it didn't work.

Next cycle was cancelled as the follicles turned to cysts.

Then the nurse went on holiday during my next period so we did it again after 3 months and I had 1 large follicle and husband only has 13 million sperm after washing. I was so disheartened with those figures and nurse offered to cancel the cycle as it doesn't count as a try unless they do the IUI procedure but we continues and I now have a 9 month old daughter.

My husbands sperm dropped significantly over the 3 months because we had a lazy spa in the back garden and he was in it every day. Put your partners on a ban from doing anything that will heat up the swimmers! @Morpho123

Our appointment to start the process again has been postponed. We were supposed to go on the 12th but we received a letter yesterday to reschedule to start of March.

@MallonMary
How was your husband SA? Clomid might make you ovulate more with hope of catching it at the right time.

I ovulated every month according to OPK and all bloods, scans and HSG came back clear.

Husbands SA came back good too. My consultant did the HSG so after he knew tubes were fine he told me we had unexplained infertility and offered us 4 cycles of monitored IUI and then 2 cycles of IVF. He said I didn't need to do IUI- I could be referred straight to Glasgow for IVF but I felt it was worth the chance with IUI.

I was scanned on 2nd day of period and then I injected myself every evening with gonal f for about 2 weeks. I was scanned every 2 days to see how follicles were. 1st cycle had 2 big follicles and a smaller one and husband had 43 million sperm after washing but it didn't work.

Next cycle was cancelled as the follicles turned to cysts.

Then the nurse went on holiday during my next period so we did it again after 3 months and I had 1 large follicle and husband only has 13 million sperm after washing. I was so disheartened with those figures and nurse offered to cancel the cycle as it doesn't count as a try unless they do the IUI procedure but we continues and I now have a 9 month old daughter.

My husbands sperm dropped significantly over the 3 months because we had a lazy spa in the back garden and he was in it every day. Put your partners on a ban from doing anything that will heat up the swimmers! @Morpho123

Our appointment to start the process again has been postponed. We were supposed to go on the 12th but we received a letter yesterday to reschedule to start of March.

@MallonMary
How was your husband SA? Clomid might make you ovulate more with hope of catching it at the right time. ]

That’s for the info @chochaw
My husband doesn’t do anything with heat now if banned him, he even has cooler showers and he loves hot showers 😂
My only worry is we booked a lovely long weekend away with a hot tub for our wedding anniversary and I want to be able to use it - which that’s in March, and it should hopefully during our first round of clomid.
What do you think I should do?
His currently on a stag weekend and it’s the first time his drunk in ages, I feel like I can’t get the hump because he still has to live his life!

Let’s hope our hsg on Thursday is a success!
Hopefully the clomid has a good chance of releasing more eggs and gives us a better chance, I still think he needs a second SA though!

@MallonMary is your appointment Thursday too? Xx

@Morpho123
Yes mine is Thursday too :) not a hsg though (no one has mentioned that to me at all as yet), our appointment is our first at the hospital following the go fertility referral.

Hope your hsg goes well! Do you get results right away?

@Chochaw thank you for sharing your story! Amazing how the numbers dropped so much but it still worked!

@Sshsecretenclosed what did your doc say about the morphology?

I'm still convinced it's the reason for us and worried it's not being taken seriously or taken as an issue at all!

Good luck for your appointments coming up ladies! I'm playing the waiting game until 25th Feb for the Hycosy! Excited to know what the steps after that will be but I think by sounds of it they are just putting us straight on IVF referral list from then

Hi ladies, I just had my first private consultation. We brought our day 3 blood test along with SA. Consultant said both results look normal. He has requested amh test and ultrasound for me. He wasn't saying too much about ivf only when we asked. Hubby thought the consultant wasn't very enthusiastic but I reckon he is probably tired from seeing patience as he is also on the NHS too. I'm just going to wait for the results and discuss further with the consultant whats the next step.

Hi ladies, how long was it for you all from the GP submitting your referral to getting an app through?

Thanks

@21ForeverHopeful67 My referral was more than 8 weeks. That's why I went for a private consultation.

@ForeverHopeful67 Not sure why there was "21" added to your username.

@Limeflower2 glad it went well- is the amh a blood test or scan?

Got my first appointment Thursday x

@ForeverHopeful67 8 weeks for us too x

@MallonMary Amh was a blood test. I did it there today.

Hi all, I notice there's lots of questions about waiting times etc so thought my journey so far might help. We were referred by the GP in August. We were seen at clinic in October where it was an appointment with a nurse who took all our health history and told us what was needed before appointment with the consultant - sperm analysis x 2, more bloods including chlamydia and AMH, and ultrasound. These were all done.

After that we had an appointment end of Jan to see the consultant. We're unexplained. Partners sperm results were average, my AMH is 23. No reasons to explain why we haven't conceived. We were given the option of carrying on as we are, or to go on the IVf waiting. And that's what we've done. We will have to wait at least a year before treatment.

The ultrasound found a large cyst, so they gave me another appointment which is on Monday - to check on it. I'm hoping I will need a laparoscopy- and if so, I can then ask them to check if my tubes are blocked. I read loads on here about HSG as routine in investigations but it's never been suggested to me.

@Limeflower2 @mallonmary

Thanks both! Was this how long you needed to wait for your first app or how long it took for the letter to come through?

I was referred just over 1 week ago so just wondering how long it takes to hear back regarding an App x

Hi everyone,

I have a gynaecology appointment next Thursday, but have no idea what to expect...

We've been trying since April 2018, boyfriend has had SA and it was 6% which I was reassured is normal. Since then I've decided to take another look at his figures to be really sure it's not on the low side of normal, but he's lost his paperwork! He's going to the drs this week to pick up a copy.

I have a regular 28/29 day cycle, and appear to ovulate every month according to ov tests (ok I've only taken them twice but it was months apart and both times got a positive exactly when I expected) and 2 years of temping. I have had my hormone tests at day 4 and day 21 and they were all good. BUT ultrasound showed large fibroids - so I'm guessing this is the problem? I don't know how many, how big or where they are yet. I also had an actinomycosis infection 7 years ago due to insertion of the IUD so I'm worried about scarring.

I miscarried naturally (MMC embryo 6 weeks) 5 months ago so know I can implant, but it seems to just be taking us ages. I'm trying not to overthink the miscarriage but it's hard not to be anxious about it and in honestly I'm just gutted about the whole thing - I was 11 weeks when it happened and I'd told loads of friends and felt like such a fraud/failure even though I know that's irrational :(

Anyway have this appointment coming up and I'm so scared - I know I need to know what's going on but I'm scared they'll say that my fibroids are really bad... I have the gyno app on thursday next and then a specialist ultrasound on saturday next - annoying that it's that way around but hey ho.

A couple of questions - does anyone have any suggestions of what to ask at the appointment? You guys might have some insights i've not thought about. Also - this sounds weird but can i ask for a second opinion if i'm not happy? And how do i do that? I've had some bad experiences in the past and I shouldn't jump the gun but one thing i'm really scared of is that they'll be dismissive or not listen to me.

Once I'm referred through to gyno do i stay registered with them until they've done all the tests they want to? its been such a long and painful process going through the gp i really hope i don't have to keep going back to gp...

thank you xx