Newcastle Fertility Clinic - Anyone?

[IVFGotThis05]

Hi

I am just wondering if anyone is currently with Newcastle fertility Clinic for IVF? I think I would just like to hear if someone is having a similar experience to me and how you are finding it :)

Hello, I am currently receiving treatment at the centre of life, Newcastle. I have just picked up the medication to start my first cycle of IVF. I start the meds in August, egg retrieval in September if all goes according to plan. Have you started treatment yet op?

Hi;
Seen this post, please can you give me a bit of advice about how long your waiting time etc is please?
We have just been transferred here and have an appointment in august for some tests, and our IVF referral will run alongside it.
It's an issue with my partner we have.
I've had my scans, bloods and hsg done but I think Newcastle want to do their own bloods and scan on me to check I am all good for IVF too.
How long have you both been on this journey for?

@Farmersweeklyreader Sorry I have took so long to reply ! I think I read your response and forgot all about it ! Ah so you are just at the start ! I have had 1 full cycle so far, so 1 fresh transfer and 2 frozen transfers all BFN's! Which is a shame! I don't actually have anything negative to say about the clinic so far, maybe the only down side is that you never get the same doctor or nurse for each appointment.. which is fine, it's the NHS after all, they'll be shift workers, covid, staff shortages as there is everywhere so that can't be helped. I am however abit anxious about my next egg collection and cycle because I want to know whether they are going to look into why I'm struggling with implantation and if they are going to change anything this cycle or do further tests! I will be a little annoyed if they just say they are going to do another cycle without changing anything!

@User491 Hi so I don't remember my exact dates even though it was just last year, but because I have had 3 transfers they are all abit of a blur. But I remember from first consultation with them, I'd say I was waiting about 5-6 weeks for the testing appointment, then another 4 for nurses video appointment and then 4-5 weeks in between each stage. But once I got to the face to face nurse appointment where they give you meds, needles etc they then picked a date with me to start and it was within two weeks !! So it does seem far apart but it actually went pretty fast! I had my first egg collection end of November 2021, FET February and another FET May. I hope this helps :)

Hello, we had our 1st appointment by video call in August 2021. This was after being referred by my GP. We then had to attend in person in December for blood tests, scans & semen analysis for my husband.
I then had an HSG examination at the RVI in January. A small polyp was found, so small that no action is recommended.
After another video call with a consultant IVF was recommended and we had an appointment in May to attend in person and sign our consent forms. The quickest egg collection dates we could get were September. I start my IVF drugs in August, I’m on long protocol.
I have found the process quite long so far, however we are NHS patients so very grateful to be finally receiving some help.
I am 40, husband is 44. We don’t have any children, we have unexplained fertility, I have never been pregnant.
That was a long post but I hope it helps to manage your expectations, I hadn’t a clue about appointment wait times etc and did find it frustrating at times.

Thanks for getting back to me.
So Sorry it's not worked out for you yet, fingers crossed the next one is successful!
How many tries does that count for on the NHS?
Really hope they look into the potential implantation problem, you just want the best possible chance don't you.

We're you referred to Newcastle from somewhere else?

We have that app in August, and have been told the IVF wait is 6 months, but I wasn't sure if in that timescale they give you medication etc in the meantime, or whether in 6 months time they then get the ball rolling.

I'm excited and just sick of the waiting tbh, so getting ahead of myself 🤣 we've had a rough time of it, as I'm sure everyone going through this has too, Covid's not helped at all. We've been trying for what seems like a lifetime.

Sorry I’m just learning to use this site, see my post above 🙂

Hi, yes we are at the start of IVF journey but I feel it has taken ages to get to the starting line as our first referral appointment was August 2021.
Sorry to hear your first round was unsuccessful. Are you an NHS patient?
We have 1 NHS round (this is due to my age) although I’m unsure whether a round counts as just the initial fresh transfer (all being well) or if any subsequent frozen embryo transfers are included within that round?
Its one question I forgot to ask at my last appointment but I do find it quite difficult when you see different members of staff for each appointment. However they have all been lovely and I know the clinic is very busy.

So I have been given 3 full rounds of IVF as I'm 33 and partner 32 with no children and never been pregnant, but we have 2 known issues. I don't always ovulate and have irregular periods and partner has low motility.

1 round means 1 egg collection... however many you get to day 5 you can freeze and have a frozen transfer which is still classed as round 1. So my first round I got 2 that made it to day 5 and 1 to day 6. So I had 1 transferred straight away and 2 in the freezer, to transfer later !

I will also add that I feel like that is a far longer wait then I had to wait !! I hope they just mean 6 month until egg collection or something or overall. My memory is so bad I cant quite remember how long I waited from 1st appointment until actual egg collection or transfer ! I have a little IVF diary at home so I will check tonight and let yous know !

All I can say is the waiting in everything to do with IVF is 1 of the worst parts about it. It still doesn't get any easier !

Anymore questions let me know ! I was also on long protocol !

Thanks for clearing that up for me about the rounds, I had hoped that was the case but there’s always something I forget to ask at my appointments (even though I always take a list 😅)
Do you get an appointment to discuss your next round before it starts? Hopefully they will suggest something to help with your implantation issues.
Did you do anything special to prepare for ivf? I did ask about extra vitamins, acupuncture etc but the nurse said all they recommended is vitamin D, folic acid and no alcohol.

Hi! Me and my partner are with the newcastle clinic. Just a quick timeline incase it helps someone.
Nov 2021 - referral from GP, Jan 22 initial consultation, March 22 testing, End of May referred for IVF and it took 5 weeks to get appointment letters in the post for our implications and consent appointment which are happening in July/August. I'm assuming I will be able to start meds shortly after? My main concern is that it seems a lot of people get put on long protocol at this clinic and i was really hoping for short!

Hi 🙂
You will get your prescription for the drugs at your consent appointment and they will book you in a date to start your medication, give you a timetable with expected date for egg collection etc.
Our consent appointment was end of May, the first available slot for egg collection for us was 19th of September, just to give you an idea of current wait times.
I am on long protocol, I questioned this and they suggested best course of action due to my age. I start taking my meds in August.
Hope all goes well for you.

Hello,
Sorry I went quiet after posting last, we have had our initial appointment at Newcastle a few days ago, and had some tests done, we are awaiting bloods coming back, but have been told we will be having ICSI due to my partners sperm.
We have just received a load of paper work with an appointment for late September by video call and an app for early November for our consent appointment, where I will get my meds etc.
i am so excited as I'm sure you all are too!
Just great to have a plan in place finally!!

Reading above, it's luck of the draw as to how quick we get to start from beginning of November?
@Farmersweeklyreader I seen yours was a few months! How are you feeling from the meds?
@IVFGotThis05 yours was mega quick!
How are you getting on now? Hope you've had some answers now 😊

I don't want to pester the clinic, but we were due to go away in November and planned to be away in January, and I'm now thinking do we just book it, or whether to see if they have an indication of a start date 😬
Obviously I would sack a holiday/break away in a heartbeat, but I don't want to book it and pay for it. Maybe could just wait and see how things go and book something last minute if all goes to plan 😊

How is everyone else getting on?

Hi, I am feeling fine so far on my meds. My husband has been doing my injections for me and so far I don’t have any side effects to report. I set my alarm on my phone to remind us when to inject.
I would give the clinic a ring and ask about current wait time expectations, I asked just so we could have a plan in place for work. It feels like a while to wait at the moment for you, but the time honestly flew by for me. I just kept busy. Hope it flies by for you too. Good luck.

Hi, I've just came across this post today as I've been feeling a bit down/frustrated with my IVF journey. We're currently going through IVF treatment at the Centre for Life and in general they have been ok. I have struggled with the wait times though, IVF takes forever! I didn't realise it would take so long just to get an appointment. We have a known egg donor who comes up for scans from Cardiff and previously they have insisted she comes up for every scan. I know they're super busy but I wish they would read your notes before they see you because we've been told a lot of wrong information by various different nurses.

We had our first born naturally last year but he passed away at 4 months old due to mitochondrial disease. We were referred to the IVF clinic as if we conceived naturally again there is a 1 in 4 chance the same thing would happen to our next baby. We can't take that risk. We are so fortunate to have a friend who is willing to donate but it hasn't been straight forward. We tried 2 rounds of down regulation with buserelin and she didn't respond on either round (the nurses said that's very rare) and now we're just waiting for her period to arrive to hopefully go with her natural cycle and she will start the stims when her period arrives. Obviously it's late 😶

@User491 I would ring the clinic to see if they can give you any idea on timelines. I know they close for a couple of weeks in December (and also for a month in June) for cleaning and routine checks so this could impact your timings.

Any tips on how to deal with the IVF frustrations and how long things seem to take? @Farmersweeklyreader tips for helping the time fly by appreciated!

I was impatient and rang them, they will be sick of me before I've even started 🤣

So it's usually 1/2 months, but it's 3/4 months, so we will be looking at February/March time (unless there's cancellations 🤞🏻)
Which she did say happen all the time 😊

Hi MitoMam
So sorry to learn you had a son who passed away. I hope with the wonders of modern medicine and your lovely friends support you are successful in your ivf journey.
I think the time flew by for me because I found it easier to mentally prepare when I had my dates to start my medication. Everything felt so uncertain before then, just waiting to find out when we could start. I felt I couldn’t make plans incase I would have to cancel due to treatment. I think it helps to try and not put your life on hold (easier said than done, I know).
Also super busy at work just now so that helps focus my mind on something other than ivf. I still have days when I am extremely down & frustrated but I do try my best to stay positive.
How does a natural cycle work? I’m assuming much less meds?

At least now you can book your break away and enjoy it before treatment begins ☺️
Are you heading somewhere nice?

@MitoMam
I am so so sorry to read what you have been through, that is absolutely heartbreaking.
I'm new to this, and I didn't see your post!
That's amazing that you have a friend to help you 🥰
I hope you get some answers soon.
I must say, I have found the treatment/communication to be so much better than where we were, they were all so lovely too. Just what you need on this difficult journey, but I'm sorry you seem to have struggle with miscommunication from them not reading your notes etc ☹️
The clinic was so busy when we were in, I suppose you don't realise how many are going through similar situations.

@Farmersweeklyreader i know one plus side I suppose 🤣 we haven't fully decided just yet, I would book an extravagant holiday, somewhere we wouldn't usually go.. but all the ones I fancy have zika risks 🤣
Any ideas welcome 😊

@Farmersweeklyreader so pleased your doing well on the meds, don't think I would fancy doing them myself either tbh 🤣
What was your date that your booked in for? How are you feeling about it all?

Thanks @Farmersweeklyreader . I think that's what I'm struggling with- dates are still up in the air.

We are trying a fresh transfer with my donors natural cycle this time which means I'm on down regulation drugs (changed to the nasal spray this morning, anyone find you can taste it?!) And we are just waiting for her to start her period before she can start the stimulation drugs. So we don't have any dates for transfer until she starts her period. My donor used to have a regular cycle but since she tried down regulating and it didn't work, it has messed up her cycle and her period is late!

Thanks @User491 . I still don't know how Mumsnet works! Not exactly the place I thought would have IVF chat tbh.

Oh yeah, for long haul winter sun there are a lot of destinations with Zika 🤔splash out and go to Australia??? Definitely get some winter sun there!

I haven’t been abroad in years but I do like to hear of other peoples holidays 😆 We have a lot of animals so it’s tricky for us to get away for any length of time. We r hoping to get away in Scotland for a short break in November.

Its really strange, I inject medication into sheep and cattle all the time but can’t quite face doing it to myself when it comes down to it 🤣 My husband also injects animals, he says doing it to me is just the same? Ha!
Its not painful and I have no bruises, it’s honestly nothing to worry about so far.
I will hopefully be having egg collection mid September if everything goes to plan. Fingers crossed.
Im feeling ok about it, I can cope well with the medical side of things but I’m not sure how well I will cope with the emotional side of things if it doesn’t work out. Im just trying my best to stay positive and take each day at a time.