r/TTC_UK

Hiya,

I'm a UK citizen who lives abroad in Europe. After 7 failed IVFs, it's time to move on to thinking about donor egg cells. For me, ethics and a good regulatory regime for both child and donor are super important, so the UK seems to offer this.

Has anyone had experience with this with a UK clinic or egg bank? What were your experiences and would you recommend your clinic?

Thank you so much!!

Hi all,

I’m looking for advice from anyone who has done IVF on the NHS only.

I have been through letrozole, and every other test that came before it, which unfortunately didn’t work. My partners SA is great, my AMH is very high, our only issue is I do not ovulate even with medical intervention.

I realise every NHS health board has its differences but I’d really benefit from a very brief list of all the appointments, tests, procedures that were involved in your IVF and a rough timeline between each. I’m struggling to find that anywhere online and would really appreciate it.

Best wishes

I had a private blood test yesterday on cycle day 18 (7 days exactly after my first positive OPK) the results came back at 13 nmol, i’m absolutely devastated.

My last few months BBT charts have been rocky but I’m still having a 12 day lutuel phase, EWCM and positive OPK’s so while I was expecting a low result I never thought it would be that low. I’m so stuck on where to go from here. The waiting lists are so long where I am. So heartbroken right now.

I know the membership on this sub is on the younger side, but my husband and I are looking for recommendations and aren’t ready to discuss with friends or family yet

Hi all,

I had my egg retrieval yesterday and I didn't expect to feel so sad afterwards. Our numbers are generally what they expected and are a good starting point but I just immediately felt sad/upset and I can't really explain why. I then started feeling disappointed at myself for feeling sad/upset, when I know there are some people who might walk away with no eggs from the procedure.

I'm not sure if I'll feel better today once we get a call from the embryologist and we know how many are mature/fertilised because that will be our proper starting point and we might feel a bit of a sense of relief then.

Did anyone else feel like this? I'm now starting to spiral and I'm beating myself up for feeling sad, and thinking that this is going to make me a bad parent. The IVF emotional rollercoaster is such a minefield, so if anyone can relate then please share.

(Ideally please don't share specific numbers from your egg collection as I'm trying to avoid comparison to others)

My husband and I have been TTC for a year. I am 29 (nearly 30) and he is 37 (nearly 38)

I was convinced I would be the problem as I have a known diagnosis of lean PCOS and a long history of irregular periods.

We went to the GP a few months ago and they said they would refer us to the fertility clinic given my diagnosis of PCOS, but first had to do all the pre-referral tests.

I had day 3 / day 21 bloods and an ultrasound which all showed as normal for the first time in my life! I had been taking a whole host of supplements before this which had started to regulate my periods and have been tracking BBT with the natural cycles wristband and ovulation test strips which are confirming ovulation is happening. But still a shock.

I started to feel optimistic it could happen naturally but then my husband got his semen analysis back which was very poor - low sperm count, low motility, abnormal morphology all below minimum parameters - eg. showing OAT.

This all took about 2 months and I have been told we have been referred to the fertility clinic but can see nothing on the NHS app. I was told we would have to wait another 6-12 months once the referral goes in for an appointment.

This seems a massively long time whilst we are still in the dark with no advice / support. My husband is now taking his own supplements, avoiding saunas/hot tubs and exercising a bit more but we are not sure what else to do.

We have said in another 3 months if we don't have our NHS appointment we will pay to go to private, but:

- we could pay to see the fertility clinic that our local NHS outsources too and we would see under the NHS (if we waited) - Is that stupid or sensible?

- does going private undermine your NHS eligibility?

- what would we be paying for... Repeat tests, advice, and maybe IVF...?

- is there anything else anyone would advise in the interim?

Feeling at a loss and sad as all I wanted for us post-marriage was to start a family. I was working so hard to manage my own PCOS and health, and now feel demotivated as male factor infertility might be our problem and I don't know how to help my husband manage this or if it is manageable...

Hi all! I'm 35, been TTC for nearly 2 years.

I was referred for NHS IVF via GP (Cambridgeshire area) on 10th June and my lovely doctor said I'd hear from the clinic in a couple of weeks. I meet the local criteria now having turned 35. Within a week, I checked my NHS app and saw I was on a gynae waiting list, that I had an active referral, and that an appointment had been made for 7th August by Addebrooke's to review my case (my attendance not required).

On about 20th June, I checked the app again and it said the appointment had been cancelled and my GP will contact me to explain. I waited a few days and didn't hear anything, so I reached out to the medical secretaries at my GP surgery to ask what was up.

They hadn't heard anything about the appt cancellation but said the hospital had requested more information which they had sent (this is now the 26th June). No idea what info they requested. At this point, my NHS app still says I'm on a gynae waiting list and I have an active referral.

A couple of days ago, I checked the app again and this time the waiting list section of the app says I'm not on a list. Yesterday I emailed the medical secretaries again and they say nothing has changed since last week. But today, even the referral section of my app says no active referral.

Has anyone else experienced anything like this? I hate to be a bother - my husband is a GP at another practice and know how overwhelmed they are. But I am getting so anxious, not knowing if something has gone wrong, wondering if the secretaries have just missed something. I don't want to be waiting unnecessarily given how long we've already been trying, my age, etc.

Would like to know if anyone has had a similar experience, and what course of action you took? Should I bother the GP again next week or should I hold my nerve and wait longer to see if anything comes of this extra information that has been sent to the hopsital? Thanks in advance.

Hi everyone!

I'm in my 2nd cycle TTC for our first baby. I'm 30 and partner is 32.

First cycle - LH surge reached 1.7. We did it on surge day and day after.

This cycle - LH surge reached 2.26. We did it 4 times in the fertile window. Once 6 days pre ovulation, once late night day before ovulation, once early hours of ovulation morning and once ovulation evening.

Today I'm 5 DPO and have had heart burn, a dry mouth, dull period like cramps, sharp twinges and also a sharp stabbing pain from what I can imagine is my cervix. I understand that at 5 DPO it is impossible to feel pregnancy symptoms, but these symptoms make me feel confident that my progesterone is going its job.

With a much higher LH surge this cycle, I was wondering if this is also a good thing?

I was wondering what numbers are average and if anybody else had similar symptoms to me around 5 dpo and ended up with a BFP?

Thanks so much!

Apologies if this has been already asked, I couldn’t see any immediate answers!

We’ve reached the 12 month ttc mark so after doing hormone bloods and semen analysis through the GP, she gave us a referral.

It just came through in the NHS app but it’s to gynae at our local hospital which doesn’t have a fertility clinic. I had even specifically asked for a particular clinic but that’s obviously been ignored…

Why would the referral be for gynae instead of a fertility clinic? I’ll call to follow up with GP but wondering if this is normal practice…

Thanks in advance

Officially been trying/non trying since November 2024. I had regular cycles of 31 days (unfortunately during this time as I was unofficially not trying I never did BBT’s or OPK) September 2025 I had a chemical pregnancy/miscarriage, HCG never got higher than 80. I don’t think body has ever truly recovered in some sense, I did however start tracking with OPK and BBT’s.
October I ovulated but earlier on day 16, I had one day of spotting before my period. November was anovulatory, December I ovulated but much later on day 24, one day of spotting before my period.

January was a 32 day cycle with ovulation on day 19, BBT chart was textbook (with again this new normal spotting one day before)

February and March again, day 16 ovulation, 29 day cycle with one day of spotting and textbook BBT’s.

April my BBT chart was very erratic and while I did get a positive OPK on day 15, my chart didn't show I had a successful luteul phase, I then again had a 29 day cycle with one day of spotting.

May I didn’t ovulate at all. No positive OPK and no BBT rise.

This month I ovulated early on CD 12 again on dpo 5 and I’ve had a drop below my cover line and it‘s following the exact same rocky pattern as April.

I’ve been ChatGPTing And everything is pointing towards low progesterone. I’ve ordered a home progesterone 21 day kit which should get delivered and I will do same day. But has anyone gone to their GP with this, did you get a referral? More tests?

thank you if you’ve gotten this far!

My husband and I (both 32) have been TTC for 5 years now (with one chemical pregnancy) and I’m just at a loss. We got an appointment when I was 29, did a bunch of tests and nothing came up apart from I was 3kg too heavy for IVF. While doing these tests (which took a year!!!) I tried really hard and lost 13kg to be at a healthier weight. I did then have a positive pregnancy test but it failed very quickly, that took me a few months for my cycles to recover. NHS then put me on Letrizole for three months, but 2/3 scans I had was cancelled due to no staff! And they messed up one of my blood tests. I then have to beg (literally cry on the phone) for a follow up appointment to either get more Letrizole or decide next steps. I had that call today (after a two month wait) and it was just another punch in the gut as they said if I wanted IVF I have to wait another year to even have a consultation because I had a chemical pregnancy 10 months ago. All they will give me is the same dose of Letrizole and that they have no other treatment for me.

I feel so drained and now knowing that it’s going to be over 1 year until I can talk about IVF with them, it’s just heartbreaking. I know I am technically fertile because I conceived once, but it was so short I just see it as another failure of my body.

Has anyone else had similar experience. Should I go private? I’m wondering if the cost of it will be worth it, or if it will be just the same.

Hi, to anyone who has had IVF on the NHS, have you had any input on the second round when the first didn't go well? Did they change the medication or protocol slightly? Thanks

Hi just wanna ask how many days it will take to get the result for my SPERM CELL MORPHOLOGY, KRUGER im kaiser insurance thanks!

So usual symptoms of insomnia but exhausted, tender breasts, crazy dreams etc but what’s sticking out to me is on and off nausea (started yesterday) accompanied with a constant bloating. The only way I can describe the bloating is - you know when you hold in a pee for a long time then finally after you go, your whole belly especially the lower, feels really tender and almost stretched out internally? I can’t like hold my stomach in and it’s very tender but still soft to touch. Has anyone experienced this? AF due in 2 days and I do have cramping intermittently but it’s this bloating pain and little to no appetite that’s standing out mostly.

What was your experiences? ✨

Through my clinic and through the company I'm using to help finance treatment, there is an additional charge for not having a fresh transfer, and instead freezing all embryos. Can anyone explain why this is?

Surely most retrievals result in more than one embryo, therefore when someone has a fresh transfer they are also having some embryos frozen. I can't understand why it costs more to forego fresh transfer (I have to due to possible OHSS), when I am technically receiving fewer treatments.

I know I must be missing something obvious here, but can someone enlighten me?

I booked the CARE Fertility pre treatment bundle privately after trying to conceive for 12 months and having one previous chemical pregnancy. The appointment is in 4 days and includes blood tests and a pelvic ultrasound.

I wonder if anyone has been in a similar situation.

Did the clinic:

* Still do the blood tests, considering they have been paid for...

* Cancel or postpone the pelvic ultrasound?

I'd really appreciate hearing what happened in your case. I'm cautiously excited but also quite nervous after my previous chemical pregnancy.

Thank you!

I really thought this was it but right now I’m 10dpo, no line in sight. I know PMS and early pregnancy are hard to distinguish between so that obviously never helps the feeling of defeat. But if you’re testing negative at 10dpo would you count yourself out?

Do I accept it’s most likely negative and I’m out and if I don’t have AF when it’s due in 5 days, then test again? I have physical strain headaches from constant researching and trying to convince myself it’s still likely to get a positive after 10dpo. Please let me know your experiences 🫶

*(today at 10dpo was the first day I got major pains or shooting twinges in what I can only guess to be on or near my left ovary, comes and goes in random bursts)

I’ve had many failed cycles and taking a little break to regroup (mainly for mental heath!!) and wondered if anyone has had any success with a functional medicine practitioner / naturopath?

Thanks in advance! Looking for someone in UK.

That's it. Stay hydrated, and for those of you with air con, I'm deeply envious. On the plus side watermelon makes a perfect post-workout snack 🫡🫡🫡