Follicle tracking

[Mummylaura1988]

Hi all..

This could be a long post so I will apologise in advance.

Basically I had an op on my brain 2 years ago due to a cyst and I think this is where all my problems started. I have a 6 yr old and had no problems conceiving then. However me and my partner (new partner) have been trying to conceive for the last 2 year's and nothing is working. My cycle is all over the place and I have been told my body doesn't ovulate on it's own so was given clomid. Been on a few cycles of clomid whereI have been having follicle tracking. Clomid doesn't appear to be working as nothing had happened since I started stone months it doesn't even make me ovulate. This month I went and had the follicle tracking as normal. Day 11 of my cycle there was a 10mm follicle went a week later it went to 11mm went a week later it went to 20mm went a week later (today) and it's at 21mm and still hasn't ruptured. The nurse who scanned me said it may have now turned into a cyst and I have to go back in a week to see if it's ruptured and if not I may have to speak to a doctor to give me medication to make it rupture.

Basically what I'm asking has any body been down this road and what's happened.

I feel like absolute rubbish that I can't give my partner what we both desperately want

[Mummylaura1988]

Anybody been through this..??

[CrispAddict77]

Hi @Mummylaura1988

Didn’t want to read and run. I’ve been through this. I took clomid for about 8 cycles, I only ovulated once. After I asked for follicle tracking, it was evident it wasn’t working. I had a 15mm follicle, then when I went a few days later, the follicle had actually shrunk. I was devastated.

But, don’t despair, you have lots of options still. You could try metformin alongside clomid, maybe lose some weight (if needed) plus there are things like ovarian drilling then ultimately ivf.

Hope someone else can offer some more advice xx

[Mummylaura1988]

Hi CrispAddict77,

Thankyou so much for your reply.

What course of action did you go on after the clomid didn't work? And has anything worked for u?

I've heard about metaformin what is this and how does it work along side clomid? I'm clueless to it all tbh. I never thought I would have secondary infertility after alresdy having a child aged 7..she's so desperate for a sibling that all our friends are having siblings and she's feeling very left out. And I'm insanely jealous that people around me are having them so easily..(2 of my friends havehad abortions like it was nothing..) nobody knows about my struggle but it's so hard when your friends are managing toget pregnant so easily and yet it now seems so difficult for me.

I am in the process of trying to loose weight although I wouldn't say I was majorly overweight only slightly if anything but that's something I know I can do so I'm doing that anyhow but I'm at such a loss. Lol

Any advise is better than non..x

[CrispAddict77]

@Mummylaura1988

My story is a little complicated!! In the time between having my ds and starting clomid, my husbands sperm had declined without us knowing and so all our efforts with medication and procedures were a waste! We ended up doing ivf (icsi) which worked first time. There are 7 years between my children, we started ttc when my ds was 18 months.

We did clomid first, then I lost weight (down to a healthy bmi) before trying clomid and metformin together. The metformin is a diabetes drug which helps with insulin resistance which is common with pcos. This didn’t work, so I was left with having my ovaries drilled. I had this done previously to conceive my ds so I had the operation done again (via laparoscopy). This did seem to work and I ovulated for at least 4 cycles, but unbeknownst to us, the sperm was not good enough. So we finally were told by nhs there was nothing else they could do except pass on our info to a private ivf clinic. So, we did ivf and the rest is history!! Our dd was born 5 years after starting ttc.

I lost a few friends when ttc, as my ‘first baby friends’ all fell pregnant together and I couldn’t handle it. As you say, it’s so unfair when you’re going through hell to conceive and others seem to sneeze and fall pregnant! I cut ties with 5 friends as I couldn’t handle their pity. They understood and we have rebuilt our friendships since but we’re not as close as we were.

In regards to losing weight, I eventually went down from 11stone to 9 stone. My cycles became a bit more regular but I still didn’t ovulate. But for some women, just losing 10% can have a big effect on ovulation so it’s worth doing. I’m sure being a healthy weight helped us during ivf.

Best of luck, hope I’ve helped!

[Mummylaura1988]

Hi CrispAddict77,

Thankyou so much for all your advise. I have another follicle tracking scan on Thursday but I've been doing ovulation tests and non have said I have ovulated. When I went last week they thought maybe the follicle had turned into a cyst as it was at 22mm but hadn't burst so to speak so they thought maybe it was a cyst and I'm going on Thursday to see what the next step is. Armed with the information u have given me I am going to ask to go on metformin or ovarian drilling. I haven't actually been diagnosed with PCOS but I have all the symptoms so I'm thinking that I probably do.

Thankyou so much for all your advise and your right it's so hard when people around you get pregnant so easily. My best friend had a baby a week ago and when she told me she was pregnant I was so jealous but didn't show it or let her know that I was. (She doesn't know about my struggles)

Fingers crossed I get my wish for a sibling got my little one and me and my partner get what we both ultimately want.

Xx

[CrispAddict77]

Wishing you all the luck in the world @Mummylaura1988 xx

[Cherries101]

How many cysts do you have?If it’s just the one then it could be that you don’t have pcos but have cystic ovaries. Pcos usually comes with a whole host of other symptoms.

[Mummylaura1988]

Thankyou so much CrispAddict77 you too xx

I have no idea cherries101 the lady who scanned me last week said she thought that the follicle had turned into a cyst as it hadn't popped so to speak and released an egg. I've got to go back today so will be hopefully find out more later and will update then.

Xx

[Cherries101]

Ah ok. Hopefully it’s nothing to worry about. PCOS creates a telltale necklace of cysts — usually 20-30 at a go lol.

Ask for another ultrasound to investigate your ovaries.