What IVF dose and how many eggs did you get?

[Hyppyb]

Hey,

It's my second cycle if ivf, I'm on Bemfola 225 iu and it's day 4 of my cycle. Last time I was on Gonal F 150iu. Was wondering if it will produce more eggs now.

Just wanted to ask anyones dosage, the name of their ivf medication and the egg result, home many were retrieved?

@SH998 I still could be pregnant. I don't feel positive I am and even thinking about the next time I may try which would be my last frozen embryo transfer (2 transfering) before having to do a fresh again. Would be upsetting if that happened as so much money spent for no and then little results. My first ivf cycle was a big fail partly because the doctor only accessed one ovary because they said a fibroid was blocking it but my second ivf another doc did access both.

When I did get pregnant I knew because 2 dpt I had implantation cramps, that was it, nothing else. No real defining symptoms. My other times when it was a failed IUI or transfer i didnt have these symptoms so early but had something near when my period was due. This cycle from 1 dpt to 4 dpt its been non stop cramps, wind and I'm so sure its the eostrogen. It's was too early to be pregnancy. Today 5dpt most of the day I've felt normal, then later light dull ache in my womb. I think it's what you said about eostrogen suppressing the ovaries not to ovulate and stopping your period. Hence the cramping and twinning, like the body is fight against it. My dose is quite high 6mg a day I've seen women say only 4mg.

I've not seen other women on YouTube talk about all this with a medicated cycle, these symptoms. So I don't know. I only have 4 FRER test, used one already may use one tomorrow 6dpt. I did use a cheapie this morning looked negative but did do the negative effect which picked up a second line but I'm skeptical.

Hope you are OK and hoping your app on Wednesday goes well and all your tests you get to do soon.

@Hyppyb how are you feeling today? Any more symptoms? All pregnancies are different so if you feel different compared to your last positive don't be disheartened, it doesn't mean its a negative but I completely understand why you would be thinking ahead already ... its extremely difficult to be positive anytime of the IVF process, its one stress after another.
On the plus side, as we have said before, you have been pregnant so are fully capable, up until then you weren't even sure if this was at all possible.
Finally had feedback from the clinic, all bloods received and OK - I've never wished for something to show on my bloods like I have with these, something showing would show an issue and potentially be resolved. Nothing showing means I'm kind of back to square one and about a month behind due to that! I could actually cry on hearing the results. Now I'm absolutely dreading the next few FET's as I assume the outcome will be the same as the last few.
Please keep me updated and good luck on your next test day :) :) x

@SH998 Hey, that's good you got your blood test back. I understand you wanting to hear something was wrong so that there was a clear reason and a solution. I think I explained to you before, from all my research and talking to doctors, the time at transfer your body is a good home for the embryo. Couldnt be better as your linings been checked and on progesterone. The biggest reason for the embryo not implanting Is the embryo is abnormal.

Younger women produce both normal and abnormal eggs, but the percentage is the abnormal eggs leading to abnormal embryos is quite small but when you get older you are likely to produce way more abnormal eggs than normal ones. Embryos making it to 5 days blastocyst weed out very abnormal embryos but it doesn't weed out all of them. If a 5 day blast is abnormal they can't see it by just look, the gradings are superficial and these won't implant and if they do there will be a miscarriage.

There is testing you can pay for but the problem is you might get that horrid news that they're all abnormal when really one of them may correct themselves in your womb. If abnormal they will discard them. Also yes it might not be abnormal but there's no guarantees it will implant its just more likely to.

I did a test today 6dpt and it's negative this is when last time I knew I was pregnant. So yeah I do think it's unlikely but will still test until they said the 11th. Could be a late implantation I guess. But yeah if it fails it's because the embryo was abnormal.

I understand your dread of trying again. I feel the same. So hard. Step by step.

@SH998 So the clinic just called me. A nurse. They've never done that before only after an egg collection which makes sense for OHSS. She asked if I had symptoms. I said windy, twinges in my hips and light cramps. She was surprised by the wind. She said she will check, called me back. Said the wind is from me laying on the bed at transfer, rubbish as the amount of times I have and never felt windy. She said the twinges is the eostrogen which I knew. I told her took a test it's negative and she said on the 11th they will call back as its still early.

@Hyppyb how are you feeling today? Any more signs/symptoms? X

@SH998 hey, I had cramps but I've read vaginal pessaries cause cramps in the cervix, if placed right near it. I took a test today, still negative 8dpt. I did read frozen embryos take longer to hatch and implant than fresh embryos, up to 5 days and hcg takes 2 to 4 days to secrete, so that's 7dpt to 9dpt thats only blood, in urine its 2 more days. My fresh it showed 4pt. Saying all that im pretty sure it's negative this time round but will test again.

This weekend I've been wracking my brains deciding what I will do next. So I have the 5 day 4CB and 6 day 4CB classed as poorly graded embryo but still have a chance to go on to be healthy babies. As I said earlier grades are superficial but the stats say these poor graded embryos have a 33% chance of pregnancy.

I don't want to waste time, if these are going to fail I'd rather know ASAP, ie implant both at the same time next cycle but then if they both implant I wouldn't be thrilled but could manage just, but if both implant and any split that would be bad, the chances are so low though but could happen. I guess I need to speak to the doc and embryogist. Not that they can guarantee anything I find docs not forthcoming with info.

How are you doing? Now you have your results, is it the follow up Wednesday, then I guess you can start FET your next cycle. We might be doing it around the same time.

@SH998 I thought I'd share the attached which hopefully should give us some hope. This person all their highly graded embryos failed and then their poorly graded embryo was the one that went on to make a baby, a 4Cb. I've see other women say they were successful after their higher grade embryo failed.

I think for me what I find frustrating is the amount of money I keep spending and it all adds up. So it's not really just I'm down about it failing it's that by failing I'm having pay out more, so it doesn't feel like oh it's OK, esp when my 4 IUIs failed, my first cycle ivf I didn't even get 1 blastocyst.

All my salary after bills and mortgage pays for this. The disappointment largely is it would be nice if I can stop paying out so much money.

@Hyppyb how are you today? I have also read that frozen's take longer to implant so you still have time for that test to change :) It is a tough decision on whether to implant 2 embryos or not. Only you can make that decision unfortunately, try to do a little research on the statistics of double implantation with lower grade embryos. When I done a double transfer, there was no question in my mind that's what I wanted to do. My partner was panicking even in the hospital room he was doubting doing a double transfer but we went ahead, both were good grades and neither implanted so its really difficult to make that call.
This is our last NHS cycle so once all 3 embryos are used we will pay for another cycle. Like you, I don't want to waste time so we might decide after the next transfer to do a double again on the last 2 embryos. I'm praying that it wouldn't come to that, the next one is a 5B, this is what I got pregnant with last time so hoping second time lucky (although I'm already doubtful).
My follow up is tomorrow, I then have to book a face to face to discuss treatment plan so god knows how long that will take and when I will actually start the treatment.
Lets hope our lower graded embryos give us the baby's we so want.
I completely understand the additional cost, if you have a baby at the end then all worth while, until then its a huge burden :(

@SH998 Good luck for your appointment tomorrow. I hope it goes positively and you are able to have your next FET soon. 5B is a lovely graded embryo. Most babies are Bs not As. So you've got a statistically good one there.

I've already researched 2 embryos transfers, Google, YouTube, etc. There isn't such thing as anyone being able to tell you what will happen. Even if you look at statistics. The chances are low of twins because the embryos are lower grades but it obviously could result in twins or triplets etc. I probably want to avoid the risk so will stick to one at a time as its the difference between a couple grand spent on an extra FET vs £100k in 18 years of raising triplets. I read a woman had twins from 2 x 3Bc embryos. There is a chance although unlikely.

The money issue, I am single and when youre paying out thousands of pounds it's a big deal as I need to be able to have money by the end of this and afford to raise the baby after so I don't know how worth it is. But will just see I guess. 2 more embryos. Also thinking about time off work for apps, my dept is so much smaller and way harder taking time off.

I'm 10dpt now. 12dpt is my last day of testing and then the nurse will ring. Physically my body feels a bit achey in my womb probably my ovaries want to ovulate and then start a period as there's no baby in there. This is the part of FET where eostrogen makes you feel bad. 2 more days of this. Waste of the drugs.

It's funny as I've had 6 negatives and 1 positive. The negatives it starts how I think I could be pregnant, couple days later it's hmmm I don't think I am, but the 1 positive I always thought I was pregnant, I had the least symptoms but for some reason it was clear.

Let me know how your app goes?

@Hyppyb don’t count yourself out yet, on both my FET and fresh my period came within 8/9 days while on the meds so the fact you haven’t yet could be a positive.
I knew I weren’t pregnant so wanted to stop the meds sooner than advised both times but there’s still that teeny bit of hope that it turns positive :(
I understand how it is, I’m sure it cost after cost and as you say your also mindful that you need cash to actually raise the baby once it arrives. Do you mind me asking roughly how much you paid for 1 round and what tests you carried out? This is something I’ll need to start looking into in the next few months. I’m really lucky as my manager is aware of the situation so I can take as much time as I need, I do feel that some of the appointments are a waste of time and could easily be done online, I’m between hospitals and the treatment plan appointment last November took me almost 5 hours due to the long wait in the pharmacy!
Getting negative after negative test makes it difficult to continually stay positive about it all. I was so sceptical on my first attempt and it was positive, I generally thought it was a cruel joke. However, that set me up for thinking all would work that easy going forward … how wrong was I!
I don’t expect much tomorrow, it will be a 3 minute video call to tell me that the blood results are fine and I’ll receive an appointment in a few weeks, I know the drill now lol x

@SH998 ivf costs are a lot. They want to charge you for every little thing. Some blood tests are over £100 per test. Some exploration tests are £450 like a hycosy. I would think tests for investigations into your fertility you don't need to worry about as the clinic you're with has already done all that and can move them over to a new clinic if you wanted to. Some tests expire like stds. Fresh ivf depends where you are in the country or if you are under a certain age there are schemes for cheaper. My clinic charged £6,200 for the first cycle and then £2100 every FET. There are free interest instalments you can do and what I did for my first cycle but it was only if you pay in a year otherwise you would pay interest if you needed to pay longer.

I've just emailed my clinic to ask if it's negative tomorrow can I do another FET in my next cycle due a week away well due now but delayed because of eostrogen. So will see what they say. I know women who did back to back IUIs so don't see why not. I think the hold up would be pointless apps like a follow up where the doc says the embryo was likely abnormal and then a treatment plan going over meds which I already know what I'm doing. Will see. I kind of want to hurry up to see if these 4CBs are OK and if not then see my options.

I totally get that. My first cycle was just a waste of time no blastocysts and 1 3 day transfer I did because they recommended it when my head said wait to see if it become a blast. My first fresh transfer was a pregnancy and I was always in shock during the pregnancy the pregnancy loss I never connected to it maybe because it was so early, no scan, no bump. But thr pregnancy hangs over you.

IVF is definitely hard but seems like the best chance of pregnancy. I saw it said 9% in women my age in a daily mail story but that's overall ivf not when you get to blastocyst stage then its like 30 to 50%.

@SH998 so I was given the wrong date for tomorrow when it's today so the nurse called, the amount of times she said sorry, I was like I'm absolutely fine I knew I wasn't the last few days. She said she will see about my question about doing another FET soon. Hope you get some info on when you can move forward too.

@Hyppyb so sorry to hear it hasn't worked this time, even though you suspected early in the week it had failed it still doesn't make it any easier. It still boggles my mind how some attempts work, others don't even though the eggs are from the same batch going into the same body. I know some are weaker than others and all that stuff but I still find it strange.
Have you had any feedback on when you can start the next FET? Have you made your final decision on how many you will try next time?
How are you feeling this time around?
I normally set my mind to the fact its going to to fail to avoid the disappointment when it does fail but then feel super guilty for feeling that way and convince myself that my negativity was the reason for the fail, I know that's not the case but try telling this mental head of mine that lol.
I think 30/50% chance it good, I would seriously be panicking if it was just 9%.
My 3 minute call yesterday went as I suspected, 'advised bloods were OK and to push ahead with the treatment so a letter will be sent shortly with a date to discuss and collect meds'. Being NHS god knows when that will be, she did ask my period date which was last week so hoping she pushes to start on my next cycle.

@SH998 so just spoke to the nurse specialist for the follow up, she said because I've had 3 failed FETS they would recommend I see a doc for blood test to see about clotting issues. I was like the 1st was just a 3 day embryo not a blast chances werent great, the 2nd was etopic that held on to my body for 12 whole weeks clearly no clotting issues there, 3rd yes it's a blast but it's untested we have no idea if it's even normal. So I'm waiting on the gp letter to have the blood test, the other option which I won't do yet maybe round after this if it fails is injections and blood thiners. I still feel like they're trying to blame it in something it's not. I get it's good to see other options. But I truly believe its down to how strong the embryo is.

So yes it's agreed I do another FET once my period starts. She said 4CB is an OK embryo not what I've read. She recommended just one embryo transfer and I agree as i don't want to risk paying for raising triplets if it splits. I feel fine. I think I said before I'm quite a logical non emotional person. There's emotions but they're managed by my brain. 😆 plus I knew it'd be negative days ago!

Humans as species I think I said before our fertility is not the best. Put 100 women under 35 in a room, all women attempt to get pregnant once, only 30 will get pregnant, 70 won't. In a year if the women continue trying 8 women will be left not pregnant. When we ovulate the dominant egg may be normal or abnormal when we are young or old. It's just as you get older more are abnormal. The batch per cycle there will a mix. More will be abnormal if older. Would you think of genetic testing? It's a risk tho.

Fingers cross you can start soon. Hopefully the nhs hurries up. I feel a little crazy jumping into another cycle! But why not you know.

@SH998 I said 12 weeks, it was 12 weeks bleeding but I was pregnant in total for 19 weeks and had to have the injection to aid the loss. If there was problems with the baby sticking that would never had happened I would have been pregnant for a lot less time and without medical intervention. I do feel like sometimes you have to remind docs of common sense and the basics.

@SH998 she did say she's just looking at their policy rather than actually looking at my case.

@Hyppyb those are the additional blood tests I had to wait 8 weeks for! I hope yours are quicker than me. In my case, I really hoped something would be found, no such luck. I requested blood thinners as a back up but my clinic flatly refused this option if they weren't required due to possible additional bleeding. If your sure noting is up then have the bloods but still continue with the transfer of your CB. I've read that C's are OK too, you might be lucky :)
I think testing is out for us this round as I've read the treating needs to be done on a fresh round, also I'm not sure that comes under the NHS. This is something I will look into should I need private IVF.
Your at the same stage as me, you just want to proceed asap, I'm so afraid that these next 3 frozen embryos could take me another 8/9 months to get through. Its taken me a year this month to get here - 2 collections and 3 transfers. I really cant afford to wait that for another fresh collection. I feel absolutely terrible talking about them as if they have already failed but I've had so much disappointment and upset that its difficult to be positive. Obviously I would give anything for them to succeed so I have everything crossed for us both x

Hi @Hyppyb - I hope you don't mind my chipping in at this point, I've been following this thread and I really admire how strong and logical you are, after the failed cycles.

I had three frozen embryo transfers (frozen as they were donor eggs - I don't produce any) and they all failed, with one chemical pregnancy among the three. I then had a fourth FET where I asked them (following my own research) to put me on progesterone, blood thinning injections (Inhixa), steroids (prednisone) and low-dose aspirin, and they agreed on the basis that there was no clear evidence these would work, but they wouldn't do any harm. It worked. DD is 3. We had an embryo left and did the same meds regime - I'm now 25 weeks pregnant with DD2. No history or hint of any blood clotting disorders or anything like that, and of course it could absolutely be coincidence and regression to the mean/law of averages, but in my heart I'm convinced that it's the meds that made the difference. I wondered if maybe asking for similar meds in your next cycle might be worth a try? They're not expensive medications so there's nothing to lose, and you never know, there might be a minor autoimmune issue that the steroids help with, or the blood-thinners might make it easier to establish blood flow etc.

@SH998 wishing you lots of luck - you've really been through the mill too. It's very hard to keep going but then again you just don't know - the next cycle could be when it finally happens for you

@RedPandaFluff thank you for your kind words. Me and @SH998 we do have a very good natter on here, through the trials and tribulations of our journey and as you say it's a lot but we are hoping it will happen for us. Hoping to help other women who stumble on here. 😀 So exactly what you said is what they are offering, well not my clinic but the sister clinic of steroids and blood thinners. Itd mean a delay. I'm now having second thoughts after you've shared your story. 🤔 I'm thinking I will go ahead as normal and my last attempt try the clotting meds. Thank you so much. So happy it worked for you.

@SH998 8 weeks wait! Oh boy. Guess how much that blood test cost with the clinic £550! That's crazy! My new patient co ordinator listed it like i had to go do this test before i start treatment and i was like the nurse made it sound as non essential but nice to do. Will see if i can make an appointment on Friday once i get the GP letter. I'm the same, 2 collections and 3 transfers, 1 pregnancy loss, are stats are pretty similar.

Sorry I didn't mean would you consider testing now if you had to do a 3rd collection? It's actually not that expensive. In America I've seen it can be like 6k. In the UK its 1k. I don't want to do it in case they say some or all are abnormal and when they would correct themselves later. Tested embryos can fail too. I've seen that a lot.

It is hard to fully believe the next FET will be successful after failed attempts. I do think it's pot luck like the right healthy embryo out of the rest. I think I'm going to take the baby asprin next cycle. I did it a little last time but not post transfer. This time will continue. There is some evidence it helps with clotting and prevents some miscarriages. Fingers crossed for us.

@RedPandaFluff and @Sunshine2243 after a night's sleep I've decided my next FET to do the anti clotting. I've emailed my patient co ordinator see what they say. Something different might be what I need whether it works or not. So it means it won't be next cycle but the one in June as its moving back the sister clinic and will need to go over meds etc. Should be simple, because I started during covid I learnt to inject from YouTube videos so sure this will be the same.

I think that's a great decision, @SH998. An unexpected bonus for me was the psychological boost of knowing I was trying something new, something more. Delays are so hard to deal with though - every week seems like a month in the IVF slog!

Ahhh sorry that was for @Hyppyb!

@RedPandaFluff thank you for your well wishes, its always goods to have feedback from someone who has experienced what we are first hand. Massive congrats on your pregnancy lets hope that me and @Hyppyb can follow suit soon :)
@Hyppyb FINALLY! An appointment for 31st May so hoping I can start the FET straight away. No doubt will be the longest 2 weeks experienced yet lol.
Absolutely shocking costs for blood work but if you do have them it will put your mind at rest that you have covered all aspects, have you had any further feedback on this or dates been given for your next transfer?