# Wondered if I might join you lovely ladies...



## claire_lou (Oct 10, 2006)

Hello - I am Claire and I have posted a couple of times on FF in the past but have to confess to being a bit shy about posting more often in case I do it wrong and so I have to admit to being a bit of a "lurker"  
I live in Carterton with my DP and after several lap & dyes, endo being removed and discovering DP has MF issues we have now got a date at the Fertility Unit in Oxford for our pretreatment consultation on 17th March before commencing IVF with ICSI.
I am quite nervous about the whole thing, wondering how I am going to cope with injecting myself, remembering what to do and when, etc. My DP is terrified of needles so he won't be much use (bless him), in fact when we went to the group meeting at the manor earlier this month he went a funny colour just at the mention of needles!!
I notice that a lot of you have already had treatment and was wondering if you could give me some advice on what I should be doing to help the chances of it being successful. For example foods to avoid, supplements to take, alternative therapies like acupuncture, etc.  I want to be in as tip top condition as I can be  
Thank you for taking the time to read this and I look forward to "speaking" to you again in the meantime I wish you all lots of luck wherever you are on your journey.


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## Neeta (Jul 28, 2004)

Hello Claire

Lovely to 'meet' you. I'm in Carterton too  

Looking forward to getting to 'know' you and good luck with your cycle  

Will post abit more later about my experiences of the dreaded needles   etc.

Take care and catch up soon

Neeta


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## claire_lou (Oct 10, 2006)

Hi Neeta

Thanks for your reply and good wishes.

I am looking forward to getting to know people who have or who are experiencing IF problems. It is difficult to speak to friends about it as they don't really understand as they have not been there themsleves.

Take care and hope to speak soon

Claire


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## ally04 (Jul 13, 2007)

Hi Claire

I’m currently having my first ivf tx at the JR and the girls on this Oxfordshire board have been very supportive and helpful. It can be very daunting at first with so much information to take in but you’ll soon get to grips with it all, I’m just taking it step by step and I must say I have found the injections v easy to do and not at all painful…it’s the pessaries I’m not looking forward to using! 

I wish you lots of luck on your tx    and you’re welcome to come join us on the ttc,bumps and beyond thread  

Ally x


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## claire_lou (Oct 10, 2006)

Hi Ally

Thanks for your reply.  How far are you on your first tx? I wish you lots of luck with it  

I'm sure the injections will be fine once I get the hang of it - just hadn't better let DP watch as he will faint!  

Oh gosh I had forgotten about the pessaries!!

Hope to speak again soon and I will check out the ttc, bumps and beyond thread, thank you

Take care

Claire
x


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## Neeta (Jul 28, 2004)

Right, back again. 

Sorry for short post earlier, was on my way out.  

As far as the injections go, i was absolutely dreading them but have to say the thought was actually alot worse than the reality. They weren't as bad as i had anticipated at all, did have a dot-to-dot pattern on my tummy by the end of it though  

Pessaries, well not much to say on these apart from, horrible little things but a small price to pay i suppose. Again, i was really dreading the thought of these, and yes, in reality they weren't very nice and were quite 'messy'   but i kind of got used to them.

With regards to 'doing' or 'not doing' anything to make your treatment successful, i'm afraid i can't really answer that hun. Every person and each treatment cycle are so different that what works for 1 person may not work for the next etc. 

I had reflexology during my cycle but will never know whether this made 'the' difference between a positive or negative result.

Sorry, not really helped much, rambled a bit  

Good luck hun, let us know how you get on at your consultation.

Neeta


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## alexej28 (Sep 1, 2006)

Hi Claire,

Just to echo what Ally has said, do come and join us on the Oxfordshire ttc, bumps and beyond thread - I have only recently joined and everyone really is so lovely and supportive.

The injecting side of it really isn't as bad as you might think, the needle really is very small and relatively painless IMO. I had the opposite problem to you with my DH - he's a nurse and I think he was desperate to do the injections (you'd think he had enough of that at work! ) Don't worry too much about trying to remember what and when - you'll get given a schedule once you start treatment telling you which drugs have to be taken and when. I just used to tick it off when i'd done each one. In fact I'm still doing it now as I have to take Progesterone tablets four times daily and pessaries three times daily, so i draw little boxes on my calendar and tick it off when i''ve taken each one  ( I know!)

In terms of preparing for yourselves for the treatment, I can tell you what we did. We changed our diet to organic as much as possible. I realise it can be difficult to get hold of sometimes and definitely more expensive, but at the very least try and get things like milk, meat, fruit and veg organic. Tried to avoid products with lots of artificial sweetners, flavourings, hydrogenated fats etc. On both cycles I have taken sanatogen pronatal and on our first cycle (but not our second FER) we both took additional supplements (I can't remember what they were now but if you look up either Zita West or Marilyn Glenville - they both have recommendations if I remember rightly). I also tried to encourage DH to avoid alcohol as much as possible. I gave up alcohol completely which didn't bother me. Neither of us smoke so that wasn't an issue. I also had acupuncture for a few months leading up to the ICSI cycle and increased the frequency to weekly appointments during the cycle itself, and I am a strong believer in the benefits of acupuncture. Again it is expensive (mine costs £40 a session) but we felt it was more cost effective to do these things than have to pay for more IVF treatment, if it hadn't worked. 

I think that's it!!    Hope I haven't overwhelmed you with all this and please don't feel like you have to do it all. Do a bit of research on here (lots of other FFers have other expereinces that you might find useful) and have a think about what might work for you. The thing is that fertility treatment is quite stressful and you don't want to end up stressing yourselves out even more by doing all these things if they don't fit in with your lifestyle. We just felt we wanted to do absolutely everything possible to make it work, whether it actually made any difference to the outcome we will never know. Hope I'm not rambling too much, my brains a bit   at the moment (maybe the earthquake shook it up a bit  )

Good luck and take care
Love Alex xxx


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## claire_lou (Oct 10, 2006)

Hi Neeta 

I think DP is dreading the injections more than I am!  I am OK with needles as long as I can't see them so that could be a problem but like you said I am sure I will get used to it and it won't be as bad as I think. LOL at the dot-to-dot pattern - I guess it will go well with the various scars from Laps that I have  

I had forgotten about the pessaries until Ally said about them - I think I must have blocked them out of my mind! Still I am prepared to do whatever I need to no matter how horrible or uncomfortable it might be. 

I have started with a meditation CD each evening before I go to bed to help with +ive thoughts and general well being and hopefully help me sleep better. I suffer from depression and have just been  weaned off my antidepressants (took last one on Wednesday) in readiness to start IVF and so I need to keep myself "well" and so hopefully this meditation might help.

Hope all is well with you

Take care & speak soon

Claire
x


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## claire_lou (Oct 10, 2006)

Hi Alex

Nice to "meet" you - thank you for your reply.  I will come and join you on the thread that you mentioned if you don't mind?  I have been having a read and everyone seems so lovely on there  

I like the idea of boxes on the calendar to tick off when I have done everything for that day - I am normally pretty organised and like lists (  I know) so that seems like a sensible thing to do and also that way DP can see what has to happen and when to keep him involved as he will probably have to leave the house at injection time  

I think a change to organic food is a good idea whether doing tx or not. We have changed our diet quite drastically since Christmas as we could both do with losing some weight and we really need to do some exercise as well. I have cut out caffeine altogether which is amazing for someone who used to consume about 15 cups of black coffee a day! I now drink Green tea and Rooibos tea and even DP has cut down his caffeine intake (he used to have 2 teaspoonfuls of coffee to each cup and has even been known to have super strength coffee!)
I gave up smoking a couple of years ago now, DP has the, very, occasional cigar - I don't think he has had one since December actually..
I take pregnacare at the moment and DP takes Wellman and Zinc tablets which are supposed to help if you have a low sperm count I believe?
The thing I need to tackle really is alcohol - I don't tend to drink in the week but I could easily drink a bottle of red wine on a Saturday night so I would like to cut this out plus it would help with my weight loss as well.
I was interested to read that you did acupuncture?  I have thought about this not just for IVF reasons but also my depression.  I have just come off antidepressants so we can start tx and am very conscious that I need to keep myself well so did wonder if acupuncture might be something I should consider. Can you recommend an acupuncturist?

Thanks for your advice - I feel much better about things now I have found people I can talk to and look forward to chatting some more.

Take care

Claire
x


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## alexej28 (Sep 1, 2006)

Hi Claire,

I know I've said 'Hi' over on the other thread but thought I'd just reply here too. It sounds like you're doing all the right things with your diet, cutting out caffiene and the supplements you're both taking etc. Again, acupuncture can help with so many things as well as fertility problems and although I've never had expereince of it in relation to depression I am sure that it would be helpful, as it is a very holistic treatment that looks at the 'whole' of you. 

I know that Seana has given you a number for her acupuncturist, but I will PM you the details of mine too if you like (although you may find she is a bit too far away from you, it depends on how far you are prepared to travel)

Take care and look forward to chatting to you more.
Love Alex xxx


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## claire_lou (Oct 10, 2006)

Hi Alex

I have PM you but thought I would reply here too to say thanks for the acupuncturist details.  It is definitely something I am going to do as like you said it looks at your whole well being and not just fertility problems.

Look forward to chatting more on the other thread.

Love Claire x


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