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Trouble TTC
cigaline
member
Introducing myself at last...
cigaline
member
Hello everyone!
I've been 'lurking' for a while (as recommended by the site, but in my case perhaps longer than usual!) and have finally decided it's time to make an appearance.
I'm 36 and DH is 44, and we've been TTC #1 since we got married in Sept 2017 (currently in the TWW of cycle 17). Given our ages, and having had friends who struggled to conceive, right from day 1 I can say I've done absolutely everything to put all the chances on our side.... alas without success to date. I started charting my cycles a few months before the wedding, started temping from the first cycle and using ovulation strips from the second. My cycles are pretty regular and I seem to get positive strips each month. DH has a history of a varicocele (operated on 10 years ago) so I was a little worried that there might be problems on his side. For that reason we did all the fertility testing early on (around 6 months) and on my side everything came back normal, which was encouraging, but as the months have gone on, I've almost regretted that there wasn't something simple to pick on that could be easily fixed...
On DH's side, his sperm analysis came back as not great, but not disastrous. Low mobility but with good results after the sperm migration test so I'm told (the test to check for if IVF will work, which they seem to do here even if you haven't decided to go ahead with it yet). His urologist also made him do the advanced DNA testing which gives 2 markers and 1 came back as ok (DNA fragmentation index) and the other as abnormal (sperm head decondensation). She considered this to be the 'cause' of the infertility and recommended antioxidant supplements, which he took for around 6 months and finally stopped taking as they're pretty expensive and we felt we'd given them a good go. However, the gynaecologist and fertility specialist I saw here didn't consider the DNA result very significant and described our situation as 'unexplained'.
I should add that we live in France (DH is French) although I am British, so the healthcare system is pretty different from that in the US where I think most of you are based. I feel as if I already know some of you from reading your posts (I first noticed @mirabelle33 's posts as she is also in France!) and have found it encouraging to hear your experiences and especially those BFPs! I hesitated to join in because it seemed that most of you were at the ART stage and I didn't feel psychologically ready to move on to that. I still don't really, but have made the step of making an appointment at a fertility centre in order to get the ball rolling. (DH is a bit more pragmatic about it all and happy to move on to the next stage.)
OK well this has got a bit long so I'd better stop there, but looking forward to interacting with you all more directly from now on!
I've been 'lurking' for a while (as recommended by the site, but in my case perhaps longer than usual!) and have finally decided it's time to make an appearance.
I'm 36 and DH is 44, and we've been TTC #1 since we got married in Sept 2017 (currently in the TWW of cycle 17). Given our ages, and having had friends who struggled to conceive, right from day 1 I can say I've done absolutely everything to put all the chances on our side.... alas without success to date. I started charting my cycles a few months before the wedding, started temping from the first cycle and using ovulation strips from the second. My cycles are pretty regular and I seem to get positive strips each month. DH has a history of a varicocele (operated on 10 years ago) so I was a little worried that there might be problems on his side. For that reason we did all the fertility testing early on (around 6 months) and on my side everything came back normal, which was encouraging, but as the months have gone on, I've almost regretted that there wasn't something simple to pick on that could be easily fixed...
On DH's side, his sperm analysis came back as not great, but not disastrous. Low mobility but with good results after the sperm migration test so I'm told (the test to check for if IVF will work, which they seem to do here even if you haven't decided to go ahead with it yet). His urologist also made him do the advanced DNA testing which gives 2 markers and 1 came back as ok (DNA fragmentation index) and the other as abnormal (sperm head decondensation). She considered this to be the 'cause' of the infertility and recommended antioxidant supplements, which he took for around 6 months and finally stopped taking as they're pretty expensive and we felt we'd given them a good go. However, the gynaecologist and fertility specialist I saw here didn't consider the DNA result very significant and described our situation as 'unexplained'.
I should add that we live in France (DH is French) although I am British, so the healthcare system is pretty different from that in the US where I think most of you are based. I feel as if I already know some of you from reading your posts (I first noticed @mirabelle33 's posts as she is also in France!) and have found it encouraging to hear your experiences and especially those BFPs! I hesitated to join in because it seemed that most of you were at the ART stage and I didn't feel psychologically ready to move on to that. I still don't really, but have made the step of making an appointment at a fertility centre in order to get the ball rolling. (DH is a bit more pragmatic about it all and happy to move on to the next stage.)
OK well this has got a bit long so I'd better stop there, but looking forward to interacting with you all more directly from now on!
Re: Introducing myself at last...
Sounds like you and YH have been through a lot already before even seeing a fertility specialist! I feel like I can totally relate to your comment about wishing there was more of a diagnosis instead of unexplained. I have irregular cycles and DH has low morph, but it really feels like we’re unexplained.
Any idea on how long it should take to get that first appointment with the RE? Hope you don’t have to wait too long and can start getting some answers/treatment plan.
On a side note, are any fertility treatments covered in France? I ask because I believe you have universal health care (I’m Canadian and in my province no fertility treatments are covered - besides a pretty small tax break when income tax annually comes around).
On a very side side note, never been to France, but loved visiting England! Would love to go back one day!
To my surprise, fertility treatments are actually covered completely here (I almost feel I should apologise since I know that is not the case for most of the group), even more than England. Which is funny as generally I prefer the English system, which is really universal and where almost everything is free at the point of access (you don't even have to pay upfront and be reimbursed). In France, for most healthcare needs (GP visits, specialists, and tests) only a small percentage is covered by the universal healthcare, and you have to pay extra for private top-up insurance if you want better coverage. But it seems that fertility is the exception here, as from what I've read they cover up to 4 cycles IVF (whereas in the UK it's generally 1 full cycle IVF/3 cycles IUI, or something similar). I feel awful for you having to take on such a huge financial burden in addition to all the stress of IF...
I've also never been to Canada, but would love to go some day
That is wonderful regarding coverage!! 4 IVF cycles covered is pretty mouth-dropping amazing (I need to move to France...lol). It always makes me happy to hear when countries actually cover fertility treatments; it seems to me that it’s really an acknowledgment that infertility is a serious medical issue and isn’t an “elective health expense” like plastic surgery. Right now I’m not really stressed with the financial side of IF as I only need to pay $4 per cycle of Letrozole due to my work health benefits covering some of the cost of the medication. But, yeah, I try not to think of the costs if we get to IUI or IVF. It may sound incredibly irresponsible, but I don’t think the costs are going to prevent us from moving forward with treatments. Since I’ve boarded this crazy train I don’t think I’ll be able to disband until I have a baby or until we’ve tried as much as we can.