My husband and I have been TTC for 6 months. I’m 28 and he’s 32. I know they say you should wait 1 year until you see a doctor.

We want to see a doctor soon so they can help us sooner than later.
I’m concerned that doctor may be dismissive towards us and say “come back later”. But I’ve known family members who said they wished they saw doctor earlier as some issues can be spotted and fixed easily.

I’m interested in hearing others experience on when you first went to see a doctor.

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Real talk: How does a doctor know you've been trying a year?

We went at 7 months, because I knew the time it would take to have a consult, do timed testing, go back to discuss the plan, etc. (All the while you can continue trying naturally)

Ended up being at a year by the time we did IVF

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Go to a reproductive endocrinologist and get yourself and husband checked! It takes a couple of weeks to get booked in for the initial consultation, then certain blood tests need to be done at the beginning of your menstrual cycle. The diagnostic tests are usually covered by medical insurance. Fertility treatments will be covered according to your specific plan’s coverage. Some plans may require infertility to be formally diagnosed before covering treatments, but mine on the other hand doesn’t, so I was free to pursue IUI and IVF when I wanted.
You have nothing to lose and knowledge to be gained.

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The book “taking charge of your fertility” says that if you are pretty sure you actually understand your cycle and how to time sex to get pregnant, than if it’s been four months you should start by sending your husband for a sperm test (because that is easy and cheap). If that is then normal, personally I’d go ahead and make some inquires.

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100% ask your OB for baseline tests right now! You don’t need a fertility specialist for the baselines (cycle day 2 bloodwork, cycle day 21 blood work to confirm ovulation, a semen analysis and maybe an HSG test). I was 36 and had been trying for 6 months. My OB told me to wait a few more months… we ended up getting tested at 12 months and we found that I had slight ovarian distinction (elevated FSH and lower AMh) and low sperm count. From there, it will take you a few months to find a fertility specialist, get a consultation scheduled, get more testing, follow up consult, etc. I wish I would have just been test right away at 6 months so I could get the process rolling. If anything, you will know there are no issues and you just need to give it more time. Honestly, it can take up to a year under normal circumstances. Good luck!

likehelpful

Do you have any conditions like PCOS, irregular periods, etc.? If so, you can see the doctor earlier.

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^ this is what I did around 9 months, got the labs and diagnostics all ordered from my OB/gyn so that I could have that data in hand for the reproductive specialist.

Yeah we went after six months or something, before a year in any case. Went straight to IVF and it worked for us pretty quick. No judgement from doc.

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Same, I was 32. RE recommended IUI first and when I said I wanted to go straight to IVF he was thrilled, they only suggest IUI because it's cheaper and less invasive

We started trying when I was 28 as well.. The original Ob did some blood work after about 8 months (I told her we were trying for more than a year). My blood work was fine but ultrasound didn't show my left ovary. She didn't seem too concerned about it and just put me on letrozole without any monitoring. I did 5 cycles of increasing letrozole and finally moved to an RE right before covid. Turns out my fallopian tube was blocked and I had a huge dermoid cyst on my left ovary which is why it didn't show up on the ultrasound. I definitely regret wasting about a year until I finally got a diagnosis (6 months with Ob and 6 months coz of covid).

Short Answer: Go to a RE who is more likely to run all relevant tests. You can then decide based on the results.

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My company had just introduced fertility benefits in 2020 (NY law I think). I used those to directly go to an RE. If you have fertility insurance, you shouldn't need a referral I think, but not sure..

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I went after trying for 5 months because I just had a gut feeling something was wrong. There was. Zero regrets about going to see an RE early!!

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Some things just seem like a mystery to us and we want to know ASAP from a doctor than us guessing.

Just go check it out. Don't wait. For insurance purposes, most insurance will only consider coverage for infertility service if it's already trying for a year if under 35. But you can just say it's already been more than a year. I meant, only you know. Good luck OP

That's what I did :)

I did the same, I lied and said I was trying for a year, I heard from friends that they ask you to come back so better to just fib a little to get a head start!

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