Too soon for IVF?

[Kry5tal]

Hi all. We have been ttc for 2&half years now. I went to the doctors 18 months ago to see what my options were, I had bood & smear tests to make sure all was ok and I was ovulating regularly, luckily all seems to be fine apart from high stress levels, which I blamed on work, so much so that I went to the extreme and left my job as I was convinced it wasn't doing me any good, I ended up having 3 months off. I am now very happy in my new job. I have since had 2 more blood tests and my stress levels have reduced slightly. I was then booked in for an X-ray on my tubes to make sure there were no blockages - the doctors couldn't get the die to go through at first but after the 3rd attempt it worked and all was clear. I have now had a letter to say that if we haven't conceived by April 15 that we will be concidered to have IVF on the nhs - The doctors are not very helpful in suggesting more natural ways of conceiving - I feel that going straight into IVF will be too soon and that maybe I haven't investigated other options - any suggestions? - though it will be 3 years in Aprils of ttc - It's getting me so down just thinking about ttc all the time x

[mel87]

Hi, I went through the same process...overall the doctors aren't very helpful in these situations (although they should be!!)

My husband and I had all the test done, bloods, smear, tubes flushed and they found nothing wrong with either of us so but it down to unexplained fertility. We again had to wait 3 yrs before goon g ahead with IVF. That came around this year and we were then referred to a local clinic (Oxford Fertility Unit) and have now started our IVF treatment.

The most annoying part about this is the time you have to wait between appointments but it will come round really quickly and you have to keep positive.

Also, a few of my friends had unexplained fertility and after having their tubes flushed like you, they then fell pregnant so keep positive!!

[Hopeful1982]

Hello Kry5tal,

I had all the same tests as you and had the same diagnosis of 'unexplained infertility'. It's incredibly frustrating as you feel that there must be something amiss which the standard tests just haven't picked up. To me it always seemed like the tests themselves were geared around what the NHS (or private clinic) needed to know for IVF rather than finding the source of the problem (for which the solution might be IVF!).

That said, although it's entirely your decision, given how much ttc takes over your life I think 3 years is long enough to wait before a round of IVF!

Good luck with your journey x

[rainbowbreeze80]

Have they suggested iui or clomid? We've tried both before ivf, ok they didn't work for us and were unexplained but id rather have tried those first than jump straight into ivf xx

[Tlove]

Hi, I'm in Ireland so slightly different experience to those going on NHS. But for me, I had 3 miscarriages, was tested for these and found I have APS, a blood clotting disorder. I also have low thyroid but this is under control now. Then over the last year couldn't get pregnant so I got some further tests done. My GP told me my AMH levels were too low and this could indicate poor quality eggs. When I went to the fertility clinic, it was this test result that he focused on. My cycles have been shortening slightly too and he felt that this with the low AMH level could indicate my egg reserve is not as it should be. When they scanned me, I only had 6 follicles when they would expect to see 12 - 20. I am going straight to IVF for these reasons.

So, I suppose I am saying that everyone is different. If your AMH levels are low, this could be a reason for going directly to IVF. Have you also had thyroid checked? Once my thyroid levels were fixed, I got pregnant quite quickly. Just a couple of things to consider if you haven't checked them yet!

[Sad_panda]

I can really sympathise. We went from being told to "try to relax and try for a bit longer" in March, to getting referred for IVF within days when I phoned a month ago to see if it had been "a bit longer". Start my Gonal F tomorrow and the only thing I think I've learned is that it's a total lottery and all you can do is just keep badgering away.