TTC Super Ovulation...

[duggs1976]

hey ladies,

There are a few of us who are ttc after mc's, however there will be ladies out there who are also ttc for the first time or second or third without success. If anyone is on, considering or had success on a super ovulation programme then do join us. How long did it take ? Did you try IUI with it.. ? Did you have PCOS?

Kicking this off and hoping some of you will join....

ari, just spoke to Central Homecare. Gonal F pen is £90.

Mmm That's gone up since the post I saw then. Mind you, I suppose everything has :( Are they still the cheapest then kittens?

Am sure you all still on pred thread. . Any thoughts on other immunology tests? An sure sue or snoopy. have looked into this before?

Hi there all, thanks for the welcome

ooh dear night sweats and more spots, that doesn't sound good, is that from the letrozole? can't wait.

Pebbles we've had 1 fresh and 1 frozen on the NHS so far - we're having to change clinics as the PCT have changed their contract - we've got 1 more fresh and 1 more frozen left in our allocation. Pretty good by all accounts.

Interesting regarding where to get the cheapest drugs, thanks ladies.

Which clinic will you be going to carebear? I am at Oxford fertility clinic.

Morning ladies, how is everyone doing? Well I started on the Letrozole today, so waiting for the delightful side effects to add to those I already have on DHEA (although I will say they're subsiding a bit now, thankfully!). Scan booked for Sat 5th May .. trust my body to work it out so that my day 11 to 13 falls on a weekend with a bank holiday!! Waiting in fatalistic determination anticipation to see how my body does absolutely nothing reacts in response.

You can see I'm hopeful for this, can't you? :)

buster how far along the Letrozole trail are you, you started a few days ago didn't you? How's it been for you, as it were?

kittens Have you had your LH etc retested yet? And did you get your Gonal-F and Tamoxifen ok?

I dunno, this whole business seems a bit of a lottery to me.

ari I really wouldn't worry too much about Letrozole the side effects are minimal. It will be interesting to see how you respond to this. Hopefully well.

Ah, to be honest snoopy I'm actually not that worried, I just make a bit light of it all. I monitor what's going on with my body pretty closely, but I'll be interested to see what happens (if anything) with this addition to my humongous daily regime! :)

How are you feeling today, and have you got an appt through yet for your mammogram etc? I had exactly what you're describing a few years ago (except the pain didn't go away and come back, it was constant) and it turned out to be mastitis (made me feel like something out of All Creatures Great and Small!!). Hopefully yours will be something similar, but I know it's a worry.

Ha ha I was going to say that....can you get mastitis whilst not being pregnant? Or am I being thick.

I'm ok thanks for asking. The swelling has lessened a bit today weirdly which has made me feel a bit better. I just hope it's some sort of infection. It has definitley a mid cycle thing in last two months but now it's just a permanent big lump. I just wouldn't have thought that something coming up so rapidly would have been cancerous. that sort of thing usually takes time I thought. But theres no point in guessing.
Haven't heard yet about appointment. Hope it's not too long. Don't mind the tests it's the waiting after to find out what's going on. I'll be a wreck.

I did have serious bouts of mastitis when DS was feeding and three lots of Anitibiotics didn't get rid of it.

Yep you absolutely can, it was a few years before I had my DD that I got mastitis. The doc did explain that it's quite easy to get, and it was easily treated too. I just did a very quick search on Dr Google (search term mastitis hormonal ) and it seems it can be triggered by a shift in hormones, not just by a bacterial infection (which is a common way to get mastitis, through breastfeeding). As you say there's no point in guessing, but it may be that. Fingers crossed they get a move on and get you your appt asap - I wouldn't have thought they'd hang about when breast lumps are in the frame!

No i wouldn't have thought they'd hang about either. You searched better than me. I tried and just got loads of stuff relating to bf. Actually it is on the side that was worse when had mastitis. think I'm just trying to make myself feel better though. We'll wait and see.

I hope the day for your scan is there or thereabouts to see some decent sized follicles. I wasn't expecting to see anything first time but have been just right both times. the bc post duggs was talking about earlier was interesting. i could relate to the lady saying she felt Dr's enthusiam waning after she wasn't getting anywhere. What to do whose advice re steroids do you take. There meant to be the experts....

Just in case you're not all reading the Pred thread, I just posted this:

I know this won't necessarily be relevant to everyone on here (this is for the TTCers really) but I just read through all 7 pages of this www.fertilityfriends.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=230320.0 and there's a LOT of research information about various different problems faced by ladies having problems getting/staying pregnant. It's on the "poor responders" part of the IVF board, but there's a lot of info in there that I think may well be relevant/interesting for some of us here. Be warned - it takes a while to read it all! (Guess who had a long and boring telephone conf call this afternoon!)

Hello everyone!!
I havent started it yet Ari I'm STILL waiting for AF!! I havent taken any steroids this month and its still messed up my cycle, 5 days late now! BFN on pregnancy test. Pred must have a long half life or Im starting early menopause!! Hopefully start by the weekend then I can get on it!!
Hope your scan goes well
xxx

buster I'm sorry your AF is being so recalcitrant, hopefully it's just a late BFP rather than a late show for the witch!!

I am sure there is a longer-term effect on the body of steroids, despite being told otherwise. Reading around on the body-building websites show that a lot of these guys who take corticosteroids are told it can take months for their bodies to be fully free of the side effects of these, despite the fact that chemically they are supposedly out of your system within a matter of hours I think. Plus that BC link that was posted earlier does show that the lady was medically advised there is an effect on LH & FSH with repeated use of steroids.

I wasn't expecting my AF to be better this month as this is only the first cycle I didn't take the pred, I'm expecting the recovery to be over a few months. Having said that I did take progesterone from OV and I am now taking both l-arginine and high dose vitamin E (l-arginine only until OV), so I won't necessarily know whether my body has recovered fully on its own or whether it's been assisted. I don't much care either, to be honest, as long as it DOES recover.

I was looking at exactly the same thing this morning ari. I was looking at the different types of steroids and read same thing about coticosteroids causing fertility issues in body builders. I was going to cut and paste something else but didn't about Depo provera the pill in injection form which is the same type as they were saying how that can affect getting pregnant afterwards. In fact I was on that for yrs and it took 6 months for me to conceive him.

Here's hoping it's an bfp rather than delayed af buster

All this talk of pred mucking things up I'm seriously considering just trying the Hydroxy. I notcied on other side scooter has been put on pred from bfp and hydroxy also. Interesting developments. I can't help thinking he is doing that more and more with his patients.

I do wonder then why he didn't suggest this for me, just rejected out of hand the idea that Pred has affected my AFs??

Hi ladies, have been doing some lurking on the pred thread and really must get back on there but moves so fast! Amazing amount of info on there, everyone seems so good at researching info makes me feel lazy!

Snoopy so sorry to hear about your lump and hope your appointment comes through soon. I had a largish lump appear on the right side a coupe of years ago and had my appointment through for the breast clinic within two weeks. They did a physical check, an ultrasound, mammogram and biopsy all on the same day. They toLd me there and then they didn't think it was anything serious and turned out to be extra breast tissue. My feeling is that it was caused by the ivf drugs. When I went to the doctors because it was quite large the doctor said it was unlikely to be anything to worry about and am sure yours will be the same. I know how worrying it s though when you find one and you automatically think the worst!

Ari I hope everything you are taking gets everything back to normal and that your scan shows some good follies.

Going back to all the research all the info out there can be a bit confusing re what vits to take and if to exercise or not!

thanks pebbles. Doctor didn't want to commit to anything, which I can understand. Good to hear you story and I know I shouldn't be posting this on here but it helps to hear that lots of others have had same problems and that all is fine. The swelling has gone done a little today. this is what I'm hoping that it is a infection or cyst or something that has been irritated by the drugs.

I'm losing touch with where everyone is in their cycles etc. Have you done your down regging bit yet and what's next?

ari, I am only on CD17 now so I am monitoring with OPKs. In the unlikely event of ovulation I will take the pred but if not, at least I get a break from that. Then I have my FSH test on CD1-3 (also, potentially over the bank holiday weekend, come to think of it!) and then start the Gonal F on CD3 after I've had the blood test. F*! Completely forgot about the bank holiday! .

I'm quite bewildered by the lack of consistency of Mr S's reactions to pred causing problems with AF and conception. I mean, I know I'm older than I was, but the year before I started pred I was pregnant 3 times in 10 months. Then there's the "your age is not an issue" followed by "at your age things can change very quickly"

Hi Ladies hope you don't mind me putting my two pennies in. I'm on my second cycle of Tamoxifen. When I went to see Shehata he did acknowledge that I felt the steroids were mucking my cycles about. Due to the insomnia and mood swings he agreed to let me start the steroids from a BFP and to double my vit D and take progesterone from ovulation, a friend also found that in the USA they use high doses of Omega 3, he just said it can't do any harm.
It has been a blessing not being on the steroids. My nks were 1.26, I did ask about going onto hydroxy but he didn't think I'd need it but did say if I miscarried on this new plan that he would tweak it, I took it as he would then give me hydroxy.

kittens I was in the same position as you about getting bloods done on the weekend, are you near Epsom as they told me I could go to them and have it done. Its frustrating that you can only have a blood test Mon to Fri. This is the longest it has taken me to get a bfp so I feel it could be down to the steroids.

buster sorry AF is late,

snoopy hope everything is ok with your appointment

Hello Lisa, How are you?
Why did he choose Tamoxifen for you? It's a bitch all these lack of bfp's. I can't wait to be off the pred too. so much conflicting info on all of this!
Thanks for thinking of me with the appointment. I doubt I'll find anything out then and will have to wait for results. Bit terrified really but trying to stay calm.

snoopy i'd be freaking out if it was me, its the last thing you need right now or at all. I'm not sure why i'm on Tamoxifen but I did think about asking him on Tuesday when I go. I thought it might be because it has less side affects as I said I couldn't cope with the preds, I'm having lots of ovulation pains on CD7.

lisa, Louise told me I can push it to CD4 if necessary and that also The Doctor's Lab in Wimpole St are open on Saturdays too. I am tempted to ask about taking steroids from BFP, although my levels have now gone up to very high. 2.6 something I think? The steroids make me really agitated and anxious which has just been magnifying all the emotional feelings I am experiencing at the moment. Incidentally, I'm starting Tamoxifen (with Gonal F) next month too as I've not been responding that well to the Letrozole.

kittens yes Louise said I could push it to cd4 but I like to take it on cd2, my AF is so short, not sure if that makes any difference. It might be worth asking about the Hydroxy, I would have liked it if I had been put on it, I can't stand the steroids. Gonal F is like Ovritelle isn't it??

I thought it was but I now have both so not entirely sure now.

I bloody hate the steroids. When I first started taking them I felt so dreadful but thought that it would only take me a couple of cycles to get pregnant, (as it had the last 6 times!) and that I would be on them for 6 months max. Now it's been over a year and I feel like shit for 2 weeks out of every month. They make me agitated, dizzy, spaced out, make it hard for me to chase work when I feel like that, which is a bloody nightmare for me being self employed. Oh yes, and flabby, hairy (or even hairier) and can't have laser because of being on them, and my skin and hair are like shit. Apart from that they're fine . I suppose I should be grateful not to have the insomnia.