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

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

@TeodoraM are you in an active treatment cycle? I don't see you anywhere else on this thread. Would prefer it goes to someone who needs it now (also aware of expiry dates!)

@begoniagal3
I am after positive test now. The clinic will send me cyclogest till 8 week , but because I had 2 miscarriages before would prefer to take it till 12 week. That's why I have ask. But ofcourse if somebody needs them more ... 😉

Has anyone had problems getting through on the nurses line? I have called 02071882300 as I am due to start in a couple of weeks and they said I would have a nurses consultation 2 weeks prior to starting but havent heard a peep. Any advice on who to contact??

@Bubbafever I have problems getting through to the ACU this week on phone and via email! We had our initial consultation 7 weeks ago and my cycles have changed a bit so wanted to know when they will be contacting me for treatment. Emailed twice this week and nothing and rang a couple of times but couldn’t hold on longer than half hour each time!

I managed to get through and the lovely nurse emailed on Saturday saying someone will be getting in touch about medications. People who have been through treatment: how long does it take for the medication to come through? It all feels so last minute for me. I will hopefully be starting in 10days :-/

@Bubbafever It's super quick and organized - you'll get an email to book a slot as you or someone over 18 has to accept it and it's normally the same week it gets delivered :)

Ah maybe I am worrying pointlessly! Come on medications email!

Hi @Bubbafever it looks like I will be starting treatment the same time as you, my Pre FSH scans appointment is on the 19th (if my period comes on the 18th). Nurses have advised that I should receive medication email today, but I couldn't wait so I have called fertility2u and lucky I did. Fertility2u have received my prescription but couldn't process my order as hospital haven't provided them with my email address - so the lovely lady took my email address over the phone and have arranged delivery of the medication for this week. So if you haven't received medication email yet, it is worth calling fertility2u directly - 01827818321. Also they were able to only deliver two of my medications. The Suprecur is currently out of stock due to a national shortage, so I have just emailed hospital to let them know and hopefully they will be able to arrange an alternative way to obtaining it before my appointment next week. Good luck :)

Hello, I hope everyone is doing ok. We are starting IVF at guys end of September. A question for anyone that has had IVF before…I am planning on being signed off for it, I have quite a stressful job at times and I don’t want anything to jeopardise our chances. Which part was more stressful the first 2-3 weeks with the meds/scans/ec Or from transfer onwards? Xx

Supposed to be starting tomorrow (day 2) and struggling to get though by phone to book the medication training and training they said to come in for on day 2.

Sorry if this is covered previosuly but when you do start do they tend to book you in for your scans/bloods etc for that cycle in one block? I don't think I can handle being on hold constantly for everything!!

@Yel have you tried emailing the nurses? I find they’re more responsive than getting through on the phone

@Yel send an email marking it as urgent:fsh scan tomorrow and they should come back to you on the phone quite quickly. I sent an email yesterday and a lovely nurse got back to me this morning. I am not sure re when they book the next appointment if I am honest. I think it is 6-7 days after your first appointment. Good luck for your cycle!

Thanks @Bubbafever and @L4ur4Loui5e84! Yes I have been pestering them by email today. I did get a missed call from Guys so hoping they try again this evening (cue another email from me and back on hold..!)

I think I'm going to mentally struggle with the flexibility needed for IVF appointments 🙄

@Yel I am due to start next month and felt the same. My work is too unpredictable to be flexible so I’ve spoke to my GP who will sign me off. Could this be something you can do? To totally take the stress out of it?

Good idea L4ur4Loui5e84. No experience but if it was me I would probably take the start off so as not to be stressed about the scans fitting in around work and then keep busy for the tww.

I'm not too stressed, just impatient, so going to just go ahead and see how I get on this cycle but have given my manager a heads up I might have a few last minute meeting changes. Ready to get going now!

@TeodoraM did you ever manage to get extra cyclogest. Guys have given me enough for 4weeks after test day and I am just so worried it is not long enough. I am looking ti see if someone can monitor my progesterone levels and prescribe accordingly, privately.

@Bubbafever they actually give till week 8 and that was enough .

Hello ladies, I am starting my IVF journey this week. I have my initial consultation as a self-funded patient at Guy's ACU. How soon after the initial consultation, does treatment start? I am so excited and nervous at the same time :)

Hi Talaa, when I had my consult it moved really quickly. They arranged bloods for that week and a follow up the week after. They were ready to start treatment on my next cycle so left it up to me to decide when to begin. One of the reasons I chose them was because they seemed very proactive and got things moving along quickly.

Hello everyone! For anyone that has undergone multiple cycles at guys - did the do anything different following the first cycle? We have just had our first frozen cycle which unfortunately was unsuccessful. We have 5 more embryos and had our follow up consultation yesterday and they said they will do the same as they did the last cycle next time round? I was just under the impression that something would be changed/done differently the second time round to try and increase chances of pregnancy?

@Yel Thanks for your reply.

@L4ur4Loui5e84 I don't believe Guys will change anything from transfer to transfer unless they have evidence of something being wrong (like progesterone being low in my case). They also won't do any extras, if you want something like extra progesterone/blood testing you'll have to push for it, might also depend if you're nhs or private with them. I had a follow up consult with them recently after all our embryos failed and the response was essentially "do more ICSI". We're with another clinic now who we are obviously doing more ICSI with but other tests and meds too.

@L4ur4Loui5e84 HI! I was with Guys Back in June 2021 for ICSI and 1 FET in Nov 2021 (only had two embryos from the NHS funder cycle). After the first fresh transfer they did not modify the FET treatment, but after FET transfer failed too, I asked to speak with a senior consultant (Tarek if I remember well) as I was not going to go with Guys and pay for it, to have the same exact protocol. They explained that even with self funded they would have done the same, perhaps just added Progesterone in injections (after i insisted). It worth to ask.

I decided to go somewhere else for my private round which gave much different outcomes, also in terms of embryos created (had to adjust meds twice with blood test, which means that on a standardised protocol I would have not produces as many eggs). The post transfer protocol used in private is also very different in terms of how many meds you are on and how long you take for, to support pregnancy. Obviously you pay for it, but it is worth to ask if you privately pay for meds if they recommend any?

Hi ladies, just found this thread and was hoping to get some answers - I’m due to start IVF at guys in 2 weeks after 2 years of TTC. Still waiting to hear on a date for the nurse consultation - is this the appointment where they teach you to inject & order meds? For anyone who has done a freeze all, when did you find out the plan for your FET and how long after your EC was your FET?

thanks so much xxx

Hi @Emiwaly, we started IVF at guys end of September. You’ll have your nurse consultation the same day you have your baseline scan. So once your period starts you tell them, they make an appointment you go in for a baseline scan. It’s then they also take your bloods and go through everything re: plan and how to inject meds. They should order these for you in advance so you have them ready for your predicted period starts. I had mine for a few days (typically period was late!!)

We had a freeze all, we were told this would be a possibility at our last scan before EC based on the amount of follicles. If they think they’re going to get over 20 it’s an automatic freeze all. So we found out after I came round following the EC procedure that they were going to freeze all. You can start your first FET on the withdrawal bleed if you want following the fresh cycle. Mine was about a week after EC with the transfer 4 weeks after EC. Unfortunately we weren’t successful and are in the middle of our second FET cycle now. Feel free to ask anything else, I know it can all be daunting and very overwhelming xxx