Hi ladies. Been lurking for a while but thought I'd jump on board and say hi! My husband and I have been TTC for about 18 months, like everyone else I never anticipated that we'd have trouble conceiving but here we are. I am 30 and my husband is 33. We've had all the tests done and everything normal, although the most recent SA showed husbands sperm to be slightly under the norm (contrary to previous SA) so we've been put forward for ICSi
We're now waiting for funding approval to come through. Praying it arrives in time for us to have a shot before our holiday in May! So my questions are, how long have people found its taken for the approval to be provided? And what can I be doing in the meantime to be getting my body into as receptive a state as possible?
Excited to begin the journey but also apprehensive! Hats off to all of you ladies and wishing you all a happy and relaxing Sunday!
Xxx
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Strawb86
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We did icsi. I'm in scotland so its maybe different if you're England but we were on the waiting list for nearly 2 years. It was a long wait. Main thing is make sure your bmi is below 30.
Thanks Katya! Wow 2 year wait must have been excruciating we're incredibly lucky in our area that once funding comes through we can expect to get started almost immediately. Postcode lottery does seem very unfair! How did icsi work out for you? Xx
wait times vary quite a bit between clinics, but for us it was about 12 months from approval to actually starting treatment. I think you'd be very lucky to get treatment before May! Funding approval alone took about 2 months I think... Then it's more investigations and prep once you're top of the waiting list. It's definitely not a quick process! In the meantime, take folic acid and I also gave up alcohol (and smoking if you do) also applies to hubby as will affect his sperm... And keep trying! I also had acupuncture - whether it helped or not who knows but I found it relaxing.
Thank you! I'm on folic acid and husband has started taking condensyl to try and help with the spermies. Weve both stopped drinking and i have acupuncture lined up all investigations are already complete for me so my consultant said if funding comes in next few weeks then should be ok to do treatment before may.but now doubting my understanding,it seems the process and waiting times vary massively between areas! Thanks for your help
is this a consultant at the fertility clinic? I was referred by a fertility specialist GP who said 'likely waiting times' but you only really know once you've seen the fertility dr/team. I also had all investigations done prior but ended up having more (mainly blood tests, and hubby had a repeat SA) then there's the paperwork, consent, lecture evening before prep work so even once you start on medication, with down reg and stimulation/egg collection and transfer, a full cycle can take 2-3 months depending on how you respond. Do you mind me asking your rough location? It does seem to vary quite a lot!
Thanks for the info, I appreciate im coming across a bit naive 😁 yep it was the doctor at the fertility clinic, and we've had repeat SA and blood test etc. Maybe i was just clutching at straws when the doctor said could start within a few weeks of receiving funding - he does come across quite casual so I could be taking him too literally!! Location is East cheshire.
Ah well, at least now I am prepared for a longer wait if I've been too optimistic!
if it's the fertility doctor saying that, you've got a better chance! Although I was told at my first appointment with consultant we would start Jan, then it went to march when I went back and the nurse said the doctors don't know the waiting times! (I complained and got Feb in the end) so have you had HIV, hepatitis, rubella bloods already? Hopefully what you've been told is right, nothing worse than poor communication! Once you're on the roller coaster you tend to go with the flow to be honest! And it's worth it, It's been 18 months and 2 cycles since our referral and I'm almost 32 weeks pregnant! Would go through it all again in a heartbeat to get to where I am today. It's not an easy journey but feeling my baby kicking me makes it al worth while! ☺ best of luck x
Ah that's brilliant news, congrats! Must be an amazing feeling!
Yes I've had rubella etc, the fertility doc said once funding comes it will just be a planning appointment and then start with next period. So we shall see!
Hope the last few weeks go smoothly for you and and I will look out for your news when the big day comes!! Xx
Think it's different all over the place. We found out in earlyFeb 2015 that hubbies sperm had morphology issues so referred to hosp. Saw a consultant in March who asked him to take Proxeed for 3 months to see if improvement. So he did and slight improvement of 0-1%. Its needs to be 4% for it to be considered normal. He also gave up alcohol and protein shakes which he had been taking for a long time.
We did some other tests which were all ok. Then went back in July I think it was and was told would be referred for ivf. So did all stuff for that. We found out end of August that we got funding and we were in our chosen clinic in September. I also found out my AMH was low for my age of 33.
Had cycle one in Beginning of Nov which failed but my hubbies sample came out all good and looking to April for last NHS cycle 2.
We both have stopped drinking so eggs and sperm is good quality. I'm excercising more and trying not to be too stressed (I'm a teacher). It's hard what to say to do as it's diff for everyone. Don't change your life, still live it but think of what you want to achieve and what you can do to get it xxx
Thanks abbie! Really appreciate the info and good to hear timeline. So sorry your first round didn't work out. Great news though that your husbands sperm has improved! I think you're right re trying not too be stressed and doing exercise (my least fave thing!!). Fingers crossed for your next round xxx
Hi Strawb86 , I'm new here also and we haven't done treatment before in UK so I don't know how helpful I can be but our GP put our referral forward end of Dec and we got letter this week from NHS infertility clinic for the first appointment, which is in March. We have also all the tests done for both of us, so I have understand that then the treatment can start quite soon after that. Oh and we are in London.
Let's hope you get your first appointment soon also!
Hello!! We had tests in march and April, had a meeting with the secondary fertility specialist who approved us in august, then we started in September at our clinic that we are still with, once they'd said yes it must have been about a 4 week wait (I'm in Essex and treated in London). We had icsi this time as my eggs weren't very friendly the first time to my husbands sperm! Fertilisation rate was much better, but we had to do a freeze all round, so I'm on pause for a couple of months.
Hello! Thanks for the info ☺ that sounds like a similar length of time for us from first tests etc. Good to hear your fertilisation rate has improved, best of luck for your next steps! Xx
For us it took days to be approved.
We had to first see our GP to have all the tests after trying for so long then we were referred to a specialised GP fertility service then referred on for IVF by her.
Saw GP in Jan, saw GP fertility specialist in March ( took so long as GP had no idea what to do. I had to nag as I work in a surgery and knew the guidelines) then I wanted to hold off IVF for a while to get used to the fact.
When she referred us end of August two days later we were approved and chose our hospital then saw consultant end of sept and treatment started 1st Nov when AF arrived.
Thanks for your reply hydro! The process just seems totally different depending on area. Seems like our funding is the final thing they're doing whereas for others it was already sorted by the time the tests were being completed. thanks for your help xx
Hi, it seems to depend on where you're being treated and whether you're clinic uses the contraceptive pill prior to the drugs. We completed all the approval forms start of Jan and were given a timeline including a date for egg collection there and then. I started the pill last week when my cycle started, will start the down reg/stim drugs start/mid March and booked for egg collection Apr 3rd. Obviously this depends on the stim working as expected, which seems to be the norm (fingers crossed).
From reading prev posts some ladies have not had to take the contraceptive pill - wish this had been me as the wait is agonising - sounds like this may be you, fingers crossed xx
Hey Senior! They've not mentioned me taking the pill so fingers crossed I wont have to do that. Good to hear that you have all of your dates to look forward to, it must seem very real now! Hope the wait goes quickly and good luck with everything xx
Thanks Strawb86, reality hasn't quite kicked in yet but I've tried to stay realistic and talk about the whole process in a fairly clinical way to protect myself from the emotional side of things. I'm sure it'll hit me like a bus when they start messing with my hormones though! 😂
Hi, i guess itdepends where you are from and the places you are going for treatment. We went through referal process with hospital heard back within a week that we had accepted. Whereare you going for treatment?
Hey Dee, we're at a clinic in Knutsford, Cheshire but I think its linked to Liverpool Women's hospital so will probably have the actual treatment there. Its been nearly two weeks now since our funding application went off so hopefully it will come through soon! eek! xxx
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we're incredibly lucky in our area that once funding comes through we can expect to get started almost immediately. Postcode lottery does seem very unfair! How did icsi work out for you? Xx
all investigations are already complete for me so my consultant said if funding comes in next few weeks then should be ok to do treatment before may.but now doubting my understanding,it seems the process and waiting times vary massively between areas! Thanks for your help 
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