Hi! I am 2 yrs TTC with clear HSG and good SA, and we tried 3 months of letrozole with trigger shots (stopped a couple months ago).

I was looking around for what to do next and stumbled on Mercier Therapy.

I have seen some negativity around Mercier Therapy so I wanted to start a thread to connect with others who have gone through it! I’m 3 sessions down (eval session plus 2 more), and I’m noticing a difference personally as I have been having extreme hip flexor and back pain for close to two years (same would of time we have been trying to conceive).
I’m in the “unexplained fertility “ camp, so I think with all my hip and back issues, this could really be a huge help. I am also really focusing on improving my diet, stress, and sleep at the same time.

I would love to share my real experience and connect with others going through it!

My (32F) husband (31M) and I have just started our 12 cycle of trying without a single positive test, after which we will officially fit the diagnosis of “unexplained infertility”.

I had my Mirena removed in October 2025 after being on BC for 10-15 years. My cycles returned pretty much straight away and have been 30-32 days with ovulation generally around CD19-20 (ie semi-short luteal phase). I usually start spotting 1-2 days before my period (~10-11 DPO the last couple of cycles).

A summary of what tests we’ve done already:
- SA x 2 - both no issues, all within range
- HyCoSy & internal ultrasound (x2) - tubes clear, no adhesions or other issues noted
- Basically every blood test applicable (AHM/full hormone panel incl cortisol (I thought it might be stress from work…)) - all within normal range
- I use Mira and BBT (via Apple Watch) for cycle tracking which have confirmed ovulation every month (first ultrasound noted a corpus luteum and second noted follicles maturing so there don’t seem to be issues there). I admit some months timing hasn’t been great but it’s been good more often than not.
- We’ve both significantly cut down on drinking and don’t smoke weed, and I’ve been taking every prenatal and fertility-related vitamin under the sun.
- All other pieces of random advice (just relax, dont track for a cycle, go on holiday, etc etc)

The only thing we haven’t tested is blood progesterone at 7DPO which I am doing this month (currently CD4). I suspect this might be part of the problem because of the short luteal phase but it has also been longer the last two cycles (12 days instead of 10) so perhaps not.

We saw a fertility specialist about a month ago who essentially said he suspects I have mild endo and our only option is to have a diagnostic laparoscopy and/or do IVF. I’ve never even considered endo for myself as my periods aren’t painful or heavy and I’ve never really had any of the symptoms but he seemed adamant. I mentioned the short luteal phase and he said that’s another indication of endo and didn’t suggest a luteal phase blood test (I’m doing this on my own). He also said because I appear to be ovulating every month there isn’t any benefit of doing a medicated cycle either.

We’re at a bit of a loss as to what we should do next. Ideally we’d like a baby as fast as possible, but we also have limited funds to throw at this at the moment. From my perspective our options are:

1. Lap first - either pay $10k out of pocket for private (in Aus with no private health) or wait 12 months for public, noting that this might be a waste of time and/or money if it comes back clear like I think it might and we would need to do IVF anyways,

2. Try IUI first - this would be approx $1-1.5k out of pocket but doesn’t sound like it has a high chance of success if I DO in fact have endo and we again might have to do IVF anyway, however it sounds anecdotally like it can be successful and can’t hurt to try?; or

3. Straight to IVF - we found an IVF clinic in Melbourne that does bulk billed IVF which would be ~$4K all up (we live in Adelaide but my brother lives in Melbourne so we’d have somewhere to stay for the two weeks we’d need to be there for). The issue with this option is that I’m about to start a new job so getting the time off will be challenging, and the fertility specialist we saw said that if I do have endo we have a lower chance of successful IVF and I might end up needing to do the lap anyway.

Mentally I’m exhausted with this whole process and am at the point where I’m happy to throw shit at the wall hoping it’ll stick.

We’re incredibly lucky (well, unlucky because my dad died, but you win some, you lose some) in that I have some inheritance coming in sometime next year, so once that comes in we can afford to throw as much money at this as we like, but I really don’t want to waste another 6+ months doing nothing and would also prefer to keep that money for our baby if possible.

Question/advice that I’m looking for is:
1) Aside from the 7DPO progesterone test, is there anything we haven’t done that could be useful in either figuring out what is going wrong or improving our chances?

2) Is it worth doing an IUI first while we wait for the time/money to try IVF?

3) What would you do in our situation?

Sorry for the super long post but thank you for reading. 🩷

TTC can be a very difficult time, but all of us have someone (or many someones) or something that helps keep us sane. Share what you're grateful for this week!

Hi everyone,

I’ve been reading some of the recent posts here from people who are in similar positions, and I just wanted to say how much I appreciate the honesty, advice, and support being shared. There’s something comforting about reading someone else’s experience and realizing you aren’t the only one feeling this way. It’s actually part of why I wanted to share my own experience, too.

I really wish there were more opportunities to build community around TTC in person, especially for those of us who aren’t necessarily deep into fertility treatments but are still finding the process emotionally difficult. I’ve even tried putting up posters to connect with people locally who might be going through something similar, but unfortunately, I didn’t get any interest. It can feel surprisingly lonely trying to navigate all of this, and I think I’m realizing how much I wish I had a community where I could talk openly about it.

My husband (42M) and I (40F) have been trying to conceive for five months, and I’m having a particularly hard time with this cycle. I was so sure this was going to be our month. We felt focused and intentional, and I felt like we had done everything we could to give ourselves the best chance. I tested at 11 DPO and got a BFN, and now my basal body temperature has dropped, so I’m preparing myself for my period to arrive.

I recently realized I had been using the wrong OPK and have since switched to Inito to better understand my cycle. I feel like I’ve tried so many things to improve our chances: cutting back on caffeine, giving up alcohol, taking prenatals, using Pre-Seed and Mucinex, drinking womb tea, and doing acupuncture. My husband has had a semen analysis, and I’ve had bloodwork done, and everything has come back normal so far.

My husband and I also have to be intentional about intimacy, as we aren’t naturally as physically intimate as trying to conceive sometimes requires. At times, we’ve had to get creative and have used at-home insemination. It’s another layer to a process that already takes up so much mental and emotional energy.

I’m considering taking a break next month because I feel like I need some space from the tracking, the hoping, and the constant analyzing. But I’m also worried that taking a break will make me anxious about starting again. At 40, it’s hard not to feel conscious of time passing, even when part of me desperately wants a month to just breathe.
I also find it difficult to talk about this with my friends. One of my close friends is currently going through IVF, and I want to be mindful of what she’s carrying and not add to her stress. My husband has been incredibly sweet and supportive, but sometimes I wish I had someone else to talk to who understands this particular experience.

I know five months may not seem like a long time to some, and I know everyone’s journey looks different, but this is harder than I expected. I think I had convinced myself that if we were intentional enough and did all the right things, it would happen. Having to sit with the disappointment of another negative test, especially when I had so much hope invested in this cycle, has really gotten to me.

I guess I’m sharing because I could use some perspective, but also because I want to feel a little less alone in this. For those of you who have struggled with the emotional side of TTC, how do you cope when a cycle doesn’t work out? Has anyone taken a month off from actively trying, and how did you navigate the anxiety around taking that break?

And if anyone else has wished there were more opportunities to connect with people going through this in person, I’d love to hear about that, too. I think we need more spaces where we can find each other and talk about all of this, even before things reach the point of fertility treatments. It’s all hard, and sometimes just knowing you have people who understand makes a difference.