When is it time to get a second or third opinion or move on from the doctor that you are working with? I get this question A LOT! People are really hesitant to get a second opinion or third opinion or transfer doctors if they're not getting the care that they need and they almost feel like they're going to hurt the doctors feelings. Let's be real here. Not only are you NOT going to hurt the Dr's feelings (they probably won't even know you left the practice.)
1) They are not collaborative with you. Meaning they're not willing to have a dialogue with you. If you have a doctor that's not willing to explain a process to you or answer questions so that you understand, that's where I would suggest to you that you need to have a better relationship with your doctor. I know a lot of times people see the white coat and the white coat is the end-all-be-all authority on a subject but honestly you live in your body and that makes YOU the authority on your body.
2) You have a doctor that only suggests additional testing or extended testing after a failed IUI/IVF procedure. I hear this all the time and it makes me really angry! Women have a first round and the doctor says something like "okay well the IUI or IVF didn't work so let's do XYZ testing now". Why wouldn't they do that testing up front? They're not going to give you a refund on that first round. Yes, the testing might be expensive but we shouldn't be waiting for failure or miscarriage to do testing that could have been done up front and prevented both of those things.
3) After the first failed IUI or IVF the doctor doesn't change the protocol and wants to do the exact same protocol, again I would tell you very strongly to find another practitioner and get a second opinion. You want to make sure that you're maximizing every cycle and who wants to endure the heartache, cost or possibility of a failed cycle unnecessarily.
4) If you're going to your doctor based solely on location- meaning they're the only fertility doc in town, or you're going to the reproductive endocrinologist because you have a referral from a friend and you didn't really do any research but your friend used them with great results, and they just love that person, I would suggest that you probably need to do some investigating on that doctor yourself. Vette the doctor yourself and form your own opinion based on what you know about your medical needs. This is not something that you want to take solely on a friend's recommendation.
I have worked with a lot of women, and most of us that have had infertility success, in hindsight would agree that we would have liked our journey to be shorter. One of the ways to shorten your journey is to keep pushing for the care that YOU need. Most of us spend far too much time with an OBGYN that is uninformed or misinformed. An OBGYN who's not trained and reproductive endocrinology may delaying the timeline for you to be able to get proper treatment.
if you would like the insight 20 women gained by getting a second opinion and ultimately Infertility Success check out
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