November 2013

The Ginger one and I had officially (medically assisted) been trying to conceive for seven months, unofficially for years, without much happening.  I have been taking Clomid each cycle with no luck and have also been taking the drug Metformin to regulate my insulin (PCOS sufferer are know to be insulin resistant) my nurse Julia (not her real name) decided after consulting with my consultant (whom I have never met/can't remember meeting) that we should give Clomid a rest and try ovarian drilling!!!!

We had scanned every month for seven months and never seen any signs of ovulation.  The procedure of ovarian drilling involves a laparoscopy and a laser burning holes into my ovaries to stimulate them to do what they should naturally be doing.  To be considered for the operation I had to lose weight, easier said than done.  However the stress from work had had one benefit I had lost over a stone and was now eligible to have the surgery. 

Julia, who by now was fed up of telling me that I needed to reduce my work hours or quit, suggested that we might want to look into IVF, while we waited for the drilling.  For some reason, I can't explain, I am not too keen, yet, to try IVF and would rather try all other options first.  I smiled at her, but didn't look to reassured, so she suggested that perhaps I should try acupuncture, it can hep boost fertility and relieve stress.  I am willing to give it a try.

 

 

 

And here we go...

It was decided that we start a cycle of the drug Clomid which is supposed to stimulate ovulation.  The side affects of it though, and increase in cyst on your ovaries meant I would need to be closely monitored, we began by forcing a bleed with progesteron and then on day one of my cycle I would I would take Clomid to stimulate the ovaries to release an egg, and call the hospital to book my scan. 

 

And so began a seven month cycle of Clomid, metformin and scans.  In my opinion the scans were taken too early, they were at around day 7 which in a 'normal' cycle of 27 days would be the perfect time, but for me who has now got a cycle that is averaging about 35-40 days it was too early and only once did we seen signs of a follicle.  That was due to the fact that I had 'late' scan.

 

During all of this I was having some issues at work, I teach in a little village school, every school and every teacher in the country at the moment is having issues.  My issues were becoming all consuming and I had gone from a confident, good teacher to a shell of my former self, and someone who just didn't have the love for it anymore.  It was a case of 'you're damned if you do and you're damned if you don't' So I began not to bother. 

 

It was during a scan that I unloaded all of this pressure onto my fantastic nurse Julia, and the first thing she told me was that stress is a major inhibitor to fertility and that I should seriously think about either changing jobs or reducing my hours.