Thursday, October 30, 2008

This is very dangerous

I had an "explain myself" office visit with a random OB/GYN just yesterday and she suggested she refer me over to an RE but also, as it happened to be CD3, that we do FSH/estradiol (and I have no clue if I've spelled that correctly, but in real time I will be able to tell you). I just got an email saying the results were ready and they are...

(Only FSH is back. So my spelling could still be completely wrong).

FSH 8.1

Well - that's about what one would expect up from 6 point something 2 years ago. Could be worse.

I was as I think I said unsure about having these done earlier in the year but I think I'm easily persuadable as I just said "OK, whatever" when she suggested this. Infertility treatment is not covered under my particular plan but apparently I should be OK with investigations linked to recurrent miscarriage, if they think there is any point in doing any of them. I cannot remember the name of every single clotting test done by my previous clinic, surprisingly enough, though I did find one of the consultants' email address and begged for some results or summaries to be sent! To be honest the chances of us getting pregnant while we are here are low, so I'm seeing this as a just-in-case set of contacts to have on hand.

However, this doctor did suggest they may consider Clomid, which all the doctors in the UK have said is completely pointless if you are already ovulating. If it is going to cause me to release more than about 2 eggs per cycle (I don't know, I have no idea what Clomid does really) then it could be worse than useless. It seems to be about $75 for 30 tablets so it wouldn't be TOO expensive an experiment if it did nothing.

She also mentioned - a theory I've never heard before - that it's possible to have a long, but insufficient, luteal phase - so insufficient maturation but taking a long time to do it. I guess another question is in order for the RE.

(Later - estradiol is 17.5. It says it should be less than 80.)

2 comments:

Susie said...

I think I have the long/pointless luteal phase problem. My eggs have traditionally been immature (when we were in treatment and they were able to tell) and my miscarriages were unexplained other than that, even after all the RE testing.

What worked for me was Bravelle (injections) to beef up the eggs, then a trigger shot to force ovulation. We did try Clomid for about five cycles but it didn't seem to help me much. I did gain a lot of weight on it, though.

Good luck to you, I hope taking a new approach may bring you some success!

Anonymous said...

I don't know what Clomid would do to an ovulator, but my gynaecologist swears it improves the luteal phase and makes you make a more robust corpus luteum. Being that as it may, my luteal phase isn't any longer on Clomid than off. But then, I ovulate very late without it, so our situations don't compare.

Clomid does increase the chances of multiple egg release, especially in women who ovulate anyway, again according to my gynaecologist. (Do REs even exist in England? I've never seen one).

Anyway. Fingers crossed for some good answers. Is it me or are American doctors ever so much more gung-ho about investigations?