Any Aussie ladies starting IVF?

[wantingbubba7]

Hey I'm a member of a closed facebook group called
IVF SUPPORT GROUP, AUSTRALIA

You should join, its a lot of ladies with different questions, everyone is really helpful. I find it very informative

 

[eveclo]

Thats exactly right, answers is better then "not sure". Heres to hoping that next months FET works with the different process and we wont be cycle buddys in the future hehe I'll keep you updated though.
I'll check out the blog, I had a lookski a little while ago but forgot you had it. I like keeping up to date with how you are, I feel we are quite similar... apparently i'm fine and hubby has poor morph. I'm hoping that its just the morph that is stopping us and that IVF works :/ its all so nerve racking the whole not knowing. I feel relieved for you now you have answers

I'm actually changing to Life Fertility and looking at an appt with Dr Glenn Sterling next week to kind of have a look and see if I am happy with the way they work. They work a little differently to QFG where I think the nurses are alot more involved but really that doesn't worry me anyway. They are also a lot cheaper, I think I could get 2 fresh IVF cyles out of them for the same as 1 with QFG. If I stick with QFG I can only afford one cycle and if that fails I dont really know what to do... its all too scary.

Yeah I agree, there are three that answer the phones now. One is so impossible sometimes, the other is ok and one is absolutely lovely and love it when she answers. I really did like Melissa but I just questioned sometimes if she was doing enough..... I think I am paranoid.

How did you come onto coQ10 as a supplement? Did you decide to take these from research? I only take Vitamin D and Elevit at the moment.

Ooo wow i haven't even heard of Life! I just googled it, it looks great. I think that QFG really make you pay for their name, it's not necessary really. Just make sure you are happy with the level of care and you will be fine. My current clinic here in Albury is mainly nurse care, as there is one Fertility Specialist and he is the only one between Canberra and Melbourne. So he's a very busy man and his nurses do all of the scans and everything, he just does the egg pick ups and stuff. It doesn't really bother me in fact the nurses are usually really easy to deal with anyway.

My FS said it would be good for me to use and then Dr M (immune doctor) asked me to start taking it along with M as it helps with cell production etc. M (my husband) has low sperm count/motility/morphology and his first SA came back at like 3 million per mL, and really low motility and about 3% morphology. We started him on a cocktail of vitamins to get his sperm into tip top shape and it worked so well (over the past 2 years he has had about 12 SA's and on our last cycle epu day he had 30 million per mL and normal everything else). We were always told we needed ICSI but we ended up doing 4 eggs with IVF (and 3 fertilised) and the rest with ICSI. So they became strong enough to actually fertilise an egg on their own (to say i was proud was an understatement )

If you are interested (or anyone reading) the vitamins were as followed;

1500mg Maca Powder Tablets
300mg coQ10
2000mg Vitamin C (very important for healthy sperm)
90mg Zinc (also really important)
500mg Vitamin E
1 x Folate tablet (can't remember the dosage but it's the blackmores one!)

We saw a naturopath/acupuncturist who told us that these things all help the sperm and we found when we started to add the Vitamin C and the Maca it seemed to do a little something. Talk to your Doctor about it though, that's just what worked for us and it certainly shouldn't hurt his sperm or anything it's more just trying to make sure all is at it's best

Ohh i think i remember another younger girl there sometimes. But i know the ones you are talking about, the one with the short hair used to drive me crazy and even if we didn't have to move interstate she would have been the reason behind me changing docs.

We do have very similar stories! I think that you will be fine with IVF, honestly. Every doctor we have been to have been shocked to know that it hasn't worked for us, especially since our original issue was M's sperm issues. It's just one of those things unfortunately, M and I always laugh about our unluckiness in life but if we can't laugh about it we would be just miserable so we make it work

IVF is a truly magical thing and it does work more often than not! It's really exciting and if you ever ever need any information or tips or if you just have any questions please don't hesitate to ask I feel like a veteran! xx

 

[babypizazz]

So, I have been diagnosed with high Natural Kiler Cells in my uterus and also ANA cells. (The antibodies that target “normal” proteins within the nucleus of a cell are called antinuclear antibodies) Basically, my body is attacking itself and seeing the embryo as foreign dna and destroying it before it can even implant. I'm happy to have answers but struggling with the fact that maybe these can't be fixed.

I will be on Prednisone, Clexane and also have an Intralipid infusion the next cycle round, which will be an FET next month. I'm nervous and excited all at the same time, and it feels like it's the beginning of a new path, but i hope we can have something good come from it all. Hope all you ladies are well, this thread is so quiet these days, i hope it is because everyone is busy with all of the good and sweet things in their lives! xxx

Don't give up evelco! I had elevated NKC and was on prednisone and something else for my last cycle (I can't remember the name) and now I have a beautiful 9 month old! One I had to take up to transfer and the other I had to take up to 13 weeks pregnancy. You will get there, just do your cycles and try to do stuff that makes you happy to take your mind off things! Good luck!

 

[wantingbubba7]

Yeah neither had I but one of the girls on the Facebook forum I spoke about recommended it... We rang and spoke to a nurse and she was very lovely and keen to have a 10 minute chat. I'm super excited to change , apparently the FS is a bit full on but I can deal with that if he is good at what he does

Wow that is such an improvement for M ... it goes to show that all these vitamins that some FS (melissa) dont recommend actually do work that is awesome.... my husband has quite a high count but only 2% morph, Melissa said that being a high count it should counteract the low morph but I dont know nothing has worked yet :/

Well I went and bought some coQ10 this morning for us to start taking - how much do you take each day? What do you take each day in your regime ? Sorry if I keep asking questions.
Thats what I said to my husband, taking these things cant hurt... its worth a try, anything is to get us healthy at the moment.

Wow you have done a lot of homework with different doctors and things. I really appreciate your help and feedback

Yeah the main one I didnt mesh well with was the short haired one as well (Kim), I found if you were suuuuper nice to her asking how her day was she was little more helpful haha in the end we shouldn't have to be the ones being super nice, we are spending our money with them. I feel bad for changing because Melissa was so lovely and easy to talk to... but in the end its what we're comfortable with.

Thats exactly right you only have each other that truly understands what your're both going through, so if you cant have a laugh with about it all then it makes the hole journey way harder. I've recently been through such a rough patch with feeling down and what not and my husband has made me feel so much better.

Hopefully your "luckiness" is coming up and you can look back at this and breathe a sigh of relief.

 

[aleja]

Hi ladies, I hope you are doing well. Good luck on your upcoming cycles. I think I will start a FET in late June at this rate. I'm waiting for AF now then will have biopsy in next cycle .

Babypizzazz it is good to hear from you. I hope you are enjoying your little one. 9 months old is such a cute and cheeky age.

 

[wantingbubba7]

Hi Aleja, I'm new to this thread will be starting ICSI around the same time~ probably a couple of weeks later... good luck with you FET !!!

 

[aleja]

Hi wantingbubba! It's nice to see some new names as this thread has slowed down a lot over time. Oh we might be cycling around the same time. I have pretty long cycles so it could push out this long... I hate the waiting game but I find it much less stressful than cycling - I was so tense during my last ICSI i was almost relieved when it was over.

Is that Face book group private? I'm interested in joining but I don't want it to show up on my profile or anything. I've told very few people about ivf and I would dread it to appear on their newsfeed !!

 

[wantingbubba7]

Its also nice to see some ladies in Australia - I just feel more connected for some reason. Will be nice to swap stories with each other so it would be good if we can cycle together no doubt being a first timer I'll have lots of questions. I'm waiting to lose some weight which is why I'm leaving it till June/July but I might want to earlier... It will be my first cycle so I'm kinda gearing myself up :/

Yeah the group is completely private... if you look for the group on facebook you will notice you cant read anything at all. This means that once you are a member and you may post something no one on your friends list will be able to see it Did that make sense haha

 

[eveclo]

So, I have been diagnosed with high Natural Kiler Cells in my uterus and also ANA cells. (The antibodies that target “normal” proteins within the nucleus of a cell are called antinuclear antibodies) Basically, my body is attacking itself and seeing the embryo as foreign dna and destroying it before it can even implant. I'm happy to have answers but struggling with the fact that maybe these can't be fixed.

I will be on Prednisone, Clexane and also have an Intralipid infusion the next cycle round, which will be an FET next month. I'm nervous and excited all at the same time, and it feels like it's the beginning of a new path, but i hope we can have something good come from it all. Hope all you ladies are well, this thread is so quiet these days, i hope it is because everyone is busy with all of the good and sweet things in their lives! xxx

Don't give up evelco! I had elevated NKC and was on prednisone and something else for my last cycle (I can't remember the name) and now I have a beautiful 9 month old! One I had to take up to transfer and the other I had to take up to 13 weeks pregnancy. You will get there, just do your cycles and try to do stuff that makes you happy to take your mind off things! Good luck!

Oh wow that's wonderful, i love hearing success stories like yours. We have done a cycle with the Pred and Clexane (blood thinner) already, but it didn't work. However, that Pred was only from day of EPU and our new RI recommends at least 3 weeks before; do you know how long you were on it before transfer?

I'm so glad to hear of your success with these methods, it helps keeps my spirits high.

Yeah neither had I but one of the girls on the Facebook forum I spoke about recommended it... We rang and spoke to a nurse and she was very lovely and keen to have a 10 minute chat. I'm super excited to change , apparently the FS is a bit full on but I can deal with that if he is good at what he does

Wow that is such an improvement for M ... it goes to show that all these vitamins that some FS (melissa) dont recommend actually do work that is awesome.... my husband has quite a high count but only 2% morph, Melissa said that being a high count it should counteract the low morph but I dont know nothing has worked yet :/

Well I went and bought some coQ10 this morning for us to start taking - how much do you take each day? What do you take each day in your regime ? Sorry if I keep asking questions.
Thats what I said to my husband, taking these things cant hurt... its worth a try, anything is to get us healthy at the moment.

Wow you have done a lot of homework with different doctors and things. I really appreciate your help and feedback

Yeah the main one I didnt mesh well with was the short haired one as well (Kim), I found if you were suuuuper nice to her asking how her day was she was little more helpful haha in the end we shouldn't have to be the ones being super nice, we are spending our money with them. I feel bad for changing because Melissa was so lovely and easy to talk to... but in the end its what we're comfortable with.

Thats exactly right you only have each other that truly understands what your're both going through, so if you cant have a laugh with about it all then it makes the hole journey way harder. I've recently been through such a rough patch with feeling down and what not and my husband has made me feel so much better.

Hopefully your "luckiness" is coming up and you can look back at this and breathe a sigh of relief.

I take 2 x 150mg per day so 300mg, but my RI just said 'please get yourself and your husband to start to take 150mg of coQ10 a day' but i'm naughty and i doubled it hehhe, yep that's her name, Kim. I'm sure she's an OK person but not my kind of person, i am fairly anxious and make chit chat when nervous and I felt like a lot of the time she just looked at me like 'what are you saying?' like come on lady this is hard!

It's so funny the things that you mentioned regarding Melissa is the same thing we felt. She is a fantastic doctor and a lovely, caring person who really 'wants' things to work for people but her staff really need a look at. It's a shame but I know that the ladies that are pregnant and seeing her for obstetric purposes would be very very happy with her.

I am cycle day 11 today so only about 22 days until we can start our next cycle! Woooooo. I'm so nervous our embryo won't defrost, i'm thinking I might ring the Embryologists at some stage to ask what the likelihood of it arresting would be, but then I think that might be a stupid question like they don't have a crystal ball. ahha.

xx

 

[Kirs_t]

Just popping in to say that I'm still following your journeys and cheering you on. Good luck for the next cycles girls x

 

[babypizazz]

Oh wow that's wonderful, i love hearing success stories like yours. We have done a cycle with the Pred and Clexane (blood thinner) already, but it didn't work. However, that Pred was only from day of EPU and our new RI recommends at least 3 weeks before; do you know how long you were on it before transfer?

I'm so glad to hear of your success with these methods, it helps keeps my spirits high.
:

Hi I think my first cycle I wasn't taking it from the beginning but the successful cycle I think I was taking it from the beginning of my cycle.. I really pushed to have the progesterone support too. Good luck!!!

 

[eveclo]

Oh wow that's wonderful, i love hearing success stories like yours. We have done a cycle with the Pred and Clexane (blood thinner) already, but it didn't work. However, that Pred was only from day of EPU and our new RI recommends at least 3 weeks before; do you know how long you were on it before transfer?

I'm so glad to hear of your success with these methods, it helps keeps my spirits high.
:

Hi I think my first cycle I wasn't taking it from the beginning but the successful cycle I think I was taking it from the beginning of my cycle.. I really pushed to have the progesterone support too. Good luck!!!

Very interesting, thank you so much for sharing! Thank you, i think it's my turn soon hopefully xxx

 

[wantingbubba7]

Had my appt at Life Fertility today, what a great place I absolutely loved it. Evelco- was such a different atmosphere to the other clinic looks like we are doing IVF in june eeeee so nervous and excited, the nurse thought my weight was fine 😊 how long till you start your FET?

 

[wantingbubba7]

Ive only just realised your name isnt evelco but eveclo haha im sorry.

 

[eveclo]

Had my appt at Life Fertility today, what a great place I absolutely loved it. Evelco- was such a different atmosphere to the other clinic looks like we are doing IVF in june eeeee so nervous and excited, the nurse thought my weight was fine 😊 how long till you start your FET?

Oh that is fantastic news!!! Congrats on a great clinic that you feel comfortable with. Are they located in the city or on the North Side? We lived north side when we were in Brissy and found driving into the city so draining (but this is probably because we did more than one cycle, you won't need to!)

Ive only just realised your name isnt evelco but eveclo haha im sorry.

Hahahhaa I didn't even realise that you spelt it differently so don't even worry. Evelco or Eveclo same deal

 

[wantingbubba7]

Ohhh thank you I love that you think I'll have the one cycle 😊 thank you.... they are located across the rd from melissas office next to st Andrews hospital. They arent as cheap as I thought but I just liked them a lot better. Im south side near beaudesert so I completely understand the travel its so draining , im lucky my husband comes with me all the time.
How long till your fet?

 

[MissCassie]

Had my appt at Life Fertility today, what a great place I absolutely loved it. Evelco- was such a different atmosphere to the other clinic looks like we are doing IVF in june eeeee so nervous and excited, the nurse thought my weight was fine 😊 how long till you start your FET?

Ive got my first appointment at life fertility on the 28th od this month, and using their bulk billed service..

Is Dr sterling your doctor?

Good luck with your cycle

 

[wantingbubba7]

Haha misscassie my first appt is on the 28th as well ,small world hehe today was an appt with a nurse to have a look around etc. Yes dr glenn sterling will be my doctor he seemed really nice. What is the bulk billed service? Is this the 3k upfront thing?

 

[wantingbubba7]

We touched on some pricing today and the structure is a little different.

It will be 3k at the start of your cycle to Life Fertility with about 900 back from Medicare at some point after egg collection.

Day before egg collection if you dont have private health is about 2k all up to the hospital with nothing back (I unfortunately have no PH )

Then on top of that is Glenn Sterlings fees which are about 1k you do get some of this back now sure how much though.

And then if you require ICSI that is another 800 paid to Life at start of your cycle with no rebate.

Basically she said it will be about 7k altogether with about 2k back from medicare.

 

[eveclo]

Ohhh thank you I love that you think I'll have the one cycle 😊 thank you.... they are located across the rd from melissas office next to st Andrews hospital. They arent as cheap as I thought but I just liked them a lot better. Im south side near beaudesert so I completely understand the travel its so draining , im lucky my husband comes with me all the time.
How long till your fet?

Oops sorry i just realised you asked me this in the previous post and I got overexcited about your new clinic hehe.

I am CD15 today so just waiting for CD1 to start, probably not for a while now I have really regular 32 day cycles so it won't be for another 2 or 3 weeks until cd1 ! Then I start on the steroids and will have a transfer around CD 24 (around 6 days post natural ovulation).

Ultimately the level of care you are getting and the comfort you have with them is the most important part of your IVF cycle and i'm so glad that you've found them! Ah yes, my thing was always the parking in Brisbane! We would always try and get those 1 hour metered parks out the front of Melissa's office,