IVF/ICSI/FET - any more for any more?

[jumpingjackhash]

Hi all, we're about to start FET following an unsuccessful round of ICSI last year (well, we got the bfp, but then I miscarried shortly after ). But... time to get back on the bike and go again...

Anyone else going through this?

lumili I am so very sorry to hear your devastating news. How are you and your DP coping? It's absolutely awful isn't it. Feel very, very for you.

Lizzie I really take my hat off to you. How are you managing to stay so positive? I've been feeling really down and I really wish I was better at looking forward than backward.

Milly OHSS can't occur until after you take the shot of CG to mature your eggs, so no need to worry until after that point. My clinic gave me a leaflet to take away following egg collection; it detailed symptoms and who to call if I developed any. I'm sure yours will probably do similar. Gonal F 150 isn't an aggressive dose. I was on 200 units. I was absolutely fine the first time and mildly hyperstimulated the second time. I just made sure that I had plenty of rest and drank to thirst. Does your clinic monitor your oestrogen levels? That can be a good indicator as to whether it's likely to occur and they can advise as to whether you are at risk. Risk correlates with oestrogen levels and number of eggs. Hope that helps?

Jumping How are you doing? You're having a really frustrating time of it at the moment.

Welcome to pinkapples! With respect to your query about payment, my clinic sorts this out when you attend for your first monitoring scan, not at the consultation.

CareBear Wishing you loads of luck for Wednesday! Hope the transfer goes smoothly.

Can I join you guys?
You all seem very knowledgeable... I bring and everything

About me:
My husband and I are due to start our first ICSI cycle in April after trying for what seems like forever
We have had our consultation with the nurse and been prescribed the drugs.
I shall be taking a one-off Prostap and a daily Merional injection, but I don't know anything about these and would welcome any advice or feedback.

Hello to everyone

I'm in Wiltshire having treatment at the RUH in bath, I'm not sure whether ours will be considered a consultation as that is definately what we are doing next

Afternoon all

Phew what a day yesterday - 3 of my friends told me they were PG (all naturally) one of them got PG on her wedding night... i tell you I am ready to scream at the top of my lungs WHY NOT ME??? Had a terrible night - barely slept thinking about it all - just sobbing really. +
So, need to pull myself together - DH being a rock as always - but I need to stop leaning on him emotionally so much - it's all so difficult. I'm sure the drugs are not helping my state of mind - I need to go home tonight and do some deep mediation with Zita.....
Welcome to angel - i'm not always posting such crazy things I promise, and care SO MUCH LUCK for Wednesday - only 2 more sleeps - you are so close now - thinking of you lots
jumping patches sound wierd and deeply attractive I hope they are doing the trick anyway is your next scan this Fri? Not long to go!
knackered so sorry you are feeling low too - jsut such a difficult time isn't it - and if anyone tells you to keep "positive" you jsut want to hit them don't you!
hi to josie how are you doing? Hi to Karbea - how was the scan - are the folicles growing nicely? BIG wave to Lumili too
ZB

Will post properly tomorrow as I'm on the train now and rubbish at typing on my phone... Just wanted to let you know I was thinking of you lumili. So, so, sorry to read your news... You must be devastated... Take it really easy and be nice to each other xxx

Hi all,

I've had a rubbish day today, so this is going to be a me,me, me thread!

So after my day 3 scan showed 4 follicles on each side, today I had 3 on one side and two on the other, the Dr said he was worried about the sizes of the others and felt there should be more and they should be of more even size.
I went off to have acupuncture after that.
The thing it's it's day 5 today and I ache, I can't believe there are so few in there, I'm bloated and really uncomfy :(

Hi Karbea, I was told I only had 2 growing on my last round and ended up with 9 at EC. A lot of growth can happen in the last few days. Its so scary but try not to worry. Have they upped your dosage? Does a hot water bottle ease the discomfort?

Knackered you're very kind to be thinking of me, hope you are holding up ok, big hugs.

ZB 3 at once what a nightmare. Surely what goes around comes around? Maybe u will end up pg with triplets!

Welcome Angel

'look forward to' not 'too' - how embarrassing!

Morning All...

Well. I have just taken my first EVER 2 sniffs of Synarel. Am feeling mixed emotions... happy because it's finally happening and sad because it tastes icky - am really hoping I will get used to it - have already placed an order with DH for a shed load of chocolate to take the taste away, worried as I've just read the long list of side effects on the packet, but mainly excited!

Angel Welcome - thanks for the ... sigggghhhh... wine... is it wrong to have a craving at 10.24AM...? As you will have seen from the above it's my first ever cycle too. The doctors will decide on the day whether we will have IVF or ICSI but if all goes to plan we will be having ET around mid April, so maybe we are quite close together in our cycles?

Zeebee I feel for you I really do... it's so rubbish... I feel like the whole world is PG too... I'm not joking, even the neighbour's cat is! Come ON!

Knackered thanks so much for all the advice on OHSS - it's actually the most useful advice I've had! I've been given lots of leaflets by the clinic, but I think they worry you more than anything because they have to go into the worst case scenario, so thanks! I hope all is good with you?

Jumping how are you feeling? Have the patches made you feel any different?

Karbea so sorry to hear about your rubbish day... I'm not an expert but it does sound like it's possible to put on a bit of a spurt at the end? So hopefully that will happen. It is dissapointing when you don't get the news you want from a scan though isn't it - I wish they made our bodies see-through so we could know all the time what the heck was going on in there!

lumili thinking of you...

Waves to All!

Karbea hope you can keep your chin up and hopefully your next scan will herald better news.

Ooo Milly how exciting that you've started!

Just a quickie from me again, sorry not to name check everyone. Scan went well apart from a sore cervix (she couldn't see my left ovary at first), all going to plan so we're onto stims tomorrow, this will be the deciding factor for me, I'm positive if it works we've got a good chance of success allround. Learned how to do the next injections, which I'm not looking forward to but at least after tomrrow's 2 I'm halfway there and it's the last downhill stretch

Thanks to everyone for making me feel so welcome

I must say, that having taken 2hrs to read thought this entire thread, it has left me feeling very positive indeed.
I know that we are all on a very tiresome journey with lots of ups and downs, with some of us experiencing some very raw downs right now, but your immense support for each other is so very encouraging and make those success stories even more precious.
It sounds like stubborn perseverance with a strong surge of positiveness paves the lucky way...

Anyway, that said, I must reply to a few specifics...

Knackered - I have read about the process for the tests you are going to have and I really don't understand why they don't screen everyone of us prior to starting IVF, that way we'd know the exact route to take before shelling out £1000's. I hope that you get the results you deserve and your mind is put at ease for your next cycle x

Congratulations to all the BFPers - You are without doubt my our inspiration during those waiting/low moments x

Jumping Unfortunately the TCM (traditional chinese medicine, someone asked what it meant) cold rule is true. But surely a alongside will warm it up inside your tummy All is not lost... In fact, it is encouraged to drink a warm drink with all/after all cold meals x
I really hope you've had some thickness occurring from the patches... waits with bated breath x

Waves at Karbea from another thread

Raspberry I could help but notice that you were prescribed Prostap... any advice or feedback, as this is what I have been prescribed? x

Milly I hope your drugs will start to taste more chocolatey soon , and yes, our cycles will be very close together. I'll be tracking your posts now to see me in a few weeks . All the very best luck x

Apologies if I have missed anybody x x

Sorry Angel I haven't said hello, welcome! [waves] Stubborn perserverance is actually exactly how I'd put it! An excellent description methinks

OMG... my drugs are on their way!!
How exciting

Hello Josie, I'm too excited to talk.... Mwah x

Hi All

WOndered if anyone has heard of/taken Cellagon anrum? It's a drink thing that is high in vitamins and replaces all sorts of lost minerals that we need to get healthy to be PG... anyway my friend who got PG naturally told me about it yesterday and also a friend of hers who got PG with IVF (donor sperm) also swears by it - anyway - was about to get a supply and wondered if anyone else has had it before? I sound a bit like a saleswoman - sorry - i don't mean to be
Feeling much better today - less ranty - made my DH do my Zita mediation CD with me last night - he really enjoyed it..
Glad we are inspiring you Angel - exciting you are starting so soon...
milly your post made me this morning - re the world and his cat being PG! Ha ha!
Karbea hang in there - its an early scan afterall - lots can happen particularly if they increase your Gonal F dosage?
I seem to now have insomnia - anyone else with this too? Am 10 days into Progynova pill popping, so perhaps its a side effect of that - a good side effect has been my hair - it's stays very shiny and clean for longer than normal
Waves to everyone else [WAVE]

Hi all, just a quickie as I'm a bit pushed for time, but wanted to see how Care got on today! Hope all went well!

Welcome Angel - v welcome, wish MN would invent a one too! Arse about the ice cream - that's a 'no no' from now on then! Bugger!

I'm still patched-up, feeling quite bloated over the last couple of days, not sure if it's a sign the drugs are FINALLY working, or if I'm just turning into a fat cow courtest of the chocolate I've been stuffing! Hopefully the scan on Friday will show it's the hormones

Karbea - don't stress, growth spurts often happen in the last couple of days. See what happens.

zeebee - I had the sleepless-ness too, it's settled a little now though, although I feel quite sick a lot now (comes and goes during the day, have gone off most food too).

Durrr - sorry care, I have it in my head it's Wednesday today! Hope tomorrow goes well! [thick emoticon]

Welcome to pinkapples and angelfairy.

zeebee, lizziebennett, raspberryjam, josiesmith, jumping, carebear, knackered, millymoo - Thank you for all your kind words. I really appreciate it. It kind of helps knowing that I can talk to people who have an idea of what I am going through. Things seem so terrible now, but I am sure in time we will be able to move on.

carebear - good luck with your transfer tomorrow, I hope all goes well :)

xxx

Hi all,
Feeling much better today thank you, yes carebear tonight they've up'd my drugs tonight 300merional and 150fostimon, in for another scan and bloods tomorrow, so hopefully follicles will have been kicked into action, keeping them warm with a hot water bottle I think things will get more complicated after tomorrow (whichll be day7)

care bear good luck tomorrow!
jumping jack don't eat too much chocolate you need to try and keep your sugar levels constant.
zee bee interesting about your hair, my rubbish skin is so much better on the drugs!
angel when are you starting? Hello back at you!!

Welcome Angel. yay! I like wine - but sadly don't drink much of it these days.

Zebee Yes, I had insomnia too. I'd feel absolutely knackered and go to bed at 9pm, but then would keep waking from around 1am, until it got to about 4am when I just gave up on sleep. The insomnia wasn't so bad the second time around, so I think anxiety may also have played a part in addition to the drugs.
What drugs are you on and what doasge? I was on Gonal F, 200 units plus Cetrotide.

Karbea Let's hope the increased drugs dosage does its stuff. I do second what the others say though, it's sometimes really hard to see all the follicles.

Lizzie You are so right about needing a "right next" mentality to cope with the highs and lows of fertility treatment. I was certainly like that for my FET and 2nd round of IVF, but now I'm finding it really difficult. We can only afford one more round, so if it doesn't work... . DH won't consider egg donation (which I could do to bring the cost down) because he thinks I won't cope with it psychologically. It would probably mean I'd only get about 6 good eggs so it makes blasto transfer unlikely, and given we're having problems with blastocyst implantation, I think we'd struggle even more with a day 2 or day 3 embie. I keep worrying what we are going to do when the money runs out.

Glad to hear your HCG levels are back to normal!

Like you, I've also put on quite a bit of weight throughout treatment. Has anybody else found this too?

Milly Glad things are progressing for you.

Josie So pleased scan went well. I find them quite uncomfortable on the cervix too. Like you my left ovary hides. Post salpingectomy it seems to be in completely the wrong place! That said, it does "drop down" as treatment progresses and it enlarges so it's much easier to visualise on the later scans.

Angel I think most clinics don't normally do all the tests until you've had three failed cycles because they don't usually show anything. It was always thought our problems were purely mechanical and it's only having lost 4 blastocysts that the question mark hangs as to whether there is more to it.

Jumping Sounds like it won't be long to go for you!

lumili How are you doing today? Been thinking about you. Hope you and your DP are coping as best you can x

Hello,

My scan was even worse today, looks like I have 3 follicles. And they may take Them out in 3 days time. I've been to my gp and she was lovely, has written me off for 3 weeks and will extend if I need it.

I want to stop worrying about work and concentrate on my three remaining follicles and hope they grow great quality eggs, only need one egg :)

knackered why do you think you'll be less likely to go to blasto if you only have 6 eggs?
Are mine likely to go back in after three days as there are so few of them?

Hi Karbea Not sure about your centre, but my ACU uses an algorithm I believe. The last thing they want to do is to try to get you through to blastocyst stage, but lose all your precious embryos between the day 3 and day 5. There's an attrition rate at each step. Therefore, they don't risk attempting a blasto transfer if you don't have many day 2 or day 3 embryos. I believe if there's not many embryos some centres will put the best one or two back on day 2/3 and attempt to culture the others to blastocyst at which point they may be able to freeze them. Not sure if my centre does this though.

So first cycle for me was like this: Day 0 = 12 healthy eggs; day 1 = 11 normally fertilised eggs; day 2 = 8 embryos; day 3 = 6 embryos; day 5 = 5 blastocysts of which only 2 were good enough for implantation / freezing and the other three discarded.

Second cycle: Day 0 = 11 healthy eggs; day 1 = 7 normally fertilised eggs; day 2 = 6 embryos; day 3 = 4 embryos; day 5 = 4 blastocysts of which only two good enough to transfer / freeze. The other two were again discarded.

It does depend on the embryo quality, but I think the clinic I am with tends to only risk culturing beyond day 3 if you have 4 or more good quality embryos. Therefore, with 6 eggs I think I'd be pretty unlikely to have 4 embryos on day 3, probably only 2 or 3 looking at the attrition rates that seem quite consistent.

These aren't national guidelines, but I found these on the "One at a Time" website. It's supposed to be for clinicians, and clinics do not have to follow this at all, but it discusses embryo grading. Worth having a look, but beware, clinics will differ in practice.

Thank you knackered I found that very interesting reading re the embryo grading.
Sorry for quick reply - am on phone - difficult to look back at messages... Will message more later.