TTC for 12 months +

Amie, I'm sorry to hear that it's been so hard, but it's ok to be sad. You gotta work thru those emotions. A fert counselor will be great to talk to as well. I've been seeing someone off and on thru our struggles and find it super helpful. Oh, and my hcg usually takes about 4 weeks to drop from about 300. It's an awful feeling seeing that positive hpt..   I totally get that.

Hi ladies,

How is everyone doing today? It's a beautiful sunny day in Auckland today and it's amazing how much a day like this can lift your mood!

Have any of you ladies heard of castor oil packs?

I've been doing some research online (as you do, if you are as obsessed as I am haha) just looking at uterine health etc in preparation for my transfer (alot of it is eating the right stuff which I'm doing anyway) and have come across castor oil packs a few times. I've heard plenty how good castor oil can be for many things anyway, but have now read that using a pack - which is a cloth covered in castor oil, rested on the skin, covered in plastic (glad wrap or plastic bag) then a hot water bottle, covered in a towel.. and relax (if anything it sounds like a perfect excuse to put your feet up and relax LOL) it seems to be useful for hormone circulation and uterine health if placed around lower abdomen. Can be used for liver and digestive health too, which I guess all ties in with fertility too

Yaye for sunshine in Welly Craftea

Hmmm I'm thinking of giving it a try aswell as some nettle tea. I will ask FA though, but I'm doing a natural FET so figured some natural remedies couldn't hurt? You only use the castor oil pack from day after AF finishes, to OV.
Yup I've been to Pip. She was great! Although it hasn't helped me yet, she has had alot of success in the last year with her massage. It would be great if she came to Wellington. I did talk to her about it when I went LOL I mentioned the forum and she said it's sometimes not easyas she has young boys. But I'm sure if she was contacted with plenty of requests, she might go. Maybe email her and ask if she has any plans to come down there?

Craftea, what's DIM?

dIM is another supplement 😜 Supposed to help the liver detoxify and remove excess hormones, especially excess oestrogen.

I might be starting IVF later this month - but not sure what protocol i'll be on if we do. Are you doing a natural or manufactured cycle? You could always ask about doing the colorado protocol. I've also tried the scratch (that was for a fresh transfer tho), acupuncture, quitting coffee, chinese herbs. I've also heard Coq10 recommended (and have been taking it for the last few months). It all depends on your individual case tho - if you have a hormone imbalance or anything else going on. And what works for one person one time doesn't seem to always work for them or for other people. My dr mostly just says its a numbers game.....perseverance etc

Hi Charlie, hope you're keeping well - what's Colorado Protocol?

Oh yep that's manufactured. You can always email the dr, or call the nurse again and ask what the plan is, and if ears anything else you can try :)

And it worked Charlie! Hope you and your little boy are doing well.

Craftea, I've never heard of DIM so many different things out there to try huh! And who knows just what really works!

Kiwi I will be doing a natural FET in the next few weeks.
Scratch next week then FET following AF and OV after that. As it's natural I've decided to try some new things aswell, just around helping implantation, blood circulation etc I've thought about acupuncture and maybe another massage or two from Pip - but they are just extra large costs I don't really want to have to pay, esp seeing how the scratch isn't covered by our fertility cover so we are paying for that on top of it It's crazy how much we all do to try our hardest to make it all work - and I for one am petrified that it won't make a difference

Craftea, that's interesting. The nurse just said to me last week that I'll be billed for the scratch and it's something like $165.... It wasn't particularly mentioned in the contract but I thought it came under something in there that wasn't covered. Was all of your meds covered? Apparently we have a bill for the orgalutran we used? When we went in for our EC we paid the last of our fertility cover, and the receptionist said it was more than we thought it was (like $700 more!) cause of the Orglutran I didn't pay it cause I wanted to look into it (which I haven't LOL)and they haven't sent me a bill or anything. But I thought that would be covered by the standard IVF drugs part, even though it's not actually listed there???
Confused!

Edit: Oh! And the charge for my trigger shot was included in the $700 + extra charge!

Edited by Storm11 - 07 October 2015 at 9:41am

Our dr said it's covered if he recommends it, same for imsi. Weird your trigger shot and stim drugs were an extra charge, mine weren't. I'd be double checking that one.

Mushroom, we were told we could start our FET the first cycle after my HcG was less than 5.