Trying for a baby (12+ M/not straightforward)

shelly

ginvzt wrote: »

Any of you had any dealing with Bupa? Our police states, that investigations in infertility are covered, but not the treatment... (I am sure they have many ways to get out of doing even the investigation, but any of you went through Bupa for any initial investigations?)

I had a BUPA consultation with a fertility specialist but only because someone mucked up at BUPA and gave me authorisation when they shouldn't have. He done some swabs and blood tests but these were done on the NHS.
We have top notch cover through hubbys work but we aren't covered for anything to do with fertility issues at all.
I am still going to see the consultant in the future though but as a NHS patient.


HTH

myaccount08

Welcome new posters..

Low GI and wholefoods diet is good for anyone, there are lots of books and articles out there for PCOS and healthy lifestyle. They aren't aimed at fertility, but if PCOS is what’s stopping conception then improving that should help all round. Try your local library for infertility books, they usually contain a chapter for PCOS and diet is always mentioned. High fibre and low fat is best. The low GI is for the insulin resistance aspect of PCOS. High oestrogen is thought to be a major contributory factor of PCOS so lots of fibre and veg can help keep oestrogen steady + stick to organic meat.

For fertility investigations it depends on your circumstances, your GP should do 2-3 months/cycles of blood tests first – CD3 (FSH, LH, testosterone, estradiol and prolactin) and CD 21 (7 days [after ovulation or before your period] to test progesterone). They’ll do a sperm test too and check for male issues and make sure you are taking folic acid, check your general health and rubella etc. Depending on male factors, if the CD 3 results are normal but the progesterone assay shows no ovulation some GPs will offer Clomid for 3 months and some will refer straight on. I know that here the wait is 6 months just for an appointment, but I'm sure it varies alot. I've been going to the GP since 2004 with problems and I'm still waiting for proper investigations before we can even start fertility treatment.

I'm on CD 11/12 now. Still abit emotional and the pelvic pain is starting already this cycle. DH is still working 7 days a week and we’re in the process of closing down the business. I think we’re going to book a short holiday away in January and get away from it all. Hope we’re one of those couples who conceive on a break lol

jiblets1

My fertility consult has been arranged through the doc, and actually it's all been quite quick. We've been trying for 16 months now, so it'll be 18 months in february. I think it may be to do with the fact that my hormones have intermittently gone crazy, and I was getting ridiculously stressed - one morning I went in to school ( I teach) and started crying at 8 30. I didn't manage to stop crying until 10 15.
So I think I was sped up a little because I am mental. Basically. Policy is to refer us a 12 months ttc, but we were actually referred at 10 months ttc.
I'm a little wary to go to BUPA as the doc gave me the impression that if i did that, then decided that I couldn't afford any more, I would have to wait from the beginning on the NHS list again. So as we're quite happy with the speed things are moving as yet, we're staying as we are for now.

ginvzt

myaccount08 wrote: »

For fertility investigations it depends on your circumstances, your GP should do 2-3 months/cycles of blood tests first – CD3 (FSH, LH, testosterone, estradiol and prolactin) and CD 21 (7 days [after ovulation or before your period] to test progesterone). They’ll do a sperm test too and check for male issues and make sure you are taking folic acid, check your general health and rubella etc. Depending on male factors, if the CD 3 results are normal but the progesterone assay shows no ovulation some GPs will offer Clomid for 3 months and some will refer straight on. I know that here the wait is 6 months just for an appointment, but I'm sure it varies alot.

Folic acid - yes, I am on pregnacare vitamins since the wedding in August 07! We went to docs in September when we decided to ttc and got full blood tests done and checked for rubella (it was a different GP though - different part of the country). The blood tests were fine and we are both immune to rubella.

My folic acid was way out of scale only after a couple of weeks of taking it, but doc just asked if I am on folic acid and I said yes. I saw the numbers ony later when I got the copy of the results.

Oh well, if Father Christmas doesn't give us a miracle this Christmas (I should ov around Christmas), we are off to GP in January. Unfortunately, I am likely to be away with work for the first two weeks, so most likely nothing will happen till end of Jan. (Although, this client is known to change it's mind at the last minute...)

nikkinoo_3

Hi Ginvzt! We're in Oxfordshire and from referral to being seen by a specialist at the clinic is a 12 week wait (our appointment is 5 Jan so not long now). It seems to take ages, but has gone pretty quickly to be honest. Don't worry about your doc's appt - like FE said they've heard it all before and everyone I've spoken to, both male and female, has been more than understanding (if a little disorganised at times!)

liloandstitch

Welcome to the thread Gymfiend

Good luck with Egg collection notslass - its due for tomorrow isnt it?

Lilo

nottslass_2

liloandstitch wrote: »

Welcome to the thread Gymfiend

Good luck with Egg collection notslass - its due for tomorrow isnt it?

Lilo

Thursday at 9.30 am - starting to feel like an "egg bound battery Hen" - I went for a run last night,and I swear that I could feel my ovary's jiggling about !!!!!!

ET will be Friday or Tuesday,if we manage to get to blastocyst stage - all we've got to decide now is how many to put back !!!!

Good Luck everyone & enjoy the BDing

FairyElephant_2

Hiya Gymfiend! myaccount has given you a really good synopsis of what is likely to happen. Only thing I would add is that the GP or Fertility Clinic may put you on Metformin Tablets for up to 6 months before they try Clomid - I have PCOS too (tried the low GI diet but it didn't do much for my PCOS I'm afraid - but at the end of the day it is a healthy eating plan so didn't do any harm either!) and that is what they tried first with me and couple of others I know of. I know one person it worked for....

Jiblets - When we were told that it was not going to 'just happen' naturally I thought I was OK about it, but after a couple of hours at home I lost it and cried bucket loads for several hours! When I'd pulled myself together, DH & I had a long talk and went over the options. Luckily the Fertility Consultant had given us loads of info and a kind if 'route plan' of what she wanted to try - basically Metformin for 6 months, then Clomid for 3, then if neither worked it would be IVF - well she reckoned that if neither Met nor Clomid worked then we may as well go straight to ICSI, as considering our ages (I was then 36 & DH 46) we didn't want to hang about, and having to pay for our treatment ICSI is a little bit more expensive per cycle but statistically more successful. Having a clear plan like that really helped, as I felt I still had more chances & options.

OOHH - Nottslass - you went running? Wow! I felt I could barely move in the few days before EC - my Tum was huge (well, huge-r than normal!!!) and I felt so full of fluid that I swear I sloshed when I moved!!!


I'm hanging on in there - lots of aches & pains (trying desparately hard not to 'symptom spot') and still bloated. I swing madly from being totally convinced it has worked and I am PG, to being very down and sure it has failed and that I'll have AF over Xmas, or even worse over New Year to take on holiday with me!

nottslass_2

FairyElephant wrote: »

OOHH - Nottslass - you went running? Wow! I felt I could barely move in the few days before EC - my Tum was huge (well, huge-r than normal!!!) and I felt so full of fluid that I swear I sloshed when I moved!!!


I'm hanging on in there - lots of aches & pains (trying desparately hard not to 'symptom spot') and still bloated. I swing madly from being totally convinced it has worked and I am PG, to being very down and sure it has failed and that I'll have AF over Xmas, or even worse over New Year to take on holiday with me!

The running seemed like a good idea at the time !lol,but I don't think that I'll be going again till after the 2ww.
Really bloated today - The only thing I can fit into is a pair of leggings - I swore that I'd never wear them again,after they were in fashion the first time around,but needs must !!!!

I know where you are coming from re being convinced its worked one min and then thinking it hasn't - I'm doing that at the mo (and thats even before EC !!!!)

Nicki

Good luck for tomorrow nottslass.

I've been having a month off (though I am on day 16 and happen to know that we did BD a lot around ov :rolleyes: )

I am coming round to the idea of not having any more intervention and just letting nature take its course. Need to have that conversation with OH though. I am coloured by how stressful last month was, and obviously as I have 2 beautiful kids already I'm in a different situation to some on here.

I went for my smear this week, and had a chat with the gynaecologist. He is not my fertility one, but was my obstetrician. His view was that with my age and medical background, realistically the chances of success of IVF were not great, but that paradoxically there was still a possibility that we'd conceive again naturally, though getting smaller the older I get.

This week I've been Christmas shopping, but also bought some new clothes and some nice new underwear (tmi alert maybe!), and weeded out my wardrobe. I like nice clothes, and enjoy clothes shopping, but I haven't really bought anything new for about 18 months as I kept thinking that I would wait until I needed some maternity clothes before splashing out. Now I'm thinking what is the point in putting life on hold

OH and I were away for a long weekend over the weekend so he has rather fallen off the wholesome diet, no alcohol wagon but as he is keen to lose weight I think he will soon hop back on, though the Christmas week will be testing for that. He also wants to get himself sorted out with a full health check, and is going to register with a GP (he hasn't been to the doctor for about 10 years and his old GP de-registered him when we moved house and he never bothered finding a new one)

So, although no BFP, I'm nonetheless feeling more positive at the moment. Hope it lasts!