*Updated at bottom, just came back from dr. * When do you know it's time to see an RE?

I'm not sure I'm at that point yet, but is this something that your gyno would recommend or is it something you decide to do on your own? I mean, how much does your regular gyno know about fertility problems? I'm getting discouraged and feel like my gyno is not helping. Any advice would be much appreciated.

Message edited 12/8/2006 12:51:34 PM.

Re: When do you know it's time to see an RE?

Message edited 4/21/2007 10:51:47 PM.

Re: When do you know it's time to see an RE?

How long have you been TTC? what age are you? I was going on 36 and had a chemical pg so my obgyn referred me to an RE. That said I was planning to go within a month or so, we had been TTC 6 months

I read somewhere, I think, that TTC for 6 months over 35 without success, then its a good time to see an RE

Re: When do you know it's time to see an RE?

We were ttc for a while w/o sucess.

I had a m/c and my ob/gyn and my primary care physician told me to wait 6 months after the m/c to see an re.

I went to a "fertility awareness " instructor after reading Taking Charge of your Fertility and based upon my age 35( a month away from 36) and my story she suggested just starting the diagnostic part of the testing.
We are in the midst of it all now.

I think if you have been trying for a while ( 6 months to a year), know when you are ovulating and have been b-ding accodingly ( charting helps) then you may @ least want to start investigating.
A girl who was on this board suggested I ask my ob/gyn to start me off with chart day 3 blood work. After the fertility awareness instructor suggested diagnostics we went straight to the re and had him run all the tests bloodwork included.

Sorry to ramble, my point is ask your ob/gyn for the chart day 3 bloodwork if you are still on the fence about a specialist.

Good luck to you

Re: When do you know it's time to see an RE?

Re: When do you know it's time to see an RE?

Thanks so much skygirl! I've been charting and using OPKs so I am pretty sure when I am ovulating (and it looks like I am ovulating) and we BD the few days before and the day after and still nothing.

I have an appt on Friday and will ask about the bloodwork. This may be a dumb question, but does a gyno do any other testing besides the CD3 bloodwork? At what point does the gyno run out of tests to conduct and then you should see an re? I guess I am not clear on where the distinction lies.

Message edited 12/6/2006 9:50:14 PM.

Re: When do you know it's time to see an RE?

Re: When do you know it's time to see an RE?

Skygirl said it perfectly. It does sound to me as if your current gyno is not working on the issue and at this point I would find a new gyno and/or ask about an RE. Not to sound negative, but the longer you wait the longer it takes.
Good luck

Re: When do you know it's time to see an RE?

Message edited 12/7/2006 9:29:14 AM.

Re: When do you know it's time to see an RE?

Re: When do you know it's time to see an RE?

i'm even younger than you - 25, and we went after ttc for one year. during that year, everything was fine, i was ovulating, used opk's, timed sex. I would have gone earlier - 10 months? but dh eanted to wait. it wasn't worth arguing or stressing, so i waited.

btw, I also have spotting before my period, for about 3-5 days, sometomes it would start before 10 days. I mentioned it to my RE, he was not concerned about it. but - I also had regular, full flow periods.

Message edited 12/7/2006 7:22:44 PM.

Re: When do you know it's time to see an RE?

I also have the brown spotting for 2-3 days before the regular flow. I was told not to worry about it which I thought was weird and which is why when my new ins. kicks in in January, I am seeing a new GYN and RE.

But to answer your question, I am now 29 but I saw a RE after I had been trying for a year with no success (last year). We put TTC on hold for a little while because I switched jobs but now I am back!!

Re: When do you know it's time to see an RE?

Posted by lu235

Posted by melijane

Posted by lu235

Posted by Red

How long have you been TTC? what age are you? I was going on 36 and had a chemical pg so my obgyn referred me to an RE. That said I was planning to go within a month or so, we had been TTC 6 months

I read somewhere, I think, that TTC for 6 months over 35 without success, then its a good time to see an RE

I know I'm young (28) and have been TTC for a relatively short time (6 months) but it's not just that I'm not getting pregnant. I know there is something wrong because (TMI alert) 5 out of the 6 months we've been TTC I have started spotting dark brown for 6-8 days before AF is due, then AF never really comes (no regular flow of red). It's just dark brown spotting. My gyno said it was an infection that could have come from anything and gave me antibiotics which did clear it up. However the next month it came back. This never happened before we were TTC and I'm concerned. We made sure everything was "clean" before we BD but the spotting still came back. I'm concerned that my Luteal Phase isn't long enough because the spotting starts before 10DPO. My gyno says that everything will be fine and to just keep trying but I feel like it's a waste of time and it just breaks my heart when the same thing happens every month.

In reponse to your first post, honestly I would say there are more ob's that don't know about fertility than do. I know a lot more than my Dr about recurrent miscarriage because that is not his specialty. His specialty is women who get and stay pregnant easily as is any ob's. As far as an infection, they can be very virulent and your antibiotic may have just covered up your symptoms. Did he culture? Or test your blood? If I was in your shoes I would get to an RE. There is a Dr in NYC who specializes in infection as it relates to fertility. His name is Dr. Toth
Here is his website he has 2 e-books on there and in the one titled Fertile vs Infertile around Chapter 7 he has a test you can print out that gives you the probability of infections causing your issues. Unfortunately I don't believe he takes insurance but your insurance co. will probably reimburse you for a portion.
Either way, and I am not a DR, your AF does not sound normal.

I have come to realize through my issues that we are the only ones who control the level of care we receive and just because there are Dr's who think our problems are "no big deal" or "not seruious" that does NOT mean that is true. Good luck to you

Thanks for all of the info. I skimmed Ch. 7 of Dr. Toth's book and it is very interesting and informative. Unfortunately we recently moved to FL so I am unable to make an appointment with him. My Dr. did do a culture and said there was bacteria present and then prescribed the antibiotic. I will talk to her tomorrow at my appt. about more tests and, depending on what I hear, will probably start looking for at least a gyno with an infertility specialty or an RE.

I've always been the leader and a take-charge kind of person, I guess this shouldn't be any different. I just didn't expect TTC to be like this.

*Updated at bottom, just came back from dr.* Re: When do you know it's time to see an RE?

I just came back from my gyno. She did another culture and referred me to an RE.

I did find out that last time I had this it was Strep B, but she had no reason why I was getting this and why it was interfering with us conceiving. Has anyone else had this? Any thoughts? Recommendations?

I am waiting to get a call back from the RE to set up an appt. I feel a little bit better that I was at least not imagining things and am validated that my gyno thinks there is a problem too.

Re: *Updated at bottom, just came back from dr. * When do you know it's time to see an RE?

glad that you are getting some answers - which RE did you get referred to?

Re: *Updated at bottom, just came back from dr. * When do you know it's time to see an RE?

Re: *Updated at bottom, just came back from dr. * When do you know it's time to see an RE?

Re: *Updated at bottom, just came back from dr. * When do you know it's time to see an RE?

Re: *Updated at bottom, just came back from dr. * When do you know it's time to see an RE?

That is so strange about the brown spotting before AF...I have had that since my mc in may and was so concerned about it...its refreshing to hear that im not alone with that. i cant understand why its happening if it never happened before though?

also - do u need a referall to see an RE? i have been ttc since march, had a mc at 7 wks in may and have been ttc with no luck since. my obgyn had some blood work done in oct, but eveything came back normal.
i would like to see an RE sooner rather than later...

Message edited 12/10/2006 10:35:50 PM.

Re: *Updated at bottom, just came back from dr. * When do you know it's time to see an RE?

When I had brown spotting before my period I was diagnosed with low progesterone. You could ask about this.

Re: *Updated at bottom, just came back from dr. * When do you know it's time to see an RE?

Re: *Updated at bottom, just came back from dr. * When do you know it's time to see an RE?

Posted by Arodisi

Posted by melijane

When I had brown spotting before my period I was diagnosed with low progesterone. You could ask about this.

i was tested for a bunch of things in oct and that was one of them. test came back negative