# I'm 26 and feels like never ending fertility issues - A long read.......



## Lianne89 (Oct 2, 2015)

Hi Everyone,

I'm new to the site and looking for some support, a place to vent and any answers anyone may have!! Hope that's ok!?  

My story so far.....

I managed to fall pregnant when I was 17. I had no idea how many weeks I was due to irregular cycles and I didn't actually know I was even pregnant until my doctor gave me a blood test as I was having brown spotting for a few weeks and was quite poorly. Turns out this was as a result of a complete molar pregnancy. I had a D&C within a week or two and had to have regular blood tests to ensure my highly elevated pregnancy hormones returned to normal (which they did about 6 months later).

When I was 19, after about a month or two of trying to conceive, I fell pregnant again however started bleeding not long after I found out. I miscarried again. I thought I was nearing 10 weeks however I was told the baby had died at possibly 5-6 weeks.

My now husband and I decided to give things a break whilst we focused on buying a house and getting married and then when I was 23 we started trying again. It took a couple of months but we managed to conceive however as with the last time, I started to bleed not long after finding out I was pregnant. I thought I was about 8 weeks however when scanned was told the baby died at about 5-6 weeks again. 

As this was my third miscarriage I was referred to a hospital in Portsmouth where both my husband and I were requested to have numerous blood tests and my husband to have a sperm analysis. We were having a number of blood tests done but I was only really aware of two in particular which were karotyping and thrombophilia. We returned to the hospital for the results a later date only to see a different doctor who didn't have a clue what they were doing and didn't even know where my husbands results were. We were eventually advised that all the tests appeared to have come back fine however they recommend that on my next pregnancy I take 75mg of aspirin and a cyclogest pessary twice a day.

Dec 2013 I fell pregnant again after a few months of trying, I was taking the aspirin in the morning and using the pessaries twice a day. I had an early scan at the hospital and couldn't believe it when we actually saw a tiny heartbeat on the screen. This had never happened before. A few weeks later I started to become really concerned because I was not experiencing any pregnancy symptoms at all. I was only early but I had no sickness and my once very sore/tender breasts were only ever sore/tender for an hour or so after I had used the pessaries. I paid for a private scan where I was told our baby had died about a week earlier at approx. 7 weeks. 

This fourth miscarriage was probably the most difficult as this was the only one that we had actually seen a heartbeat on and I had actually allowed myself to think 'it might actually work out this time'. 

Once things had settled, my husband and I started trying again. We were trying to conceive for the rest of 2014 with no luck. I was using clearblue ovulation tests but every test I done was negative. 

As I have got older my cycles have become slightly more stable however they still tend to be around the 35 mark and I can sometimes have a wild cycle that can go anywhere up to 90 days!!

Considering I was quite lucky in conceiving fairly easily the last times and my cycles were somewhat 'normal-ish' I was quite surprised that conceiving was so difficult last year. I saw my doctor who done the routine blood test (as they always seem to do) which didn't show anything (as they never do) and nothing really progressed.

I was fortunate enough to be able to take out some private healthcare through my works so took this up January this year. When I saw the consultant, his main concern was the recurrent miscarriages and not so much the delay in conceiving I was experiencing.

I had a laproscopy and a hysteroscopy where I was diagnosed with stage 2 endometriosis and also polycystic ovaries. I had a cyst drained from my right ovary whilst I was in the operation and also had the affected endo areas treated.

Its strange because I have never really had any of the common symptoms you get with endometriosis so both me and my consultant were quite surprised with this. The PCOS also came at a bit of a shock as well considering I had many blood tests previously for PCOS which always came up fine and many scans on my ovaries which again came up fine. I guess you can only really see what's truly going on when you are in surgery!

I then went on to have 3 months worth of Zoladex injections to treat the endometriosis.

I was then referred to the recurrent miscarriage clinic at St Marys hospital in London back under the NHS. I cant say I had the best experience with them I'm afraid. It's such a long journey there and back and not a journey I really feel was worth while.

After our 3 hour journey there, we eventually found our way to the correct department and was sent to be scanned. The lady who scanned me asked at what point in my cycle I was and as I had not long had my Zoladex injections my cycles were long. When I told her I was on Day 73 she actually shrieked!!! She made me feel worse then what I already did and I felt like saying, 'if everything was fine then I wouldn't be here would I!?'. I told her I had Zoladex injections but she didn't even know what it was. 

After the scan, we then sat in the waiting room for an hour and a half and was finally called to the see the consultant. He was quite nice however all that really happened was we were sent for more routine blood tests. I had no idea what these blood tests were for this time but he said some I had already had done but he wanted them done again anyway.

Bloods were done and then I had to return 6 weeks later to have a further set of bloods done and then back again 4 weeks after that for the results.

Another hour and a half wait to see the consultant and eventually get called in. It was a different consultant this time. Totally not what I was expecting at all. We were sat at the desk and the consultant spends the first 5 minutes typing something on their computer then one of their colleagues comes in the room and they start discussing another patient right in front of us!! Anyway, the consultant then turns to me and asks if I have any news for them. Well no of course not, we're here for our blood results!! 

They then spend what feels like an eternity grilling me about my periods and my cycle lengths. I literally ran out of things to say about them. They kept questioning why I haven't had a diathermy done on my ovaries to treat the PCOS (I didn't have a clue what diathermy was at all) and I felt like I was being blamed for a procedure not being done that I didn't even know about.

They then started saying that they wanted to do the procedure and that I must have been conceiving so late in my cycles and that's why I have been miscarrying. I disagreed with this and said I knew when I was conceiving in my cycles and it wasn't late at all. I don't think they were too pleased about me disagreeing so in the end they just pulled out this piece of paper which had a tick box list of conditions on and they just went ran through them and said 'You don't have this, you don't have this, you don't have this but one of your blood results say you have this so take a higher dose of aspirin and don't take the cyclogest'.

Apparently even though I had been tested for blood clotting previously, the blood tests that the clinic had done had shown a slight concern in relation to blood clotting and so a higher dose of aspirin should help.

My husband asked about how thee aspirin works and I said that it thins the blood to which the consultant tutted, rolled their eyes and then said 'that's a very simple way of putting it'. 

I felt completely deflated and pretty sh*tty to be honest. I actually felt like I was being brushed off not only because I disagreed with having further surgery but also because I'm only 26 so I am not taken seriously.

So after all that, were back to trying to conceive again but nothing has happened these past few months. I take a daily Pregnacare vitamin and my husband and I use Preseed lubricant which I actually quite like!

In view off the fact that we were unable to conceive when trying last year and we haven't been able to conceive these last few months, I am going to visit my GP next week for any assistance possible!

It seems now a days that the further away my family dream seems to get, the more people around me seem to be getting pregnant!!

Well, thanks for reading my story and I am sorry its so long. No one I know really understands my situation, they're the lucky ones I guess!

Hope to hear from you all x x


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## njr_26 (Aug 27, 2011)

Hi Lianne, so sorry to hear about you losses.   

I too have PCOS and used to have cycles as long as 90 days. What worked to make my cycles a regular 30-33 days was attending a PCOS clinic at Warwick Hospital and being prescribed Metformin. I couldn't tolerate it very well so I had the slow release version which is much gentler on you tummy.

I don't know much about endo as I don't have it but these ladies should be able to help you:http://www.fertilityfriends.co.uk/forum/index.php?board=9.0

What disgraceful treatment you have had at St Mary's. If this is the best the NHS has to offer then I am glad I didn't bother with them. I am much older than you and have had to rely on donor eggs now but, after 2 m/c with young donor eggs I decided to look into possible immune issues. St Mary's don't believe in this because it hasn't had enough clinical trials, but it works for a lot of ladies. I believe that you have got immune issues in combination with blood clotting issues which is why taking baby aspirin got you further along. St Mary's only test for basic Level 1 immunes and I think you need to test for Level 2 immunes as well. A lot of unexplained infertility just hasn't been explained as all the available tests haven't been done. Have a look at this: http://www.privatepregnancy.co.uk/information-and-guides/useful-articles/immune-testing-and-immune-treatment-for-ivf-failure-and-recurrent-miscarriage/

My Reproductive Immunologist likens testing immune issues to being in a dark room with a torch and if you only look in one corner and test for one thing then you don't know all the possible causes. I go to Dr Gorgy in London who is the top specialist in the UK and trained with Dr Beer in America. Have a read of Dr Beer's book 'Is your body baby Friendly' as it explains about immune issues. I wouldn't have my son if it wasn't for finding out about Dr Gorgy on FF.

Yes he is expensive, but well worth it. We took out a loan for testing and treatment, but I would have kept on having m/cs without the treatment. He will work alongside people who are trying naturally.

Hope this gives you some hope that you can find out what the problem is. Here is a link to the immunes board: http://www.fertilityfriends.co.uk/forum/index.php?board=52.0

Another link to the thread about Dr Gorgy's clinic: http://www.fertilityfriends.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=330206.1190

And a link to his clinic:http://www.fertility-academy.co.uk/recurrent-failure/

Sorry for the long post, but I hope it helps.

/links


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## Tincancat (Mar 19, 2012)

What a journey you have had Lianne.
Professor Brosens and Professor Quenby are also miscarriage specialists in the Research Unit at Coventry Hospital. They are NHS consultants with an interest in this area of immune therapy.  They don't have an expensive private London clinic to fund.  They do NK testing of the endometrium and will prescribe prednisolone if the NK cells are high.
It might be worth asking your GP to see if can refer you on the NHS otherwise they are not too expensive to see for private NK cell testing.
Your PCOS will also need treating and metformin is helpful for many ladies in regulating cycles.  If you are over weight then losing weight can be helpful.
TCCx


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