What now?

[juniper76]

The other two are just vitamin D and iron levels. Not sure how/if they impact conception but my specialist ordered them all together

Not sure about iron, but vitamin D deficiency has a negative impact on fertility.

Are you BF? I'm surprised your acu gave you vitex?! Mine refused to give it to me while I was BF...

I had a short LP while BF (10 days) and got a BFP in our 3rd month of good timing (plus 2 months of bad timing). Unfortunately, it was a mm/c, but that had nothing to do with the BF or LP. My LP has been 13 days ever since DD weaned (was 14 days when TTC#1, so didn't quite go back to "normal").

[Heaven]

Are you BF? I'm surprised your acu gave you vitex?! Mine refused to give it to me while I was BF...

Really? She said it was ok, especially because I am only feeding 1-2 times a day. I usually take it after her night time feed and then her next feed is not until at least midday the next day.

Thanks for sharing your experience too! Hopefully I can actually get pregnant with a short LP.

[Heaven]

My acupuncturist has been wanting me to get my iron tested, which I finally did. Just called up to get the results and my Iron was 8 :/ and also something about my thyroid which is not urgent but I should make an appointment to talk about. Maybe this is my problem.

[hj1981]

just wanted to...... at this post!

and wanted to send some positive vibes your way, you are just meant to have babies Heaven, so i have no doubt that IT WILL HAPPEN

[Heaven]

Ok so went to the Dr today and my BT showed an under active thyroid. Level was 7 and it's supposed to be under 4. She didn't even explain what it meant, just that I have to get another BT to check and that I might have to take medication for the rest of my life!! WTF!! I don't even know what it is.

She also told me that charting is inaccurate, I probably have no problem with my cycle, iron doesn't effect fertility, women are fertile the whole month (there is no fertile window), the egg lives for 4 days. She didn't listen to anything I said. Silly me thinking I knew more about my body than someone I just met

[Frantelle]

You need a new Doctor

[Heaven]

Yep. I am NOT going back to her. I want to change clinics all together. I wonder if I can still get the BT she gave me but get the results sent somewhere else?

[Jaycee]

What the? Sounds like a very incompetent doctor to me! There's no fertile window?? Oh dear, find yourself a new doctor hun.

[HomeStyleMumma]

I hope you're able to find a really competent and sympathetic Dr heaven!
Re results I also tell the Dr when requesting for them to write 'copy to patient' on all tests etc. But I'm not to sure they'd be happy to do it after the fact iykwim, can't hurt to try though. Otherwise once you have A new Dr they can get results etc transfered to thier office.

[Heaven]

I know I knew that would happen. Whenever I've tried to talk to a Dr about charting or anything I've gotten the same response. How dare I presume to tell them about what's going on, they know better! Was so frustrated I cried when I left

I think I will go back and get the results on Friday, but see a different Dr at the same clinic. And from then on transfer to another clinic altogether.

[HotI]

There are some independent midwives that can help with fertility issues. I can't remember where you live, I know a lovely one in Melbourne if her details would be useful to you.

[Heaven]

I'm in Brissy HotI

[Pholi]

Wow - no fertile window? That's interesting news for all of the many fertility specialists in Australia!

See if you can find a GP who professes an interest in Women's Health - many of us wrongly assume that seeing a female doctor means they'll be better at treating women's helath issues, but it isn't necessarily the case.

And given that you have what you KNOW are irregular cycles, and now a thyroid problem, too, I'd be asking the next GP for a referral to an FS at your next visit. Ask around on BB fir recommendations for FSs in your area, and go to the Doctor with the name of the person you want to be referred to, all ready to go.

[Goldengirl85]

The doctors at healthy women indooroopilly are amazing, they're all women and have an interest in women's health issues. I go to them from the Lockyer valley because they're so good

[Sopdet]

Any practitioner should have already gotten you to get a barrage of tests done anyway. My natural therapies practitioner gave me the list of what they needed, I went to a bulk-billing GP and asked for them, then took the results back to the naturopath. I've got levels that the GP say are within the normal range (which they are) but they are either too low in the scale or too high in the scale, which is impacting on me. So in conjunction with my naturopath (and a couple of my lecturers at uni) we are doing a few things to get levels more mid-range.

[juniper76]

Wow! If your TSH is that high I'd have thought you should be on meds now! And the 0.4-4 "normal" range (my GP's office says the same) is not actually recommended for TTC - most REs (reproductive endocrinologists, ie Drs who specialise in fertility and hormones) recommend your TSH be between 1-2. There are a few REs in Brisbane, but I'm not sure where. I think there was one at South Bank (QFG) and one at Sunnybank, but that was a few years ago and I think there's a couple more I've forgotten.

A high TSH indicated hypothyroidism. You can find plenty of information online about that. It definitely impacts on your fertility and is linked to m/c. And it's not good for your general health either, so even if you weren't TTC you'd want it treated.

If you find a GP specialising in women's health, I'd be interested in hearing where (if there are others aside from the Indooroopilly clinic mentioned above). The GP I see is very accommodating with doing any tests I request, but her interest is in other areas.

I hope you can find a good Dr to help you get your levels back in the right range asap.

[Heaven]

Thanks everyone. I have been googling and finding out more info. Now I don't know what to do about this cycle. Should I not TTC? I think I will ovulate in the next week. But apparently hypothyroidism is really bad for the baby. The thought of having to stop TTC makes me want to cry but a m/c would be worse

[Bloom]

Oh Heaven, so sorry to hear about that nasty GP.

I would personally still TTC this cycle. I have an underactive thyroid controlled with medication and yes, it can be bad for the baby but ONLY if it is severely underactive and then you probably would have had heaps of symptoms of it...

Also, not that i want you to cry more, but medication can take 6 weeks to kick in and get you back to normal levels.