TTC 18 months, referral?

[Acphillips15]

Hi everyone,

Me and my husband have been TTC for 18 months, I’m 31 he’s 27.

Had all initial testing (I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism but now on medication) ultrasound etc all looks good.

My husbands SA a few months ago was below the 5th centile in volume, motility and morphology so he has a second test tomorrow.

Has anyone been in a similar situation and been able to push getting referred earlier? We’re expecting to need help but would rather get the ball rolling sooner rather than later as I understand there’s lots of waiting!

Thanks in advance x

If you look up your local icb commissioning policy it will tell you what your minimal requirements are, most seem to be 2 years of trying naturally but some are less. We got to bypass the 'trying' phase but that's because we had an already known absolute 0% likelihood of natural conception.

For male issues, there has been some excellent results with supplements and life style changes. My advice if it is male issues and you can afford it, is book to see an andrologist privately, as if you do get to the point of an nhs appointment before they start anything, they'll tell your husband to do 3 months of supplements and possibly meds like clomid and then to see if that makes a difference before progressing to ivf. So, on the chance that its 6 months before you can start the nhs ball rolling, you can trial the other non ivf interventions in the mean time.