IVF

Glad to hear it is going well so far. Lots and lots of luck and thanks for the support! :)

Hi, I found out that I have low AMH (1) and therefore ovarian reserve on Thursday. I start my injections on 7 March and think I am on the long protocol as they stop everything and then restart. Am seeing Nurse tomorrow to learn about injections etc so will ask about short and long protocol then. I was told that egg collection is similar to hystero*gram which was uncomfortable but not too bad and they will give me sedatives and all sorts so sounds ok if we get that far. I think each NHS Trust has their own approach to this as I don't think we will have to pay for our meds and will get one round of IVF. Neighbouring Trusts will give either 2 and 3 rounds but another doesn't give any. Have been in the system for a year and it is tough. I was upset yesterday and crying. My DH called just now and asked if I was feeling better today, when I said no he was a bit shocked! I think we need to be strong and give ourselves a break and look after our bodies as that is the best thing to do. Good Luck and take it easy!

Dear Josie

Thank you for coming back to me about the prescription charges. I was concerned it would be £££££ !

I'm sorry that you have had a bad reaction and hope that you are taking it easy today. I do not think the emotional and physical stress of any of this can be overestimated .... !

Keep going and take v.good care of yourself.

x

Good luck.

The drugs made me very clumsy bizarrely enough so my piece of advice would be to half-fill your coffee mug for the next few weeks and NOT to pick up any particularly well loved and/or expensive ornaments.

Take a week off work after eggs have gone back in - physically you won't need that time, mentally you might.

If it doesn't work go for the counselling - it can really, really help. But I hope it does work.

Avoid the morons who think it's not a big deal

Hi Josie, I've just read throught this thread and some great advice on here.

I'm on FET after isci last autumn and have been sniffing Buserelin for a few weeks to stop my system (now taking oestrogen pills while on a reduced buserelin dose for a couple more weeks). Odd that you're on long protocol but I'm sure your consultant will have recommended the best approach for your situation.

the injections become a doddle - you get used to them and tbh the thought is worse than the deed. You'll get to a point where you can count up all the dots across your stomach towards the end of the injection run!

Excited is definitely the way to approach this - see every step as an achievement, it makes it easier.

I echo worldgonecrazy in that whoever said 'ivf is nothing' clearly has no clue what they're talking about! It's long, hard emotionally and physically and can be very lonely. I also agree with her on the chocolate cake.

Hello Josie

I've just been reading this thread as I too will be starting IVF in the not too distant future (referral has gone off and just waiting for a start date .... ). Good luck to you with your treatment.

Could I be incredibly nosey and ask if you had to pay for your drugs in the end ? I too will be having treatment on the NHS and was led to believe that all drugs would funded too. Is that not the case ??

x

Good on you Josie ! Do not give up on what you want ! :) It'll be ok in the end one way or another if you persist !!!!

Was completely asleep for egg collection - out for the count! Was a bit uncomfortable afterwards but nothing particularly painful.

Embryo transfer did not feel a thing BUT bladder was so full (for better imaging) I thought I would would not last another second

I just wanted to add that i felt no pain at all during the egg collection and the embryo implantation. I really didn't think the sedative worked on egg collection as they tried to force me into a wheelchair afterwards 'because you will be woozy' but I was able to walk perfectly ok and didn't feel at all sedated.

definitely go with the flow.

good luck with your recent cycle Libertychick.

You really won't know how your body will respond until you have a treatment cycle. I became pregnant on first IVF cycle with an FSH of 14+ and on the final scan before EC there was only 2 decent sized follicles but they collected 14 eggs - of those only one made it to blastocyst stage and that that was all I needed. Just had a second cycle and on 2WW now hoping to be lucky again.

Try not to get too caught up in the detail and just deal with one stage at a time. I found waiting to start the worst bit, once things are underway you just have to go with the flow.

I slept through both EC's - my clinic must go for lots of sedative!

Don't know if this helps, but did a bit of research. Short protocol is the antagonist regime and long protocol is the agonist regime.

Buserilin is a gonaderiin analogue (been thumbing through DH's copy of the British National Formulary - he's a dr). So I'm almost certain Josie that you are on the long protocol, which involves shutting down your cycle and restarting it. Initially the drug stimulates and then it causes down regulation.

Egg retrieval depends on a lot of factors. I did find it uncomfortable, but on review, due to surgery I've had (and peritonitis - infection in the abdomen) I had a lot of scar tissue, which probably caused this. They're front-loading me with more fentanyl for my next EC to take account of this. Some people are whacked on the pain relief / sedation. It's a very individual thing. You might sleep throughout it - one of my friends did! Don't be afraid to tell them if you need more pain relief during the procedure. My clinic were really good and kept topping me up.

HTH

I had those exact drugs on a short protocol. Retrieval was fine due to ga, putting the embryo back hurt like a difficult smear

I think those drugs mean you're on the long protocol.

I did the short protocol and the drugs were different (Gonal F, Cetrotide and Ovitrelle)

Did you ask them why they won't do it unless you produce a lot of eggs. The clinic I'm with doesn't use aggressive stimulation (which is possible on short protocol too). They got 12 eggs from me, which was way above their average. They do have a very good pregnancy rates despite using mild stimulation - think it's due to and excellent embryology department.

You really don't need lots and lots of eggs to have a good chance. It's quality, not quantity that counts.

The injections are a lot easier than you think they are going to be. Once you get the hang of them they really aren't bad at all and do them whatever way you feel is best. I did mine myself, but I like to be in control!

Best of luck with it all.

Hi again Josie! I was going to also say about warming the medicines up by taking them out of the fridge a while before . That definitely helped me to hurt less. And I'm sorry if I scared you about the shots but I thought it's best to be honest . It's just a little sting and I thought that since I don't have an ilness that requires to use them everyday of my life I'm lucky. Also I guess you'll have to decide for yourself if u want to inject or your husband / partner but i found it easier to deal with someone else doing it like when you are at the doctors. My husband had never so much as practiced on anything although we had a teach about it with a nurse and I just had to trust him but he was very good and I'm thankful for the help! My private US clinic would not have done retreaval either unless they thought there were at least 4-5 good sized ones so not necessarily a NHS thing . It seemed really unfair because you only need one to make the baby and I did feel desperate... In general i'd say if you do truly want to have children in this life then don't give up on it and live unhappy ! It's up to you to keep on going. It does pay off in the end .I do believe where there is a will there's a way . Maybe you have to consider other options like we did. I know it seems hopeless but it isn't . You might not succeed with IVF but there are other routes though none of them are easy .I really hope you get what you want in the end ! I thought our hell was never going end with the years of endless miscarriages and then getting sick from stereoids i was given to treat them but now I dare to hope there's end in sight in 3 months ! :) All the best

I had those two drugs when I did my round. I found they had me in for a scan every other day (i was at the bridge clinic) and when they thought i wasn't responding very well, upped my drug intake. I was told i only had 1 or 2 at the right size along the way but eventually ended up with 9 eggs. Its a real 'take it one day at a time' type thing as you just don't know what will happen which i think is what makes it so stressful. One thing i would definately recommend for de-stressing is some kind of relaxation cd - the zita west one for ivf is really good, and i've since got quite into these having never been into that before - i've just had delivery today of one from Randine Lewis that i'm looking forward to trying. Best of luck with it all.

Whoever has said "ivf is nothing" obviously hasn't been through it themselves. It's stressful, it's expensive and regardless of how many hundreds or not of eggs you have, it doesn't have a great success rate. But 1 in 10 is still 1 in 10, for IVF I think the odds aren't that bad, so it could be you this time, and if not this time, then maybe next time. Everytime you have a round of IVF the doctors will learn something that may help boost success next time.

My DH used to try and distract me if I had to do my injections in front of him, which was rather sweet and irritating enough to take my mind off the injection.

Good luck, be gentle on yourself and your DH and anyone else that is less than understanding. It's one of those things that unless you've been there yourself, you have no idea what it's like.

And remember miracles do happen, I've got one to prove it.

My acupuncturist also told me to drink a cup of plain hot water every morning to help get the energies moving in the stomach/womb area - absolute woo but at least I felt like I was doing something positive. I think chocolate cake was beneficial too.

If it's a long protocol (with down regulation e.g. Zoladex) please ask to see a doctor too before you go forward as short protocol (straight to stimms) is more effective for slow responders.

For what it's worth, the injections seem horrible but they are really really tiny :-)

The meds sting a bit so take them out of the fridge twenty minutes or so before you inject so they are not so cold under your skin.

If you are self injecting then lay everything out beforehand in order of use (e.g. Alcohol, cotton wool, open medicine pack...) so you just follow the sequence.