Trying to concieve help please

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Kxray328

New member
Hi I'm Kim and just wondering about conceiving. My husband and I have been trying a year ( even though I got sick for 3 months) and I used suggestions from the cf form using preseed and musinex during ovulation. It has yet to work. I'm looking into fertility treatment but besides taking vitamins and using preseed and musinex is there anything else that might give me better chance of conceiving naturally with out having to go thru and pay for iui or ivf and all fertility treatment. I get poked and tested enough with cf it would be nice to pass all this but it is what it is. Any suggestions is appreciated.
 
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Aboveallislove

Super Moderator
Are you charting with temperature and mucus discharge and ovulation kits? Have your husband been checked for any issues and is he taking any supplements? clomid (or tamoxifen) is an "easy" first step without lots of tests.
 
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Aboveallislove

Super Moderator
No, they are prescription and what a gyno (not even a fertility doctor) would start with. Clomid is a pill and Tamoxifin is actually a cancer med that is used off-label for fertility (works better than Clomid b/c it doesn't have the lining-thinning problems.) They don't have to do blood draws to monitor with those like they do with injectibles. And it is what they usually start with and it works for many.
 
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kathyw

New member
Hi Kim, bless you in your desire to conceive. It took me almost 3 years, but am now a grandmother. The wait as you know is hard, but so well worth it. A friend of mine who was able to have three children, and this is about 30 years ago, went to her ob/gyn. When she was at the right place in her cycle he removed the thick mucus plug from her cervix area and artificially inseminated her with her husbands semen. Also, she took good old Vick CF, cough formula, which thins mucus, so she liked to believe that may have helped her too. (who knows?) For me, I think it was the grace of God. I tried again to conceive with clomid, and pretty sure I miscarried very early, so the doc thought it might have been I needed progesterone to help keep the pregnancy. But, both situations were just GYN's, no big deal special fertility treatments or expense. I also tried the big guns, but when I was told I had 8 eggs developing and could have up to five or so embryos, I didn't think it wise for one with CF to have 3 to 5 or so babies, and didn't want to selectively abort those extra babies. So just quit and felt blessed to have the one I had, with me still healthy enough to enjoy him and borrow lots of friend's kids to come over and play and make my house full. I hope my experience, though a long time ago, is helpful and at least encouraging, and I'll pray too.
 
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John O

Guest
Hi Kxray

i wanted to reach out to you and share me and my wife's story. We went through IVF as my wife is infertile and is a CF carrier. We had the deck if cards stacked against us but we never quit believing in our dream. Here us my blogpost on our IVF story.

http://livingmydreamswithcf.blogspot.com/p/ivf.html?m=1

If you have questions don't hesitate to ask anyone who reads this

John 28 year old CFer
 
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welshwitch

Guest
Nice story, Kathy! You mention you're a grandmother....can I ask how old you are?
 
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Tombliboo

Guest
I also struggled to conceive and in the end I had to have fertility treatment (IUI) to have my little boy - he was so worth the wait! I run a website and Facebook group for other CF women trying to become parents or who already are Mommies and I'd say one third of all our members have suffered from infertility and needed treatment. Others have managed to have children without assistance but it has taken a long time (and of course there are also plenty who had no problems at all). It's so variable. Let me know if you want me to add you as it might help you to chat with so many others going through the same thing or who have been there. Some people feel charting your cycles is a really good idea as it can help identify problems with ovulation etc. The main causes of subfertility in some women with CF seems to involve various factors including lack of ovulation (or irregular ovulation), sticky mucus at the cervix (preventing sperm moving through) and hormone problems. Good luck x
 
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Jakesgirl05

New member
Hi Kim, I wanted to tell you about my story. It took my husband and I 2 years to conceive naturally. We had done it all temp, ovulation tests, mucinex, pre-seed, and after 2 years I was done! we couldn't afford the iui or ivf so that was out :( so I started think of things I could to to get my mind off of not having a baby.... So I went back to school and had just started a year long program, when SURPRISE WERE PREGNANT! So I couldn't finish the program, but got what I really wanted, my beautiful healthy baby boy! I just needed to focus on something else for a while :) If you have any questions just let me know.

p.s. I was taking mucinex for chest congestion, I think it did help ;)
 
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laneyb

New member
Hi Kim, My husband and I were trying for a long time to have a baby. After a long time and no luck we finally both got checked out. As I have CF I just presumed I'd have the problem and I was so nervous and scared!! Turned out my husband has the problem and all my tests were ok! I remember the day we went for our test results, I was so nervous my legs felt like jelly!! We are in the middle of IVF right now. We finished a fresh round of IVF in June that failed and we have 2 frozen embryos. We're ready now to do a Frozen embryo transfer. I think it is worth it to be checked out even if you don't want to go down the IVF/IUI route, just to know if there is a problem and what the problem is. Good luck with it all. Let us know how it goes.
 
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JPintheHouse

Guest
Hi Kim, I'm 30 (CFer) and have been trying to conceive with my husband for about 5 years. We decided in 2012 to visit fertility doctors and have all the tests done to make sure something besides CF wasn't causing the infertility problem. I don't feel that IVF, IUI or really anything else is meant for us at this point because our tests both came out OK. I will admit that because it seems that each month I go from one extreme to the next about having kids (due to the monthly disappointments), it has been very stressful at times. I am a faithful person and believe God will give us a healthy baby if it is His will when the time is perfect. Since I have focused more on that, it's been a bit easier to get through each month. Therefore, we just live life and see what's going to happen in that area. We tried Preseed several times, Ovulation sticks for months, etc. and nothing helped. It is not worth the time, money and energy for me to do all that. I mean, if you do the deed often enough, you really shouldn't have to track so much... It will happen if it's God's plan in my opinion. You/I just need to make sure we do the deed! Good luck. :)
 
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Red9928

Guest
I am 44 and have CF. It took us 5 years to conceive, and we finally succeeded via IVF with ICSI (ICSI is the process of injecting the egg with one sperm to facilitate fertilization). Turns out when egg and sperm got together on their own the sperm couldn't penetrate the egg...this was only found out during a failed IVF attempt. Unfortunately, it is very unlikely we would have conceived naturally, although our initial fertility workups all came out ok (at the time I was not yet diagnosed with CF). I am grateful for the technology that allowed us to be parents to wonderful twin boys. Good luck to all in their journey trying to conceive.
 
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welshwitch

Guest
Happy for you, Red! How old were you when you finally had your twins?
 
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RobinB29

New member
Both my sister and I have CF and struggled to conceive and what was holding us back was not our CF but our Thyroid. There's a big difference in what a primary doctor and a fertility doctor consider healthy TSH level, mine was a 7, which my primary doc and my CF doc said was normal. My fertility doctor tested my thyroid first thing and said I would never get pregnant with a TSH like that. Two months on synthryoid and one round of Bravelle with an Ovidrell trigger shot and I was pregnant and I had more energy. My sister had the same issue and a month after they lowered her TSH, with no added fertility drugs, she was pregnant after five years of trying. If your TSH is above a 2 it's hard to conceive. You could see an endocrinologist if your insurance doesn't cover a reproductive endocrinologist. My advice, have your thyroid checked :) Good luck!
 
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windex125

Guest
Many many years ago we tried clomid as well it is supposed to help produce more eggs, this was 1987 did that for over a year and nothing we were now married 11yrs. my CF was in a very good place, I had a wonderful good paying career. I even told my husband if he wanted a divoice I wld be understanding as he wanted children and it did not look as though that wld be happening, of course he said what are you crazy? But also for abt a year I was using Robutissin on a regular basis. I wld get called into a mtg. and take a slug of it before I walked in. I always kept a bottle in my desk draw. Well what a shock when that stick turned pink I was 36 and 1990 was my year, for my miricle. I thought we shd of named him Robtussin though I have no proof of this, I swear it helped in some way or form. He is now 23 and I will be 60 this Dec. I was never able to conceive again but he was a big blessing for us. I also believe God thought this was enough for me. Pat-CF
 
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