Advice needed...very upset

[GilmoreFan]

I'm not sure if this is really the appropriate place to post but I'm desperate for some advice, I'm not sure what to do and my husband is at work and I just need to hash it out I guess...we've been trying to conceive for over a year now. I started out with just my regular gyno, she put me on clomid and I never ovulated, not on 50, 100 or 150 mg, then she moved me onto femara which I didn't ovulate the first two months, on 2.5 or 5 mg. At that point I decided we better get things more throughly checked out and asked to be referred to a RE. There was none in my town and I had to travel to indianapolis which is about an hour from where I live which I don't mind really, he did all the tests such as the hsg which all came back normal and since I was still on the cycle with my last dosage of femara (5) he said it looked like I was about to ovulate and had me take the trigger shot. This was in september. I had a progesterone test done and my level was then a 14. First ovulation ever! But it was only one mature follicle which I didn't think was terrible, I didn't care...I ovulated! I did not get pregnant, and we started the october cycle. I had an ultrasound done on day 14 of my cycle and my biggest follicles were only 8s and a 13. I had produced more but they were small, they said not to take the trigger shot because it would be a waste and next month (november) we would do injectables and an IUI, so we really didn't have sex as much as we should have because I was so discouraged. I'm an idiot, my progesterone was a 31.2 that cycle JUST on the femara and I ovulated just fine! So I called my doctor today and talked to the nurse I wanted to just do the femara again and was told no. The doctor was quite insistent on doing the injectables and his nurse actually got quite hateful with me and is refusing to let me do another month just on the femara, it was a horrible phone call. I ended up cancelling the whole cycle, because I felt like they're pushing me to quickly. I'm just now starting to ovulate and I'd just like to see if I could get pregnant just on the femara and without the injectables. I'm not opposed to the IUI, but the injectables are so costly. Was I wrong? Am I overreacting? Is 30 not an indicater of a good ovulation? I asked her about that and she wouldn't answer me. Should I have gone ahead with the injectables? I'm just so confused and sad over losing this month. Thanks for letting me talk girls. Sorry this was so long.

 

[cutestuff]

I am so sorry. I don't know if I have much advise to offer, but I think from a medical standpoint, maybe they had reached the maximum tries for the medication you were on originally.... I don't know much about the hormone part or this process, but it is your right to seek a second opinion from another doctor. I would sign a medical release form and request your medical records immediately and document the phone call. I would then seek out other doctors and see if what they did was warranted or not.
I will say as a counselor/mental health technician I have dealt with individuals who try to find ways around the policies and procedures and you have to become very firm with them. Not sure if that is what happened and it definitely does not excuse rude behavior and if it was harassing, you could report them to the office manager or doctor and even the board of nursing if you wanted..... That just sucks so much and just hugs all around....

 

[zoeh]

As far as I'm aware, there isn't a "cap" on how many times you can take Femara, like there is with Clomid (and that's only if you do it so many times -in a row-), so I would definitely at least seek out another doctor's advice before going to injectables. Although depending on your age (usually if you're 35+), after 3-4 rounds, it is sometimes "suggested" to move on to the next option because your chances of actually conceiving start to drop off. I did four rounds of Clomid without ovulating and am on my second of Femara, and my RE and OB/GYN say I will definitely be able to do more rounds of Femara after this, and that if I don't O this time they'll increase the dose. I will say I did injectables -before- figuring out I could O on Femara, because the RE convinced me at first that Femara wouldn't work and went to the shots right after Clomid. I was pretty pissed off when they went, "Oh, oops, looks like Femara works just fine!" Doctors WILL push injectables (ones around here push IVF as well) because they get more money out of the process. If the shots are indeed what you need, the results would likely be worth it, but if it looks like you ovulated on Femara alone... and a progesterone level of 31 is certainly indicative of a good ovulation on it... I'd definitely get a second opinion! I'm sorry that the nurse was rude to you; that all sounds so stressful :-/.

 

[Ariannda]

If you're talking about a trigger shot it's not terribly expensive , and i would think that would be the first option with Femera and IUI