Anyone else starting investigations this month?

[babypleasenow]

Hiya just wondering if there are any ladies on here who have been TTC 1yr+ and are seeking help from GP this month as I've just requested a call from my gp to discuss and would like someone to buddy up with as I'm scared! 😂

Hi,

I’m at the 10 month point of ttc but I’ve already had a number of investigations. They will probably start off by doing your day 3 and day 21 bloods. Have you had these done?

Hi @Ac1234567

I tried getting help at 10 months but was turned away. So nope I have had no blood tests done for the moment. Thanks for letting me know about the day 3&21 bloods, that's not too far away for me now so hopefully they do that. How did yours go? Also when do they start to test partners? Tia x

All the tests we’ve had to date have come back normal, so we have unexplained infertility.

My partner had undescended testes when he was younger so we tested his sperm privately at the beginning of ttc. All came back normal. I had an ectopic pregnancy after 5 months so have also paid for a hsg privately and that came back normal. So i know I’m definitely ovulating. We are in the process of being referred to a fertility clinic.

Hi @babypleasenow how are you?

We are the same, TTC #1, I have been off the pill since end of March last year so this is cycle 12. I plan to request a doctor appointment when this cycle is up. Have you heard back when you have an appointment?

I have had some initial tests done back in August, not bloods for ovulation but for hormones to test for pcos as there's family history. All came back fine but I'm hoping when I call again I can get the 3/21 day bloods etc.

Such a scary thought, had really hoped it wouldn't come to this. I have been googling about private investigations too as I'm worried about a big wait or long delays what with Covid x

@HJen22 hello!!!

Ahhhh it's nice to know I'm not alone. So I'm actually going for my day 3 bloods in the morning and then 21 in about three weeks. They've asked me to do a chlamydia swab too because apparently that can cause infertility. Also my partner is giving them a sperm sample to so it's going to be a good few weeks until we have any kind of result but I'm glad we've started the process.

I'm glad your results came back ok for pcos, my mum has it and I should probably mention it although she's had 5 of us and never had trouble conceiving. I don't have any symptoms either which is good.

It was so surreal booking those tests in the other day and I felt numb all day. Kinda realisation that there really could be something wrong hit me like a train, I've always just assumed we'd conceive in a year but now it's gone past that it's scary. Reading 'infertility 12mnths+' on the blood forms really took me back.

Anyway I hope you get booked in soon! Keep me posted xx

You are not alone, I know how you feel and it can feel so lonely.

Aw that's good, did you call as soon as AF arrived and they were able to get you an app for day 3? I wasn't sure when to call, and if I left it until cycle day 1 I'd maybe have to wait until the next month? How was the GP on the phone? Did your partner join the call or does he just have to go in to get the pot for his sample and return it? Sorry no idea how it works!

I've spoken to the same doctor twice who was lovely, she had said call back March and she could refer me but I hope that doesn't mean just a straight referral and no bloods with them!

I know, it's pretty upsetting when the realisation hits isn't it. I've always had a worry it would take ages but I'd hoped not! Xx

Hey, I'm in the same boat, just starting off on fertility testing/ investigations. We know that my partner has low sperm count but he has to have more tests to confirm and I haven't had any of my tests yet. I think I'm OK (regular cycles etc) but you never really know until you get checked do you.

We're thinking of going private for the tests but just at the stage of research/ looking into everything... it's a bit of a minefield! If anyone wants to chat by PM especially about male factor issues I am happy to!

Hi @nancywhitehead it's such a minefield isn't it! Did your GP to SA already for your other half do you mind me asking? I was wondering if you have to have an initial referral from GP or if we can just go straight to private. It's all very confusing online but I can just see going through my GP being a slow process. I've always worried I had something wrong, my partner has a daughter from a previous relationship (albeit she is away to be 12) but I think I ovulate as I have had peak OPK results every time I've done them. When I first spoke to my
Doctor she didn't recommend them so I'd be reluctant to even mention that to her when I next speak to her. She just said DTD every second day. X

Hey, wanted to join as we are in a similar position and could really do with some support.
We’re on month 20/ cycle 18 and had our initial tests, just waiting for the results of the SA but all of mine have come back fine which is good news!
We’ve been referred to our local fertility clinic but still waiting for our consultation date and it’s been 4 months so going to give my GP a ring on Monday for an update.
Have up and down days but having a really bad day today as one of my best friends has just shared the news that she’s pregnant with her 2nd and it’s really hit me hard. I’m happy for her just sad for me.
Lots of luck to all of you! And if you have any ideas of anything else we can try I would love to hear them as I feel like we have now tried EVERYTHING x

Hi everyone I would love to join this thread! We have also just started our fertility investigations last month. I went to my GP in December but had some trouble booking the tests over Christmas. So since January I've had:
Day 3 blood test
Day 21 blood test
Thyroid/full blood count/vitamin D/B12 etc
Smear test
Chlamydia swab
And DH's semen analysis is booked for next week.

We are on our 11th month of TTC right now. I'm hoping as soon as we get my husband's SA results that we can be referred. I've been told to expect a long wait after referral, made even longer by COVID.

How is everyone else getting on with their tests?
We’ve had a bit of a nightmare with DP’s SA they said there was a leak and haven’t actually been able to get a sample to test it. So the whole process starts again and there was a 3 month waiting list last time to book in so feeling very disappointed.
Hope everyone else has had some more positive news x

@Riviera90 That's super frustrating I'm so sorry. Have you already been referred to the fertility clinic or are you waiting on your DP's SA?

My DH had his SA this week and we're getting the results next week. I'm a bit anxious and expecting that it will be poor because he didn't manage to get all of the sample in the cup. And then we'll probably have to wait another 3 months for a repeat test.

My GP agreed to refer us whilst we were waiting for the SA to be done but she sent off our details to the fertility clinic in October and we’ve heard nothing since so got an appointment with my GP on Tuesday and will ask her to follow up.

I’ve got my fingers crossed for you that it’s positive news! Have you heard anymore about the wait time for the clinic? Do you have to have the SA results before they even start the referral process?

@Riviera90 That's great that you got your referral sent off! I'm going to push for ours to be sent off next week. Have you tried calling the clinic directly to ask for wait times? I work for the NHS (different field) but we often have patients calling and asking about wait times and we can check for them.

Yes, in our case we had a whole long list of things we had to tick off prior to referral, including Day 3+21 bloods, smear test, STD swab, full blood count, vitamin D, rubella antibodies test, and semen analysis.

In terms of wait times, my GP has basically said that normally it's a 6-9 month wait, but COVID has delayed things even further, so could be up to 12 months!

hi can i join in too please having the 3 day bloods tuesday, having a blue dye test done hopefully next week too, and waiting for an ultrasound appointment this month as well as the 21 day bloods

@acaciabluebell that’s a good idea, I didn’t really think about doing that! I guess I’d be able to find the contact details for my unit online?

We had a very, very similar checklist of tests we had to do. The only one I don’t recognise is the rubella antibodies test but it may have been done. Did you get a full breakdown of your results? My GP said all of my blood results came back within normal levels but I’m wishing I had asked for the full breakdown so that I could look into whether I’m on the low end of normal etc.

It sounds so far away ☹️ Ours was similar - we were told normally it would be a 6 month wait for the initial consultation but to add at least another 4 months on to that due to COVID. As it’s already been 4 months since our form was sent off I thought we would have least got a date for the consultation through the post...even if it’s in 10 months time!

I’m still hoping it will happen naturally whilst we’re waiting! Next thing I’ve got to try this month is a Fertlily cup 😂.

@nadeelia welcome!! It sounds like things are moving fast for you which is great news! I really want a blue dye test and ultrasound done as I think that may uncover where we’ve been having issues.

@Riviera90 Yep exactly, if you know where you've been referred you can find their number online and then call them. They might say that they can't give an approximate wait time, but it can't hurt to try!

I did get a full breakdown of all my results, I asked for all my results to be emailed to me so I know all the numbers etc. GPs normally don't know very much about the numbers and they will literally just read out the results sheet to you. Imo it's definitely be a good idea to call up and ask for your results. In my case, one of my hormone levels was well within the normal range, but when I looked online I saw that it was a bit high for my age (as I'm quite young). That led me to get more private testing and as a result of that I found out that I've got a very low ovarian reserve for my age. I would never have known if I hadn't asked for my results sheet.

Same, I definitely am still hoping that it can work for us naturally. Would be so so amazing. I've had a tough time recently as one of my friends and my husband's best friend's wife have both given birth. I'm going through PMS right now as AF is due in a few days and I've been randomly bursting into tears every few hours when I think about it. Feeling like such a failure because everyone around me can get pregnant so easily and 'normally' and we do everything right but I've never even seen a BFP ever 😣

@Riviera90 ty, yeah its all seeming very fast i had the initial phone call on the 25th, 26th was at the hospital for all the forms for bloods etc and had the swabs.

Hopefully you will have these tests done soon too.

@acaciabluebell thank you, I will give that a go!

😮 wow I should definitely ask for mine then, I just trusted my GP that things were ‘normal’ and was just pleased to hear something positive at that point in time. What were your next steps when you found you had low ovarian reserves? I’m not too familiar with that but I thought they would perhaps put you on a fast track through the referral process?

You are NOT a failure but I can completely understand how you’re feeling as I’m exactly the same, especially leading up to my period. I had a day exactly like you described a couple of weeks ago and everyone around me is also pregnant - my best friend is due to have her 2nd any day now, I’ve just found out another of my close friends is pregnant, two of my very small team at work are pregnant. I’ve never seen a BFP either but our time will come x I know I was born to be a mum so it will happen one way or another! Always here if you want to chat x

@nadeelia that was fast! Hope you get your results back just as quick.

Hi everyone how are you? I've had a crazy few days as I found out I was pregnant on Monday and then I started bleeding yesterday and today I am no longer pregnant. Such a rollercoaster of emotions, really horrible.

I've just got DH's semen analysis back and looks like we might be dealing with some male factor infertility as well now (low morphology).

I have my appointment next week to hopefully get my fertility clinic referral sent off.

How are you all doing?

Oh my goodness @acaciabluebell what a week you’ve had, I’m so sorry 😢 sending you hugs x Have you been at the EPU?

Did they say anything more about the SA?

Doing ok, my GP suggested exactly what you said and to call the fertility clinic myself to chase up so will do that tomorrow. Got my peak OPK yesterday so the TWW starts again! Tried the FertiLily cup this month so let’s see if that makes any difference

Thanks @Riviera90 it was a difficult couple of days but I've come to terms with it now. I didn't go to the EPU or even call my GP as it was all manageable at home, just like a extra painful period.

No further info about the SA, but I have an appointment with my GP next week so can ask her then. I'm not sure if I should mention the chemical pregnancy to her or not? I really don't want anything delaying our referral. I know some people have had the "clock" restarted as soon as they conceived even if they had a miscarriage.

Oh and have you called the fertility clinic to ask for wait times?

I’m sorry all the same @acaciabluebell 😔 have you been able to think about it positively in that you were able to get pregnant? I’ve heard you’re supposed to be more fertile after a CP and many people conceive the month after so I have my fingers crossed that will be the case for you.

I’m too sure...I’ve never heard of that but if you think it may delay things I probably wouldn’t say anything if it was me.

I did call today but when I looked up the unit number they only do mornings! I missed them today so will have to wait until Monday morning to try again.

Hey everyone, hope you're all well.

So, I had my follow up appointment with the GP today and I'm pretty annoyed to say the least!! I was waiting for a while for this appt and so looking forward to getting some answers. Bearing in mind I first went to my GP in December and we're now in March. So she read out my latest blood results and told me they were normal. I was like okay... Then she sounded like she was trying to end the call! I had to remind her of all the other tests I had done which she had forgot about. She seemed to forget we were even undergoing fertility investigations at all and she sounded surprised when I mentioned it. I also asked about DH's semen analysis and she just said "looks like it's abnormal" that's it... I asked if he should do a repeat test and she sounded confused. I had a lot of questions but none of them were answered.

Anyway, after all of this she then told me my BMI was too high to be referred to the clinic. The cut-off is apparently 30 and mine is 30.1. The bloody cheek of it! I was so angry. I told them I was losing weight steadily and had been for months, she didn't seem to care. So I called back 5 mins later and said 'Hi, I've just weighed myself and I've lost 2lbs, my weight is now X' and I then became eligible for my referral to be sent off.

How they can put such a strict restriction on referrals is beyond me, given the length of waiting lists. I checked my local hospital wait times and it said up to 12 months!! So much can change in that time.

Urgh. Very frustrating.

@acaciabluebell realistically they still should have referred you! Just warned you to lose a bit before you got your appointment!

I just wanted to add my experience to this post. I originally went to the GP about it last year and whilst the GP was useful, the nurses were not and managed to balls up my blood tests 3 times! Don't ask. Anyway- I had day 2 and 21 bloods, the chlamydia check, and rubella antibodies. Then they could refer me. Before that happened I also got my DH to call his GP and tell them I was having tests and we needed to see if it was him. They were fine about letting him have a SA (they like 2, so saves delays later). They sent him the pot/form and you just call the number on it and book it with the hospital. Results come back to GP.
Once referred it didn't actually take long for my first phone appointment (just over a month). She then arranged another SA (because 3 months had passed and his first showed low motility) and arranged a scan for me. That's now been done (both fine) and I'm to have a HSG and to book that as soon as CD1 comes. If that is OK then we are eligible for IUI and she said it could start the cycle after. If its not OK then it would be IVF. AF due next week so I can get the ball rolling then.

It does really seem to vary on timescales though depending on where in the country you are.