Don't know where to turn next!

[SkC0511]

Hello,

This is my first post, on any forum ever! But looking for some advice...

My husband and I have been married over four years now and TTC since we got married with no luck. I have been to my GP - had all the blood test, scans, etc. and they cant find anything wrong. Husbands had sperm test which also came back normal. I convinced my fertility specialist to prescribe me chlomid, but I am on my last two months of it and they wont give me more after that.

They are pushing me onto IVF after that, which we would have to go private for. My husband has a child from a previous marriage, which makes us ineligible (which is crazy, and unfair, but a whole other thread all together probably!!). The same specialist my GP has provided is part of a private fertility clinic, so I cant help but feel like they arent exhausting every other possibility for my available on the NHS. And honestly, we just cant afford private at the moment.

Personally, my periods historically have been a little all over the place. hey have evened out over the last 2 or so years tho. They are very heavy and painful, and generally my cycles are longer than average (c35 days). I have used the OPKs, with little luck - always had negative results throughout my cycle even tho blood tests showed ovulation.

I was looking into the OvuSense fertility monitor - has anyone had any experience with that? I have read marmite like reviews all over the internet, and its very expensive to take a risk on.

Any other tips, advice, success stories would be hugely appreciated! I am open to any options - holistic, alternative, diet, etc...

TIA!! xx

 

[snowbee]

Hi and welcome. Sorry you aren't having much luck. What you are entitled to on the NHS does vary by area, for example where I if you have any living children (you or your oh) you are entitled to testing and investigations only and no treatment (so they wouldn't have given you clomid here).

I would recommend sticking with the opks and maybe temping to make sure you know when you ovulate, it may be earlier or later than you think and you could be missing the window for having sex at the correct time. With the opks have you tried different times of day? You may need to do a cycle or two where you use several a day to determine when is best for you.

Some ladies swear by acupuncture or reflexology, this might be worth you looking into.

How many rounds of clomid have you done? Have you had tracking scans with the cycles to check you are ovulating on the clomid? I did 7 rounds clomid and the last was a winner for me and I got our positive. I have pcos and took a whole load of vitamins and drugs and ate a low gi/high fat diet but I think any diet other than healthy eating would be fairly pointless if you don't have a specific issue. Do you have any allergies?

There are lots of other testing options (mainly privately funded) but again I'm not sure how much use they would be for you at the moment. There are things like implantation testing and genetic testing that you could go for if you wanted. How old are you and your husband? The genetic testing might be of interest to you if you are in the older category as there could be an issue with egg quality.

That is all a bit random but hope some of it might be useful for you.

 

[1sttimer]

Hi Skc0551, I feel your pain, I've just been told I won't get any NHS funding after waiting a year for a referral because my local ccg cut ALL of its IVF funding in 2015, and neither of us have any kids! Sucks...

But some tips... have you thought about trying acupuncture? I went to acupuncture for about 6 months last year and it was fantastic for changing my cycle in terms of pain, type of AF (heaviness etc). The acupuncturists also give you invaluable information on the different vitamins and nutrients that help with the things you list that the doctors never do (for example different combinations of things have different effects). The main thing I found is what a transformation it can have - I barely get any pain any more and my positivity and relaxation levels are a lot better. It's really clever! I am about to embark on IVF as it wasn't the 'quick fix' for me that it is for others but I will definitely have acupuncture alongside the IVF. As well as all the physical effects it has, (and to me this is just as important) it actually made me feel better for thinking I was doing something to help myself. This whole infertility thing has a horrible way of making you feel totally helpless but doing something like this, where you can take certain vitamin supplements, tweak your diet accordingly and have the acupuncture to adapt how your system works really makes you feel like your taking a step in the right direction. I know of people who have done it and not needed to then go for IVF - sadly not the case for me but everyone is different.

Also, they may recommend you take something called agnus castus and Vit B6, this is good for regulating cycles and calming them down. But don't just take it without advice because AC is a funny old thing it's best to do it under recommendation. Acu isn't the cheapest thing in the world (I pay £42 a time and £50 for the first consultation) and went every 2 weeks - but it's a cheaper than IVF if you want to try something else whilst you save up! You could even just do it for 3 months and see how you go.

I hope this helps! xx