Just moved back to Oz from abroad - how does it work here?

Hi everyone,

Lovely to meet you all and find this forum of like-minded ladies :)

We just moved here from the UK and are settling in Adelaide. Our background is that we have been ttc for nearly 2 years now officially, although its been longer than that unofficially iykwim ;) I am still not pregnant and I've never been pregnant sadly so I thought something was wrong with me.

Back when we started I joined FF and started charting (you can see my charts if you're interested! 25cad7 Ovulation Charts). After some investigation, it turned out that I had low progesterone levels, and the u/s showed I had polycystic ovaries (but not the syndrome - my cycles are regular as clockwork and I have no PCOS symptoms!). In addition, DH has good sperm count but low motility and morphology.

Last December? I had a lap n dye and hysteroscopy (sp?) and ovarian drilling (just as much fun as it sounds!). The dye came through ok, she drilled a few holes, no endo. Interestingly enough post surgery my BBT figures started to go up too. DH was checked out by the urologist, no reason for his issues. He started a course of the (horribly expensive) vitamin Proxeed, and I did 2 months of clomid (50mg). No dice.

Next tests we had showed I had some mature follies so clomid was working great, we were bd'ing every other day because of his issues, and 3 months later we were still not preg (although the proxeed increased his morphology and motility it still wasn't good enough).

And then we emigrated to Australia, because life wasn't stressful enough :D

So the question I have (finally, they say!) is.... what do we do next? In the UK we got to see the consultant by being referred by our GP. After her, if we needed something like ICSI or IUI or IVF (which one do I need???) she would refer us to that part of the hospital. This was all on public health, we could not and still cannot pay for the treatment privately so we will need to join some sort of waiting list.

So.. if you were me, what would you do next? How does it work in Australia? Do you go to your GP and get referred when using Medicare? I am wondering if its possible to pick up where we left off, rather than starting again.

Also, in case it matters, I'm an aussie returning home and I've never had to deal with needing to see a specialist on Medicare so I am unsure what the procedure is. Private health is not an option for us right now, unfortunately.

Thank you for any all advice, its really appreciated!

Hi there fellow Expat!
I'm new on the board, but as I've just got myself a referral to a FS. I can help.
You go to your GP and get a referral to the clinic/specialist of your choice. If you are in Adelaide Repromed has an excellent reputation.
It is covered by Medicare and there's no real wait. However, there are gap fees (the balance of the bill have medicare have paid out their maximum benefit) You can look on the repromed website where the out of pocket costs are clearly listed.
I believe that an IVF cycle costs around $2500 out of pocket.... Not cheap but a lot less than paying for it privately in the UK! You will also save yourself a fair amount if you get your notes sent over from the UK so that you don't have to go through all the tests again.
I'm right at the very beginning of my investigations for secondary infertility, so I'm not much help really, but I'm sure that somebody else will be along shortly who knows more than me!
Good Luck!!
Ali x

... anybody? :) If you have any opinions I'd be grateful to hear them :D

Hi and welcome to BB! I'm sorry but I can't help answer your questions, but you might find you get more responses if you post in the Assisted conception forums :)

Just wanted to say hello, I have recently returned to Oz from Uk and it can take a wee while to get your head round the differences in the health systems. I would start by visiting your GP and presenting them with your medical notes from the UK, and see what they recommend. Lots of the GP's here are obstetricians so they may be able to prescribe clomid and pick you up where you left off but you would have to check with your doctor.

Hopefully someone with more experience in LTTTC will be able to help you though. Maybe have a look in the LTTTC forum to see if there more specific answers in there Long Term TTC

Good luck

Trav

Hi there,

I would suggest seeing GP explaining story and asking for a refferal to a fertility specilist. They will ask if you want to go public or private, so tell you public and see what specilist has to say.
Do you have copys of all tests that you have had allready?? as that would be helpful in them seeing what has allready been done.

I don't know the ins and outs of cost for things IVF, IUI etc but I know its changed and not as much is covered by medicare as it used to be.
Good luck

Thanks guys... I don't yet have a GP here (nor a perm residence - soon to be fixed! :)) but as soon as I do I will bombard them with info :)

I will also try posting my question in the long term ttc thread... I think I was in denial a bit that I am in that category but it looks like I am, doesn't it!

Good luck to you guys too xxx

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