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

@2mumlife I don’t know if it would prevent us, I would have to ask! But if it fails I would rather do a normal IVF and keep all from the start.
@Scirocco yes they want to give my eggs 2 extra doses of meds to give the smaller ones a chance I believe. Not sure how much difference 2 days will make but oh well! All is done now pretty much, we can only wait and see now!

@GemmTryTTC it is soooo nerve wracking! It's really difficult to predict what you'll end up with too. Keeping everything crossed for you! It dues sound stressful with the added pressure of having to get a certain amount.

@2mumlife ooooh fingers crossed this is the one! 🤞🤞

I am 5dp5dt and having a bit of a wobbly day. I've cried on and off all day today. I'm wondering if the cyclogest is having an impact too on my hormones, my boobs are also sore and massive and I feel quite bloated. This whole thing is such a rollercoaster and has been so much harder than I imagined.

@itsmschanandlerbong thanks! 🤞 it is stressful, luckily we have the money and could even pay for an extra FET if the one included didn’t take, so I need to calm down, relax and trust that what needs to happen is happening, whatever the outcome. we will be mums, it might take some time, but we will!
I am crossing everything for you! Have a good rest with lots of del care and pampering!

@2mumlife Congratulations!

@GemmTryTTC Good luck for Tuesday. It's very stressful, just a couple more days now.

@itsmschanandlerbong Everything crossed for you.

I went to get a private blood test for thyroid today. So fed up of trying to get GP to do a full profile and not just TSH that I decided just to pay and look at it myself. Fingers crossed the results are quick and I can be sure if there's something else going on before we start the next cycle.

@Scirocco Thanks :) hope you're doing well too

@Kamiros Thank you! When will you get blood tests back? Hope it all comes back clear for you.

@itsmschanandlerbong I had massively sore boobs on my fresh cycle too, and was very very hormonal and teary. I'm super relieved that other than sore abdomen for progesterone injections this FET cycle feels emotionally so much better so far - I don't know if being on Utrogestan instead of cyclogest helps? Try to practice as much self care as you possibly can.

@GemmTryTTC Good luck for EC! Take a book with you - I was last on my EC day and was hanging about for quite awhile in the morning

@2mumlife I think sometime during the week. Thanks- I'm hoping the last medication change had done the trick.

Hope everyone's having a good weekend. The weather is beautiful where I am!

@Scirocco Beautiful here too, and it's my birthday! Having a quiet day at home.but spoiling myself with some treats and basking in the sun

Thanks @Scirocco, it's beautiful here too!

Happy birthday @2mumlife!

It's DH birthday on Wednesday so we've had some family over this weekend. The sun definitely helps lift your spirits.

I stupidly tested at 7dp5dt this morning. Not even FMU 🤦‍♀️ I think I saw a total squinter of a line under the light but it could be where the second line should be if that makes sense? It's not visible at all, but it has been a bit of a head fuck today. Going to hold out until test day now.

@itsmschanandlerbong after all the worry I put myself through with testing early, I'd definitely recommend waiting til test day if you have the willpower.

Unfortunately I've ended up spending my Sunday afternoon up at the hospital - my blood pressure dropped and I fainted, so EPAS wanted the on-call medic to see me in case it was something serious. Everything seems fine, so I've been sent home to rest and drink lots of water.

Happy birthday @2mumlife!

@Scirocco glad that you're ok. The same happened to my friend, she started eating more often, even if it was something small and she said that helped and she didn't faint again.

Happy Birthday @2mumlife

Glad you're OK @Scirocco

Weather has been lovely here too. I'm having a weird day though. Just when I thought my cycles were going back to normal. Day 14 and thought i was about to ovulate, ovary pain, ewcm etc but this morning I've had lots of brown spotting then some pink this evening. I've never had ovulation bleeding before - not sure if it's that or another anovulatory cycle- albeit a very short one. Really frustrating.

Thnaks for the birthday wishes!

@Kamiros How frustrating! I've never actually tracked my ovulation as I can't concieve naturally, so I'm no help here I'm afraid.

@2mumlife. Its now definitely af - on day 15. I could cry. But I'm just going to assume its hormones being hormones and try not to worry about it.

Because of the weekend, EPAS want to scan me tomorrow. I'm really upset - it's so early that there'll almost certainly be nothing to see, which will just upset me more. I don't know if that even makes sense. I just keep thinking of going there before and seeing voids on the scan where my baby should have been. (After 2nd trimester loss, they needed to do tests nearly every day so I was up there a lot as the alternative location was to go with all the "other" pregnant people in the main ultrasound bit, which was just too hard).

@Scirocco Do you know what they're checking for (e.g. do they think it could be ectopic because you fainted?). My friend fainted with her first pregnancy and just had to take it easier. Fingers crossed everything checks out ok tomorrow.

@Kamiros I'm sorry, that must feel so, so frustrating!

@2mumlife I'm guessing they're querying ectopic, as it'd be on my list of differential diagnoses, but the doctor I saw yesterday seemed pretty confident it isn't... My initial impression is that my blood pressure seems to plummet in early pregnancy (has both other times too) and my body isn't that good at compensating efficiently. It was 88/53 before I was seen yesterday, but going in to the hospital prompted a spike which put it back in the 'low but acceptable' range (although if they'd actually looked at what my pulse and respiratory rate were doing they would have seen that it was stress-related rather than indicating stabilisation...).

Hi everyone, a question about drugs if you don't mind. Expecting a call any day now from the company sorting the drugs for my upcoming IVF cycle (first for us). I'm with GCRM and today they've informed me the call will be from Stork Healthnet.

At final consents etc I was quoted £1600 for drugs for this cycle. I thought that was quite high purely because I was told I'd be short protocol/low stim due to my high AMH (46 from memory) and AFC of 31 so high risk of OHSS.

Anyway I didn't think much more of it but have been reading stories today of getting drugs yourself eg from Asda and wondering if this is worth exploring. Looks like GCRM charge £250 for the prescription so any saving would have to be at least more than that.

My protocol is 13 days of nothisterone, then up to 12 days of menopur (225) adding fyremadel in on day 4 (2 X 0.25). Although my treatment calendar doesn't show menopur for more than 5 days I'm guessing that's a mistake or will be updated later as the paper treatment copy they gave me away on consents day has the menopur and fyremadel for full 12 days. And then buserin as the trigger (spelling of that is probably wrong!)

Does £1600 sounds reasonable for that and does anyone have experience of buying your own drugs and was there a significant saving?

Thanks for any help/insight/thoughts, it's much appreciated!!

@Scirocco hadn't seen some of the earlier updates, sorry to hear about your fainting and needing further checks, everything crossed everything comes back clear and it's nothing to worry about

@Scirocco I'm sorry this is going to add extra stress and pressure. I hope they're just being over cautious and everything is all ok, I'm sure it will be. How many weeks are you now?

@ally99101 sorry I'm not sure. It might be worth giving some big pharmacy chains a quick call just to check how much they would charge. I take it this isn't covered under free prescriptions here then?

Thanks @itsmschanandlerbong, I've asked gcrm to send me details of what they've actually presrcibed for me as a starting point then might nip to Asda and see if I can get a quote. According to the price list gcrm charge a £250 private prescription fee so I'm guessing that'll be the charge if I want the prescription to order myself.

@ally99101 £250 to write a prescription is a joke, definitely in the wrong job!

Hi @ally99101
I am with GCRM and my Flare protocol was estimated at £1300 for slightly less medication that you have been given. (I had a full cycle of leftover meds so I only purchased Prostap from Stork which was £160)

I've not bought from another provider but I know people have saved a significant amount doing so. I was very tight on timeframe this time round so just went with Stork. At my last clinic they used Fertility 2U and price wise it was roughly the same for similar medications.