Experiences of Mild IVF

[LetMeIn321]

Hello
I've had 6 IUI's over the last 3 years. I have been pregnant twice through this but both sadly ended in miscarriage.
I'm due to start IVF in May/June through Create which I believe is Mild IVF. Can you please share your experiences of Mild IVF? Thank you

It’s been a while and you wouldn’t believe it but at some point you forget how many collected! Round 1, 1 to put back, round 2 all died before 3 day transfer, round 3 5 AA hatching blastocysts, one of whom is nearly 3.

I also skipped IUI. Chances were low and you still have to inject hormones.

No, I can imagine it’s easily done once you have your lovely baby/ies @MySocalledLoaf

I know mild ivf is for low reserve usually and I have fairly high reserve for my age (37/28 afc last checked) and I am concerned by the higher levels of medication in regular ivf and potential for OHSS. Getting a few good quality eggs really appeals to me, as does not having the down regs.

I guess I should also say my AMH is 36, I don’t know which they’re more likely to use to gauge response (one clinic already mentioned short protocol) but yeah, ohss is a concern.

@thislittlebird From the 6 IUI's I had, I was pregnant twice (miscarried with both). But it was just the time. Every other month, peeing on ovulation sticks, then eventually going in for IUI, 2 week wait and if the test was negative, re booking in for IUI, peeing on sticks, 2 week wait - just on and on. It felt like it was just taking over everything in our lives. It became really stressful. And expensive.

Also - my AMH is 7 - so that could be why the Mild option is a better one for me possibly.

@MySocalledLoaf

Mild IVF is not another name for the short protocol. I had two failed rounds of conventional IVF (short protocol) then one successful round of mild IVF. The oocyte quality was night and day. I could have had several frosties if we had wanted a 3rd child, all AA. The mild IVF was the same drugs as in my first failed cycle at 1/6 of the level plus a course of clomid. Pregnancy was not great as I had vasa previa but this is a risk of all types of IVF, and luckily it was diagnosed antenatally.

@MySocalledLoaf Thats great to hear you had better results which a much lower dose of drugs. I'm sorry to hear there were difficulties with your pregnancy. Yes, I have read more difficulties can arise with IVF pregnancies. Like the process itself isn't hard enough.

My AMH was really high despite my age. But logically you'd follow the recommendations of the clinic. They want you to get a baby as much as you do. They want to keep their success rates as high as possible.

Hindsight is always great but if I was recommending to someone else I'd only do a 2 or 3 max IUI before moving on. I'd be loathed to rule it out completely as I have my nephew because of it, on the first round!

Is there a month off between IUIs? @LetMeIn321

It all takes so much time. We don’t know if IUI is even an option yet, SA results pending. Might be straight to IVF, no idea.

@thislittlebird Well you can choose if you want to miss a month. The way it was with me was - the day I started my period I would have to call the clinic to let them know. Then about 8/9 days later I'd receive a message from them to say I needed to start peeing on the ovulation sticks. Then, the day I would get a smiley face on the clear blue stick, I would phone them to let them know and they'd book me in for the following morning for the IUI procedure. Then I'd have the 2 week wait. Take a pregnancy test. And if it was negative I would just phone the clinic again the next day I would start my period. And it would just go like that. But it was £1,500 each time. So sometimes a break is necessary for financial reasons and just to have a break from it being so consuming.

@thislittlebird it was thought mine would be back to back, but reality was different. Including holidays getting in the way the clinic closed for Christmas, them insisting on 3 month break after chemical pregnancy (hindsight I should have waited a few days before getting overly excited and calling the clinic). Waiting a month after OHSS.

3 months? That’s fairly long, I assume it’s to wait for the body to sort itself out @Lockdownbear. OHSS is a big worry of mine.

I think the wait is for MH reasons but actually the wait caused more stress than being able to get on with stuff.

Yeah I can imagine. The waiting must be super stressful @Lockdownbear. Just waiting for my nhs appointment is driving me nuts and that’s not doing anything as major as ivf.

@Lockdownbear Yes, same here. After each miscarriage we were told we had to wait 3 months.

I remember at our previous clinic, we were told that they would 'skip' our treatment in December because 'most people don't want to be coming in for treatment during the Christmas period when you could be at home playing with your children instead'. I was like .. 'we don't have any children. That's why we are here..!'

Yikes, what an insensitive thing for them to say to people @LetMeIn321.

Very insensitive thing to say. At least my clinic was honest enough to admit they skipped December because they closed!

@Lockdownbear @thislittlebird
Exactly, they could have just said they were closed rather than make the insensitive comment/assumption.