I was just wondering if anyone has used them? Both male and female? I’m going to go to the doctors shortly but don’t think they’ll do much since I haven’t been trying a year yet (just coming up 9 months) and my partner is just too shy to give a sample so I thought trying a home one might be a start. The thing is they’re quite expensive and I don’t want to spend money if it’s going to be no good. Anyone had any experiences with these before and if so what brand/make and from where?
We had only tried for 6 months and my doctor recommended me to an OBGYN, BUT I have a history of irregular cycles, so they had a legit reason to want to see me sooner than a year. Turned out I have PCOS, which was never diagnosed till the age of 25, after 6 months of trying.
So it never hurts to see your doctor if you have legit concerns, but if not, they do usually wait a year since a normal, healthy couple can take that long. It’s all about timing, so if you haven’t been using OPKs, that’s usually where they will have you start.
We didn’t do any at home fertility stuff, but doing it at the hospital is expensive too since insurance usually doesn’t cover fertility costs. My husband did his test at the hospital and it was like $100-200 out of pocket. If your partner is shy, they can sometimes do it at home and then bring it to the hospital, but I think there is a certain time limit. The only reason they had my husband checked is because I was going to start fertility medication (clomid) and my doctor wanted to make sure that my PCOS was the only problem otherwise I would be taking medication that might not work at all.
Well after all that, I ended up getting pregnant naturally 3 months later (right before I was about to start clomid)! Now I wouldn’t say it was a waste of money because I did find out that I have PCOS, which is good to know, but if your tight on cash or don’t have any real cause for concern, I would wait the full year before seeing a doctor.
I know that doesn’t really answer your question as we didn’t do any of the at home stuff, but thought I would just share our experiences with the hospital.
Thank you for your reply @moondreams. Im definitely considering seeing my doctor just about my cycles alone first. We’ll see where it goes from there.
Luckily, tests like the ones you’ve mentioned are free in the UK, so I guess that’s one thing less to worry about.
Thanks again, and congrats on being pregnant! [name_u]January[/name_u] will come around so fast 