Anyone else about to start IVF?

[gardenpixie]

DH and I have our first IVF consultation in a couple of weeks and I just wondered if there was anyone out there who was in the same position?

We've had loads of tests done already so the Dr says we may well be able to start the treatment cycle sometime next month or early May.

We've been TTC #1 for 3yrs now and I am on cycle 5 of clomid so will continue with that until I start the IVF drugs. There are no obvious medical reasons why we haven't conceived naturally, just a case of unexplained infertility, I guess.

I know the odds of getting pg still aren't great but I am really excited about the fact that IVF even exists (isn't amazing what they can do?) and, although I am a bit apprehensive of everything it will involve, I am thrilled to be given the chance to see if it might work for us.

I would love to hear from anyone with any advice or who is in the same boat,

thanks for reading

Good luck Gardenpixie, fingers crossed.

I'm dithering about IVF and I'm seriously considering going abroad.I've spoken to Istitute Marques and was very impressed. I was wondering if anyone has any advice about a foreign clinic and one they would recommend?
Any advice would be great.

Hi msgruffalo good luck with yout treatment. I don't have any advice I'm afraid, we're all having our treatment in the UK I think. Perhaps it might be worth starting a new thread? Wishing you all the best.

Skitoo yes I'm still hot flushing! I can put up with it though, it's fine. I have just under 2 more weeks of down regs still to go...

Thinking of you garden xx

garden are you ok hon? Thinking of you lots xx

Hope everyone is ok, it's awfully quiet on here...

Kool, glad it's not too bad, good job we're not having a roaring summer (laugh, laugh, do you remember those? ) as am sure it'd be harder to deal with then. Are you sniffing or injecting?

How you doing Garden?

Right I've got a silly question for all you clever people - whats the rules for having sex during the ivf cycle? It's probably in ZW book (must have skipped over that bit...) and presume clinic will tell us when we actually get started. But have just booked a quick holiday before we start treatment and having spent the last 3 years, shagging like rabbits on every hol, wondered what we'd be doing this time?!?! Did anyone get advice from their clinic?

Looks as though it's just me and you skitoo, fancy a ?

I know, I was wondering if we'd had summer? It was nice, but was that it?! Maybe it'll return in September, by which time we'll be upduffed so hot flushes won't matter anymore! I'm sniffing my down regs, will be injecting the stims.

Am of your holiday antics! No idea on the answer I'm afraid. Our circumstances mean that it's not really an issue for us - if when ivf works for us it's very much going to be an immaculate conception ! I've only flicked through the Zita book since it arrived but I don't remember anything about that. Her general approach once starting seems to be taking things pretty easy though, so that might extend to the bedroom! In which case, I'd recommend taking up knitting

Hi ladies

Gosh thank you all so much for your kind thoughts and words - sorry I didn't post yesterday, I went straight from the hospital into a mammoth meeting and then bed!

I have just been to the hosp again and the Drs are much happier with how things are going. I currently have 50 follicles (!!!!!!!!) with four over 14mm, 10 are 10mm or smaller and the rest between 10 and 14mm. Apart from being shocked that I can still walk with all the follies growing, the Drs say that the estradiol levels are still rising but have levelled off so I started injecting more FSH again last night. I am utterly about the whole thing but as long as the Drs are relaxed, I think I should probably be chilled.

They want to carry on taking things slowly and think I might be looking at EC at the weekend. The massive PITA for me is having to have blood tests every day - my veins are notoriously keen to hold onto their contents and so far, it takes the phlebotomists an average of four stabs to get any blood out. They've blown all the viens in my elbows and have moved onto my hands. Today was particularly special as they used what looked like a piece of deep sea mining equipment to get a really deep vein in my arm [ouch emoticon] However, I knew it wasn't going to be easy so am plodding on.

How is everyone else doing today?

Care and skitoo thank you ladies for my dancing! It obviously worked!

Skitoo Floradix does taste rank - but it works brilliantly! I had really low iron after a horrid virus when I was on uni and it got me back up and running in a few days.

MsGruffalo I'm afraid I don't know anything about foreign clinics but I have heard they are much cheaper than in the UK. Have you investigated the "self-funded" options in some of the UK clinics? It's a halfway house between NHS and private - so you pay for the NHS version of the treatment rather than consultant led private treatment. Good luck with it! Keep us posted

Bondi'sgotabean how are you? I hope you aren't getting any symptoms and that you're enjoying your little bean growing away busily

Waves to everyone else and thanks again for all your good wishes - what would I do without you lovely lot?

xxxxx

PS How are the sniffings going kool ? Hope you and Mr Kool are OK

Skitoo I think DTD is fine while IVFing ... personally all my thousands of follicles mean I'm not at all interested in it at the moment but I think it's medically fine!

Oh phew, garden I was worried! When joining this thread, I hadn't realised that I'd find myself thinking about the people on it apart from when I was posting, but I really do! I'm so relieved for you. It's great that they can tweak things. Your follies are incredible! Wow . EC at the weekend sounds very promising. I wonder if you were in the bloods room before me once - there was a poor woman in there for ages once, I wondered what on earth they were doing to her, little did I know they were deep sea diving! I'm really squeamish about bloods but I've started trying to make sure I'm super hydrated before I go in as that seems to make a difference. I also eat or drink something sugary just before I go in but that's mainly to stop me from fainting after the event.... Sniffing is going fine thanks. Although this morning I couldn't understand why it came straight back out, then realised I'd forgotten to sniff.....oops! So it's obviously starting to send me a bit bonkers . Mr Kool keeps helpfully pointing out that I'm not moody and irritable yet!! He's sleepy but ok thanks, we're away in the country for a relaxing few days before treatment starts again next week .

Must be time for a group ((((()))))

woo hoo I'm in for a group hug (((((( ))))))

Poor Mr Kool starting treatment again so soon. I am keeping my fingers tightly crossed that you get good news on his health front and the IVF.

His comment about you not being moody 'yet' made me chuckle; my DH says similarly helpful things - including "well how would I tell the difference between now and normal?"

Yes, I may have been in the bloods room before you - sorry! I see other people go in and skip out again merrily after 3 or 4 mins but I seem to hold everything up for the other ladies waiting patiently while they ferret around to find a working vein. You'd think I didn't have any blood at all!

Glad the sniffage is going well - when is your baseline scan?

xxxx

Oh Garden so glad to hear from you and that you're doing ok xx. Kool I'm there with you, was only saying to DH this morning that I hoped GP was ok?!?! Sounds like you've been through it though Garden - AMAZING follicle production and oh so glad that the docs are relaxed and you're looking at EC this weekend, very excited for you .

Kool am on a hidous conference call (concentrating hard obviously ) so will deffo join you for a , would actually prefer a so we'll have to scoff this large plate of to indulge ourselves instead. . Am loving your v.positive attitude, is Zita rubbing off on you? I am visualising the inbuilt heating systems that we'll all have this winter .

Thanks for letting me know the Floradix should be worth it, as it really does make me gag.

Thanks skitoo ! Very kind of you to keep thinking of me despite my rubbishness of not posting yesterday. I really did want to but I was exhausted and was in bed by 9

I think it was just such a shock going from being so desperate to move onto the stims after my allergy to the down regs, and then being told that my estradiol was sky high so I couldn't inject .... it's all been quite a lot to deal with! I think the Drs are happier now there are clear lead follicles so that not all 50 will go to 18mm! (Ouch)! They did joke that if they all turned into embryos, they'd have to rent a chest freezer from Currys.

I knew that it was going to be a rollercoaster before we started but I suppose I was a bit thrown by how much things can change day by day - I had prepared for the ups and downs of the 2ww but hadn't quite clocked that it can go from "you might need to prepare yourself for the cycle being cancelled" to "oh it's probably going to be OK" in the space of two days.

They were also amazed that I'm not in any pain from my supersized ovaries ... but, apart from the odd twinge, am actually fine.

s all round! (and sneaky for those who need them)

xxxx

Hey Garden don't worry about posting, am glad you went and got a needed early night. I can understand the rollercoaster couple of days you've had, not nice but super happy thats it's all looking ok now. Do they know why it happened, have you ever been told you've got PCOS? Chuckled at the chest freezer comment! In all my cycles on clomid I never had 2 where my body behaved in exactly the same way, so frustrating and some cycles had me all over the place. The cycle where I did actually fall pg was nearly cancelled as I'd got to day 19 without a dominant follicle but then agreed we'd have a final check 2 days later and there was an 18mm one so had the HCG shot and got lucky. I keep trying to remind myslef of previous ups and downs to prepare myself for any blows we might be dealt with on ivf at the same time as keeping up with the positivity - it's a tough old business isn't it.

Hi, yes our bodies are very ... mine doesn't seem to be following the rule book at all!

I was told early last yr that I have polycystic ovaries, but progesterone tests suggested that I did ovulate. I used Agnus Castus to get my cycles a bit more regular and have been exercising and following a low GI diet to stabilise my hormones. I started clomid in Sept last year and after I made a concerted effort to lose weight early this year, I was told that my left ovary wasn't looking polycystic any more (it's the one with just the 20 follicles)!

The Dr I saw today said that if I was ov-ing regularly, I didn't technically have PCOS; she seemed to think that, given my AMH and antral follicle count, I could just have a high ov reserve which in many ways is great, but does mean I am likely to be really sensitive to FSH.

The more I learn / experience about ovaries, the less I feel I know!

How did you find clomid? I was quite lucky I think in that it didn't find it too bad but I know lots of ladies have a horrible time on it

xxx

Looks like it's just us three in here today!

garden my baseline scan is next Friday, which feels like ages away, I'm all excited about stimming! I'd have been sniffing for 2 and a half weeks by then. Waiting for AF to arrive at the mo. If it arrives on time (ie today) I'm worried that my lining would have started to thicken again by a week on Friday. Mind you there's no sign of it appearing yet, so perhaps sniffage is delaying it, I know it did for you didn't it?

skitoo thanks for the treats! Hope your call has finished now. Loved that you were mning too, how's that for multi-tasking . I think Zita is rubbing off on me a bit, yes! Either that or just that I'm a bit lazy so I like her "take it easy" approach!! I've booked for acupuncture on Thursday with a lady who is Zita trained and coincidentally the same lady Bondi goes to, so I'm really excited about seeing her.

kool don't worry about the lining thickening after AF - the sniffing makes sure that doesn't happen. The stim drugs will start it thickening for you at the same time as growing the follicles.

It took my AF 21 days after I started sniffing to show up and I was practically chewing the furniture by the time it did! Are you feeling OK on the sniffage? xxx

Yes just the three of us .

I really can't be bothered with work today, then again I've had that attitude for the last 9 months .

Garden I'm a little bit of a mystery like that too. They don't seem to be able to decide if I'm PCOS or not? It appears to come and go, last scan not very evident but I don't have a cycle on my own, don't ovulate and have a very thin endometrium . Clinic have said they will probably start me on low doses and monitor me closely, as borderline and may overstimulate. At least these peeps know what they're doing and can usually sort by amending drug dosages. Well done on the weight loss, have you cut back on the exercise now you're in the middle of treatment?

As for clomid, well the less said about it the better - I found it absolutely evil . Loads and loads of hideous side effects as well as making me mental - poor DH. Believe thats why I feel so good now, as first time in over a year I haven't had any of the evil drug in my body!!

Hang in there for next Friday Kool, have you got some plans this weekend etc to try and make the time go quicker? Don't think I've mastered the multi-tasking as I got busted on a couple of occasions and had to ask them to repeat the question . Must have been those biccies that distracted me...

Great news on the accupuncture front and of course its going to help, look at Bondibean now!!

Hi all, I'm in for group hug too {{{{{ }}}}}

GP am very relieved for you, that's great that you are back in control hormone level wise, and wow 50 what a count! Surely got to be a good sign, keeping my fingers crossed for a good haul at your EC at the weekend. Its such a rollercoaster isn't it, bit like 6 month's worth of angst into 1.

Kool your poor DH, thinking of him, does he find it very gruelling the actual treatment? Hope you have a lovely couple of days away and manage to totally switch off for a bit, you've got a lot on your plates at the moment. Not long till you start stimming now - glad i'm not the only one who forgot to sniff!!

Skitoo I hated clomid too, i was so down on it i had to give up after 2 months as i just couldn't bear it (plus bled for 3 wks out of 4 for the 2nd mth). We got told to stop BD'ing after ET but up until then it was fine.

Well I'm feeling decidedly more stable than this time last week, my head is feeling much more positive that we will 'get there eventually' than i have in a long time because of how far we did get with the treatment. My heart's been a bit broken again inevitably, and had a tough weekend - we had some family events with both sides and of course i'd imagined how lovely it would be to have some good news - still, not to be and this way....we've still got it all to come! We've got our review mtg next tuesday now. That's it for us for NHS treatment so we're on our own now which in a way actually feels good to be in control, but the finances will only go so far so we'll have to see. I'm really interested if they can do some tests around implantation failure - i'd still like to find a problem to fix if you know what i mean, but they might say it was just bad luck and to try again, maybe with higher progesterone or something.

Teds and everyone else who's likely to be doing a cycle mid July, fancy joining me in a pre-ivf health kick? I've been following a very health diet for last week and lost the bloat i picked up through 'taking it easy' during the cycle. Teds I've bought some barley grass - how revolting!! It better be doing me some good as it makes me gag! Making DH drink it too . Also ordered loads more vitamins etc, have been taking the pregnacare ones, but now added in some of the others, so thanks for the recommendations. Womanly, for the last week I've been following a very low carbohydrate diet and it seems to have done wonders for my chocolate / sugar cravings. Have you ever tried that?

Also, did any of you see the article today in The Times about a treatment specifically for low sperm count, something about varicose vein related illness in the testicles? Have probably got that a bit confused, but might be worth a look.

Hi All,

Care I am glad you are slowly getting back to a better head space. I am a big fan of barley grass. you can get some good capsules from Waitrose (New Zealand Barley Grass). They dont taste of anything. I'm with on the Clomid, its horrendous.

Kool Hope you enjoy your session with Charlotte. Her treatment room has SUCH a squeeky door. I aways want to take some WD40 with me. enjoy your time in the country and give Mr Kool a bit wave from me.

Garden you poor love. Your bloods must be such a drag. Good to hear that your cycle seems to be back on track. Sending you lots of positive energy and of course big HUGS

Hi to all those I havent mentioned. I ended up having a blood test Monday and - I am definately preggers so just have to wait until my scan Mid July. Hope you dont mind me still hanging around in the meantime. Still keen to support you ladies as you take your own journeys

Morning ladies, well I just got back from my daily needling and decided to spend a lot of time on MN get down to some work.

Actually didn't go too badly this morning as they took one look at my bruised arm and went straight for the super specialist vein wrangler!

Skitoo yes I have had to cut back on the exercise a bit now I'm on the stims ... but I've tried to keep the frequency, I just do yoga or dog walking rather than running or cross-training. Sorry to hear you are a bit of a mystery too!

Care glad you are feeling more positive. The only things I've heard of relating to implantation are baby aspirin and then immune suppressants for people who have immunilogical issues ... but it doesn't sound like you have that? Where do you think you might go for the private treatment? Are you going to for FET?

Bondi please stay and keep us all company! You are my beacon that I should keep at it all despite the horridness of the drugs and tests - knowing that it can work keeps me going!

kool I hope the sniffing is going alright?

Waves to everyone else! I am working at home today so will mostly be watching rubbishy telly and doing a spot of housework!

xxxxx GP

Fantastic news Bondi - hooray for being properly upduffed!! Of course you need to stay around, we need you as our inspiration , and we'll try and help with any mentalling you might have. I hope you can now have a very boring 8 months xx

Care good to hear you're getting back to a better place. I'm like you with the wanting to understand the problem so we can find a way of fixing it, "unexplained" isn't very helpful is it?. Hope that your review meeting can provide some answers and you can then focus on the next part of your journey.

I'm defintely in for Care's Pre-ivf boot camp!! I put on over half a stone after mc and despite being good with the eating and exercising again I don't seem to be able to shift a single pound of it . What does barley grass do for us? I seem to be stocking up on loads of individual vits after abandoning the pregnacare .

Glad the bloods this morning weren't as horrific for you Garden. And while concentrating hard on your work this arvo you'll also be posting updates from Wimbledon then

Ok own up, who's been doing a rain dance?!

Garden thanks for your reassurance with the thickening, makes sense really I guess! Still no sign of AF. Sniffing is going ok, bit headachy and still hot flushing and maybe a bit tired but ok. I'm bored of it now though, I want to start the next bit! Glad you got on better with bloods today. Back tomorrow? Were they happier with things today?

I have something to admit! The other day I was in John Lewis and ended up walking through the nursery furniture section....I can usually avoid looking at things like that but something came over me and before I knew it I was sitting on one of those glider chairs which you feed on. Oh...my....goodness, it was the comfiest thing I've ever sat on!

Care, lovely to see you're feeling a bit more positive. I keep telling myself that my best friend has had 2 children with ivf and it didn't work first time so hopefully that's worth knowing. DHs treatment mostly makes him sleep which is better than previous treatments which made him really sick. We've got a great support network fortunately so we're certainly not on our own.

Bondi of course you must stay with us! You're our positive visualisation personified!

Waves to skitoo, hope that work is more fun today?!

Hi everyone,
I am sorry about being away for awhile now - Feel quite listless these days and have no other excuse. Work or life is not busy- just me lazing around and not tuning in to our lovely thread.

So this is a lengthy catch up from me.
Bella Wonderful news on your ET. Hope the 2ww is going fast. I am sorry about your mum - big hug.

pumpkin I read your message about EC way back but was really cut up to respond - Sorry - I do hope you are feeling better now. I am glad you took some time off.. sometimes I really feel that the more we know about what is going on..the more chances we'll know exactly what is going wrong too... Ignorance is bliss... but with assisted conception it's like this glass table..and we are all tuned into the play by play changes / developments... makes it harder to accept. the good news however is that all of this can change just as dramatically. This cycle we were unlucky - next cycle is a totally fresh draw - it does not mean that what happened this cycle will happen for sure next time... and the best part is nobody can predict what will happen 100%... so nevermind the 5% and other stats (like with me - it was 80% of women on clomid ovulate..and I did not.) - - onwards and upwards :)

closelight welcome to our thread :)
The question about bmi is a great one - I was weighed in when we went to see my consultant and he kept on about losing weight - luckily I did and so he then did not bring it up...
Now that I have been putting on more weight..am a bit spooked...

skitoo tell me more about the 2 hcg shots per cycle - is this the same as the Ovitrelle injections that are given to help us ovulate?

teds lovely news about the blonde highlights - - I too am itching to do something with my hair...though I did tell myself last time that I would wait till it grew out enough so that I had some options!

garden can you send me some self hypnosis exercises too? Just caught up on your news related to OHSS - - fingers crossed and trying to catch up faster..... lol about the chest freezer from Currys-- great news about all the follicles, EC on the weekend - hang in there you brave brave pixie you... only two more days till EC.

flick hi there :) hope all's well with you - and welcome to this thread :)

bondi fantastic news with the bfp - - trust me to miss this while I was in la la land!!!! Big hug :)

carebear Thank you for the tip on a low carb diet I have been struggling the most with my weight doesn't help that I am in a 'waiting' cycle and seem to crave chocolate every day!

Kool the slidy chairs are excellent aren't they...? Not that I'd know, obviously I've never sneaked in a quick go on one ... ! I know what you mean about really wanting to move onto the next step; I felt like the DRs were a kind of limbo and just wanted to get on with growing those follicles! Obviously my ovaries were quite up for the challenge as well given the fifty they've actually grown!

I get the blood tests from this morning back at some point this afternoon with instructions on what dosage of FSH to inject tonight and when to go in to the hops next. I'm having bloods every day and scans every other day at the moment so I guess that will keep going until EC (fingers crossed we get that far and my ovaries don't sprout another 50 follicles)!

Skitoo I don't know if this helps but in my hypnotherapy training course, they said that a good way to get your subconscious on board for losing weight is to work out how much you want to lose and then to change the metric with which you measure it - so if you usually say 'I want to lose x lbs' change it to the equivalent weight in kilos and vice versa. Then draw a pie chart with at least ten segments and colour in the segments as you lose the weight.

Apparently switching metrics makes the subconscious more positive about dropping the weight (because it has no reference to being disappointed in that metric - so when I lost weight earlier this year, I had plenty of experience of NOT losing all the lbs I wanted to, but when I thought about it in kilos, it seemed more possible); and the pie chart reinforces that the weight loss is permanent.

Anyway, just something to think about! Hope it's of interest.

Waves to everyone else - we're half way through the week, that's two and a half days closer to our BFPs than we were on Monday morning

In the brief moments of taking a break from wimbledon work, I am getting a tad worried as my parents want to come and stay soon to see one of their friends who lives near us but is unwell (just been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer). They said "oh it'll be in the next ten days but we won't know when exactly so we'll just call on the morning we set off and let you know."

Obviously I don't want to say they can't stay because this is one of their closest friends and they can't stay with him because of how ill he is; but I don't really want them around when I'm dealing with EC and calls from embryologists to update us on how our 50 embryos are doing. I don't want them to know about the IVF at all so I'm also going to find it hard to hide all the puncture wounds on my arms from the blood tests.

Eeeek! Any creative ideas of how I get around it would be v welcome!

Right, back to tennis work xxxx