IVF at Guy's & St. Thomas' & general process/timeline part 3

[HereToLearnAndShare]

This is a continuation from the thread "IVF at Guy's & St. Thomas' & general process/timeline discussion" /part 2

@Plantsandcoffee congrats for your appt. First appt is mostly about signing documents but it aslo incldes a doctor consultation.They will explain in details aboUt the process and next steps. I think they will scan you as well, but I cant remember for sure.
Then they will add you to the waiting list to start the cycle

Hope that helps

Thanks both. I’m still hanging around @Plantsandcoffee but I’m not sure if it’s just me, you and @jusstjaee who haven’t finished with Guys at this stage but there’s a few of us.

The first appointment was a lot of consent forms, a chat with the doctor, a follicle scan, blood tests, and a possible semen analysis, but my husband had done one within three (maybe it’s six, can’t recall) months so didn’t need to do it on the day. We have to go back to redo our bloods again on January 26th.

I’ve been really panicked lately. Started having panic attacks this week on the night I posted. It’s like I can’t sleep because I close my eyes and get so anxious and then I just spiral. Stress obviously won’t help matters either.

I’ve been really down about it all and our chances. Hopefully it’ll go better than I’m expecting. I’m convinced we won’t be able to make any embryos ☹️

Sorry, forgot to tag you @HereToLearnAndShare

@thislittlebird why dont you consider contacting their mental health support. I am sure they provided some contact information(I can try to find it if you dont have it) I know it is a tabu topic and often we dont want to admit we need help, but this process is extremely stressful and overwhelming.
Today I actually had the regular call with a midwife and I shared with her that I had some tough days during the process.I felt relieved after sharing and she said it happens to about 70% of women, they just dont talk about it.

@HereToLearnAndShare yeah, it’s weird but I went for my booster and had a complete breakdown in the vaccine centre at the nurse when she asked me if I could be pregnant. She was very kind and spoke to me for 20 minutes until I was less upset. I have emailed the nurses about the counselling referral yesterday but they haven’t replied. The number they provided did nothing lol, it just went to some woman who told me to call back and leave a message.

@thislittlebird I also had high AMH so was given low dosage and it managed to do the trick!
I completely feel you on the anxiety and stress. I actually enrolled for fertility counselling at the beginning of last year and it is hands down the best thing I’ve done for my mental health in this and all areas of my life. It has literally changed the way I think and feel. They say women that have struggled with infertility have such a higher rate of pre and postnatal anxiety and depression and it is, as @heretolearnandshare said, about reaching out and getting help. I’m so glad I did. I will also say while we were waiting to find out if we’d made any embryos someone that doesn’t know me well innocently asked ‘Do you want kids?’ I replied ‘you have no idea how much’ and uncontrollably cried for three days 😂. I was super stressed and negative I felt throughout the process, convinced myself it wasn’t going to/hadn’t worked and it had no bearing on the outcome! My mantra was to just take each moment as it comes, let it be what it is, no future thinking - bringing myself back to the present and the facts as a lot of the stress comes from the ‘what ifs’. Sorry I’ve gone on a right preach there but I feel like mindset is a big part of the battle! Sending you all super successful vibes ✨

*we did a freeze all also due to the OHSS risk so could be something to consider?

@GJW2018 who did you do fertility counselling with? I think I’m going to start somewhere. It’s an 8 week wait with guys 😩. I hate that there’s a wait, this isn’t a scenario where I feel like I can just wait.

Yeah I’ve heard that too, it makes me sad that we have to go through so much, that’s if it works at all.

Three days of crying 😭😂. Sometimes it really is like that.

Im glad you said you were stressed. I’m so stressy and anxious and it’s making my eczema flare up, I worry it’ll impact my chances too. The whatifs are terrifying. I’ve convinced I’m going to be the equivalent of my childless aunt and I’m scared.

Did they offer you a freeze all? I’m really frustrated by the doctor I have. No one else seems to have her, and I would like a freeze all but I had to raise the issue myself. It feels like drawing a short doctor straw 😔

Also, I have no comms from fertility2u at all. Nothing confirming my drugs. They just say ring them nearer the time??? Ok sure but they’re due to be here in 11 days. You would think an email or something would come at least.

@thislittlebird I went with a lady from Canada that I found on a podcast. She’s called Spenser Brassard and honestly it has been life changing but the counselling/coaching is quite expensive but even just her podcast is amazing. I think it’s called Fertile Ground.
I was super stressed and it really flared my bowels up which convinced me that everything was inflamed affecting our chances but it was ok. The whatifs are evil!
They said it would be a freeze all from our initial appointment as I was high risk for OHSS due to my high AMH and PCOS. We had Dr Chowdury.
Have got everything crossed for you ✨✨

@GJW2018 I think everyone got Dr Chowdury but me 😩. I got the junior doctor who rushed through it all and who didn’t seem to care my AMH was high and wanted to put me on super high doses. It’s kind of out a dampener on the whole process for me because I have not been confident since I saw her. It makes me anxious af.

We have to keep saving for private ivf right now, so I don’t think I can justify it. If I could I’d still be seeing my personal trainer but nope. Ivf funds it is. I’ll have to check out her podcast.

Interesting that you had a flare up too. My skin has been a nightmare since we started ttc and I’d been in control of it lately and then it’s started going crazy again. I hope it doesn’t make a difference anyway.

@Plantsandcoffee Hi! Welcome :)

Yeah as the girls said it's mainly consent forms at first one then the waiting list to get the call to start

@thislittlebird When do you start your cycle? Didn't you say it was end of this month? I'm starting meds for frozen transfer 28th Jan and I got my meds last week 7th Jan I think. Maybe it's different for a full cycle.

Hi ladies, hope you don’t mind me joining.

I have stage 2-3 endometriosis and low AMH, my consultant suggested to refer me to Guys for IVF. I called up ACU and they said if I get referred today, it will be 6-9 months till I start my treatment.
Would be great if you have experience at the ACU and she’d some light please. I’m a bit worried with the waiting time as consultant thinks I should start ASAP due to my issues. TIA

Had our first appointment at Guys today. As you ladies said it was a lot of form signing, an internal scan and blood tests for me and partner. It helped to know this was as standard for a first appointment so thank you to everyone who shared their experience.

Looks like it will be IVF rather than ICSI/ IUI for us. We're on the wait list and it will be 3 months apparently.

All the feelings after the appointment...

Does anyone have any advice about dealing with a partner who feels guilty. Partner can't seem to get out of the frame of mind that issue is him rather than the problem is our shared problem... it's a tough time all round.

Hope everyone else's is doing ok? X

Glad your first appointment went well @Plantsandcoffee. Your husband can’t have that much of a problem if they’re doing IVF instead of ICSI, why is he beating himself up so much? We both have issues, including male factor and need ICSI. They told me 3 and it ended up being 5 (including Christmas closure) so take that three with a pinch of salt in case it’s longer.

@TTCno1G hi and welcome! That estimate is about accurate in my experience. I was referred at the very end of June, I saw them at the end of august for an initial consultation and tests and we start in the next couple of weeks. The waiting was really hard, and we were going to go private until we got our funding through and they said 3 months wait time, which it was not, as mentioned above. Steel yourself for the wait or hope it turns out to be quicker.

My drugs arrive tomorrow 😬😬😬

How’s things going, thislittlebird? I’ve seen quite a lot of your posts and wondering how you’re getting on.

We have self referred for private at Guys and I called them to see when we were likely to hear and the woman in the call centre said ‘a few weeks’ quite vaguely :/ I was surprised that it would take that long for private referrals. We have said we want the personalised care option.

Does anyone have any experience of consultant led care at Guys and how long it takes to get seen?

@Iwouldlikesomemorecake:
We went through Guy’s personalised care. We were able to start the process within a month or so, with a small delay because of Christmas closures. We were with them for our first cycle under the NHS and decided to stay with them for a repeat transfer (which happened today!) Happy to chat more if you like.

@Iwouldlikesomecake hi! I asked them about the standard level of private care and they said you join the same waiting list as nhs (which I was already on) so it didn’t seem worth my while. The extra level up must be different somehow, just not sure exactly. I’m now at the front of the queue of course and a little nervous that I don’t have a consultant looking after me. I’m going to mention it to the nurses when I go in and ask how supervised everything will be.

I’m going in for my day 3 scan tomorrow, hopefully can start stims too if all is ok. Would have been earlier but AF wouldn’t play ball this week!

I’m probably posting everywhere because I’m a total nervous wreck 🙈

@thislittlebird good luck for your scan today, hope it all goes well

Hope everyone else is well x

Good luck @thislittlebird, it’s nerve wracking.

@Etonmess20 @BegoniaGal7 thanks! It really is nerve wracking and it’s taken a full year from my first referral (after six months of cocks ups with results prior to that) to get this far. It’s so damn tiring.

How was your experience with guys @begoniagal7?

Hi ladies
Anyone having a round in Feb at Guys? I’m preparing for Feb, and excited and anxious at the same time

Hi @MahanK! I’ll be cycling in Feb but will be starting stims today, so maybe a bit ahead. When are you expecting to start?

@thislittlebird hi my love. I’m supposed to start around 7-10th Feb. Good luck with your round. How are you finding Guys? Also can I ask what your AMH was before you started? I’m 33, I have pcos and my AMH result is 41 - the nurse said it’s a little high but not to worry. Dec 2020 I did a round with Create (which was unsuccessful) and my AMH was 20. Since I’ve been on supplements, exercising and eating healthier - is this a good thing? I’m new to Mumsnet and haven’t read the entire thread sorry if it’s been discussed already.