Long Term TTC & Assisted Conception - June 2007

[Loula]

I know i cant wait to get started esp as DH always go away with the boyz camping on Queens Bday weekend and i ve asked him not to go, all the booze and smokes wont do him anygood is my reason and i know he sees himself as not having the problem but i keep telling him that we are in this together and i need him to do that for me just so i feel better does that make sense?

so im thinking that if i have collection b4 he goes then that will be OK and i would enjoy being home alone for the first few days anyway.hehehe we do love each other really just drive each other mad at the same time.lol

My np suggest that i take the herb vitex (sp?)chaste berry which amother NP told me would cause me to OHSS? so im a bit stuck as to what to do i did disscuss my concerns with first NP but she wants e to take it anyway. sooo sooo confusing and my head is fogging up with it all

[anney]

Loula,
I have heard from a few sources you should not take Vitex when doing IVF. Technically they do not want you to be on any forms of natural medicine eg. prescribed by naturopath, chinese medicine, as they don't really know how it is going to interact with the drugs. Vitex is supposed to target your progesterone and oestrogen levels and that is exactly what IVF drugs are targetting so it is a big no, no, so I think your second np is on the right track.
Hope you have some luck - and boy it annoys me when I am jabbing myself with drugs and DH is in the garage smoking!!!! (and sometimes he sneaks in an illegal one as well!!! grrrrrrrrrr)

[Lenny]

hehehe - i could really mess with people here, couldn't i?? i could wait until REALLY late on Saturday night to post my results..... mwahahahah! evil evil thought!!

Go on then - i dare you!!! You'll be telling us, you love us too much!!!

Lou - if things go much the same way as they did last time in terms of how long each phase seems to take, then i will doing EPU and ET in the first week of July. The big IF. Who knows, i'm not going mental over dates again this time, although DH's work is going to be another massive headache. We are just going to hope that it all happens in his days off.

Ellie - wishing you all the best.

[briggsy's girl]

hmmmmmm, so are you going to put that bet up for grabs again now Jo?? LOL

[Loula]

Thanks anney, i was given the vitex about a month ago and for some reason didnt want to take it (an inner feeling i for once listened to.hehe.lol) so when i say my Np who i get my supplement from she was like NOWAY take this esp with my PCOS, so i did disscuss with current np who gives me herbs and she said to take it still. ive been tossing it up for another two weeks and googeling it like mad only to find very different views, they says its great for women with PCOS then another says it may cause OHSS, another says it helps while doing IVF and when ive got two NP telling me different things it gets even more confusing.

Its just the herbal NP is not an average NP ahe is a healer and you may have heard me talk about here b4. she also gets all her clients on a blood tonic and i know there is cats claw in it which i know is also a big NONO when TTC but she has great results and get pg women to take it

Its so confussing

[anney]

Yes, very confusing. Have they specifically told you they have had success with PCOS patients? It is so difficult to make generalisations about PCOS though as it manifests itself in so many ways. I have polycystic ovaries but no symptoms of the syndrome and only did two IVF stim cycles on the same drug dose and got widely variable results ie. 14 eggs, then one egg. So I think IVF is variable enough with PCOS without adding another medicine into the mix.
Haven't heard of cats claw! but sounds interesting.

[Loula]

Thanks anney and good luck with your donnor counselling i hope it all works out for you. ill keep you posted

[slyder]

Hi Loula. Happy to provide a bloke's perspective. I reckon all you women do such a great job going through all the pokes and prods and crappy stuff when all the fellas have to do is just produce. My wife is great, she even takes in my samples because I am too much of an embarrassed sook.

Ellie, glad we got that straightened out! Ladies with sperm counts are probably not going to find any success with IVF!

[butterfly_warrior]

Hi Rols - just remembered one more thing about the varicocele. I'm told it feels like a bag of worms. I've never seen DH's, nor felt it that I'm aware of - I don't really think he wants me checking it out! Just remember that if it's a smaller one, you'll only feel it while straining. If it's small enough to only be found with an ultrasound scan, then it's unlikely to cause problems. Even the GP commented to me a when I was next in after DH's appointment that it was particularly large and could be found really easily.

Lou, I don't think we were given any reasons as to why ICSI gives a better result with PCOS. Our clinic doesn't charge extra for it, and the FS (who was actually a little annoyed with us at this stage because we were questioning his "varicocele repair does nothing" line) just said that we need it because of DH's sperm, but they'd do it for me anyway because I have PCOS so don't worry about it. One thing I did think of... and this could very well be me adding 2 and 2 and getting 5... I have an aunt with very severe PCOS and every time she conceived a boy, she would miscarry. She has two girls (now in theire 20s!) but had a lot of trouble getting there. I've also been told that ICSI increases the likelihood of a girl... so perhaps it's because of the situation with my aunt, but I really have no idea at all. I'll try to remember to ask the FS about it next time I'm there.

Feeling much, much calmer about things today... I spoke to a friend last night who had an 18month TTC journey with clomid and two miscarriages, and just to be able to say some of the crazy things I'm feeling and here someone say "I understand how you feel, I've been there" has done wonders for my state of mind! I feel much more at peace with things now, I think I'll even be able to get some work done!

BW

[briggsy's girl]

yay at the calming influence of friends BW - glad you're feeling better about everything today hun!

[Hollybolly]

Hi Everyone!!!

Usually I would write Hi Lovely Ladies, but now that we have a man in here (how exciting!) I'll have to keep it to "Everyone"!!!

Have been a little MIA as of late - no reason, just nothing happening here!!!!!
I have just been going through the thread, and after reading decided I've been away too long to do personals!!!

Welcome to all of the newbies - Hope you guys don't have to get too comfortable here!!!

There are a lot of us at the moment - would be nice for some of us to move on to the pregnancy threads, hey?!!!
For you guys in the 2ww, I wish I could send you guys a remote control so you could fast forward to your BT day!!!
Not much longer now, keep positive thoughts xxx

Well, less than a week now until we fly to Melbourne to visit Antonia and get another perspective on us!!!
Am very excited, a little nervous, and a little anxious about how much my visit to see her is going to cost!!!!!
Happy to try anything though, so thats not a major factor really

The 3 days away will be nice for us if nothing else anyway!!!

Hi to everyone and hope you are all doing great wherever you're at in your cycle!!

BW - Congrats on your ET date - God it must seem like you've waited a lifetime since your bubs were frozen!!!
Hope the tea tasted ok!!!!

Sorry for the blah blah boring post - Nothing to report!!!!

Talk Soon,
Love Holly
xxx

[anney]

Hiya Holly,
I am an ex Antonia patient and the actual cost of seeing her is not much at all, it is the tonic and powders that you may walk out with that cost the money. That is entirely up to you whether you get them, but having flown all the way to melbourne, I am guessing you will want to go through with the treatment she recommends. I have heard that she has good success with blocked tubes.
Can I give you a little hint - I could be completely wrong but from my dealings with her, I think she is very honest and will not give you false hope where there is none. I have heard from other people that she has definitely said to them, I will get you pg. (IYKWIM) for me, she was not that definite ie. encouraging but did not make any definite statements that it would work. hopefully she will be able to help you.
good luck.

[Shannon22]

Good Afternoon

Just popping in to say

Wow so many of us! Here we go with the personals...

BG - Hang in there honey! Hope the TWW flies by!

BW - Good luck with transfer Monday! Jam pack your weekend with fun stuff to do!

Holly - Good Luck with the trip and i hope you get the answers you are after!

Anney - Welcome! Good luck with the donor! Hope your stay is short!

Rols - Welcome! - Nice to get a mans perspective! Hope your stay is short!

Loula - How are you going have you started the next cycle?

Kotare - How are you going? When do you start your next cycle.

Ellie- Hope the D&C went okay... thinking of you!

And sorry to everyone i missed!!

Not much going on here had a 3rd interview yesterday (was a little weird) so now i dont know if i got the job or not... oh well if i didn't we can do more IVF in 3 weeks! We see the FS tomorrow to formulate the next plan of attack!

Have a great day!

Shannon

[Lenny]

Hi all,
I see we have an official TWW sticky now. Hehehe. So we get to graduate from here, to the TWW sticky, then on the the pg thread.

I am jealous about the job Shannon, but very pleased for you if it works out.

Boring here, nothing happening. DH is sick and i am trying to be a good wife, but i don't want to catch anything from him - so i'm keeping my distance. As i said before NOTHING is going to stop me having this cycle!

[sushee]

I figured I'd better start a proper TWW one, coz they seem to pop up every now and then. Plus it's pretty busy in here atm so just giving you all some options! Lol!

Welcome all the new people! I don't post often but I'm always reading. If any of you need help with anything, or have any ideas to help make this forum a better place for you, don't hesitate to contact me on sushee@bellybelly.com.au.

Anney, great to have you back here matey. I can't wait for your cycle to start. Wish I ws starting again soon too but no such luck. Lou, I too have heard that you shoudl stay off Vitex (and all the natural equivelants) when doing IVF.

[Loula]

Thanks sushee

good to hear from you although i know you are always around for us. im still getting more and more confussed each day!!

[Ellie]

Thanks everyone for thinking of us today...all went well...so much nicer on the body that EPU I was pleasantly surprised...so about 10 weeks and we'll be TTC again...looking forward to joining you all again...sniffing, injecting....waiting!!!

[briggsy's girl]

glad you're feeling ok ellie - take it easy hun