IVF at Guy's & St. Thomas' & general process/timeline part 2

[HereToLearnAndShare]

This is a continuation from IVF at Guy's & St. Thomas' & general process/timeline discussion

@Vparisi I have ridiculously high AMH and doctors warned I may have an egg quality issue. I followed all the advice from the book ‘it starts with the egg’ and I know Aimee Raupp has a good egg quality diet book. I have taken for years myo-inositol, NAC, high DHA supplements and loads of others. It’s definitely helped get my egg quality up. Not sure if that’s helpful but like you say there’s still a lot of hope! Xxx

@GJW2018 that’s really interesting about myo-inositol. I’ve considered taking it but it’s probably too late now. Did it effect you in any other ways?

@HereToLearnAndShare fingers crossed 🤞

@Vparisi interesting! I’d not heard about her and her one egg. I’ll google that. I think that’s why I got so annoyed with that gynaecologist saying I’m fine, high AMH so no problem. It’s nonsense, my age likely has more impact on my egg quality and she wasn’t even concerned.

@thislittlebird I think it’s good for insulin resistance which was definitely an issue for me. I’m also on metformin and have been for years. I’ve got PCO but not PCOS as I don’t have any of the other symptoms apart from high AMH/AFC xx

Good luck for Wednesday @HereToLearnAndShare and @Etonmess20

How are you feeling @Rj1988 ? Xx

@GJW2018 thank you!

@HereToLearnAndShare sounds like your scan went really well. Everything crossed for Wednesday for you

@Vparisi @Etonmess20 @GJW2018 @thislittlebird thank you so much! Your support means a lot! 🤗❤️

Hi everyone

Hope it’s ok if I join this chat. We’re trying to conceive and off the back of my DH SA we’ve been referred to Guys St Thomas.

My DH’s GP only told him she would refer us last Thursday so it’s early days for us. I’m joining to learn a little more about what the process will be like from here. GP gave zero information so I’m not sure what the next step would be how long we’ll have to wait for Guys to reach out? And what that appointment will be like.

Finding it all a little overwhelming and emotional so forgetting to ask the right questions at the right times. So hoping that preparing and researching will help us.

Thanks everyone for sharing!

@HereToLearnAndShare @Etonmess20 - all the best!!

@GJW2018 - I am fine, though I have been having on and off cramps this afternoon as if my AF will start soon & getting some dull aches on the extreme right side and extreme lower abodmen since an hour ( not sure what to make of that ) I guess these are the progesterone symptoms!

I have an interview tomorrow morning so trying my best to prepare few notes for that but it's so hard to focus honestly lol

How's it going with you? Are you still taking the injections?

Hi again @Plantsandcoffee! Welcome to the thread.

There’s definitely some folks here (and more recent joiners) who have had a more standard route to Guys than I have who can advise.

@GJW2018 obviously I’d never heard I could be PCOS until I got an AFC done, I’m wondering if I should ask for a test for insulin resistance.

Thank you @Rj1988! And good luck on the interview tomorrow 🤞

Welcome @Plantsandcoffee! For me the process was - reffered for infertility investigation, received an email with 3 clinic options, chose Guys and booked for a pre-assesment phone call, then appt in Dec, got funding approved in March (email and letter received), first IVF appt was end of Apr, added to the IVF waiting list and started tratment mid Aug. However, bear in mind this all happened during the pandemic. Now I believe the process (at least until getting in to the waiting list) is shorter. A few laides here shared they have been approved fairly quickly.
Hope you will get to the list asap.

@thislittlebird I think insulin resistant test is a good idea. When I was doing test in my country that one was one of the first things they checked. Not sure why they are not including them here.

@HereToLearnAndShare yeah I’m going to ask. It’s a bit odd they don’t offer when some of us have some PCOS characteristics (high follicle count being an obvious one). So when you got your letter, did it say you have to do the ivf three months from funding? I didn’t expect the wait to be longer than three months from receipt of the letter. Now I’m worried we’ll be waiting longer than I was hoping.

@Rj1988 that’s really good, I think that was my only symptom, mild cramping, so could be nuzzling in! Yes still doing the progesterone in oil injections which are not fun but if it keeps bubs I’ll do it a million times! Wishing you so much luck for your interview!
Welcome @Plantsandcoffee! Like @thislittlebird my route to treatment wasn’t straight forward and much longer than most but welcome to the club! Xx

@thislittlebird yes, the letter says we need to take up the funding within 3 months.So when they told us we may need to wait 4 months due to the waiting list, I asked the question and they said that because of Covid the funding time frame has been relaxed.

@HereToLearnAndShare ahhh I see. So they relaxed the rules 🤨. I couldn’t quite work out which part was delayed for you guys. I’ll be sure to raise this when I go in next Tuesday and mention we are keen not to experience further delays.

@thislittlebird yeah that was very annoying. I think there were delays with the funding approval too. We waited about 3 months to get it...

Welcome @Plantsandcoffee! I’m fairly new to all of this too and thought it would be good to make contact as we will probably be around the same point (sort of).
I was referred to Guy’s for PGD (it was an internal referral) the first week of July and received my call to book letter last Monday and my first PGD app. is the end of September.
When I called the PGD department to ask a couple questions they informed me that there is a 6-8 week wait for referral’s to the ACU.

It is definitely a very overwhelming and emotional process, you most definitely are not alone with those feelings!

This chat is very helpful and everyone is very supportive.

Thanks @GJW2018 that is super helpful! Hope you are feeling ok x

@HereToLearnAndShare how are you feeling after your trigger?? I feel for you, for me that was the worst day.

@Etonmess20 so exciting for tomorrow!! Make sure you are super relaxed today!

hey @Plantsandcoffee welcome! I found it really helpful here to have an exact idea of schedule so this is exactly how it worked for me:
Referred by GP 26 November
Confirmed referral received 1 Dec and told 12 weeks wait for initial contact
Zoom appointment 4th Feb
6th April received letter for funding approval and appointment 12 April. This was too short notice for us with work so we ended up doing our appointment 4 May.
Got my call 8 July but was too late to start so started 9th August, blood test 13 Aug, scan 17 Aug and EC 20 Aug.
One thing to know if you need something is rather than wait for [email protected] it can be better to call 020 7188 2300 and press the nurses option.

@Vparisi thank you, currently horizontal for the next hour while this pessary does it's thing so looking at holidays is keeping me super relaxed!

How are you? Do you know if you're still to carry on with the FET as planned?
Have you been super bloated since EC? Today's the first day I feel a bit more back to normal

@Vparisi Thank you! I feel nothing different tbh. I have bloating but is the same as before trigger... I think you had pain and some other symptoms?
I also had some drama with the trigger - when I was injecting I saw some air in the fluid and now I am not sure if I did the right dose. Now I am panicking that if the eggs are immatured it will partially or all my fault 😥😩 not sure if its the homones that make me overdramatic but I am having a terrible day thinking how I may ruined everything. My DH is trying to comfort me that meds dosage should be 'dummies resistant' and a small error should not affect as much 🤷‍♀️

@GJW2018 - yes I agree the injections are totally worth it if helps in you lil embies in growing well

I am back to having zero symptom again, no more cramping and breasts feel much lighter - so keeping my fingers crossed!

The interview didn't go as planned but I am glad I am done with it

Welcome @Plantsandcoffee to the group!!

Omg I had a letter in my junk mail from the complaints team about my terrible gynaecologist experience in May. What a waste of bastard time. She just denies everything, the clown. Was yours like that @GJW2018?

Said she didn’t say we were unexplained. Well, if we aren’t unexplained, why did she tell us to gtfo and couldn’t refer us on????? Ugh. Anyway, I’ve asked the complaints team to call me to discuss in the context of next week’s appointment.

@thislittlebird ah thats so annoying! I assume that this can be proved somehow.. Did the gynecologist sent a letter to your GP with the "diagnosis"?

@HereToLearnAndShare in the letter to my GP she said that I could have a laparoscopy, got the time we'd been trying wrong, and said she would be happy to help. OK????? Like??????? How does that help us with male factor infertility and low progesterone? Why couldn't she refer us on? In person she said his sperm problems were "not enough" and then I had to pay a couple of grand in private tests and appointments to prove it was "enough" of a problem.

Sure, I'll have the lap if I must (although I question why I need an invasive procedure and not a hycosy) but she wasn't even encouraging of that and just said "there's a long waiting list". Oh great, fantastic help. She never even mentioned my progesterone issue but in this letter claims she offered us investigations? Which would be...the lap and a blood test my GP should have run? Ugh, this woman.

I said to complaints way back in June that I don't want to point fingers and assign blame, I just want to get beyond this and make progress since I should have been referred already, which I'm hoping is now happening (let's see what next week brings ). But it's infuriating to receive some stupid response with her just defending herself and claiming all her choices were fantastic ones. I don't want to keep going over this and that wasn't why I complained, I just want to get to the point of receiving the IVF round we are entitled to.