Any advice on help you have received from gp

[Girlieplease]

Interested in hearing from UK ladies who have had problems conceiving and what help gp's provided? I have three babies conceived first time trying, my youngest I'd 2 years old. I just turned 36, we have been trying for number 4 since June, no luck at all. I am swaying pink. My lp is really short usually 8-9 days but this month it was a only barely 7 days. My gp is notoriously hard to motivate to do anything so I feel if am armed with info he might be more likely. He did organise for me to have a blood draw cd 21 to check progesterone, I get results on Thursday and have an appointment to discuss them. He said I need to try for a year, if no success he would refer me for further tests but as I have children am not entitled to Ivf. I don't want Ivf anyway. Any gp in the UK prescribe anything to help with low progesterone or cycles? I found a page on the NHS website that said if you are 36 or over contact your gp sooner than a year of not conceiving so I have that up my sleeve. Also should add I have an underactive thyroid, which may be contributing. Many thanks

[Foreign Chick]

Hi Girlieplease, I am not in the UK and can't advise you, as far as what help gp provided, but here in the US our OBGYN's are also hesitant to take action if TTC less than 12 months. :/

Personally I think you're still within the totally normal range with 3 months... I know that it can see like an eternity when waiting for that BFP, but don't give up hope! I am also 36 and when TTC my last daughter it took 3 months also. After a series of BFN's for the 1st 2 months I decided to try Pre-Seed, as I've read lots of positive reviews on it, and sure enough got PG the very 1st month while using it. I was 33 at that time.... Perhaps that's something you could try (if it's available in the UK)

I got my FX for you, sending tons of Pink vibes your way, God knows I got plenty

Good luck :luck: xx

[atomic sagebrush]

I know you're probably sick of hearing me say this but 3 months is not time to start worrying. The short LP is something that would be taken very seriously in the US but unfortunately I've had terrible luck getting any doctor in the UK to do anything about that, even when completely medically indicated.

Your best bet would be to get Clomid or Femara somehow. But your doctor is very very very unlikely to help you get that, and almost certainly won't after only 3 months. In the US, a 7 day LP probably WOULD get Clomid or Femara but the UK docs just won't do it for some reason.

[atomic sagebrush]

Just wanted to clarify something - while there is a lot of variation between individual doctors, the trend that I have seen is that a 7 day LP will almost always be treated with Clomid and/or progesterone supps, in the US immediately without the 12 months wait. Whereas in the UK it isn't often treated at all even after a 12 month TTC period provided you are ovulating. So if you're in the UK and having a short LP, DO NOT wait it out for 12 months with 7 day LP hoping that they'll treat you after that time period, because more often than not, they won't do it even at that point in time.

[atomic sagebrush]

Re short LP and progesterone, the conventional wisdom is that short LP = low prog. But I have seen kaboodles of people have this test done and more often than not (I'd estimate a good 3/4 of the time) their progesterone was normal. I believe that what is causing the majority of short LP's amongst us on this site is low estrogen. At about 7 DPO, your corpus luteum starts to break down and gradually stops making progesterone (unless you are pregnant). The reason why your period does not come right away is that simultaneously to this, your body releases a burst of estrogen that helps keep the lining going another 7 days as the progesterone either diminishes or starts getting made in increasing amounts as the corpus luteum receives the signal that pregnancy has occured. So the cure for this is NOT necessarily doing everything any witch doctor ever came up with that is said to "raise progesterone". The cure is dropping fiber and giving your body the raw materials it needs to make estrogen - 1 serv. full fat dairy a day, 4-6 eggs a week, and 1 serv. red meat or salmon per week.

[Girlieplease]

Thanks for replying atomic, I have already in corporated 4-6 eggs, portion of dairy daily and one portion of red meat per week, since June. My results came back as borderline progesterone, gp added a note to say possible ovulation, confirm next month. I only got the results from the receptionist, I have an appt tomorrow, feel he is going to drag his heals further and wait to see what results indicate next month.

[atomic sagebrush]

I knew you were doing that already but just for the benefit of others reading the thread.

Did you drop fiber??

no more weight loss, either.

[Girlieplease]

As in fiber supplements? Never took any as I read a thread on here from someone who said fiber supplements did funny things to people with thyroid issues. Just to update you, saw the gp, he is not convinced I had an lp of 7 days, he thinks I just o'ed earlier, however, he said that would concern him and putting it together with the fact I have not conceived when previous I did, he has been my gp through all my pregnancies and now with a borderline result in blood work, he has referred me to an infertility Dr, he said they may prescribe clomid but they may want me to try for longer. However, it could take up to 4 months to be seen, so I should have a few more failed attempts under my belt. I have asked him to do another blood draw, so we have more than one cycle to give to the Dr. He has also asked for my husband to provide a sample! I hope very much to get pregnant before the appt but think it is unlikely.

Wanted to ask, is it possible to ovulate and it to cause no temperature rise, as well as not been picked up by the cb fertility monitor and cb digital ovulation sticks and then all three agree on ovulation a few days later? That is what my gp is suggesting. How do you not lose weight on the le diet with 6 daily cardio workouts? Thanks so much for your help, I hope so much to get pregnant so I can stop torturing you with questions!

[atomic sagebrush]

Oh good.

I find it not that likely that you'd have no indications of O and then 3 days later all would be in agreement. Early O is not any cause for concern (unless it was SUPER early). And you already know my opinion about getting pregnant in 1-2 months - if it happened before, that was due to your good luck and it doesn't mean something is wrong with you if it takes more like the average amount of time (particularly with swaying.) But heck, if he's referring you, that's what we want anyway so all is well. :) I never quibble with someone who is doing what I want. :p

Eat more. The key to stopping weight loss is eating more food. Even if you have to exceed the cal guidelines, that's what you need to do. Over time your metabolism will change but until then, you have to eat enough to feed the machine. :)