frozen embryo transfer

[CaipirinhasAllRound]

Hi
we're starting a medicated FET in about 3 weeks but my last appt with the doctor was a couple of months ago and so I can't remember what it involves
I'm having a scan this week (just to make sure I don't have any cysts before we start as the long protocol drugs made me develop loads of cysts last time) so I'll get some info then but would be great to hear from anyone who's done it
Will there be any injections?
Thanks

Hi

I've only ever had FET's in a natural cycle, in most of them I still had to do the trigger shot before OV. I would've thought that a medicated cycle would mean that you will be having to do injections, but it will probably be at a much loser dose than you would have in a full on cycle. They will only need one follicle to make sure you've ovulated hence the lower doses I would've thought.

Hope that helps, and good luck!

I had a medicated cycle which involved:

2 weeks downregging with buserelin (by injection once as day, though some clinics have you sniff the buserelin);
then a scan to check all was looking as it should, followed by
2 further weeks of buserelin jabs plus progynova tablets, at the end of which I had
a second scan to check my lining had thickened up ready for transfer
at which point I was allowed to stop the jabs - yaay! - and start crinone gels on the notional egg collection day, ready for embryo transfer on day 5 (we had frozen blastocysts). I also carried on taking the progynova tablets after starting crinone - both these and the crinone gels had to be continued until test day (and beyond if you test positive).

Different clinics do things differently though, so your experience might not be the same.

First time round for my IVF cycle, I had mild IVF so did not experience downregging and only had to inject for just over a week. So it was a bit of a shock when I started the FET cycle - but I know buserelin doesn't affect everyone in the same ways and you may be just fine. Take it easy over those weeks if you can, they will pass. For me the buserelin came with syringes not a pen, which I found harder to inject myself with, so my husband had to do the jabs for me this time.

Good luck. If hearing positive stories helps you, I am currently holding my breath, crossing everything and waiting for my 7 week scan next week (as long as all stays good in the meantime) so a BFP from an FET cycle can happen. Hope the next weeks/months go well for you.

Thanks both and fab news ceara!

I did a long protocol in Nov but had to stop as the sniffing gave me cysts so then did a short protocol in Feb (I was surprised by the proper syringes too!). We got to blastocyst and although it didn't work we have 5 blasts in the freezer
My cycle's not predictable enough for a natural frozen transfer but I didn't realise there would be as many drugs involved!

Wow - 5 frozen blastocysts, that's brilliant. We had 3 frozen.

All those drugs in a frozen cycle were a shock to me too - I had naively assumed it would just be a case of defrosting and popping it back on the relevant day of the month!

As to natural vs medicated cycle, I actually have that mythical thing, the clockwork-regular 28-day set-your-watch-by-it cycle but interestingly the clinic advised doing a medicated cycle anyway because they've found the success rates are better. Emotionally, taking the down-regging medication [which made me feel for a bit] followed by HRT in industrial quantities, all felt like a vote of no confidence in the one thing my body had seemed able to do on its own, if that makes sense. But the clinicians said medicated gave the best chance in their experience.

Hopefully your clinic will find a drug and dosage regime that enables you to down-reg OK this time. Fingers crossed it all goes well for you.