Long Term Assisted Conception - May 2008

[butterfly_warrior]

WTH, it's not that unusual for E2 levels to start out slow and for puregon/gonal F to need to be increased. It happened to me on my first cycle and things went on to be mostly ok (sure, I had OHSS and couldn't transfer, but that's a PCOS thing and my first FET worked). I know of others that have had the same thing happen and have gone straight on after an increase to have a successful cycle and a successful pregnancy follow. They have a bit of leeway before things get too late in the cycle and they will cancel and try again from the beginning with a higher dose.

Don't give up hope yet!

BW

[Where there's hope]

BW - thank you. It is nice to hear from you. I am going a bit nuts. I could never give up hope. But I really feel frustrated and like my body is failing me. My FSH is very low and I was lead to believe I would be a great responder (my IVF nurse is now swallowing her words because she had really high hopes for my response). I just cannot wait for 5pm do get a higher and hopefully more adequate dose into me. BTW - I cannot find the link to the LT TTC Sept thread anywhere.

[butterfly_warrior]

The lack of link is because you have strayed into the long term assisted conception area, rather than the long term TTC area. This isn't an old thread, just one that's a bit quiet as we've had rather a lot of long-term IVFers get pregnant over the last few months.

On my first cycle, at the age of 31, after 5 days on 150IU of puregon, I had an E2 level of something barely over 200, I think. I went on to produce 26 eggs on that cycle. I hope you don't get the same overkill response, but you need to remember that the first IVF cycle is always a bit of an experiment. They don't know for sure how you'll respond until they get you on the drugs. They can make guesses and sometimes be right, but getting it not quite right seems to be more normal.

BW

[farmgirl77]

WTH - I too had my gonal-f increased during our fist IVF cycle as I did not respond as well as they hoped - I ended up on a dose of 300, and it was not until the first scan that the rate was increased. for that cycle we ended up with 10 eggs of which we got 5 embies (we were using icsi) - this stim cycle we were on 300 the whole time and only got 2 more eggs and 1 more embie - so the moral of my story is that it may not matter that your does rate is increased part way through the cycle, your body could still respond well and you get your lucky embie

hang in there - i know that everytime you get info on your response during a cycle, that you can feel that you are failing or not meeting the 'averages', but that is crap - there is so much variation and everyone does the best they can do, so dont be too hard on yourself!

Good luck
FG

[Where there's hope]

BW - do you mind my asking if your first cycle was a 7 day Provera (day 19) then lucrin (day 23) then FSH after AF type of cycle (sorry - i think it may be called a down reg or long lucrin - i get mixed up)???

And THANKS!!!!

[Where there's hope]

Farmgirl - I really appreciate your telling me your story and reassuring me about the timing of upping the dose.

Where I am the IVF nurse said the FS hardly ever changes the dose, but that they had seen it work at other clinics. So I guess I should be grateful we are at least doing something abot it.

Thanks
WTH

[briggsy's girl]

WTH - if you've got Lucrin in your system, it's not at all unusual to change the dose of FSH - i had changes to doses of FSH several times in early IUI cycles as i had synarel - apparently it's something to do with them having complete control and can change it - and know it will impact correctly.

without synarel/lucrin though, for some reason they don't seem to be able to change the dosage...

[butterfly_warrior]

It was a long down reg cycle. We didn't use provera, but we did use primolut. I was meant to go straight into things while on the pill, but we tried synarel first and it didn't work.

It was all a huge drama - synarel didn't work at first, the trigger shot they gave me to fix the synarel not working didn't work properly, then we switched to lucrin and puregon didn't work properly... but in the end we got through all of that and then had to deal with things working too well.

BW

[Where there's hope]

By Crikey BW - that was some tooing and froing in that cycle. Must have been unbelievably frustrating. Did you go nuts, too? Did they adjust your Puregon dose during that cycle?

[Where there's hope]

Briggsy's Girl - Yes I am on Lucrin so that fits. Were your IUI cycles including IVF (I am not sure how that one works)?

[butterfly_warrior]

Yep, they adjusted my puregon. At first it was up from 150IU to 300IU, then when they realised I was in trouble I was in for daily blood tests and the dosage was dropped every day as well. The fact that I landed in hyperstimulation hell was down to the fact that I have PCOS, so it does not reflect at all on what you may go through.

But... it seems that if something can go wrong in IVF, it's happened to me... and it still worked out in the end!

BW

[briggsy's girl]

IUI is similar to ivf in the early bits - still have ovulation induction, but instead of aiming for heaps of eggs for EPU, they aim for only a couple. instead of the eggs being collected and fertilised in the lab, ovulation is triggered, and then hubby's swimmers are inseminated into my uterus, so that they get to the right place right time.

my first two cycles used synarel but my body refused to wake up with the puregon, so the other 6 stim cycles have been without synarel at all. i've been lucky and only managed a couple of mild doses of OHSS that have mostly resolved themselves (although at the moment, my right ovary is something in the vacinity of 40 times larger than the left due to the stim drugs!)

[minniemouse]

WTH - just to add my 2cents in here as well.... My last cycle was a long one with Lucrin as well. Up till then I had been doing short cycles. Anyway, I was explained that with this type of cycle they have more control. So if your levels are not rising enough, they can increase the FSH and there is no issue if you have to cook a little longer. This is exactly what happened to me...so don't fret. It's really not uncommon. Because of my slow response last time, he actually started me on a higher dose this time.

Anyway..with all the helpful replies you've received already..I hope it's helped calm you a little..we all know it can be a scary, frustrating road..

[Where there's hope]

Thanks MinnieMouse.

Question from
Did anyone else in here have spotting and how low was everyone's estrogen?
I did read BW had around 200 on Day 5.

I really want to thank everyone for being so supportive. It is going to be a long week but at least you have helped me to keep up the hope.

xx

[butterfly_warrior]

I didn't have spotting once I started FSH, but I have had spotting at virtually every other stage up to that point. The nurses basically said it wasn't a problem and they would find ways to work around it. I got the impression that as much as it freaks us out, it's not really much of an issue to them unless it's in the luteal phase.

Of course, if my memory was working, I'd have said this earlier!

BW

[minniemouse]

No spotting with me..but try not to worry - if they feel something is up, they will check it or not let you go further...so as none of the above - keep them follies cooking.

Am a couple of days behind you WTH - so here to hold your hand whenever you need it...

[Hollybolly]

Hey Girls

Am still around too, but haven't posted much lately anywhere on BB because I've been so busy moving house

After a week and a half, I'm almost moved in - there just always seems so much to do... I think I need to go back to working next week for a break

DH & I are both soooo ready to start this next cycle - as most of you guys know, we were about to start before we found out we had to move.

Am going to call Dr S before the end of this week & book in.
I know I keep saying that but damn it, this week I really am

I'm hoping everything happening with you girls is going to rub off on me for this next cycle... at the moment am feeling a little bummed - Just so sick of things getting in the way that have to take priority... and am struggling a little with the fact that our 'little break' inbetween cycles is now coming up to 2 yrs in a few weeks time (Will be 2 years at the end of this month since our last cycle)

As soon as I make the call and book the appointment, I know I'll be back to optimism again, so won't be long now!

Have been struggling a little as well with some spotting mid cycle which I KNOW is stress related.. and I've been moving & lifting things I know I shouldn't be due to the move.
My GP is always at me saying I have waaaay too much scar tissue to lift heavy things - well, I've felt it the last 2 weeks, and I'm seeing the results of it this week.... but what can you do?!

Hoping my post isn't too dreary - the vibe in here has been amazing with all of the BFP's lately.... here's to some more

xxxx

[Loula]

Ok

mods please can we start a new thread for this new month and Holly's new beginning - im looking forward to getting started again soon too xx

Also have missed posts from the other ladies in the thread

Mel?
Sonya?
Chez?
Dusty?
WTH?

I hope you are all doing well ?

To all my lovely friends that have recently had success - i know some of you see lurk (hehe) hope you are all growing well look after yourselves

Now lets make this thread redundant!!