The Wonderful World of Visiting an RE

Part of the way through the next cycle, we had our first appointment with an RE in Atlanta.  While I had read about all of the major REs in Atlanta, I picked this one because it was the one my gyn referred me to and they had an office not only near Northside Hospital but also in John's Creek.  We did two IUIs with them and were told that we could do one more if we wanted.  I didn't want.  It seemed like a waste of money to me.  So, our only other option was IVF.  I was NOT ready for that.  I had done a lot of reading that your diet and acupuncture can help you get pregnant naturally.  I specifically asked the RE about the diet thing and she told me it really didn't make much difference.  But, I didn't, and still don't, believe that.  I had already given up what little alcohol I did drink and all caffeinated drinks.  Based on all the testing that we had done, no one knew what was going on with us.  Everything was normal with my husband and everything looked normal for me except my FSH was a little high (it had been a 7 when my gyn tested it and it was 12.7 at the RE's office).  My lining was not getting as thick as they'd have liked either, but it was acceptable and the last cycle of IUI we had I had 3 good follicles and my husband's SA was rock-star.

So, I told the RE we were taking a break and going to a nutritionist and possible acupuncture if I could bring myself to it.  I have serious issues with needles.  I almost always pass out when they take blood. 

I began seeing a nutritionist in October of 2009.  My nutritionist was also a naturopath.  She did all kinds of testing on my thryoid hormones and said that I have Hashimoto's disease, which is a high level of antibodies which all think my thyroid is foreign and are trying to attack it.  She said the only thing to help this is a gluten free diet and she thought I should do dairy free as well.  I told her that I wasn't going to do dairy free if she couldn't prove to me why I needed it.  I did a blood test to see if I had any food allergies and it found that I was highly intolerant to dairy and mustard and slightly intolerant to grapefruit.  She also kept wanting to do all kinds of other blood and saliva tests and give me all these supplements. 

In April of 2010, I began seeing an acupunturist.  She was Chinese and constantly told me that I had an American diet and there was no way I could be healthy without eating her 8 grain soup which was disgusting.  I also felt like her office was really unorganized.  So, I started seeing the acupuncturist in the same office with my nutritionist because she highly recommended him.  He is an American and also a Naturopathic Doctor.  I like him better than the first lady, but I definitely feel his needles and treatment a lot more than I did hers.  He says that I am supposed to feel it. 

After about 9 months of seeing the nutritionist, the tests she was doing (a very expensive month-long saliva test) showed her that everything with me was great and she couldn't believe I wasn't getting pregnant.  Maybe they should do a saliva test on my husband.  Well, we did and she starts telling us that he is in male menopause and all this crap.  I was like, if he has had an RE and a urologist do several semen analyses on him and a full set of blood work, there is no way.  Plus, the fact that although she was saying that her tests were saying that I was ovulating, I was not getting any positive results on my home OPKs.  When I told her this, she said I should throw those sticks away because they are wrong.  I told this to my acupuncturist and he ordered some bloodwork and it came back extremely non-conclusive as to whether or not I was actually ovulating.  Needless to say, we dropped the nutritionist.  We had already decided to go back to an RE and don't want to be paying for both at the same time, so it was an easy decision.  Plus, we'd finally saved up enough money to pay for IVF if it's required.

I am still doing the gluten free diet.  Mainly it's because I don't want to change anything right before we start cycling.

So, that brings us up to about a month ago when we started checking out the other two major REs.

The Beginning

My husband and I were married in Nov. 2003 and did not begin trying to conceive (TTC) until Dec. 2007.  We waited so long for a variety of reasons, all of which seem so silly to me now. 

Would it have made a difference?  I don't know.  I never will. 

After 6 months of trying, I called my gyn's office and was told by the nurse that answers calls that I was welcome to come in but she doubted the doctor would do anything.  So, I waited until my next regular annual appointment in September of 2008 and when I was telling the nurse who was taking my stats about our concerns, she said, oh yes, 9 months is a long time.  Nothing frustrates me more than to talk to multiple people in the same doctor's office and get differing facts/opinions.  The doctor offered to give me Clomid or testing.  I opted for Clomid - and took Clomid 50mg for 3 months to no avail.  I called back and the gyn ordered a day 3 blood panel, which included a glucose test, for which they failed to tell me I needed to fast.  Everything looked normal except my blood sugar, which obviously wasn't accurate since I wasn't fasting.  He also sent me to have an HSG - for which I was woefully unprepared.  I didn't do enough "real life" research on the test, having only read the medical websites about it, so I didn't have my husband come with me.  I also went to a testing place that didn't have an x-ray table with stirrups so I had to try to get into this terrible position with my feet on the corners of the table and my rear end scooted all the way forward.  It was awful, I don't think I'll go into details.  I probably don't need to.  The HSG was normal.  My husband went for a semen analysis, which was normal, except for a slightly low volume, which they claimed can sometimes happen in that kind of situation.  My gyn doubled the Clomid, which I took for 3 more months, to no avail.  The next step was for the gyn to put me on Metformin because I might have PCOS because my blood sugar looked funny in the test they did on me INCORRECTLY!  Whatever.  That stuff made me feel awful, for the record.  They also switched me to Letrazole that month.  The next month, we did Letrazole and an IUI (at my gyn).  Well, that was a wretched experience as well.  After all of that, I decided we needed to see a specialist.  I had been holding back because I had no insurance coverage for testing or treatment.  And, I am pretty cheap.  If I am cheap, my husband is a miser.  Also, up until about this point in time, he showed no interest in helping me do research or find anything out about infertility and what to do.  All of that was about to change.

So, that's the beginning of our story.  The next chapters opens with our first RE experience. Stay tuned...

Introduction

Hello blogging world.  This is my first post on my blog about our journey through infertility.  I feel like we are at a turning point.  We've been through a lot and are seeing an RE once again.  I'd like to catch you all up on our story, the path we've been on thus far.  We are currently "in the closet" with our infertility to most of  our friends and family.  I constantly ask myself why.  I just don't think I could handle getting advice from people who have never been through what we've been through.  I have also read too many of your blogs and am all too familiar with the insensitive things people say to people going through infertility.  The few people that we have told are the ones we knew wouldn't judge us and my three closest girlfriends who I told when we started TTC.  I regret telling one of them.  She just doesn't seem to get it.  Who could.  My next post will be about the beginning of our "Unknown Path."