IVF Feb/March

[Crumpets124]

Hi all, I couldn’t see this thread anywhere!

Anyone due to start IvF end Feb/start of March?

I’m due to start my 2nd round - first was a disaster. Moved to a new clinic and they’re upping my meds and taking my DH sperm out surgically as we’ve male-factor.

Anyone else starting around the same time?

What kind of supplements/diet are you on? I’m taking Zita West IVF pack and ubiquinol. I need to loose weight but am so unmotivated. I’ve put on nearly a stone and half since January 2018. Trying to also eat a high protein diet. Tried a protein shake last night and it nearly killed me. They’re so disgusting!!!

[itwasalovelydreamwhileitlasted]

Hi
I'm due to start our 4th egg collection in February - I'm still with the same clinic (create) as really like them plus I have a complicated history of recurrent miscarriage and 2 ruptured ectopics so no tubes left so always knew our Ivf journey would be difficult 🤦‍♀️

I did 2 cycles of short protocol IVF ICSI last year with 2 BFNs and 1 BFP which ended in another ectopic and now doing a 3 cycle package of mild stimulated IVF as we PGS tested last round and quality was awful! So paring drugs right back to see if I ceases quality (initial results are promising!)

Had first egg collection last Saturday and have 2 good quality embryos in the freezer just got to do it all again two more times and then I'm done!

[itwasalovelydreamwhileitlasted]

I'm 36 and take Proceive Max for women plus 200mg ubquinol and royal jelly tablets

[Crumpets124]

hi @itwasalovelydreamwhileitlasted you have really been through the mill you poor thing! Hopefully this method plus PGS will lead to a successful pregnancy for you. I actually asked our consultant about PGS as I really wanted to do as much as possible to prevent miscarriage etc but he said no need for now.

Do you know when you will get to do an embryo transfer?

[itwasalovelydreamwhileitlasted]

Thanks! We re not bothering with PGS for these 3 cycles as it was down graded by the HFEA plus we would have opted to transfer the abnormals on my last cycle but weren't allowed so not much point in doing it really 🤣

I can do back to back cycles with no break in between so I'll have egg collection 2 around mid feb and then will do a final egg collection mid March and will do a fresh transfer 5 days later with the best of what we have and keep the rest frozen in case we have to go again.

What protocol are you doing? X

[Meganlouise1988]

Hi 👋 we have our next appointment on 1st Feb, and are hoping to start as soon as we can. @itwasalovelydreamwhileitlasted Just wondering, how can you do back to back cycles? My clinic told me to have a break but I’m keen not to...

We have just had one failed round, ICSI. I was on long protocol, buserelin and then Meriofert. We got 14 eggs at egg collection, 9 of which were mature. Unfortunately not a single one fertilised ☹️ My OH had SSR (they think CAVD) in October which was then frozen, but when thawed they said the sperm was just too poor to fertilise. Has anyone got any tips?! We are going to see Dr Jonathan Ramsey next month who is apparently a bit of an expert. Good luck everyone. X

[itwasalovelydreamwhileitlasted]

@Meganlouise1988
I had terrible fertilisation rates even with ICSI (supposed to be 80%+ but mine was 40% or less) - clinic indicated my egg quality was poor rather than partners sperm though.

Because I've changed to natural modified IVF - no down reg and very low dose stims every other day for only about 6 days my clinic has said I can cycle back to back as it's pretty low stress on the body and period comes back right on schedule

We ll only collect a few eggs each time - much less than the 12 I got on each of my cycles last year but quality will hopefully be better. I had just 2 eggs collected on Saturday but BOTH fertilised and both were top quality grade 1 on day 3 (1 has been frozen and the other cultured to day 5 blast and has been frozen as grade 3BB) so so far looks like this protocol is working much better for me (didn't get any top grade out of previous cycles)

[Meganlouise1988]

@itwasalovelydreamwhileitlasted oh wow that’s amazing! It’s good that the clinic have modified your protocol, have you stayed with the same clinic throughout? No fertilisation has made me panic a little, but I’m thinking next time we will try everything completely fresh and have OH SSR at the same time as my EC and see if that makes a difference 🤷‍♀️

[itwasalovelydreamwhileitlasted]

@Meganlouise1988
Yes - we are with Create and decided to stick with them - they have treated us really well and us not having had any luck yet certainly hasn't been due to lack of trying on their part.
This protocol is much easier and quicker than long protocol ivf - only do stims every other day from cycle day 3 and take tamoxifen tablets for a few days (normally used to treat breast cancer but has similar affect to clomid). From start to finish the whole cycle was over in 9 days this month! It's also quite a bit cheaper - 3 cycles including ICSI and all drugs for £13k

Has your husband been taking all sorts of supplements to try and improve his quality?

[Crumpets124]

@Meganlouise1988 my clinic are doing the SSR the day of egg collection too. Make sure you have someone else to bring you both home! My Dad is coming with us. My DH is also giving a sample before the surgical removal just in case they get nothing.

What is CAVD? I have heard Dr Ramsey is amazing and it’s actually listening to him (podcast) and reading about him that led me to harass our clinic for a sperm fragmentation test, referral to urology, found a Varicoele etc. So I would think you will be in good hands with him!

@itwasalovelydreamwhileitlasted sounds like your clinic are being very proactive about your chances!

Are you guys doing a high protein diet in the run up? I’ve been trying but going to properly kick it up from Monday (after we do a big shop!!)

[Meganlouise1988]

@Crumpets124 oh are you! I didn’t even realise it was an option! I’m not actually sure what it stands for but it means he doesn’t have a vas deferens so although he produces sperm he doesn’t ejaculate it. However, the clinic just assumed this, its never actually been scanned or examined. Apparently we should have been referred to urology first! So we’ve gone back to the gp to get referred again 🙄 omg I didn’t know he had a podcast, I’ll check it out. I’ll let you know how it goes.

I’m just taking supplements and trying to eat healthily, cutting down on alcohol. What about you? X

[Crumpets124]

@meganlouise1988 he doesn’t have a podcast but has guest featured on ‘The Fertility Podcast’ with Natalie Silverman. If you look at the description of them you will see one where they talk with him and one of their experience with him.

It’s unreal how useless the clinics can be! I had to fight for a sperm fragmentation test and then for urology referral. My DH was amazed when two mins into the appointment the urologist confirmed a Varicoele which is what I wanted ruled out. I think you’re definitely right to go to Dr Ramsey! We moved to a way better clinic in terms of being proactive so I’m hoping we have better success with them with SSR.

I’m off alcohol and caffeine since Jan. and eating reasonably healthy. Going to start high protein diet from next week and protein powder - found it on another thread here where a girls nutritionist recommended it and it improved her egg quality.

It’s “ 70-80g of protein a day, supplement with 15g protein powder and then up to 30g of protein powder during stims plus 2 spoons of tomato purée a day. “ fun times it ain’t!!!

But apparently good egg quality can help carry poorer sperm so hoping if I can be at my best it will help. Although should’ve really done it for 3 months not 7 weeks which is the time until our next round starts.

[itwasalovelydreamwhileitlasted]

I naturally eat a lot of high protein foods anyway but did add in full fat milk on my last stims and am thinking about adding protein powder

[Crumpets124]

@itwasalovelydreamwhileitlasted I found the protein powder rotten but after some googling tried a plain protein powder in pure orange juice and it’s bearable! But maybe you’re not as big a baby as me when it comes to eating things I don’t Like haha.

[serenintheforest]

I'm new to all this - mumsnet and IVF
due for egg collection at the end of Feb, so injections and all will start early Feb. - if we decide to go ahead. OH is ambivalent and I find the physical side daunting.
I'm curious @Crumpets124 about your high protein diet - does that help with conception? Or is it for weight loss?

[Mctm123]

Hi everyone can I join? Due to start 3rd FET on the 4th feb after MC the last 2. This is our final embryo as we lost all remaining 3 embryos in the last FET (1 MC, 2 Looked good but then we got told not suitable to refreeze/use)

This time we are on a long protocol which will include us injecting buserelin to down reg (which I find odd but I’m going with it) then go on prognova, transfer then cyclogest, and for the first time aspirin and hydroxchloroquine (which I’m on now as I read it needs to be in the system for 6-8 weeks)

We are lucky enough to have a 4 year old little boy but we so desperately want to give him a sibling. I am petrified of going through the heartbreak of a MC again and all my positivity has gone but I’m just taking each day as it comes with this next go. Good luck everyone x

[itwasalovelydreamwhileitlasted]

@serenintheforest
Are you doing short protocol then if you are due to start and finish cycle in February?

I have to say that for me the process hasn't been too bad each time - very minimal side effects and I was fine doing injections myself
(I had to do daily injections in my own successful pregnancy for 9 months so got over my fear of needles then!)

The worst bit was the 5 days AFTER egg collection waiting to see what had fertilised and what quality they were

My DH doesn't talk much about the process - I just tell him to take his vitamins and turn up to do the sample on collection day. I don't know if he is ambivalent too or not but we've now done 3 cycles of a planned 5 so I guess if he wasn't fully on board he would have said we had to stop. Y now

Which bit is your OH not sure about? (Does he have children already?)

[itwasalovelydreamwhileitlasted]

@Mctm123
Welcome aboard!
So you will be doing a medicated FET? I've only done non medicated ones so never down regged but I think it means they are much more in control of the transfer process rather than waiting for body to ovulate on its own?

Did your clinic offer you the option of doing a double transfer last time to avoid losing any embryos they couldn't re freeze?

[Mctm123]

Hi @itwasalovelydreamwhileitlasted I think we’ve spoke before on here

Yes I’m having a medicated FET. I did last time too but without the injections. It was a short protocol last time so I found it so easy. I prefer the medicated option to be honest as I like them to control it rather than me telling them when I ovulate.

No they never gave me the option to transfer two last time. The impression I got was that they weren’t suitable but now I wonder if they should have tried anyway. Anyway, I can’t change that now I suppose.

I think we will be doing transfer similar time then - end of March? X

[itwasalovelydreamwhileitlasted]

@Mctm123
Yes sounds like we are on a similar timeline!
I'm just waiting for cycle day 1 which will hopefully be at the end of this month and then egg collection number 2 two weeks after that 😬

[Mctm123]

@itwasalovelydreamwhileitlasted aww the waiting game! That’s all we do isn’t it!! I’m waiting for cycle day 23 an then 6 ish weeks for transfer. Even if I get pregnant I’m gonna be an anxious mess as I can’t get past that first scan. I worked it out it would be 5 months till I could relax after a 12 week scan an even then I probably wouldn’t!!! But suppose we have said this is our last shot. We may consider adoption then but who knows.

I’m really praying the aspirin an hydroxchloroquine make the difference this time but I wonder if it’s enough 🙈I wanted to go on clexane as well but he didn’t agree. All a worry isn’t it x

[confused107]

Hi can I join please? Long protocol for me. AF came today so calling the clinic tomorrow. This will be our second attempt

@Crumpets124 I'd be very interested to hear more about your high protium diet. Do you take supplements as well as the protein powder?

[Crumpets124]

Hi @serenintheforest @confused107 @mctm123 welcome! It’s amazing how many women are going through this at the exact same time yet I always feel like I’m the only one!!

The high protein diet is supposed to help with egg quality. Apparently protein helps the eggs develop. I actually haven’t started this yet. I am starting in the morning. It’ll be 6 weeks from tomorrow when I start Stims so probably 7 ish weeks till egg collection. So I’m hoping it’ll make a difference.

I found out (after eating tons of eggs last round!!!) that I’m highly intolerant to eggs so protein powder is a way to get more protein without eating eggs. I also found in slightly intolerant to dairy so going with a plant based protein powder instead of drinking lots of milk etc!

I have no idea if it will help. I’m also taking lots of supplements.

Are any of you trying anything in particular?

[JandL2020]

I’m on these shakes
www.thenewyouplan.com/Weight-Loss-Shakes/
I think they’re nice I don’t have them for all meals though x

[serenintheforest]

thanks, @Crumpets124
Also good to have different ideas for how to increase protein in diet.

@itwasalovelydreamwhileitlasted, yes it is a short protocol, which is the protocol of the embryologist at our fertility clinic for all women the first time they are going through egg collection. I didn't realise it wasn't always done that way, but he says because of the risk of ovarian hyperstimulation. If there isn't enough action (??) in my ovaries when they check at the end of Feb they'll postpone the collection and change protocol.

I had a good talk with OH yesterday (I think it motivated me a bit reading other people's stories to not bury my head in the sand). He's never had kids, never wanted them - doesn't not-want kids, but has never had any pressing desire to have them. He's also scared of not being a good dad - he was a lonely kid and both his mum and his dad felt distant. He doesn't want to repeat that pattern. That doesn't worry me, because I'm very much the opposite to that. And even though he's not a touchy-feely kid loving type he is very kind. My nephew, born just before OH and I met, absolutely adores him. - That's one thing I keep reminding myself of in case we aren't able to have a child of our own, that we have wonderful neices and nephews important in our lives and we are in theirs.

oh that's enough from me, I've written alot.

[serenintheforest]

just wanted to add, the Ob/Gyn at the fertility clinic has put me on a high dose of CoQ10, 600mg/day. apparently helps over 40s eggs be a bit "younger." anyone else on same?