The Trials & Tribulations of Trying to Conceive when its just not happening (12m+)

Floaty

Good morning all,

Sorey for radio silence, have been ill for a while, on the mend now I hope.

This afternoon we have our first IVF appointment at a new hospital. I've given it no thought at all because of illness and also a bit of ostrich syndrome. Does anyone have any tips? Questions to ask, information to get?

Thank you so much xxxx

pinkteapot

Hi floaty. At our consultation they went through what the process involved. Things to ask about:

• If you currently take any medicines (not just prescription ones), ask which ones you can keep using at which stages of treatment. Think of EVERYTHING you use regularly.
• If your cycle is regular but a funny length (not the usual 28 days - mine is 25), ask whether you'll still start down-reg on the same day (e.g. day 21 in a standard long protocol cycle). This confused me for a while.
• What your clinic's advice is re exercise (if you usually do any) and alcohol/caffeine consumption (if you partake) during treatment.
• If you have a preference between nasal spray and injections for down-regulation, ask for their opinion and relative costs if you're self-funding. My consultant didn't mention nasal spray at all and just said I'd have injections. I subsequently saw spray mentioned in the gubbins they'd sent out beforehand so phoned her to ask about it. She said they're both equally effective but most people prefer injections (why??!!) so they default to those. She switched me.

I think other people have done a lot more research on IVF than I have and ask far more technical questions about the protocols than me. For our first cycle I pretty much decided to just go with their recommendations!

tea_lover

Hope it goes ok this afternoon floaty. PTP's info is all great

The only thing I can think of to add (and I always forget this when I'm in there) is to make sure you get some sort of timescale for what happens next. Nothing worse than getting home afterwards and not knowing if you're looking to start in 2 weeks or 12 months.

Have just emailed for further info about a job and am getting impatient that they haven't replied yet (literally two minutes later lol). It's so rare that I see a job I actually like the look of so am over-excited about this!

pickle - I am definitely craving cake and biscuits today (well, everyday really)

tea_lover

Aargh - they replied and now I don't know whether to apply! Why is this not easier lol??

picklekin

Tea- You can always apply then change your mind later, can't do it the other way around

And pinks questions are good, I asked about the cost re drugs and was told I could ask the drug company but there wasn't much in it. I'm not sure if your self funding Floaty, but you can ask about all the extras (Scratch, glue(!) and funny camera thing etc) if you can get them done self funded I'd definitely go for it. I'm going for them anyway as the cost isn't so much compared to the whole thing.

tea_lover

picklekin wrote: »

Tea- You can always apply then change your mind later, can't do it the other way around

Good point! :rotfl:

For our funded cycle we were also able to add on extras (eg. embryoscope), so may be worth asking what's included and what isn't (if you're not paying).

If you are paying they may be able to recommend places to get quotes for the drugs. Our clinic recommended Healthcare at Home or Asda, and told us to avoid the hospital pharmacy.

picklekin

Just prompted me to have a look for cheaper drugs Tea, so thanks. Never new ASDA were so much cheaper. Its a bit more hassle this way, but might think about giving it a go!

tea_lover

Certainly worth getting some quotes at least. We got the majority of ours from Healthcare at Home in advance, then decided that if we needed to top up anything we wouldn't mind paying the extra from the hospital. It's finding the right balance between :money:and something else to organise/stress about at a difficult time!

tea_lover

Eek, I've applied!! The closing date is tomorrow and they're interviewing on Tuesday so there wasn't too much time to stress about it. At least I'll know pretty soon if they want to see me.

frozenpenguin

Ooh good luck tea! xx


And great news floaty about your appointment One thing I'd add about the drug charges - try and find out what supplier your hospital or clinic use.
Only that I compared a few different places and for the drugs I needed Healthcare at Home was cheapest *but* that was also the supplier my clinic used and they were able to get the drugs at bulk prices. It ended up being cheaper to buy them direct from the clinic rather than do it myself!