IVF at UCLH

[Sophfr17]

Hi everyone,

After several months on the "Miscarriage/pregnancy loss" forum, I am now moving to "Infertility", as my Dr wants to move quickly to IVF.

Briefly I am 38, he is 34, and in the last 1.5 year, we lost 5 pregnancies: 1st was stopped medically at 14w due to growth abnormalities, 2nd was natural at 6w, 3rd was a missed mc medically managed at 9w, and 4th and 5th were natural mc at 6w.

In the past 4 months, i got a few diagnoses, including low AMH (6.7), antiphospholipid syndrome (for which i must take heparin + aspirn while pregnant) and an hypothyroidy that turned into auto-immune disease.

I will have my first IVF appointment next month, to hopefully start in December or January. He is expecting 2-3 cycles of stimulation before doing 1 implantation. We will also pay to test the embryos that will be frozen.

I am scared to enter this "new world", but I am strong, and I will do everything my body and mind can to get there.

I don't have one question in particular, probably several^^

How were you feeling during the entire process? Did you manage to get pregnant quickly?
When NHS covers 3 IVF, does it mean 3 stimulations or 3 implantations?
Has anyone been taken care of at UCLH?

Take care all :)
S.

:(
i know you are all in the IVF process, and that you are all dealing with lots of stress, anxiety, sadness and pain, which i understand; i am not in this process yet, it will start next month.
After all i have been through, i am freaking out, which is why i was looking for some wise and reassuring words

Hi, I’m so sorry to hear what you have been through. It’s good that they have picked up on some things like the antiphospholipid syndrome and hypothyroid and have a treatment protocol ready for you. I think I was very clueless when I started treatment. I didn’t find it so much physically hard but mentally it was quite draining- all the waiting, hoping and anxiety. We were fortunate to be successful after two transfers. One fresh cycle was unsuccessful (ectopic pregnancy) but the first frozen cycle was successful. We are currently trying to conceive #2. My partner and I were 38/39 when we first started.
I am thinking you must be under Camden CCG if you are offered 3 cycles? I don’t think many places in London offers that many. I looked at the Camden criteria and it says they offer 3 fresh and 3 frozen transfers. So I assume this means x3 stimulations with fresh transfers after each (if there are any suitable embryos created) and then if you are able to freeze any embryos from those stimulation/ fresh cycles you then get x3 attempts at a frozen cycle. But you can double check with your clinic.

Good luck with your treatment x

@Sophfr17 - So sorry you have gone through all this. I don't have any experience with UCLH. my council only offered 1 fresh cycle and 2 frozen cycles. 1st fresh cycle with NHS failed and we had nothing to freeze. So ran out of funding quickly.

My experience has been same too. Physically it wasn't exhausting. Was a bit scared to take injections myself first time, but got used to it pretty quickly.

It's emotionally very tough though. My first cycle was BFN, Second was BFP but early misscarriage. Now thinking about 3rd cycle.

For the first cycle with NHS, their communication and call centre was horrible. That added a lot of stress. So be calm and be prepared for it. There might be some delays in comms due to COVID too. So you will have to be on top of it. But if you are prepared, then you can deal with it.

Try to stay calm and listen to your body. If you feel like taking a nap in the afternoon, do it. Don't stress too much about if you are doing something right or wrong. Try and relax.

all the best with your treatment :)

Thank you @Lemongrass1 for your kind reply and to @skot.

You are right, I live in Camden, and this is what Camden CGC offers. I was just confused by the number of stimulations, as my Dr expects 2-3 stimulations before implating the 1st embryo (i dont have many eggs and he expects that number of cycles to obtain a good number).

I'm glad you managed to conceive quickly for you 1st kid! I hope it will be the same with your second.
I am a bit reassured about your "physical experience" of things, although i am sure it is different for every women. The mental pain however, i already live it; with 5 losses, each time is about tracking ovulation, waiting to get a pregnancy test + and hoping the blood thinning treatment will work. Also hoping not to get a bad egg....

This cycle will be our last natural attempt. I will try to get familiar with things by reading conversations in this forum.

Take care xx

Hi @skot,

Sorry, i read your message only after i posted mine! I really hope its gonna work for you soon. I find it very unfair that your rights in terms of ivf can differ according to your council.... In my country, it is the same for everyone, and more attemps are covered.

I am very much on top of things, and my doctors know me very well now for that. I am being seen by a urologist, hematologist and the gynecologist, who all work together.

I am not afraid of the injections, my partner does them actually^^ during my last "failed" pregnancy, he injected the heparin every day, cause i couldnt do it. So he will do it also during the IVF.

Thank you for your kind words, and I hope the next attempt will work for you if you decide to do it :)

xx

@Sophfr17 - Glad to hear you are being looked after

Anyone here had any luck being treated by uclh? I’ve been waiting since March and was given a December treatment date which has been delayed again

Hi @RosemaryRosemary

I started being treated at the RMU of UCLH in April 2020, after 3 losses at different stages.
After different diagnoses were made, we were asked to try again naturally until October 2020. We did, and I had 3 more losses. The last one was 4 weeks ago.
I am moving to IVF right now. My donwregulation cycle starts today, which means the first stimulation cycle will be in January.

I remember i had to fight to get referred, but once i was there everything moved very fast. I am also extremely persistent, and i am not afraid of harrassing people if needed....

The IVF nurses could/should be more reactive though, I must say...

Have you had some analyses done already? Any diagnosis? Or are you waiting for a date to start IVF?

Dont hesitate if you need help; take care xx

S.