Infertility (My Journey - Part 2)

Infertility…. I hate that word….but this is where the real journey began.
 

Infertility Treatment

I was referred to the hospital (NHS) and started a fertility drug called Clomid (Clomiphene Citrate).  For those of you that don’t know what Clomid is, it’s a drug that stimulates ovulation and I started off on 50mg. 

The idea is that you are supposed to take this on day 2 of your cycle for 5 days, but because nothing is ever straight forward for me…well that’s how I felt….and due to the fact that I didn’t have a cycle, I had to take other drugs to bring on my period.  Then scans at the hospital followed to assess how well I was responding to the treatments (I won’t go into details about eggs/follicles, as I’m sure you have read it all before). 

Well…..safe to say, that didn’t work!  So I was upped to 100mg and that didn’t work.  Eventually, I was upped again to 150mg.  I ended up taking 150mg for 4 cycles (so 6 attempts in all) to no avail! 

Although it was a long time ago, I can still remember the side effects…vividly!! I think I might have scarred my husband for life, no really!! He definitely deserves a medal for my mood swings.  I can remember one time in great detail and yes I can laugh about it now, but my husband might not agree! It all it started with my husband buying me the wrong kind of ice cream, which, I flipped out about and put in the bin in my craziness!! I’m not a head case honest, it’s just I was in hormone hell…one minute I was snappy and the other I was really emotional.  The night sweats weren’t great either and I can remember having headaches and being bloated….these are all the things they don’t tell you about, yuck!  And if it had worked, all these side effects would have been worth it, but unfortunately it didn’t work for me.

 So onto the next phase….IVF.

I would go onto the waiting list for IVF, but due to long waiting times it took about year before I was seen.  Yes, a YEAR!!!  So my consultant asked me if I would like to try ovarian drilling while I was waiting, which of course I said yes to, because I was willing to try anything.

Ovarian drilling is done under general anaesthetic, a small incision is made in your belly button and then your abdomen is filled with carbon dioxide to prevent damage to your internal organs.   Special tools are then used to drill small holes in your ovaries.  It sounds awful, but it wasn’t as bad as it sounds – honest!  Although I was really sore for a couple of days after.  Unfortunately, this didn’t make any real difference either. 

Soul destroying as it was, at least there was still my IVF to look forward to and this gave me hope of realising my dream of becoming a mummy.

Sadly I was to find out that my journey would not be as straightforward as I hoped.  You can read more about this journey in blog 3.   

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Well.....here goes (My IVF/Fertility (Infertility) Journey - Part 1)

If you asked me to write this blog even 5 years ago I don’t think I would have had the strength to relive this part of my life, as certain elements were still very raw to me.  Even when looking back over hospital notes to write this, I can feel the tears welling up… but I feel that I am in a happy place in my life right now to share my journey, in the hope that it inspires others to have hope. I’m 39 now and my fertility/IVF journey started when I was 25.

This is my first blog and I don’t really know where to start, so I will start at the beginning.  Please bear with me and continue along with my posts, as I tell you my story.

When I was younger I always wanted to be married and have kids and thought 25 would be a good age to do this….thinking boom it would happen!!  Eh not for me sadly.  I had already been with my husband for 6 years and thought that when I came off the pill a baby would just happen, but as soon as I did I discovered there was a problem.  I wasn’t having a cycle every month, so therefore I knew I wasn’t ovulating.  When the 6 month mark had passed and still nothing, I decided to go to the doctors, as I knew this wasn’t normal.  That’s when the tests started….

Polycystic Ovaries and Endometriosis

After what seemed like forever (well it is forever when you are trying to have a baby….every month drags by, as the thing you want most in life just doesn’t seem to be happening), I was sent for a Laparoscopy and Dye at hospital under general anaesthetic and this is when it was discovered that I had polycystic ovaries and endometriosis….which is not the greatest news to receive when you are trying to fall pregnant.  I can remember thinking, why me??

 This is when my fertility treatment journey started……please stay tuned for blog 2.