FertilityZone

Hi and welcome

I hope you like it on here, we have very friendly and supportive members that are sure to make your TTC journey that little bit easier, I hope you feel right at home with us all soon.

Here are some links that you may find useful.

There is an abbreviations section HERE so you know what we're all going on about.

There is a general fertility section HERE there is tonnes of information there that you may find helpful and will answer some of your questions.

There is a general fertility FAQ section HERE which contains lots of guides to different aspects of fertility.

There is a guide to the initial fertility tests HERE which explains the tests you can expect to be offered.

There is a TTC naturally section HEREwhere you can get to know others TTC naturally.

There is a TTC naturally chatter thread HERE where you can chat and get to know others TTC naturally.

There is a cycle buddies section HERE so you can get to know others having TX at the same time as you.

There is a 2WW section HERE and a 2WW CHAT thread HERE so you can compare every twinge and symptom with everyone else.

There is a clinic feedback & chat section HERE so you can look up your clinic and ask others any questions about it.

There is a ** GETTING STARTED - FZ FACTS, TIPS & HELP ** thread HERE this contains everything you need to know about getting started on FZ and a few guidelines too.

There is a ** NEW TO THE SITE? A BIT LOST? POST FOR HELP HERE!!! ** thread HERE where you can post any questions you have about how to use the site, a team member will answer you as soon as possible!

There is a how to search thread HERE so you can get the maximum benefit from the forum..

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If you have any questions about anything, just ask.

Hi princess and welcome to
It can take up to 2 years for healthy people to conceive, and because of your age your doctor will not do any tests until those 2 years have gone by.
This you can do to help you:
1) Chart your monthly cycle so you know when you are most fertile. You can use ovulation sticks to help you.
2) Have regular sex (every 2 or 3 days).
Check these:
EWCM (Egg White Cervical Mucus) explains about how you can monitor your fertility by looking at your vaginal discharge
Cervical mucus questions
INFO: A ROUGH GUIDE TO BBT CHARTING

Good luck

Hi there princezz barker... I had the same with my doctor, i got pregnant before but sadly m/c so my doctor says there cant be anything wrong with either of us, but yet it has been 18 months of trying with no luck. I am 23 so i just assumed that it would happen for us quickly.

My advice would be to get ur husbans sperm checked first, our doctor agreed to do that after a year, but he has hestitated to do any more tests so were going to a private fertility clinic for my tests and then i can take my results to my doctor.

hope this helps

xx

Hi luv, i totally argee with all that has been said.

I too was young when we ttc, i am now 26 and have been with dh for 11 years, we are now just starting our first ivf journey.

My extra advise would be not to let the doctors push you down, just because you are young, i was messed around for years, and it really hurt.
Do what you can now, with the charting, get your dh sperm tested,

I hope your dreams come true, you have loads of support on here from some wonderful people.
Love and wishes

Hiya,

We have been TTC for 2 years now, and both my GP and Consultant have told me that (more than likely), I have unexplained infertility. It is so frustrating because we don't know where to go next? I'm hvaing a hycosy test this week, and if my tubes are clear then they are going to put me back on Clomid again (have already done 4 cycles on it), but if that doesn't work, I think our only avenue left is IVF .My consultant rather blatantly said 'lets hope that you don't need that, because you will have to pay for it', as my partner has 2 children from a previous relationship. Don't even get me started on that! He has had children, I haven't!! So if that is our only resort we will first have to save how ever many thousands that it costs to have that done

Everyone keeps telling me'think positive and it will happen everntually', but that is far easier said than done, especially after 2 years of TTC. Every month the weight on my shoulders gets heavier and I know that I'm being affected mentally and emotionally by all this, which is probably not helping me to get pregnant.

I wish you lots of luck and hope that it happens for you soon xx

Quoted from "Maria72"

Hi princess and welcome to
It can take up to 2 years for healthy people to conceive, and because of your age your doctor will not do any tests until those 2 years have gone by.
This you can do to help you:
1) Chart your monthly cycle so you know when you are most fertile. You can use ovulation sticks to help you.
2) Have regular sex (every 2 or 3 days).
Check these:
EWCM (Egg White Cervical Mucus) explains about how you can monitor your fertility by looking at your vaginal discharge
Cervical mucus questions
INFO: A ROUGH GUIDE TO BBT CHARTING

Good luck

Hi Maria,

I was just reading your signature I was wondering what led you to start immune tests. Was that a suggestion from your doc? Of did you have to insist for that?

Cheers,
Cat

Hi, I too had to push for my Doc to do any tests and I was 31 when we started ttc. What helped for me was that we'd been using something called a persona which showed your fertile times each month and it started showing I wasn't ovulating every month (which can be perfectly normal), but it did make me more insistent at the Docs. Now I know that there is a sympathetic Doc at our surgery and I go to him for any ttc issues..........

Maria will no doubt be along to answer your question soon but as an aside........ immunology testing is not available on the NHS, you have to go privately for it.

Too many cases of infertility appear to be idiopathic diagnoses -for both male and female partners , I am really concerned that many couples are being fobbed off by their GP's or worse the consultants they're referred to at fertility clinics.
This may be down to me expecting too much but it is a worry looking at the stats and numbers of unexplained cases are high, 75% of male factor is idiopathic - I find this shocking.

The more patients that take a stand and request further testing and push for answers may lead to more research and greater knowledge, better diagnosis and hopefully improved treatments.

I know Reproductive Med Consultants aren't miracle workers, there are limits to their knowledge and they can only offer treatments that are approved and available which sadly may not be suitable or effective for all.

It's just very disappointing/frustrating to discover that the limit of our medical specialists knowlwedge and capabilities are rapidly reached all to often in the field of fertility treatment.

It may just be that I am a cynical and belligerent mother funster who never gives up and always questions everything, I just think we deserve answers - we may not get a solution to our conditions or even an improvement now but at least we'd know why/what caused infertility/subfertility and this may one day lead to some bright lab coated genius solving the problem for future sufferers.


Peace,love and luck TTC

D

Quoted from "LorB"

Hiya,

We have been TTC for 2 years now, and both my GP and Consultant have told me that (more than likely), I have unexplained infertility. It is so frustrating because we don't know where to go next? I'm hvaing a hycosy test this week, and if my tubes are clear then they are going to put me back on Clomid again (have already done 4 cycles on it), but if that doesn't work, I think our only avenue left is IVF .My consultant rather blatantly said 'lets hope that you don't need that, because you will have to pay for it', as my partner has 2 children from a previous relationship. Don't even get me started on that! He has had children, I haven't!! So if that is our only resort we will first have to save how ever many thousands that it costs to have that done

Everyone keeps telling me'think positive and it will happen everntually', but that is far easier said than done, especially after 2 years of TTC. Every month the weight on my shoulders gets heavier and I know that I'm being affected mentally and emotionally by all this, which is probably not helping me to get pregnant.

I wish you lots of luck and hope that it happens for you soon xx

Hey hun I just had to reply to your comment as I had something very similar.

I am 24. I came off contraception when i was 18 after I got married. We 2 miscarriages in as many years, and my GP (after me bugging him for months) sent us to the gynae. I had blood tests for ovulation and hormones etc, I had a laparoscopy to rule out endometriosis, dye round my fallopian tubes which was clear, and scans showed follicles on my ovaries but not severe enough to be PCOS.

After all this we had another miscarriage and sadly my husband and I split up. But when I got with my partner after that, we went back to gynae and we were referred to fertility clinic on the NHS. After 6 months on Clomid there was nothing, so we called the clinic and they said "Well, if Clomid didn't work then there is nothing else we can do for you except IVF...and I doubt you can afford that" because my partner had 2 girls from a previous relationship, they wouldnt do IVF.

Wehen I got with my partner now (yes I know partnet number 3, but please bare in mind this is over 6 years!) we decided soon after we got together to try and get on the IVF waiting list. As it takes 2 years to get an appointment, we decided we would be ready by then. If we split for any reason, we would cancel our place
.

Well.....we went to the GP to ask about it and on Oxfordshire they do not offer free IVF unless you are over 30!!!!! I mean really? How stupid is that!

So I came across a clinic called CRM (there is a thread on here about them) where they do something called "egg sharing". This basically means that you get FREE (and I mean FREE) IVF, but you share half of the harvested eggs with a woman who cant ovulate. So basically you help her out with eggs and she pays for your IVF cycle.

That is what my fella and I are doing now, we only pay £75 for the HFEA fee to be a donor and our travel and everything else is covered. I was worried at first about donating my eggs, but then I realised that this is actually an opportunity to completely change someone elses life, while in turn changing your own. You are helping each other achieve your dreams of being a mother.....when I realised this I booked the consultation.

Egg sharing isnt for everyine, but it's an option. I mean, my partner and I could probably afford a cycle of IVF if we really saved, but if we did get pregnant we would have no money left to buy baby things...and kind of defeats the point.

Anyway, I hope this helps...it's another avenue to try...in the meantime I really hope Clomid works xx