Infertility investigations/IVF in Scotland - thread 2

[Kitekat81]

A thread for those who are undergoing infertility investigations / IVF in Scotland 🙂

I had norethisterone for mine. It's to regulate your periods. It basically stops your period while you take it, then once you stop you bleed x amount of days after. It's usually so clinic can 'reset' everything and also regulate you so they can get timings in

@willithappen aaaah ok, I never got offered that, although have regular periods. It's interesting how clinics work in different ways.

I have regular periods also but it was just standard protocol with my clinic I think. The other ladies I knew at same clinic all took it also

This whole thing is like a bad sitcom writer's idea of a cycle, I'm sure.

Yesterday, I got told things were good and "definitely" proceeding to EC with a few follocles having caught up. They gave me the trigger meds to take home and told me to take a reduced dose of stims today, and that they would phone me today with a precise time to trigger.

Today . . . no phone call. I phoned them and got told they're waiting for blood tests from this morning to come back before telling me what to do with my injections. I didn't have any blood tests done this morning. In fact, I was explicitly told there would be no appointment today, just a phone call. I have it written down and everything.

The nurse has gone off to ask someone what to do with me. At the moment though, it could be that they won't have space on the theatre lists, in which case I won't be able to have EC.

🤷🏻‍♀️

2 hours of stress later, and EC is planned for Monday again...

Oh gosh @Scirocco that is not what you need right now at all! How bad to keep you in that anxious wait and messing around

Glad it's all sorted for Monday again but definitely unnecessary stress for you :(

Hope all goes well today @Scirocco. I'm sorry you had such a stressful time at the end of last week. Will be thinking of you.

Thinking of you @Scirocco!
@itsmschanandlerbong @willithappen Yes I think it's default treatment at the GCRM. I think it's a bit stupid, I have regular periods and if left to be naturally my period would have came during the days they are forcing it to come with medication, but oh well!

I think it also might quiet things down a little bit so you are in the right spot to start

@willithappen Yes they probably have their reasons :)

Hey I've had my amh test done, bmi an assessment to see if I'd be eligible for sedation. How long after that did you get called forward?

@GemmTryTTC I totally agree that the norethisterone seems stupid and I hated the idea of the clinic taking control of my cycle for their convenience also the prostap injection gave me horrors. I worried about over suppression.

Everything I read in relation to low amh seemed to suggest avoid down regulation. Which is why I went mild ivf with Create - 1st cycle poor response with only 1 dominant follicle and 4 tiny ones which ended with cancellation of the cycle, 2nd cycle we planned to use B.C to lightly down regulate to try for even growth and reduce risk of a dominant follicle. I didn't end going ahead with this due to logistics and TSH being a pain in the ass!

So maybe GCRM has a point? I'm going with them for cycle 2 and 3 via Access Fertility multicycle following my full refund from Create (minus meds) . I may still re-visit Create again but for now I need ease of scans and less stress.

It's so difficult to know what to di for the best and it's all a bit of trial and error as EVERYONE responds differently and every cycle is different.

@Comiston34 Yes, they probably have their reasons, at the end of the day they are the professionals :) I need to trust them more, and I guess part of me not trusting this process is the anxiety and fear of it not working!
Being my first IVF try I am hoping it goes smooth, but sadly until it's over you don't know.

6 eggs at EC! Not sure of maturity yet - won't know til tomorrow - but more than they thought they'd get! I'm medically weird apparently. :-)

Hurrah! Fingers crossed for maturity. Are you home now?

@scirocco Great news!

So I have a TSH question, not sure if anyone will know. I had my levels tested in December when planning my first cycle - was at 2.2. I'd had my levothyroxine upped in October when it was 7.8 following my mc so seemed it was finally normal levels.

I went a couple of weeks ago for my 6 monthly test and its way up at 4.5. This was just days after my bfn so couple of weeks after stims. Could the meds have caused this? and if so does it need to be even lower than 2 next time? I've emailed the clinic and waiting on a call back but know this is going to delay my next cycle. Its such a nightmare to manage and GP doesn't want to up the levothyroxine as he thinks 4.5 is totally fine.

@Scirocco that's fantastic, best of luck!

@Comiston34 it's confusing to know what to do for the best, you trust the clinics advice but it probably is smart to do your own research too.

Thanks for the messages, I went home and fell asleep almost instantly. Just woke up!

@Kamiros - My TSH was 4/5 in Nov 20 GCRM asked for on 50mg levo went down to 0.56 after 6 weeks. Did one cycle with Create while waiting for GCRM retested after the cancelled but full stimms. It was 7.1 - GP agreed to up my levo to 75mg.

Retested 4 weeks later it was 5.6 upped meds to 100mg. My latest test was 2.6. He suggested upping to 150mg to get it under 2.5 as Create demand.

I've stuck with 100mg and will test again next week before starting with GCRM who accept under 4.

I do think the the hormones for the stimms have an impact on levels - My endo wants to see me the second I get a BFP to adjust my levo to reduce miscarriage chances. The fetus can't make it's own TSH so places a higher burden on mothers levels.

@itsmschanandlerbong I'm terrible for researching everything! Being a health professional isn't always helpful, I'm not good at going with the flow or just accepting what the medical professionals say!

@comiston34 Thank you- that's really helpful. I'm on 75 but I think it needs to be upped. I'm convinced it had something to do with the miscarriage but obviously I'll never know. Waiting on a call back from GCRM but think I'll just go ahead and speak with GP anyway. They're never keen to up it but they'll just need to.

[quote Kamiros]@comiston34 Thank you- that's really helpful. I'm on 75 but I think it needs to be upped. I'm convinced it had something to do with the miscarriage but obviously I'll never know. Waiting on a call back from GCRM but think I'll just go ahead and speak with GP anyway. They're never keen to up it but they'll just need to. [/quote]
My GP has been difficult to get on board but once I sent him the letters direct from the fertility clinics he has been in agreement - in the letters they provided links to research articles supporting 2.5 TSH levels in conception so I think that helped as otherwise he was insistent 4 was perfectly fine.

Thanks. Waiting on GCRM to answer my portal message now.

So, all were mature but only 3 fertilised (with icsi!). The embryologist called me this morning to let me know. The next call will be on day 5 to either confirm I'm to attend for transfer or to tell me not to bother going in. They'll apparently only call in between if there's a problem meaning they want to do a day 3 transfer. They're still not optimistic - say it's about 50:50 if there'll be anything left to transfer

@scirocco Everything crossed for you, the wait feels like forever. I only got one egg and ended up with a 4aa blast to transfer, you only need one.

Thanks @Kamiros. I'm such a worrier at the best of times so I'm now stressing about what could cause a 50% fertilisation rate with icsi...