Few things to be clearer on.

LegacyUser

Hi all,
I have been ttc for quite awhile, but as I am still pretty young(25) I wasn't really that worried about it all.

Anyway went to my local Womens health clinic and got the day 3 bloods done. The doc asked me to come back 7 days after ovu(I use a fertility moniter) to get the D21 bloods done. When I went back it was to a different doc who decided that as my d3 bloods looked ok and she knew that I was ovulating, she wouldn't bother with the bloods. I was a bit miffed but I guess doctors know best......

She has also given me some advice that I'm not 100% on. She told me I should go on the pill for three months and see what happens after as my oestregen(sp) levels are at 74 which she said wasn't bad but wasn't the best either. Also she recommended Acupunture which I will prob go for.

And lastly for advice, I don't have any health insurance and she told me I will be waiting 18months for the appointment for the fertility clinic. Should I go private and if I do how much will it cost me? If I do go private how long will I be waiting for appointment? I presume it will be to the HARI clinic in Dublin.

Thanks for reading:) I am a little confused by it all and don't want to talk to my family about it as they all have enough problems of their own.

Hi newish,

First of all, I wouldn't be happy with the fact that the doctor didn't check your day 21 bloods - as far as I'm aware you can't tell whether you've ovualted from day 3 bloods!!!?!
I'm not sure what going on the pill for three months is supposed to do either?!!

From my experience (5+ years ttc, two different clinics), GPs don't know as much as fertility specialists and they can often be wrong.

I am guessing you're in Dublin? I'm in the West, so I can't advise on the clinics there, but you could ring around a few of them and ask about initial consultation and investigation costs.

Health insurance can be helpful when it comes to Laparoscopy/HSG and things like that where you have to go into hospital to check for blockages/endometriosis, etc. but for the consultations, tests, etc., the costs can be manageable.

For instance, I'm with Napro (in Galway, but they have a Dublin clinic too) and the consultations are about €200 (once every three months), with an additional €45 for the charting pack and information. Your monthly blood tests can be done at your GPs - mine are only €20 a go. If you have to go for follicle tracking (a series of scans that can verify ovulation) it can cost about €200 for the 2-3 scans.
It's not a huge amount of money, if you get tests done over a few months, and you can claim back a percentage of tax on a med1 form, too.

Hope that helps?

How Strange

newish, how long have you been ttcing? Have you tried monitoring your body temperature and looking at your cervical mucus? The basal body temperature monitoring is very good at showing if you ovulated every month and how long your luteal phase is. It can't tell you in advance when you'll ovulate but it will give a clear picture of your monthly cycle. Monitoring the CM will indicate when you're ovulating. You can use opks alongside these methods.

I don't know your exact circumstances but at 25 I think it might be good to monitor your bbt for 3-4 months as it will tell you and a fertility specialist if you go down that road a lot about your cycle. Its not clear from your post why you want to go to a fertility specialist. Do you think you've got fertility problems? Also, and this isn't a smart comment, but are you having sex regularly?

I'm older than you but ttcing for no.2 and I started taking vitamin b complex and evening primrose oil daily. I was breastfeeding for a year so my cycles are very short and I needed to regulate them as I think my luteal phase was too short to get pregnant.

pwurple

Newish, is your cycle the same length every time? the try the pill advice can work well for people with polycystic. That is why they recommend it. It worked for me. I had irregular cycles, and a scan done to confirm cysts. Surprised you didn't get a scan for that before you were advised to do anything... It's like 3 months is nothing to them, when it is 1/4 of a year wait for you. Sounds like you are not being taken seriously due to your age.

If you do go on the pill for 3 months, i was told to take it at exactly the same time every day. To the minute. Use an alarm clock. That worked well for us.

Did your partner get any tests done? May be a problem with him.

LegacyUser

Hi, thanks for replys. Yes I think we have been "doing" everything right. I came off the pill 51/2 years ago but for about 3 years we were not "not" trying, then I started to use a persona moniter. It states that I am ovulating every month so that's why the doc decided to not do the D21 bloods(but still charged me...)

I haven't started to take the pill yet, I somehow think it's a bad idea, I don't know....

I have no physical problems like endrometrisis(sp) or anything like that, just hasn't happened for us yet.

I feel like I can't talk to my family about it also so that gets me down sometimes and the doctor says that might be stressing me out. My sis has recently had a baby and I feel it would make her uncomfeterable if I started telling her all my problems..


Anyway I have been with the same doctor for the last 8 years( its a womens health clinic) as I had some irregular smears but should I change Doctors? I kinda feel like she really should have taken my D21 bloods anyway, as the fertility clinic will require them anyway when I go for the appointment.

Is it possible to set up appointment with the clinic without have a referral from your GP??
Thanks in advance:)

Hi newish,

If you've been with this doctor for that long and this is the first problem you've had with her, then I don't think it's necessary to leave her just yet.
As I said before, a lot of doctors don't know as much about fertility as the specialists.

As for the clinics - you don't have to be referred - just call whichever clinic you want to attend and make an appointment.

BTW, how do you know that you don't have endometriosis? I had none of the symptoms, but I went for a lap in January and was told that I had a small amount of it, which was successfully removed.

Best of luck with whichever clinic you go to!