Infertility investigations/IVF in Scotland - thread 3

[itsmschanandlerbong]

A thread for those of us undergoing infertility investigations or treatment in Scotland.

Thread 1 - www.mumsnet.com/Talk/infertility/3742246-infertility-investigations-ivf-in-scotland

Thread 2 - www.mumsnet.com/Talk/infertility/4138992-Infertility-investigations-IVF-in-Scotland-thread-2

It's an ovulation LH test meant to say. X

@J90A I've never used that brand, which line is the test line?

@itsmschanandlerbong the test side is the left side I've done them for 3 days and there all the exact same. Xx

@J90A I think these tests are different for everyone. I think technically the test line needs to be darker than the control line, but I would only get a visible line for 1 day so I would count any line as a positive.

@itsmschanandlerbong thanks. It's faded now. The line never seems to get the same thickness as the control on mine so it's hard to tell on the colour. I've got a follicle scan and blood test Monday so I'll find out then I suppose. Xxx

I'm on clomid round 4. Didn't ovulate last month so I am getting monitored this month. I had a 13mm follicle last Monday which didn't grow and was 13mm on Thursday. But my bloods has Estrogen I think? Level at 412 so they said it's doing something and I might ovulate over the weekend. Has anyone ovulated with a small follicle ? If they would know? X

I had my scan today which showed an irregular follicle and he said he was hopeful I had ovulated over the weekend however My bloods were negative for progesterone today but eastrogen has risen to 484.

Anyone else had a similarity situation or can anyone help explain ? I'm so confused. I've to go back on Thursday for another scan I'm not sure why. An which feels like forever away. X

@J90A Sorry I have no experience with clomid or tracking ovulation. Maybe contact your clinic for information if you're not sure why you're being asked back for a scan.

@Kamiros After filling in our FET consents (again) 3 weeks ago, we FINALLY got a call to schedule us for the FET planning call with the embryologist. In 4 WEEKS TIME.

I'm beyond angry with GCRM now. It will mean we'll be waiting at least another cycle to have a FET after our freeze all in September. The FET planning call isn't even worth the time or wait! Its literally just the embryologist saying they can't promise the embryo will survive the thaw.

The delays to treatment and lack of transparency about timescales is completely unacceptable at the moment. In the last 12 months we've only had 2 pregnancy attempts due to all the delays. Its ridiculous

@2mumlife That is absolutely ridiculous. I'm so sorry this is happening. 2 attempts in all that time isn't good enough. I don't know if they're just really busy or what's going on but GCRM need to get their act together. People waiting that long, especially wiith no communication is awful. No idea how long it's going to be for us to have this final try. I've started looking into other places for donor eggs cos they won't commit to giving me any kind of idea how long it'll be - I'm not looking for an exact month but be good to know if we're taking a year or 3.

@2mumlife that is so bad! I have heard awful things about GCRM and their lack of communication. I had a very positive experience with GRI, not sure what their waiting lists would be like and the costs involved in switching but I read earlier you were considering it.

@J90A sorry, I have no experience with that.

Hope everyone is well. I've just had a counselling session with GCRM psychologist, found it really useful.

She told me that GCRMs donor egg list is now 3 years. No wonder they've not shared that with me. She said some clinics in England are only 3 months. I think it'll be time for me to start looking for another clinic.

3 years?!? Wow. That's a very long time. Maybe worth checking with GRI to see if their waiting list is shorter?

@scirocco I knew, I really wasn't expecting that at all. Do you have to get referred even for self-funding? We're making a list across the UK and also Spain. I'd like to get on some lists before my last cycle with my own eggs.

@Kamiros I think you can just contact the clinic directly if self-funding - glasgowroyalfertilityclinic.co.uk/contact-us/

I was NHS with them though so don't know the details of how the self-funding process goes...

@scirocco Thanks. I'll give them a shout.

Oh wow @2mumlife and @Kamiros GCRM are really bad at communication!!! Crappy timescales for you both. I totally agree with the lack of transparency and scheduling I can't believe I'm saying this but when I started thinking about egg freezing 3 years ago now I literally just googled ivf clinics Scotland - I think it's partly as they know we don't have many other options

@Louscot As soon as we decided to go private that's what we did too. If this last round doesn't work we'll definitely go somewhere else - been sitting looking at clinics all evening here and in Spain.

Really sorry you ladies are having such long timescales to wait, it is totally unacceptable and the lack of communication must be so frustrating. Tbh Aberdeen have always been really upfront with their timescales and often they do better than they've said - which I guess is a tactic but it definitely manages expectations. Spoke to them on Tuesday and said we wanted to take a break until the new year before doing another FET so they were fine with that. I'm starting a new job then too so all seems incredibly stupid - but so fed up of never being able to plan anything.

Hi all, I'm feeling a bit sorry for myself this evening to be honest. It's my birthday and I'm 4bloody3, and my slim chances of being a mum are getting even slimmer, unlike the rest of me... I had a GP call today about breast pain, and she asked if there was any chance I could be pregnant. I said "unfortunately no" thinking that was straight to the point and wouldn't invite other "oh are you sure" type questions. She then asked if I had children, and I said "again, unfortunately not" . I know she was asking me relevant questions, but I just about burst into tears, there was no empathy at all, no reaction. It sounds silly having typed it out but it's really got me down, how people just assume it's a choice thing that I don't have kids.

@florafoxtrot Thanks. I think a break can be good, I had 6 months between my 2 cycles and it really helped. New job will give you something different to focus on too.

@Louscot Firstly, Happy Birthday! I'm so sorry you're feeling down. I get it, I hate any questions about having kids and people assume once you're a little older that you've chosen not to have them. I hope everything is OK health wise. Have you done anything nice for your birthday or have plans to do anything over the weekend?

@Kamiros thank you. Everything fine, yes, just to keep an eye on pain. Had a nice day with wider family so that was good - going to eat some birthday chocolates now and get back to the healthy eating tomorrow x

@LouScot Definitely eat chocolate, I'm sure that's a birthday rule x

@Kamiros I left a portal message with GCRM asking that Pat gets in touch with us, as my final attempt before making an official complaint. They've acknowledged the message saying they've passed it on but we'll see whether they actually bother gettin in touch themselves, giving them this week before we just go ahead with a more official complaint. All we want is a commitment to actually progress treatment in a timely fashion. My period started few days ago, which means the scheduled FET planning call will only be ~4-7 days before start of my next cycle, so I want them to commit to doing the FET that cycle. Otherwise we wont get another cycle in this year.

3 years for donor eggs sounds insane when they're saying other places its a 3 month wait. Why is it such a long wait at GCRM!? Definitely time to consider your options elsewhere by the sounds of it. Would be interested how the research goes of Spanish clinics.

@itsmschanandlerbong Yeah I tried messageing GRI about switching clinics and they didn't respond either! As DP says, at this point we only have 2 FET cycles left, so I guess we are better off staying with GCRM.

@LouScot We just googled to, and went to a GCRM info evening. We were only expecting to go through IUI rather than IVF, so we really didn't look at a lot of the stats involved in clinics as we weren't expecting to need this much intervention. We spent a lot more time looking into sperm banks than fertility clinics to be honest!

@florafoxtrot Interesting to know about Aberdeen. Its a good way to manage expectations. I'm currently trying to decide if I apply for a new job at the moment, and feeling a similar way about not being able to plan things. I stopped applying for jobs thinking I was better to stay where I was for maternity pay reasons, but it all feels like I need to start living my life again.

@LouScot Hope you're feeling better today. I'm feeling sorry for myself too at the moment. My sister went of Maternity leave this week and due in 2 weeks. She's really mindful of our situation, but finding the rest of the family and the general situation really hard. Burthday cake sounds amazing. I've quite the healthy eating for awhile - DP and I decided I tried all the healthy eating and it made no difference, so this time we're just going for trying to live our lives as normally as possible and trying to stop IVF being the main focus of everything.

@2mumlife Hopefully they'll get back to you soon, it really is getting beyond a joke now. Im not sure why GCRMs wait for eggs is so long but it's on my list of questions for my review meeting in a couple of weeks. One of the Spanish clinics does a 3 cycle package where you do the 1st with own eggs and the other 2 with donor eggs which is interesting. I'm going to start recording all the options soon. I agree about the healthy eating. I'm still trying to eat well but I'm being nowhere near as strict now - you have to live your life.

Hey everyone!

I've been MIA for a few months now, I was expecting my first appointment to be in the new year but it's been bumped up to next week which is great but...DH is still smoking, he stopped yesterday when we got the call and our appointment is next Wednesday my concern now is will this show up on tests? Has anyone got any idea? It was unexpected but great news but now we are in a panic about it and very unsure of what to do.