# I'm a confused Newbie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



## claire1985 (Feb 11, 2010)

Hi there,

I'm a confused newbie to this all and really need to get used to all the Jargon so I'll just right fully till i get it! Lol 
I'm 25 and my husband 33 and I've been off contraception since June 2006 and actively ttc from May 2007 with no luck 
My cycle is really very erratic and i had a very long bleed which also slowed things down, recently saw my doctor and was reffered to the Monklands Infertility clinic and have my first appointment on the 11th of march.

Not really tried charts and things because my period NEVER comes when it's supposed to and i get all stressed out even trying to chart things, guess I'm just on here to learn tips and look for info as i am lost when it comes to procedures and things to ask etc!


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## fairywings (Feb 19, 2009)

and welcome to Fertility Friends claire 

I am sure you will find lots of support on FF! I will leave some board links for you below!  Please have a good look around the boards, feel free to post in any area, and make yourself at home. Fertility Friends is such a huge support. There are many who are on their TTC journey, and others who have been fortunate to have little ones with assistance. You will soon discover that our members are very encouraging of one another and offering advice or just simple hugs. There's a vast amount of information here for everyone, so start reading, posting and getting to know others. You will make some great friends too (add them to your buddy list in your profile!), lots of members often have meet ups locally too, for chats, coffee, shopping or even nights out! You can share conversations with one another freely, simply because we all understand each other. It's hard when family and friends don't fully comprehend what this journey entails and the emotions that go with it. That's where we come in!

Here are some links which you should find really useful at the moment&#8230;&#8230;

*What Every New Member Needs To Know (includes a list of common abbreviations) ~ *   CLICK HERE

*Peer Support (for asking fertility and treatment related questions of your fellow FFers) ~ * CLICK HERE

*Starting out & Diagnosis ~ *CLICK HERE

*Investigations & Immunology ~ *CLICK HERE

Maybe this would be of interest?
*Complimentary, Holistic and Spiritual Approaches ~ *CLICK HERE 

It's not clear from your post if you are perhaps thinking of starting treatment of any kind but just in case this may be helpful...
*Questions for your first cycle consultation ~ (use the ones that apply) *CLICK HERE

Its not all just serious stuff here, you can also have a bit of fun or just gossip while you are on FF too so check out the general chit chat / jokes / hobbies area:

*Girl & Boy talk - Community & Fun Board ~ *CLICK HERE

You can also chat live in our excellent chat room. We have a newbie day in the chat room every Wednesday where you can meet one of our mods for support, meet other new members and get technical support with navigating the site and using all the functions available here.  CLICK HERE FOR INFO ON NEWBIE CHAT 

You can also "meet" and chat with people in your local area through the *Location boards*. This is especially useful to find people who may be using the same clinic and or in the same PCT area. It's a small world!

Wishing you lots of luck    and 

Keep in touch

Fairywings xx


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## vickym1984 (Jan 29, 2009)

Hi Claire,

Sorry to hear you are having a tough time of things TTC. Has your GP done any tests?

If not, the first tests they will probably do are blood tests to check your hormone levels. They normally do it on days 2-5 of youer cycle but if you are having few and far between periods they can do it at other times.

They also normally give you blood tests for ovulation but they may not be able to do that if your periods are so irregular (how long do you normally have between periods?)

They will probably at some point send you for a scan called a HSG, they put some dye into you and give you a scan, this checks if your tubes are clear. It's not really painful, just like a smear.

They will also get your husband to do a sperm sample so they can check his count, shape (called morphology) and motility.

FF is great, lots of support xx


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## claire1985 (Feb 11, 2010)

Hey vicky 



Thanks for ur reply. My doc did blood tests to check hormone levels and stuff before reffering us to the infertility clinic. My periods are a nightmare to be honest sometimes 5 weeks between sometimes 9 they are totally unpredictable!

Neither myself or my husband have ever had kids so are totally new to all of this so just trying to get a heads up before the 1st appointment.

I know so far that at the 1st appointment they will take a history and do an internal ultra sound just hope they find out what's screwing up my periods so we can start being able to try proprly it's so frustrating because when my period doesn't come I end up taking a preg test and then get all depressed a out it!

So fingers crossed that something shows up on the scan!


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## vickym1984 (Jan 29, 2009)

Claire-know the feelings re always waiting around for your period.

It may be worth charting your temperature for the whole time from your next period, and then you will have an idea as to whether you are ovulating or not

Hopefully you find out what is causing your missing periods during your scan and that they can help you xx


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## claire1985 (Feb 11, 2010)

To be honest i don't even know how to do any of that! lol


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## vickym1984 (Jan 29, 2009)

Thats ok.

If you want to do it. You need a digital themometer, preferably one that goes to 2 decimal places, but 1 decimal place will do.

Then you have to take your temperature at the same time every morning, as soon as you wake up (before you get up etc) after at least 4 hrs sleep

You can then record your temperatures and when you see a sustained shift above the previous temperatures, then that is likely to be ovulation. Your temperature remains higher then until your period comes again.


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## Mistletoe (Holly) (Jan 1, 2007)

Hi,
If you want to go the natural route and try to conceive using temperature charts and cervical mucus monitoring then there is a very good book called 'Taking charge of your fertility' by Toni Weschler ISBN 0-06-095053-6.
She explains how to tell when you are ovulating and how to identify certain problems in your cycle. I did temperature monitoring for 6 months and determined that I had an ovulatory cycle that was regular and I learnt to read the signs in my body very accurately. We then knew that there was more to our problem than timing. It turned out that blocked tubes and no sperm were the problems, but at least I knew I was ovulating. 
You never know, if you can tell from your charts when you are actually ovulating then you might end up with a BFP naturally. Having said that you have been trying for a while and it will be important to see if you have a problem like polycystic ovaries or a sperm problem that is delaying conception.

If you ask at Boots at the pharmacy counter you can get an accurate fertility thermometer. You have to do the temperature every morning at exactly the same time before you have got up to the loo etc. You then plot it on graph paper and after a while you will see whether you have the rise in temperature after ovulation or whether your cycles are annovulatory.

We are not talking about massive differences in temperature - for example my preovulatory morning temperature is 36.2 and after ovulation it is 36.6. This is why you need an accurate thermometer used properly.


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