Thin Cysters TTC - Part 20 - Page 13

TXan · 05-09-2008, 03:56 PM

I have to admit I'm a little envious you guys can chart at all. My current acupuncturist wants me to track, which I've only just started, but it's a waste of time since I don't ovulate. She wants me to track to see if there's improvement, but after my enlightening Dr. appt yesterday, I highly doubt Chinese Herbs will get me to where I need to go. However, the Dr. did say he did see a big improvement of a women's uterus/blood flow, since the herbs she was on contained a high amount of estrogen!

Speaking with the Dr. has really helped me put things into perspective. He used to do IVF, until he sold that part of the practice in the last year. He is not against IVF, but does not think it should be approached so quickly and lightly in many cases. When disucssing my history, he was in semi-lecture mode at his disappointment in the medical community by being "marketed" to by the pharma companies, and the failures he sees in Drs not doing the appropriate analysis/treatment that is all from "basic biology" as he put it to me. He said that everyone is in a rush to do IVF now, since it typically is quicker to results desired (baby), and of course more lucrative to the Drs. and pharma cos. For the regular protocols and manufactured gonadatrophins, that would work for most folks who fit the average profile, including weight, but for cases like me, with PCOS and a disfunctional hypothalamus, my treatment will be more complicated, so the one size fits all does not work! I would need more labor intensive treatment, which does not have the high margins! Very critical sounding, I know. Very interesting coming from a highly respected, experienced Dr.

Of course I just found out I am totally maxed out on my insurance coverage for infertility, and on top of that I will not even get the negotiated contract rate! I have to bring that up myslef to the Drs. to see if they will extend the contracted rate with me (yeah, right). Of course my new Dr. doesn't take insurance, so no negotiated rate with him, but for the surgical procedure I am really praying it is classified under gynecological, since I do have a physiological problem, where infertility is one side effect! Hopefully I'll get more direction next week.

I guess the good news is that if his treatment gets me on the right path, I may not need IVF. So the extra money I spend with him on higher visits and lab costs, may be made up by the fact I won't need the $5k retreival and transfer price from my other doc down the road. Will cross that bridge later, I guess. It is way too early to see how my treatment will go, but I did get a huge feeling of satisfaction talking to him yesterday, and confidence that someone is helping address the underlying problem in my case, BASIC BIOLOGY. Too bad I didn't really know better earlier, but best late than never I suppose.

One interesting tidbit from my consultation. He looked at my hand and saw that the top of my pinkie finger came below the top knuckle of my ring finger. Supposedly this is true of all women with PCOS. Do your fingers have the same configuration?

heartcore · 05-09-2008, 05:06 PM

txan: that's interesting about the pinkie thing..mine is the same and I have long fingers. hmm... i'll check DH when he comes home, maybe he'll have PCOS also hehehe

As for me....AF IS HERE!!! I'm super excited b/c this means monday I'll start my BC and get this IVF show on the road!!!

Anyone else dreading sunday? I had a breakdown last night after DH kept asking me what we were going to do Sunday with both of our mothers. He suggested both sides of the family get together at the same time and I blew up and said so great your brother and his wife and baby will be there and my pregnant sister and her husband will be there and we'll just sit there like an old barren couple. HA dramatic I know but I was pre-AF. haha Its really just a Hallmark holiday anyway..right?

pikachu · 05-09-2008, 05:13 PM

The end of my pinkie is below my top knuckle of my ring finger...

Huh! That's weird if this theory is true!

heartcore · 05-09-2008, 05:17 PM

Good news...DH's finger is not below his knuckle....he does not have PCOS haha :-) he thinks its a myth but I'm gonna check my friend's.

deb1211 · 05-09-2008, 06:30 PM

TXan - My pinkie seems to be level with my knuckle.

Heartcore - yay for getting this show on the road

I am so annoyed right now..the Dr’s office called me back..she was like, I had to talk to him so that's why it took awhile for the call back..he won’t give me the progesterone..says I don’t need it..that the clomid did what it needed to do and that next time my LP might be 12 days..they didn’t want to see the chart..say I shouldn’t chart..I need to relax....oh, so don’t go there with me! I told them I do it so I know what’s going on with my body..she says, oh, you’ll know cuz you’ll get a period or get pg. I told her it’s easy for him to say, he’s not infertile..she said oh don’t think he isn’t sensitive..he deals with this all the time..well, they should know better than to say just relax.

I tried to say that 7 days wasn’t normal..but she seems to think it will change next time..says it could take 6 months for me to get pg.

Whatever. You know what, I love my OB for pregnancy, but for infertility, it sucks..I’m going to use progesterone cream myself this month if I get a peak reading this time. They can kiss my butt.

However, it I O'd before my peak readings..I'll be starting progesterone late

Ack, I had just written out personals for everyone and they're gone!

deb1211 · 05-09-2008, 06:35 PM

Relka- I'm not sure if I'll have a chance to get my clomid by tomorrow..I really have no idea what day I O'd!!

Kdw- It would be great if you were pg.

Adloves - I read about robitussin and also green tea for CM

Springtime..don't get me started again on my Dr's office and charting!
I trx 2 embies each time..wanted to 3 last time (we had 2, 8-cells and a 6-cell), but when she gave us odds for triplets, DH was like no way.

Pikachu - you could be fertile but clomid is drying up your CM

stef28 · 05-09-2008, 07:02 PM

Well........................I came home at 11:30 today b/c it is teacher appreciation week and they provided chicken salad sand. and I got throwing up sick within 30 mins of eating one. One of the teachers was like OMG I bet your pregnant..........i said ha I wish that was it was. Anyways I came home and made good friends with the toilet and I feel all better now.....

Kdwg8r-Hoping you get SURPRISE!

Deb-I can't believe they told you that! I had a similar situation yesterday....a fellow teacher asked if maybe my anxiousness with charintg and everything is causing me to not get pregnant...............if people only knew!

Heartcore-Yeah Mother's Day is always a hard holiday and especially hard for me this year so many people around me are pregnant.

Txan-Ok well my top of pinkie is below knuckle.......interesting! I'm going to look at some of friends also!

Pickachu and Adlovesma-I had the same thing happen to me this month.....I didn't notice any EWCM but I've never noticed any before. No EWCM is a major neg. feature of clomid. I actually asked my RE about not having any EWCM and he said it really isn't as much as an issue as what alot of people think b/c if you do O you have EWCM it just may be high up at the cervix so since he told me that I don't really worry about it, but I do use preseed on known fertile days.

Tummy · 05-09-2008, 07:05 PM

Deb -- I hate your dr's office! How awful for them to say all that. Don't they realize you had to use IVF for your other pregnancies?? That's so crazy. I hope your DH lets you go to an RE soon. Or that you manage to get yourself pg on Clomid!

TXan -- my pinkie is longer than my last knuckle. Sorry to break the theory!

Heartcore -- YAY for AF!!! Luckily I don't really have to deal with Mothers' Day stuff. My parents are out of the country right now and my in-laws live in another city, so I don't even have to think of it really. Or at least I will try not to.

pikachy -- I rely heavily on the softness of the cervix. Until it is super soft (like blends in with the walls of the vagina), you're not at a prime. Not to say you shouldn't BD and use a little PreSeed just in case, though!

Adry -- so it looks like you're pretty irregular. I would just bet that you're not Oing very often, if at all, on your own. If I were you I would keep charting and then bring in your charts to show your dr at your appt in June.

deb1211 · 05-09-2008, 07:13 PM

Stef - That nurse had no clue what she was starting by telling me to relax. I can't believe people who have contact with infertility would have the nerve to say something like that..ugh..makes me super mad.

Whitney - Considering he delivered my last IVF baby..what a pain. I agree with you. I feel like I have to be my own Dr. I don't understand why a Dr. wouldn't want to give someone the best chance they could for pregnancy..it's not like anyone would want to shove a progesterone suppository up their hoo-ha if they didn't think they needed it. My RE is so wonderful, so it's hard putting up with this.

adlovesma · 05-09-2008, 08:09 PM

Thanks everyone for your info, i should my D the Charts and thats when he suggested going to see the Endo and also after he realized my FSH and LH had a 2:1 ratio.

Adry

relka · 05-09-2008, 08:33 PM

deb- i want to just scream at that nurse. relax, oh really, if that was all it took would you have had 2 IVF's to conceive your children. i would never completely trust an RE to monitor me b/c my body is quirky and even with my last IUI i am convinced that i O'd before the IUI. basically, we have to temp to know what the hell is going on and to stay on top of these docs. did he even do a P4? you know that's why we end up self-medicating. these darn docs. don't even get me going. BTW- we're cycle buddies.

heartcore- that sounds like it would be an absolutely depressing mother's day get-together. i'm not really dreading mother's day b/c i don't have any plans. my mom asked for a low key day and thank goodness i don't have to be around preggo ladies. i do have the pleasure of early morning bloodwork to check my E2.

txan- my pinkie is below the knuckle too but so is Dh's. i wonder where your doc got that theory. oh, i hope they can code this treatment as pcos. your doc sounds so interesting. i'm very hopeful that he'll be able to treat you.

pikachu- it is okay if you don't notice CM b/c it is up near the cervix and most women don't even see it. i sometimes notice it and other times i don't.

stef- well i hope it was the baby that didn't like the chicken salad. i'm hoping for your BFP!!!!

relka · 05-09-2008, 08:33 PM

tummy- how are you recovering?

deb1211 · 05-09-2008, 08:55 PM

Relka - I just love you

No, of course he didn't do a P4..he doesn't do them..what a PITA. I always feel like unless your pg, they just don't care. Now, like I said, he is a great OB..very caring and was wonderful for my baby's birth/delivery and my follow-up. I had Post partum depression after my first DD and he was great checking up with me after my 2nd birth (I had a different OB for my first DD..fired her..another dud)..but an infertility Dr. he is not and his office needs to be more caring abut that sort of thing. I've been off the pill for over a year and I didn't start charting until recently..did I ovulate while I was 'relaxed'...of course not..did I get pg..of course not..relaxing doesn't do the job. If it did, we'd all be pg by now.

pikachu · 05-10-2008, 02:20 AM

Deb - I could really get going on this thing with the nurse at your doctor's office - it's just plain ridiculous. I have no clue why they wouldn't pull out all the stops knowing how badly you want to get pregnant. Like really, what harm can charting or even using progesterone suppositories do??? I know some people just want to take the "wait and see" approach, but you don't sound like one of them. Personally, if it were up to me, I would use anything I could (safely) if it would make this process quicker or easier. Saying "relax" is just not helpful - period.

Relka - I totally agree, people self-medicate because they have to deal with doctor's that 1) don't know what their doing, or 2) don't care enough to put the proper effort into dealing with their patients. I know there are awesome, knowledgable, attentive doctors out there... I just haven't had one yet!

Tummy - I felt my cervix again... it definitly doesn't blend in, and it is a little hard. I will keep BDing just in case, but I just don't think this is the right time.

deb1211 · 05-10-2008, 09:10 AM

Pikachu - that's why I thought too..what does it hurt to use the progesterone suppositories..both of my IVF pg were supported by progesterone. What if I did get pg and m/c due to low progesterone..but it could have been prevented.

Keep BDing!! I know it can get tiring though.