Hey girls, thought I would add my NHS experience here too, sorry it's a little long.
Hubby and I have been TTC for just over a year now. After stopping the pill, my periods never returned so in November 2016 my GP sent me for some blood tests. As far as she was concerned, nothing sinister showed so we were referred to our local gynae centre (half their patients are NHS and half private) and had an appointment booked in with a fertility specialist.
We went to the specialist on January 9th and we came out felling pretty pleased that we were seeing someone who seemed to be a bit of a fertility hot shot! During that initial appointment he said that he suspected PCOS due to the amenorrhea. He did a transvaginal ultrasound which showed that my ovaries were very polycystic. He then wanted to do some blood tests and prescribed me Norethisterone tablets to bring on a period and then I was to go for my blood tests on CD3. The tablets only really triggered some very light spotting (which wasn't even 'fresh' blood, but the clinic said not to worry, just count the first day of spotting as CD1). Hubby was also referred for a semen analysis and he did that a few weeks after our first appointment.
We went back to the clinic around the 12th February for the results. Hubby's SA was fine and my blood test results confirmed PCOS. I was then told that before starting any treatment, I would obviously need to have an HSG to rule out tubal problems. This had to be done once bleeding had stopped but no later than CD10, so again I was prescribed Norethisterone. I went for the HSG on March 1st.
We returned to the clinic on March 20th and as I had already been told by the radiologist, the HSG was fine and my tubes were clear. We were then given the go ahead to start ovulatory treatment in the form of Clomid. Again I had to take the Norethisterone to bring on a period, and then take 50mg Clomid CD2-6. Blood tests were then ordered for CD21 to see whether or not I had ovulated. I hadn't, and so we were told to try the same protocol but with 100mg Clomid. Again this was annovulatory and after speaking with the clinic over the phone, we were told to not try anything else until we had checked back in with the specialist.
I had my appointment with him on July 3rd and came out utterly heartbroken. He looked at me like I was just a hopeless case and said as far as he was concerned, I only had two options. One being ovarian drilling (well I had already heard about this and knew that most places no longer recommend it as it is now pretty antiquated), and the other being IVF. He then proceeded to tell me that funding for IVF was withdrawn from my area two weeks prior. I was sat there digging my nails into my hands and trying to hold it all together, and he said go away, discuss it with hubby and then let him know what we decide.
Hubby and I spoke and we decided that if IVF was our only hope and we were going to have to pay for it anyway, we may as well get a second opinion and booked a consultation with Herts and Essex Fertility Centre. We had that appointment on July 13th and am sad to say that our experience was a lot better than our experiences with our NHS man. We had to fill out lots of forms and send in advance and then we both spent about half an hour with the nurse just going over various lifestyle type things, had our height, weight and blood pressure taken and then she sent poor hubby off for another impromptu SA! Luckily he managed to perform under pressure and was very chuffed with himself
Next, we were both taken in to an appointment with one of the consultants (turn out he is actually at the top of his game and has been working in fertility and IVF for over 35 years, so we felt in safe hands). They phoned through my husband's SA results while we were with the consultant (they have their own lab on site so it's a lot quicker) and that was still fine. He spent about an hour talking with us about our history, previous treatment etc. He is not a fan at all of the drilling, and we had already decided not to go down that route, so it was nice to have it backed up. He also said that the clinic rarely prescribe Clomid, especially for someone like me, because it essentially works as an estrogen blocker which then presents other hindrances when it comes to getting pregnant. He said that our options would be either IVF, or ovulation induction with injections (the same medication used in IVF stimulation but just a lower dose).
Interestingly, back in January when I had my AMH blood test, we were told that it was "fine" and I didn't question it. The consultant we saw two weeks ago said that it was far from fine, and it was the second highest he had ever seen. He wanted me to do another blood test while I was at that clinic just to confirm, and the results came back pretty much the same last week.
Sorry this all sounds quite blasé, it was just easier to write it like that with just the facts and the steps we took. In all honesty, the past 8 months have been a complete roller coaster, with many tears along the way!
I think it also sounds as if I am not an NHS fan. I definitely am, and would have liked nothing more to be able to continue to receive treatment on the NHS rather than having to pay privately, but unfortunately it just hasn't worked out that way. My family and I have had some amazing experiences with the NHS, but unfortunately I don't feel like the doctor we were initially seeing was doing the best things for *me*. I'm not a classic PCOS case, so it's likely that he was just following standard treatment methods. And of course as we all know, with the current financial state of the NHS, fertility treatment is not likely to be a priority and I do understand that.
Feel free to ask anything! Hope this helps give an idea of what to expect timeline wise!
