We have been ttc for 3.5 years and have unexplained infertility. I had a m/c in 2009. Nearly seven weeks ago we saw the consultant, and after much begging, she agreed to refer us for ivf even though my BMI is not quite high enough. It would then be up to the PCT to decide on whether we got funding. The only snag was that I had a bad result with my ostradiol blood test and she wanted it redoing before she would do the referral. So far so good.

They have now had my blood test results for three weeks and the consultant has not even looked at it yet! I have been passed from secretary to secretary and now the consultant is on holiday, so I won't hear anything for about two weeks! I have had enough.

We can fund ivf privately, but obviously don't want to spend the money if the NHS will fund us. But in reality, the chances are not good, and even if I get funding I am unlikely to get any treatment until 5-7 months has passed. I can't wait that long.

So, should we have a round of ivf privately while we wait for funding (our PCT allows this). Or should we perhaps try iui? OH is wary of iui given the low success rates (our PCT doesn't fund iui for this exact reason), but I may be able to persuade him otherwise. I just need to do something!

I would say if you don't want to spend that amount of money if you are going to get funded, IUI would be good to at least try whilst you wait. What is the difference in prices between IUI and IVF where you are? Here where I am, IVF with ICSI is $15,000 and IUI is $1,400 a cycle.

It's difficult with unexplained as to whether IUI is worth it but if you've been pg before it could be for you.
If you have the money I would go private for now.
Good luck

I say try IUI. Whilst the chances are lower than IVF, it is less invasive, cheaper and could work for you. I assume you have had the usual tests - bloodwork, sperm analysis, HSG to check tubes, ultrasound to check women bits etc. So if all is in working order, I would recommend IUI a couple of times first. I have seen success stories on this. Good luck!

I agree with the other ladies!

My PCT does not allow us to have funded NHS treatment if we have had private treatment. Boooo!

Hi

We did IVF last year which was NHS funded x 1 cycle due to unexplained infertility. I had the same issues when we were first refered by our consultant - the secretary didn't even send the refeeral over for weeks, but after pestering and annoying them finally the referal got sent through. We were offered IUI aswell but decided against it as IVF success rates were higher, and in our postcode NHS funding was running out, so we didn't want to risk doing IUI and that failing and then going for IVF but have to go private. So my advice would be to keep on at them and even if they give you a start date for treatment say 6 months there's no harm in checking every so often to see if a cancellation becomes availble

Hope that makes sense anyway and good luck

Thanks for all the replies. I talked this over with OH last night and we have agreed to give IUI a go. I made an appointment at the clinic today, so at least something is happening!