Hiv/hepatitis

[DoctorBambino]

Does anyone remember how long it takes to get the results of HIV and hepatitis blood tests? I'm waiting on these to get started with IVF and my GP seems clueless as to how long it will take. Been over a week already!

I've been waiting almost two weeks now. Was told it would be 1-2 days. My husband had his taken after mine and it's now delaying our cycle!

@FingersXssd83 oh no, I'm sorry to hear that. It's so frustrating, there's enough waiting as it is without extra stresses like this! I'm just worried they've lost it. They preciously lost my rubella one, didn't tell me for 2 months which then meant I needed it again. Turned out I wasn't immune to rubella so another 2 months getting vaccinated and now this 🙄

I hope yours turns up soon and best of luck for your cycle once you get to start!

Thanks, it really is. Our GPS have labelled wrongly and lost bloods in the past so I wouldn't be surprised if it happens again. Should have paid privately to avoid this faff.

The surgery must have had enough of me... I've been calling every day now for over a week!

Hope yours come back very soon.

I would have expected both of your results to be back by now @FingersXssd83 and @DoctorBambino

I think mine took a few days. My husband’s gp wouldn’t do them so he got his done at the fertility clinic and paid and they were back by the next day.

Thanks for sharing @Gardenlady543 I've just called the clinic. Fed up of waiting. If they can get me done and the results back quickly then going to book us in there and give up via the GP!

I mean DH may have been lucky, maybe ask the clinic how long they expect it to take before paying, hopefully it will come back quickly and you can get on with your treatment @FingersXssd83

Thanks @gardenlady543 that's helpful to know. I'm really reluctant to pay as it will end up being £300 at our clinic for both of us to get all the tests. Which is an unbelievable price!! 😳

@DoctorBambino from a quick look at medichecks, they charge £79 per person as long as that’s what the clinic want (hep b is complicated with various antigens and antibodies), you’d then need to pay extra to have the bloods taken and have to wait for the kit to be sent to you and then return it by post, so I think even through them it will be close to the same cost as the clinic and probably take longer. Are you medical, asking because of your username. If so you may have had them done for OH clearance. You could give it a few more days through the GP before deciding, hopefully the results will be back soon.

Grr it's so bloody frustrating. The GP said they would call back after chasing the lab and they closed the survey this afternoon. It's sending me 🤯🤯🤯

Suppose this is it now. Back on the infertility train. Life on hold and constantly waiting. Think I put how it feels to the back of my mind. Isn't like a week or two extra will make much difference in the grand scheme of things but I'm sure you ladies understand (sorry for hijacking and the moan!).

@FingersXssd83 weeks feel like years when waiting for treatment. I’m having a ERA EMMA ALICE mock cycle at the moment which will mean a 2-3 month delay before my next cycle and it tough waiting for these things

Wow yeah, that sounds tough @Gardenlady543 I'm doing a frozen cycle too so it isn't like it'll be done any time soon either way. Have you had a few transfers? I was looking into those tests just before we got our BFP x

@FingersXssd83 I have had 2 unsuccessful transfers, I decided to pause for investigations, the first thing I did was PGT-A 83% of my embryos were euploid and I got 9 blastocytes in my fresh cycle. So it looks as if I have implantation failure. I had blood tests and it didn’t pick up much, an abnormal folic acid metabolism gene which I understand is quite common and an abnormal PAI gene so I’ll be put on aspirin and heparin. I also have thin lining in my natural cycles. So the ERA EMMA ALICE is the last thing at this point for me to check everything off the list before the next transfer. I think these tests are usually done after 3-4 unsuccessful transfer but the medications make me ill and the emotional impact of unsuccessful cycles is pretty bad and with the high quality embryos there’s not much point in me wasting more unless I know I’ve got the environment right. It sounds like it took you a few transfers from the thread about how many transfers it took, how many frosties have you got?

What clinic are you with and how old are you if you don't mind me asking?

Have you watched any Prof Winston videos or read his FAQs? He says that only after 3-4 cycles do you reach an evens chance of having a live birth. In fact, he says that after 2 transfers, it's more likely to fail than succeed.

I'm sharing that with you as it's something that I tried to keep at the back of my mind after each failed cycle/transfer. I was convinced there was something physiologically wrong that was stopping the high quality blasts implanting and it terrified me.

It took us 4 cycles, 4 transfers to achieve DD from embryos 6&7.

Totally understand the emotional impact. I need to do another egg collection and will freeze all embryos. I've never had any frozen after a fresh transfer. Already getting very anxious about what's in store.

Best of luck to you 🍀

Hi @FingersXssd83 thanks for the recommendation I’ll have a look into Prof Winston. I’m with Care and I’m 35, so you’d only expect 50% of the embryos to be euploid at my age, I’ve never had a positive test before despite the embryos looking very good.

Yeah I think they normally say expect 3-4 tries, after the second unsuccessful one I wanted to do the PGT-A and ERA, my specialist said they normally do the ERA quite late on when it comes to unsuccessful cycles, although one of my friends is at a specialist clinic and has a low AMH and her consultant does them routinely. I react to progesterone and only just found out I have issues with my lining on my investigatory scan back in September (I was only told after the second unsuccessful transfer- I think it was missed) and they said it looked like my lining had shrunk on the progesterone. So a mock cycle will hopefully give some info on the lining too, I’m eating a specific diet and on all the vitamins and using castor oil packs.

My specialist was keen to do the blood tests (autoantibodies and a thrombophilia screen) as a starting point, I wasn’t that persuaded that they were needed yet, but didn’t think there would be much harm from doing them.

It’s really hard to stay positive, there has been no evidence that I will ever get pregnant at that point, I’m sure you had similar feelings after the unsuccessful cycles for your child. I guess so many things need to line up perfectly and that can take time. I feel so ill on these medications right now

Well it sounds like you are being very thorough which can only be a positive thing! And with 9 blasts then statistically you must be in with an excellent chance of success with your first cycle.

Another thing that used to help keep me positive was the Aberdeen IVF calculator. Might be worth a look if you haven't already... I must input the same data into it on a weekly basis like a crazy person. Whatever gets you through, I guess.

I completely understand and get the feelings of devastation and turmoil that you are facing. My mental health was extremely bad just before we got our BFP. I'd been doing IVF for coming up to two years at that point as was a shell of a human. We are made of strong stuff though and somehow find the resilience to get through the difficult days to achieve motherhood. It's just so unfair that we are on this rubbish journey.

Been to get our bloods done privately this morning at the clinic and now £360 lighter, as this morning, the GP said that results can take up to 4 weeks (they have said 1-2 days and 1 week previously)!!!

Have just this minute taken a call from them saying they have come back. Bloody typical! Still waiting for my husband's though so glad we've got it sorted.

Wishing you a good day xx

Hi everyone, I have a question, I am waiting for my IVF info session and just assumed I could start with the first period afterwards (short protocol..) but i never had these tests. Does it depend on the clinic maybe whether they require?

Yeah, you need screening tests such as rubella, chlamydia, bloods etc alongside AMH, AFC, semen analysis etc x

Maybe speak with your clinic to find out exactly what you need so you can get everything lined up if you are wanting to go ASAP. Good luck xx

@FingersXssd83 unfortunately no matter how good the embryos are if we can’t resolve my issue it’s unlikely to be successful, I’ve had two unsuccessful cycles so far and my endometrial thickness seems to be a big issue. I had my first scan of my mock cycle today, my lining is 6.4mm on a higher dose of estradiol than I was on last cycle where it was 7.4mm at this point. I am taking all the vitamins and eating all the right things and using castor oil packs. I can’t believe it’s somehow thinner than last time. I feel so deflated. I know what you mean about mental health, I’m feeling at rock bottom right now, at least I have a few days off over the bank holiday.

@FingersXssd83 thanks for your reply. I did have those blood tests earlier (last year so some time ago.) but I never had HIV/Hepatitis.. That's why i wonder and also I have been given go ahead for IVF so it's strange/

Sorry for the hijack but @Gardenlady543 I just wanted to say sorry to hear about your scan today. (I see you being helpful and supportive on many of these threads so I'm inadvertently following your story!) There's nothing in the world like fearing you'll never get there, and I imagine it's incredibly frustrating to have perfect embryos only to still be facing such uncertainty I'm rooting for your lining!

On the topic of test results, my IVF referral was delayed something like 6 months because I was waiting for an appointment just to give me a test result regarding a cyst I had! It's like they didn't care that I was getting older all the time!

Thanks @Yokey that’s so sweet of you to say, I’m on these threads a lot as I can’t face social media. I get a lot of support on here and hope with my experience in medicine that I can help others a bit too. I think for so many the issue is getting the embryos, I know I’m lucky to have a good amount, but I mean all the embryos in the world are no use if they never implant. Saying that I can’t even imagine what it would be for those who have issues getting the embryos as well as implantation issues, there’s always someone in a worse position. It just feels like constant bad news, I really thought I’d have a good thickness today with everything I was doing in this cycle, but it just shows how little impact our positive lifestyle choices have in this process. At least I can put down the beetroot juice now, the 250mls I’ve been having daily is hard to stomach and it clearly hasn’t helped!

Sorry to hear about your scan @Gardenlady543 It's really rubbish and so so painful to go through all of this. Ha e they given you any more options? ❤️

After the faff with my bloods, my period arrived today so I probably won't be looking at starting until early - mid May. Really gutted as I edge closer and closer to 38 and prob won't get two cycles in this year now.

Bloody hate IVF!

@FingersXssd83 I take it they didn’t get the protocol in place while waiting for the bloods? How annoying that you have to wait an extra month especially with everything you did to speed up the process

At the moment I’m just increasing up the estradiol with 2 x 2mg extra to be taken vaginally, I have a scan on Tuesday and will have to see if I get up to 9mm over the next week, which is the measurement my specialist has put in place as it shrinks under progesterone. I mean in the grand scheme of things it doesn’t really matter as this is just a mock ERA cycle, but if I can’t get it right in this cycle then I’m going to be screwed in my next FET.