April 29- Second Opinion Appt. #1

This morning I had my first official second opinion appointment. I went in with all my previous test results and a list of questions to ask and get answered. I was the first person in there and had all my paperwork filled out already. Waited about 40 min to see the Dr. but saw the Nurse Practitioner while I was waiting. 

Dr. B. seemed like a nice guy. When he first sat down he asked me for a little bit of a background as to what's been going on. I filled him in and mentioned that I have been going to a TCM for acupuncture and herbs and he immediately jumped in to tell me he doesn't believe in "that stuff." (Which truly baffles me because while Western Med. Drs might not understand Eastern Medicine, it IS how they practice medicine on the other side of the world so how can they can just completely discredit it makes no sense to me!). So anyway, that put me off right away, but I was still going to hear all he had to say. Right after he stated his disbelief in herbs and acupuncture, I mentioned that it's what I've been doing for the past 3 months since my diagnosis and then asked if I he looked at my recent lab results. He said not yet and then flipped to that page. His eyes flew open and he said, "wow. That's quite a jump! I mean really, that's something else. I can't imagine what would have caused such a drastic change." And instantly followed it with, "..but it's definitely not from the herbs and acupuncture. If there was something that truly worked like that, we'd all be using it in fertility clinics." Yeah okay... So he has no idea what would cause the change yet he's definitely sure it wasn't the herbs! LOL. Anyway, he said my recent numbers aren't terribly bad, but that my E2 being higher it artificially suppresses the FSH.

He went over the options with me (which I am honestly just delighted that I now have potential options!) of procedures I could try. He said since insurance doesn't covert infertility in FL, he wouldn't recommend starting with IVF unless we def want to jump right in with the big guns. He suggested we first try to get my body to have a period by taking a month of birth control pills. Then, when if stop the pills I would call them the day I start my bleed and come in on day 3 and start Femera. He said then I could decide if I wanted to try naturally or do an IUI. That naturally I'd have a 10-15% chance of conceiving and the IUI bumps it up to 20% (at $600 a pop). I didn't realize an IUI only gives you a 20% chance. Now it makes sense why I always see so many signatures in the forum that say "failed IUI."

Through the rest of the talk, he kept mentioning how his office has an 80% success rate, which I know isn't true because no place has that high of a success rate, so I'm not sure how he was counting. He also kept throwing in that he is a Christian doctor, which for me isn't exactly a selling point. Religious beliefs don't make or break a doctor. A good RE is a good RE.

So I thanked him and went on my way. As I said, he was nice, but not what I was looking for. But that's ok... I still have other options to check out...


3 comments:

  1. Ok so I have to ask... How did you stay positive?! I just had my consultation with the only RE covered by my insurance and he said that my numbers are telling him that my ovaries aren't working and no amount of drugs he gives me will make them work (FSH 57.8 and AMH <0.03) Awesome! (not really) he said our only options are donor egg or adoption. In either case, I'm having a hard time staying positive. Granted, we did just find this out less than 24 hours ago lol, but i find myself crying at every little things. I had an acupuncture appointment today and she recommended meeting with an herbologist and getting an herb plan made just for me. sorry this is a lot of information lol, but i just really want to know... how'd you do it? how'd you push through? because my doctor didn't even give us any options of using my own eggs (and i know they are in there and he could have tried. he just doesn't want my potential failure to mess with his clinics amazing numbers... what a douche) lol

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  2. Bethany,

    That's a very good question! And the truth is, while my posts were usually upbeat I promise you I wasn't always in positive spirits. There were many a days I broke down and cried my eyes out in frustration, and I felt bitter and angry a lot of the time. I'm sure my husband would attest to that! But then I would hop on the Internet and go on a mad hunt for POF success stories and it would give me a revived sense of hope. It was then I'd "pick myself up from my bootstraps" and convince myself that I was going to be one of those success stories someday. I was told by four doctors that I wouldn't be able to use my own eggs, that there were no treatments that would work for me and that donor egg or adoption were my only options. And you hit the nail right on the head saying your RE doesn't want to mess up his clinic's success rate. The thing is, these doctors know what they know and that's all they know. God forbid they think outside the box and do some research other than western medicine. The first Dr I saw told me there were only 8 cases of women getting pregnant naturally who had POF. Bullshit. Maybe that's true of cases documented in medical journals, but take a gander on the Internet and you'll come across SO many success stories. And most REs completely discredit Eastern Medicine, which is ludicrous considering it's been around a lot longer than western and let's face it, Asians are a lot healthier than we are in general. So don't let these narrow-minded doctors mess with your head and get you down. Your FSH is less than half of what mine was and as far as your AMH goes, all it takes is ONE good egg. So you just keep your head up and stay strong. I think it's a good idea you see an herbalist. I'm surprised your TCM doesn't give you herbs. Mine mixed me up a concoction to get my body producing its own hormones again. So I'd either see about finding a TCM that does that or go see an herbalist who can. I think it made all the difference in the world for me.

    Sending positive vibes your way! Feel free to write me anytime (and you can even stay in touch via email- coleyhay@gmail.com) to vent, ask questions or chat whenever you'd like. Keep on fighting the fight and never give up!!!

    Cole

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