Newbie..where to start for infertility treatment?

nursemissy8

Hi, my name is Missy. I'm 35 years old and my DH will be 40 next month. We were married 2 years in October, but have been together 14 years this year. We have been TTC for a year, with no success. I just completed grad school in August, took boards (I'm a nurse practitioner in palliative and hospice care), and started a new job & career right after that, so my life has been a little stressful, which I know is not helping the situation. I started doing OPK last month, which were right on with the app I was using to track my cycle. I also just got a book, fully fertile, that is a 12 week program to follow using diet, yoga, supplements, etc (natural ways) to help with fertility. I'm also receiving my 4th week of treatment for acupuncture this week, and also my second treatment of arvigo (Mayan abdominal therapy). I really don't want to go through fertility shots, IVF, etc. But I do feel it is time for my husband & I to get tested to see if there is anything wrong that we could potentially fix, but I'm not sure where to start with it. Should we go to our family doctor first? I know I spoke with my family doctor about it, and he told me we could test in 6 months if I didn't get pregnant, and that we would start with my husband, since he would be easier to test. Would a family doctor have the ability to order all the testing we would need, or would we eventually end up at a fertility clinic? Do I go to my OB/GYN? (I already had my regular check-up and she is aware of us trying). I'm just looking for the recommendation of the best place to start. I would rather get everything done at once, than going for doctor to doctor. Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you.

ekrubanit

We started with my regular OBGYN, she even ordered a test for my DH, but all practices may not do that. They tested my hormones, did a US, did a dye test on my tubes (strange procedure btw), analyzed my DH's little swimmers, and tested our genetics. They may have tested more things, but it was all a blur really. I ended up having a large dermoid cyst on my left ovary and wasn't ovulating on that side. The dr was able to save that ovary thankfully, and now we are trying again. My dr said she'd give me a referral to Shady Grove Fertility when it's been a year since my surgery (April). There they will run more tests, which I'll let you know all about when we get there.

GoldenKeys

I absolutely recommend skipping the family doctor and the OBGYN.   Neither are fertility specialists and more often than not they do an insufficient job at testing.   Often they skip male factor testing altogether as well, which is ridiculous, since male factor is statistically an equal cause for infertility.

You should check with your insurance to see what limitations they will place on you for your coverage.  If you need a referral, just tell you family doctor that you want to see a specialist and ask for the referral straight away.   

I understand that you do not want shots, but either way you will need proper monitoring on whatever pill or shot that you might take.  OBGYNs rarely have the equipment that is needed for this.   Good luck!

Drove2u

I started with my ObGYN to just discuss me not being able to get pregnant. I got pregnant in May 2014 and miscarried and haven't been able to conceive since then. She ordered two blood tests for me. One for progesterone which I took on day 25 of my cycle and one on the third day of my period which tests my thyroid and about 10 other things. My husband also did the sperm analysis. We wait for results now and then go from there.

PageNJewelz

I recommend going to RE. A RE can help you figure out why your having trouble TTC. 

I did go to OBGYN and they tested my levels. They also tested DH for a SA. I wished we had gone to a RE from the beginning and cut the middle man out. It would have saved us alot of time. 

Knottie4978096

I got lucky, my OB immediately sent me to the RE. She said to come back when I got pregnant. Lol. My advice, check your insurance first to see what coverage you have and get yourself to an RE as fast as you can. Don't waste time - get tested and diagnosed. As someone mentioned above - Clomid is often handed out like candy without monitoring. This is very bad - especially if there is a problem that needs to be treated first. All the clomid in the world won't help and you'd just be wasting precious time.