40 follicles - too many?

[Outofmydepth11]

Had my first scan today, on day 4 of Gonal F injections, and there were 40 follicles: 25 on the left and 15 on the right.

I'm trying to trust the clinic and not panic (they have not lowered my stimulation dose) but I'm terrified of hyper stimulating or getting no good quality eggs - I think with follicles it's a question of quality over quantity?

Has anyone had this experience and if so how what happened? Did you still go ahead with EC and did you get any good quality eggs?

[Cherries101]

I had 25 on each ovary. Not all of them will mature. Don’t worry. It’s your clinics job to monior you and ensure you don’t overstimulate but still produce the most mature eggs you can.

[Outofmydepth11]

Thanks Cherries. Wow that's a lot... Can I ask how many you had retrieved on the day? Did you get OHSS?

[sandytoes84]

Just experienced a similar thing. Because my hormone levels were also high I ended up having a buserelin trigger instead of hcg and a freeze-all cycle - the clinic could see I would be at high risk of ohss and this seems to have avoided it 🤞 (I had 29 collected on Monday)

[Outofmydepth11]

@sandytoes

That's great! How are you feeling now? And how many embryos did you get if you don't mind me asking?

I think it's likely I'll go down that route too; I have PCOS so it was always a risk this would happen, and we talked about an antagonist trigger at the start.

I'm only on day 6 and can really feel my ovaries already - really trying to stay positive but I'm dreading next week - the pain and possibility of the EC going wrong.

[sandytoes84]

We have 20 embryos frozen on day 3! Clinic usually do day 2 but as there were so many they gave them a little longer.

I have pco (no ‘s’, not sure what the difference is!) and really was feeling it by day 6 too. Before egg collection I was quite sore, going from sitting to standing was a bit awkward and if I was sitting for too long I felt sore, so I tried to walk around a bit. The worst thing was that I couldn’t raise my legs very high because it made my ovaries hurt, putting trousers on was a pain!

I was VERY nervous about the egg collection and that caused my hands to go really cold so they couldn’t get the needle in - they had to soak my hand in hot water and there were a couple of unsuccessful attempts. Drugs completely knocked me out and I can’t remember EC beginning. I did come round halfway through and it was painful, I remember groaning and they gave me more drugs. However, the pain wasn’t the worst thing ever and I wouldn’t be scared about doing it again, and I’m a wimp.

I was sick on way home, it’s quite a drive and I’m a puker anyway, but I’d take it bag if you’re same - I think it was from having extra medication. Fell asleep as soon as I got home for a good 3 hours, felt a bit hungover on Tuesday, worked from home weds and back in office thurs. I was very bloated weds-fri but that’s improved a lot today and I think I feel back to normal today.

I was really worried about it going wrong and was super organised in advance - clean house, fresh bedding and lots of snacks! I read that high protein and electrolytes were good for recovery, so mon - weds were coconut water, lucozade sport (watered down cos it’s so sweet!), graze protein flapjack things, high protein yoghurt etc.

Worst thing was severe constipation. Honestly, just get suppositories, they’re the fastest acting and you’ll be god of that!

Sorry for the essay, I just know exactly how you’re feeling as I was there only a week or so ago. Do let me know if there’s anything else you want to ask.

Good luck - I hope it goes well and if it’s anything like me, fingers crossed you’ll have a freezer full of chances without having to go through this part again!x

[Outofmydepth11]

Thanks, this is so helpful. And I love an essay - the more info the better!

One more question - how many days of injections did you end up taking? I've heard it can be between 6 and 16, so really hoping I'll be at the shorter end of that...

Didn't know about the constipation either - I'll make sure I'm prepared!

[sandytoes84]

I ended up doing ten days. With a Monday collection it should have been 11 but they ended up telling me not to take it on the last day. My dose was also dropped down significantly on the last 2 days.

Let me know how you get on, hope it all goes well!

[sallysparrow157]

I had 48 follicles on my day 8 scan on Wednesday (23 on the right and 25 on the left) so they told me to trigger that night and had egg collection on Friday. Glad they did as I was really quite uncomfortable by Thursday! They said I was at risk of ohss (due to the number of follicles and a bit of free fluid round my left ovary) but were happy that it all looked ok by Friday. I had 21 eggs, 13 have fertilised, they’ll next check on them Monday with a plan for embryo transfer Wednesday so I’m hoping the quality of the fertilised ones is decent! I was fine with the sedation but really sore afterwards and still pretty crampy today. I don’t have definite PCOS ( normal bloods and never been scanned prior to all this) but very irregular periods/long probably anovulatory cycles so I think I must have some degree of it!
On the cyclogest pessaries now - they’d prescribed twice daily but on Friday asked me to start at 3 times a day - was still stighty off my tits at the time so I’m not entirely sure why!!

[Outofmydepth11]

Thanks so much both, this has really helped put my mind at rest.

I actually feel physically fine today - no cramping, pain or bloating at all. So obviously now I'm panicking about that! :)

[Talkwhilstyouwalk]

I had a cycle here we got 20 eggs and I don't have PCOS, could feel my ovaries kicking into action early on, think that's quite normal. As long as they don't all mature you should be fine, you'll probably get s god number of eggs! Good luck!

[Outofmydepth11]

Thanks again all, I ended up doing 11 days of stimulation and to be honest the bloating wasn't as bad as I feared it would be even towards the end.

Walking to the clinic from the tube this morning was a bit painful - so much that I was worried I was ovulating... but all good, I ended up getting 31 eggs, 27 of which were mature, so fingers crossed the majority are goodies and fertilise.

Thanks for your advice too - I have a house full of snacks and a list of movies to plough through today :)

[sandytoes84]

That’s great news! Hope you manage to have at least a couple of days rest - are the clinic going to do a fresh transfer still? Hopefully you’ll have a brilliant stash of lovely embryos from all those eggs!

[Outofmydepth11]

Hopefully! I'm doing a freeze-all cycle too, but that's cool with me. There's so much going on at work right now plus I'd rather be going through the early stages of pregnancy (if I'm lucky enough to get that far) in Jan-Feb than over Christmas!

When are you having yours put back in?

Also, is it normal to give your ovaries a pep-talk and tell them how brave they've been?

[sandytoes84]

Haha totally normal! I still feel so proud of how brave my body is been. And as for the embryos, you’d think they’d already become doctors!😂

I was very happy to do freeze all - I’m travelling for work at moment so would’ve been away from husband when I took a test. We’re aiming for feb which is ideal for me as have a hol booked for Jan. I feel like my body deserves a break!

[sandytoes84]

Do you know how many they would put back? My clinic does two at a time with frozen which is making me a little bit nervous about twins! (Don’t know why I let myself think so far ahead and positively especially after so many years of shit!)

[Outofmydepth11]

Ha ha - glad to hear it. Agree with you, it's easy to feel impatient and want to get it all moving once you've started, but sure your body must appreciate the break.

I signed a consent saying I'd be happy to have 2 put back in theory, but the clinic reassured me that the ultimate decision was mine and that they'd advise me of the grade and twin odds so I could make an informed decision (I really couldn't cope with twins, so not taking any risks!)

[Presh12345]

Hi. I've just started 100 unit of Gonal yesterday and have been reading up on ohss and terrified of it. I'm only on it for 5 days. Can this happen in a short time or is it only likely when prepping for ivf?

[Outofmydepth11]

Hi Presh, OHSS usually happens when you have a lot of follicles (more than 20ish), are having IVF and use HCG as a trigger injection to make the eggs mature just before collection. Unless all these things apply to you it’s pretty unlikely I think. Have you spoken to your clinic?