I was back at the Fertility clinic yesterday to meet with the consultant there, it was the first time I’d met him.
He asked me what he could do for us and I said that I’d like to find out, if possible, why our first cycle of IVF didn’t work. He asked if our IVF consultant had given us any indications, when I said no, he said well it’s just unfortunate they you were in the 70% of people who are unsuccessful with IVF.
I asked if he could check whether I had a short luteal phase and he said it’s very unlikely (why do they always say that, surely someone has got to test positive to give us this rare percentage!). Anyway, I showed him a list of my cycles with the cycle length, ovulation date and luteal phase length. All he said is “Well if you have a cycle length of 31 days I’d expect you to ovulate sooner than day 21”!! He asked how I’d come to know when I OV’d and when I told him I’d been using OPK’s he just said that the problem wasn’t with me but with the OPK’s as these aren’t reliable!!!! I’m more angry typing this out than I was yesterday, I always feel inferior when meeting with consultants, I felt like I shouldn’t question him. I’m a grown woman for gods sake…aarrgghhh!!! But I should have told him that previously I’d also taken my BBT and my temps corresponded with the OPK’s.
When I told him that even though I was taking progesterone during my IVF cycle that my period arrived 2 days before the beta test he just shrugged and said he didn’t know why, the IVF consultant would be able to tell me more about this! (Which he wasn’t able to do).
I told him that I hadn’t received a positive OPK this month so he offered to give me a scan to find out. So it was back to meeting an old friend…the vagicam!! :o)
He reckoned I had OV’d but couldn’t tell me when, he said he could see the corpus luteum, as he could see the fluid? Maybe he was right about the OPK’s this month?
He said that I didn’t have any symptoms of endometriosis so wouldn’t do a laparoscopy as endometriosis would have shown up before when I was getting all the scans going through the IVF.
The only thing he said he could recommend where Clomiphene tablets. I wasn’t sure what they were, all I knew was it sounded like Clomid so jumped at the chance to try them. Turns out Clomiphene is Clomid. So I’ve got a prescription for 6 months worth of Clomid to try. He said that in a recent study of Scottish hospitals they had found that Clomid didn’t offer any benefit for unexplained infertility until couples had been trying for 3 years. He said as we were approaching the 3 years he thought it was worth a try. He also recommended that we postpone the IVF cycle we’re due to start in March. He said that I’m still young yet!! I feel pretty old at 34 considering that I’ll be 35 in a few months and the quality of eggs are meant to decrease after this age.
I haven’t contacted the IVF clinic to postpone the IVF yet, I’m not mentally/emotionally able to do that just yet. I still feel like I’d be giving away my chance to get pregnant, even though it’ll only be postponed for 6 months whilst I try Clomid. And considering a prescription only costs £4.00 and IVF costs nearly £4,000 it’s well worth trying for the amount of money we’ll save. But I’ll have turned 35 by the second try at IVF by then…. oh I don’t know how I feel apart from hopeful with the Clomid but disappointed at not doing the IVF.
I’ve read a lot about Clomid and the information leaflet the doc gave me yesterday says Clomid has a 58% success rate, crazy when IVF only has a 30% success rate! Why wasn’t I given this option first???? But I am keeping everything crossed, well maybe not everything ;o)
Infertility and me! 