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

angel11

Hi all, hope you don't mind me joining. I was on here a while ago, but it then went very quiet. I'm 35, dh 36, ttc for 2.5 years, dh has antisperm antibodies.

We had our 1st failed icsi cycle back in Nov. From 5 good looking follies they only got 1 immature egg, which didn't fertilise. Had amh rechecked at our review appt in Dec, have to wait until March for results & then decide what our next steps are.

it's a tough old journey, but talking to others that have gone through it def helps.

Bertie_Yellow

Hi all, just had my AMH results as 15...this is good right??

Lily_Rose

Hi angel, I'm sorry your first icsi failed, are you self funding or going via NHS? I hope the results come back all ok in March.

Bertie I think amh 15 is good, mine is low at 8.1. I'm 30 and was told this is similar to someone that is about 38.

I had a consultation re: Hysteroscopy yesterday. Was told after waiting patiently for 45 mins and without and apology that it would be over 3 months before I'd get an appointment. I bursted into tears as the consultant pretty much smirked at me and said "you could have got an earlier appt at your local hospital" The cheek of that cowbag, I choose the earliest appt and sorry I don't have the powers to tell the future!

We have decided to cough up and go private, should have the op next week and then fingers x we can start treatment.

Hope everyone is ok xxx

angel11

Lily we had 1 funded cycle on nhs, so we'll be self-funding from here on in. Not great, but then I know others don't get any funded cycles, and I'm hoping it means we have a bit more control over the whole process.

Bertie I think 15 is probably good, but it really does depend on your age. When mine was checked a year ago it was 10.4, which I was told was within the normal range for my age (35), but at the lower edge of that range. When you were given your result did doctor/nurse make any comment on it?
Just editting to say that egg quality is way more important that quantity, they measure amh when going for treatment so they have an idea of dosage of meds etc to give you

Lily_Rose

It will be 3 years TTC in March for us and will be our first self funded try, I wish we did this earlier - isn't hindsight such a great thing? I'd still go to the docs to be added to the list if we aren't successful.

If you don't mind me asking, how was the nhs journey for you angel?

I agree that it is quality over quantity and it only takes 1 egg!

angel11

Lily it was kind of a mixed bag tbh. We had initial tests (day 21 bloods & semen analysis) done by gp & at our 1st appt with fc were told we would prob need icsi due to mfi. They did a few tests on me, but not too many. We were on the waiting list for 9 months, but that's pretty standard in our area for nhs. All pre-treatment appts were pretty good, things were explained really well & we were reminded of availability of counselling, support groups etc.
During stimms I had 2 tracking scans before ec, each 1 of these I saw a different consultant, & it did feel a bit more like a conveyor belt - no idea of this was because it was nhs, or if it's just how that clinic works. Then at ec I only had 1 egg (from 5 "good looking" follies), which it turned out wasn't even mature.
Then at our review appt our initial consultant (who we didn't actually see at all during treatment) told us that there were "missed clues" that I wasn't responding as well it seemed :mad:
So I am left feeling a bit frustrated from the whole process. I'm not entirely sure I want to go with that particular clinic again, but the only other clinic in our area has most of the same consultants working there too. And the next nearest clinic would be a 4-5 hour round journey

slothsocks

Hi everyone. I have started down regging for our first IVF cycle. I feel all a mess. Not sure whether it's the drugs or the pressure. I'm trying not to get my hopes up too much as our consultant told us the first cycle is pretty much figuring out how you're going to respond. Not that it definitely won't work, but that you just don't know how things will go till you try. It's hard not to hope though, isn't it?

Sorry your NHS cycle didn't work out Angel, fingers crossed the clinic will have a much better idea how to treat you a second time.

We are self funding and have had to borrow the money. We went for a 2 cycle package but I really really hope we won't need it.

Sorry to hear about your appointment and the long waiting times Lily_Rose. I hope things start moving for you a lot quicker now. We were first seen last June, but as we had no obvious issues we tried clomid first for three months then straight to IVF. It's been 5 months since our first consultation but at least we've felt like things were moving during that time.

Bertie re AMH, it really is age dependant. The main reason they test it before IVF is so that they know how much of the simulatory drugs to start you on, as they've not got much else to go on the first cycle. I don't think it's a predictor of whether the treatment is likely to be successful or not though. I thought that age was probably our biggest issue, I'm 38, nearly 39, but my AMH came out at 22.7, which is "satisfactory", and for my age very good. Not that it's helped me at all!

angel11

Hey how's everyone doing?

I've been reading though It Starts with the Egg again, & considering taking dhea supplements (i was a poor responder last time round ) Does anyone have any experience with it?

Sloth it can be such a difficult process, so take care of yourself as much as possible. For what it's worth, it does get easier once you get onto stimms, down regging can be horrible.

skaps

Hi all have my FET scheduled for next Tuesday. Nervous about it even though I've done this process a few times now.

Hope everyone else is doing well. X

Jonesy88

Hi everyone,

Can I nervously tip a toe in the water? DH and I have been trying for nearly 2 years and I think it's time to admit there's a problem and go to the doctors.

Does anybody have any advice about this? I don't even know what to say to the receptionist! Do I just say fertility problems? Do we both need to go initially?

I'm also overweight - classed as obese in terms of BMI but not by a lot. I'm working on addressing this but I'm worried the doctor will just dismiss us until i'm in the ideal category (about 3 stone away).

Any tips would be most welcome.