Hi! New Here :)

[luthien]

Hey All,

So I thought I'd introduce myself

I'm 36 and have endometriosis for which I've had two laparoscopies to excise it from my bladder, uterus and bowel. As well as excision he also had to unstick my bladder from my uterus and my bowel, and unstick my tubes from my uterus. That was about 3 years ago.

We've been doing everything naturally for years; I have an app to track cycles, basal body temperature, periods, ovulation, LH test and cervical mucus. My cycles are very regular and ovulation happens spot on each month, but nothings happening. I know changes are lower as I'm older. Some of my symptoms for endometriosis are starting to come back so my specialist has agreed to do a laparoscopy to check everything with the idea of knowing what's happening and where we are so we can be better informed with what to do next, we feel that's a really good idea.

My hubby will be having his sperm checked, and hopefully we'll have an idea of where we stand in a few months time - we're aware time is essential with my age. So we've started looking into IVF but have a few questions which we're hoping you could help with?!

There seems to be a few methods of IVF:

Standard

Mild Stimulation

Natural Modified

Natural Cycle

Have you heard of them and which ones work best? I've read that the amount of hormones used in the standard IVF can cause rapid endometriosis regrowth so perhaps that isn't the best one. As I seem to be ovulating normally and have regular cycles would any of the others be more suitable?

Has anyone had IVF privately? What did yours include? How many rounds did you need? Some treatments seems to include fertility tests and some seem to be cheaper for say 3 rounds.

Also on behalf of my hubby, sorry if TMI he doesn't like the idea of just producing a sample on demand in a white clinical room; so any hints / tips / the way clinics are set up which could help.

Any help / info / your experiences would be great

[Purpledoggy]

Hi Farahziya! I'm new on my journey too (starting IVF in 4 weeks) so can't give you tips on dealing with it, but just wanted to say hello. Re private, I have to do private IVF as there's no NHS funding in my area. Their single cycles are literally just the fresh IVF process so they don't include pre-assessment appointments and scans, and importantly the drugs. I don't think they include counselling either. Their 3-round package includes everything up to pregnancy, then the pregnancy drugs and scans are extra. A local clinic does a 2-round package for a similar cost, which includes all associated frozen transfers as well as 2 rounds of fresh, but not the drugs. I had to do a complicated spreadsheet to compare costs! I have heard that ASDA is really good for IVF meds because they don't charge a profit (I believe maybe a senior exec had to have IVF or something along those lines) so if you get a prescription from your clinic that may save a huge amount of money. xx

[Sparklylife]

Hi Farahziya!

I am fairly new here too, so might not be able to help much with different options of IVF, but felt maybe I could comment with what I do know.

We were referred for IVF due to unexplained infertility. Most of my knowledge initially came from my fertility consultant we were referred to. I since looked up a few things myself and researched, but not too much yet as I am finding it all a bit overwhelming and did not want to stress myself out 🥰 But I was not aware they did IVF in more natural versions. I have heard of IUI, but must admit I do not know really what it is fully. I am aware of long and short IVF protocol, and maybe that is what you referred to with mild IVF? Not sure 😇

We are on short protocol, so I have only been taking hormone injections for 10 days, that includes our trigger injection. I am now on progesterone support for a while (hopefully if all goes well 🥰🤞).

We are with the NHS at the moment, we got referred and we were lucky enough that our CCG allows one round on the NHS. I know this varies across the country and some areas are not getting any 😔 I am not sure what is classed as a “round” yet, it seems a little unsure. Maybe one egg collection? So not sure if we were lucky enough to get embryos to freeze, if we would be allowed to transfer them as part of this round if we are not successful on the fresh transfer (hoping we will get there 🤞). I am very new to this all, our first IVF cycle and we are just post EC, so just hoping our little embryos make it till day 5 at the moment.

I am trying to remain positive, but I think chances of success first round might not be the highest, but obviously it does happen 🥰 Trying the whole mind body connection with positive thinking hehe, but aware to be realistic too. I think your odds do go up the more transfers you do. So after 3rd transfer, your chances are quite a bit higher, but it probably have lots of factors involved! So it may have to be seen on an individual basis.

As for the sperm sample - my partner was worried about this too. He felt he would not be able to do it at the clinic. We talked to our clinic and got told, he could do it at home, but only just as we had a 40 min drive to get there. They need it within 30-60 min they said. But it was doable. It took the pressure off I think. Anyway, the evening before our EC, he decided he would be able to do it there, so that is what he decided to do and it went well! He said it was fine. I cannot imagine how they must feel. The pressure of having to provide it like that, but my OH said it was not an issue really. Maybe the thought leading up to it is worse than reality. My OH had prepared some “stuff” as I am not sure exactly what hehe, but thoughts to help him get in the right frame of mind. He got picked up by the embryologist on the day I went in for EC to do his part, he then had to leave after this and come back later (pandemic protocols). Maybe ask for a frozen sample too as a back up perhaps? They can do that I think. Might take the pressure off even more. We asked about this, but apparently our clinic requires a special request from our consultant to do this, and they felt we should not need it. So we left it at that. I think if we had pushed more it would have been ok though.

Sorry - long post and not sure if it helped at all 😇 But lastly I just wanted to wish you all the best!! Hopefully you get some advice from someone who may know a bit more too and that you get your success in whatever you decide to do 🥰