Ladies, how long after you began TTC did you talk to your doctor about fertility (and how old are you)? I'm 33, have been TTC for 6 cycles, and have no noticeable fertility issues (regular cycles). When I last saw my Dr. in November he said to come back if I wasn't pregnant within 6 months. That would only be two cycles from now...
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I'm 23 and my husband is 30. We're on our 9th cycle TTC. I had my well woman exam early last week and mentioned that to my doctor. Based on my age and the fact that I've never missed a period she recommended my husband and I get tested. We both expected nothing to be wrong, but we found out that we can't have children without going through fertility treatments and even then it may not work.
To answer your question, if my annual exam had not been scheduled I would have waited the recommended 12 months before seeing my doctor. But considering our circumstances I'm glad I know now and don't have to go through three more cycles of disappointment.
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@tana_bk: I'm so sorry to hear that Tana! But I agree, it is better to know early on when you have time to work on figuring out your next steps. I was actually kind of surprised (happy?) to hear him say to come back in 6 months. I, too, would rather skip the continued disappointment and figure out if something else is going on.
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i had a miscarriage, waited three months, and i wasn't ovulating according to the clearblue fertility monitor when we started ttc again. so i went to see my ob the first month of ttc. when i didn't ovulate the next month, she referred me to a reproductive endocrinologist who put me on clomid.
i would def go see your ob in two cycles. a year is such a long time to wait, and if you can find any potential issues early on, you won't have wasted a whole year trying to ttc. i'm impatient but that's how i'd feel!
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I think if your doctor is willing to see you in 2 months, I'd go. They can run some basic tests. If any red flags come up, you'll know that much sooner. And if everything looks good, then you can either keep trying naturally, or look into treatment options to boost your odds.
I was 26 and hubby was 29 when we started TTC. I started seeing a naturopath for TCM treatment after 8 months without success, where my cycles were getting progressively longer. I worked with her for 4-5 months, then we started fertility testing through our regular doctors at 12 months - semen analysis, basic hormone labs - and then moved to a reproductive endocrinologist at 13/14 months.
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I was 35 when I miscarried. I wasn't pregnant again within another 5 cycles so I went to a fertility center for testing. I did two IUI cycles took a break and were about to move onto IVF when I fell pregnant naturally.
If you have proof (charting, OPKs) that your body isn't doing what it is supposed to naturally, you can go to a fertility center without a doctor's referral as long as you are willing to pay! (We paid out of pocket).
I wish you lots of luck!
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I'm 24, and I went to a fertility clinic before we even started trying. I have PCOS and Endometriosis and have had cancer along my vaginal walls, so it was something I kind of had to do. Plus, the longest I went without a period as 11 days.
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we started "trying" when i was about 30. after about 3 years of trying, (2 years of actively trying), we went to see an RE. eh~ turned out they couldn't find anything wrong but at least we felt better knowing that we just had to keep trying or find another route.
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@tana_bk: i'm so sorry to hear this... are you going to go forward with iui or ivf?
i actually just called up my doc to schedule something to get me & my husband tested.... we've been actively trying for about 5/6 months, and i've been off the pill ntnt for a year.
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@hellobeeboston @greenthumb Thanks ladies for the concern. We have another preliminary appointment at the end of the month. I'm hoping that we will be referred to an RE at the end of it because we are both willing to try IVF. From the information that we have already gotten and the research that we've done IUI probably won't work, but I am hopeful that IVF along with ICSI will.
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Wow! We are almost exactly the same. I'm 32, this is my 6th cycle and I went to see my doctor a week ago. I asked her if I was crazy for coming to see her already and she said no. I have been charting and I know I ovulate and I have about a 27 day cycle, so fairly normal! She said the first thing she would do is have my husband tested. For what it's worth she said we were BDing too often. To try to do every other day and not every day even if we think it's better. That every other is enough. She also wanted my husband to switch from boxer briefs to boxers
Which he did!
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Thanks everyone! I feel like I don't want to be over-reactive and go in to see the Dr. too soon, but at the same time, I'll be 34 in a couple of months and DH will be 37, and as Mrs. Bee said, a year is a long time to wait to see if anything is wrong! We want to have more than one LO, so I'd really like to get #1 started sooner rather than later. That said, I'm in the TWW so keeping my fingers crossed that this is the month!
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After 12 cycles of TTC, at age 23, I went to my doctor, who referred me right away to an RE. I figure a year was plenty long enough, especially because my cycles are fairly regular and I know my body's doing what its supposed to.
@Mrs.VW: That's exactly what my RE said. She said that we were probably BDing too often, and instead to try CD10, 14, 16, 18, 20, and 22 because I ovulate around CD18. She suggested having DH tested after another month or two of trying this schedule, and she recommended boxers and exercise.
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It really depends on how concerned you are. I saw my ob/gyn in March and we had just started TTC. She said if I wasn't pregnant within 6 months, she'd run some tests. I'm 28 y/o and perfectly healthy. Once I started learning more about my body and cycles, I noticed that my spotting started 8-9dpo and that was not okay. I went back to the doc after 7 failed cycles, and I was just referred to an RE after 11 failed cycles for further monitoring, even though all of my tests are normal.
I agree with @mrs.bee. If there is a simple fix to a problem, I'd rather do it sooner rather than having a year of stress and tears. -
We're going in after 6 months if we're not successful! We're young but I am having wacky long cycles. Why wait, it's better to know sooner if there is something wrong, that's my philosophy
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I agree, go in 2 months. I went around 10 months at first and starting diagnostic testing and took it a little slow. Then after 14 months I kicked it in overdrive and was annoyed I hadn't earlier.
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@Mrs.VW: what ever happened with your husband being tested? Was it fine?
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@hellobeeboston: We actually decided to try two more months on our own. That would put us at about 8-9 cycles when we start testing. My doctor gave us some good suggestions and we're trying those for the next two months and praying it works on it's own. The test is $600 so we want to be sure we've tried it on our own for awhile. I'm hoping we don't need the tests! Thanks for asking
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Thanks again everyone. I know you understand the frustration I'm feeling. I know not everyone gets pregnant right away, but I also don't want it to take forever. We'll see how the next couple of cycles go (if needed - I'm due for AF on 1/27, so who knows). I do know that my Dr. is proactive. And if no BPF in two cycles I think I'll be ready to kick things into high gear.
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@Mrs.VW: hi, so My husband just did one of those at home sperm tests ( we got it from amazon )... The instructions are kinda crazy, there are many steps and seems easy for human error, anyway - it can back negative, not good -- so the test says he is below 20 million per.... He wants to try one more, since he said there were 2 things he didn't do exactly, and I'd that one is neg, then we will go to the doc.
Poor guy, he seems bummed....
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My ob-gyn has said that since we chart, if we have 6 cycles with no luck, then he can refer us to specialists. We are in the TWW of cycle 4 now and are hoping we don't have to get specialists involved.
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@hellobeeboston: I'm sorry to hear that - hopefully those tests are accurate! I would definitely look into getting him tested in an office.
Which he did!
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