Assisted conception after recurrent miscarriage part 7

[brownstag]

Here's the new thread, ladies.

Very quickly as I have a wriggly grumpy wee person on me ... belly Serum tell us not to test until 12dp5dt so you are very early, surely? Ditto brosn .. I never got a positive until 12dpo. Just holding out some hope for you both still.

Yes sue I've been going to a zita west trained acupuncturist for years now. My gp is no longer prescribing my gonal f and ovitrelle so won't be able to afford so now. Asda said gonal f is out of stock so now on mad rush to try find some :/
I think af has tried showing as had cramps and brown spotting, hoping it holds off as not got day 5 scan til next Sunday so will stop cyclogest mon. Poor body!
Good luck for the induction exciting!
Good luck brown and belly with tge tests.
Waves to all x

Hello all... DS doing well 11 weeks old on Tuesday ! Just wanted to say one of my NCT ladies had a baby girl from ivf Spain ( via zita west) same as u belly. No known fertility issues just a single woman. 3 rounds with ZW and California sperm and then donor embryo from Spain. Shows that ivf is so delicate and you never know what will work but eventually a proven donor embryo should work. Everything crossed for you belly and also brown, Mel and pebbles if she is still reading this thread?
X

Good luck for Monday, Sue. Exciting stuff!
Good to hear from you, Duggs. It's so nice to be able to read you using the abbreviation 'DS' after all your struggles.
Any news, Belly? I can't help feeling it wasn't the news you were hoping for or we would have heard, but I hope I'm wrong. Hugs xxx
Naturally mine was BFN - massive AF currently. So that's one for the memory bank. FRER does show false positives when read after 10 mins.
Did you get AF, Mel?
Village, are you okay?

Aw thanks duggs and lovely to hear how you're doing.
Good luck Sue.
I had brown spotting and af pain but kept on with the cyclogest so no red, hopefully I'll stop it mon for af and scan next Sunday, feel bad tricking my body though.
Managed to get gonal f from alcura as asda couldn't get it!
Waves to all x
Sorry about af brown

Happy New Year everyone (and I see it's already the 18th!!)

Welcome trying and determined... and thinking of anyone who is about to test or has just tested, belly in particular.

mel, best of luck for your scan on Sunday!

Ari, I'm about to PM you!

brown I'm fine, thanks, just have nothing to report - and both kids have been off school with a bug, which has occupied me this last week - so lurking and lying low! I'm so sorry the FRER line didn't mean a BFP... But I laughed out loud at your double-decker encounter!

Duggs, 11 weeks, wow! You must be so happy and relieved.

Sue, thinking of you for Monday... hope and trust everything will go brilliantly x

Oh yes and nanny too - hope all's well - didn't mean to leave you off!
Waves to anyone else I've missed...

Hello ladies just to let you know we had our little boy at 2.07am after a very painful birth with just gas/air and a tens machine. He weighed in at 7lb 2 and we are both fine. I'm lucky I didn't need any stitches so will be going home later today.
Never give up on your dream as I am another success story that it can happen even after 10 miscarriages and a medical termination at 20 weeks over 5 years. I had everyone telling me to give up including my family and DH so listen to your instincts and keep strong even when you feel like giving up! I truly believe you will all get there whichever route you end up taking xxx

Oh Sue your post has actually made me cry... I am so happy for you, so pleased that you have got there and are holding your precious child! What an amazing outcome after all you've been through - you're an inspiration! Enjoy every minute with your little one x

Sue - amazing news, congratulations. That is just brilliant and has made me all emotional too! You so deserve this happiness, after all that you have been through. Now you can just put everything behind you (hopefully) and enjoy your new little boy.

Duggs thanks for you post. Can't believe your little one is 11 weeks already, how lovely. Interesting about your NCT friend - I assume she was pleased with the clinic? My beta was negative, as expected. Been trying to pick myself up, but finding it harder than usual this time, just so weary of it all, the constant disappointment and having to put a brave face on all the time. Still - am going to do more research - look in to Neupogen and throw everything in to getting our last two embies to stick! Any advice welcome!!

Thanks for all your well wishes. Good to hear from you Village, hoping Pebbles and Nanny are doing ok.

Fantastic news, Sue, congratulations! And he's a real cutie, I saw on FB. What a journey. You deserve every second of joy that is to come. And thank you for the inspiration! xxx

Sue congratulations he's so cute! Thanks for the hope.
I've now started 225 gonal f, last so cycle.
Had ofsted so drained this week and messed it up abit so feel abit disillusioned! X

I don't know how you can teach, mel, it must be so stressful. My DS has a newly qualified teacher and I feel so sorry for her with the heaps and heaps of stuff she's responsible for. She always seems to have a cold or some ailment.
I have another strange cycle. I noticed EWCM at day 3 (my AF lasted for 2 days!) and, as this continued, I did an OPK at day 8 which appeared to be positive. I've had all the signs of fertility except for very low temps, but maybe that's because I haven't had so many days of high oestrogen as I would normally have by ovulation(?).
Nanny and I have been discussing a theory that Cyclogest messes up the cycle days of the following cycle. So for instance last cycle, I artifically extended my cycle by a couple of days so really I'm two days further in my current cycle than I think (although that would stil be v. early for me to ovualte).
Only time and taking my temps will tell.
Anyway, we got a coulple of days of DTD in, so who knows?
Belly, are you okay?
I hope the family'swinter ailments have gone, Village. My DS seems to have had one cough after another this winter. His cough is our alarm clock in the mornings.

Interesting brown as I did that with cyclogest too so I could time scan :/
Yes I'm finding it all abit much at mo
My scan still showed the cyst day 5 yest so reduced from 25 to 19mm but I don't know if it will affect things this month :(

All so tedious, isn 't it?
No idea what's going on with me. No temperature rise (just the kind of temps I would expect on an ordinary cycle at this point), but yesterday I had ovary pain and then some bleeding! I don't usually have bleeding around ovulation. And EWCM has now dried up. So all physical symptoms say I ovulated but so far my temps say no.

Hi all - I've been an avid follower of this forum since I started seeing Mr S last Summer but have never contributed.

I was dealt a blow that I wasn't expecting at my scan yesterday. Long story short - I've just turned 41, Dh 42. Over 4 years trying, 2 miscarriages & 2 failed IVF cycles brought us to Dr S. Turns out I have immunity issues which he treated with Humira and I have done 5 cycles of SO - the lastest one on 300 Gonal F. I've had very little reaction to date some months nothing but at best 1 follicle - I have an AMH of 1.14. I had no response to 300 Gonal F.

I guess I thought Dr. S was a miracle man and the answer to my prayers until he suggested DE yesterday. I'm not ready to give up on my own eggs just yet as in previous IVF cycles we at least had complete cycles but I'm guessing my immunity issues stopped it at that.

We're looking to possibly do a cycle in Lister clinic using my eggs - have any of you experience there while still under Dr. S for immunity? I just can't decide if I should cut my losses and move on again or if I should give the miracle Man another shot!!!

Welcome, Kerry.
I'm afraid I don't have any experience of the Lister, but I'm sure Sue will tell you that low AMH and lack of response to the drugs does not mean you can't produce your own baby, as I think her AMH was lower than that and she has just given birth (naturally conceived).
I also had an AMH of exactly 1.14 but it increased to 3.8 after using melatonin - it might be worth giving that a go. (I've conceived 4 times since an AMH of 1.14, although miscarried every time.)
How did you respond to the IVF drugs?
I wouldn't hurry down the DE route personally; you're still young (compared with me!) and that's the beauty of DE - they can wait!
I think I will always get my immune treatment from Mr S but have lost any hope that he might help me get my baby in the first place. I think of the immune therapy as a necessary but not sufficient condition for getting a live baby. I'm just hoping I get lucky like Sue and find that rare decent egg naturally. I am considering DE too though but I'm nearly 44 and already have my own genetic child. In your position I'd definitely give IVF with your own eggs another shot if I could afford it and had the emotional strength to get through it - and it sounds as if that's the case.

Hi Brown

Thanks for your speedy response - I got 5 & 3 mature eggs on the IVF cycles but that was almost 2 years ago now - 2 put back each time, 1 chemical & 1 BFN. I don't know about the emotional strength - felt pretty flattened yesterday. And as for the finances I just hope it's not a case of good money after bad everything else is just pushed to the side at the moment!!!

Don't know how I got mixed up but was under the impression that Dr S also offered IVF or at least was involved with it in Epsom so when he mentioned Lister yesterday I was floored ( I like to do my research but can never seem to manage to keep ahead in this game!!!!)

I love all the positivity on here - I guess I'm just going to need it even more

I must admit I also assumed Mr S was involved with IVF at Epsom too; I've only ever seen him at Harley Street. Would you consider Serum, to get more for your money? If I ever did IVF/DE, that's where I'd like to go.

I would strongly advise a free phone consultation with Penny at Serum, especially as you're feeling down at the moment; she told me not to go for donor eggs yet and I was 42 then, and to concentrate on trying to produce a healthy egg by myself, using DHEA, melatonin and coenzyme q10, and avoiding stimulation drugs.

She'll give you an unbiased second opinion - even if that means no potential profit for Serum, as with the advice she gave me. Plus she will fill you with hope and that never goes amiss! You have to fill in a form and then she'll arrange a time with you.

There isn't much that's free in this business and you might as well take advantage of it.

Good results from the previous IVF, I meant to say. I'm sure I'd produce one or none! It's such a shame there isn't a cheaper way of finding out how one would respond to these things before you embark upon it.

Hi kerry
I have posted here in the past and saw your post about Mr S saying to move to DE. I was under Mr S for a year or so and gave up with him after countless natural cycles with Pred and 4 SO cycles, which were money down the drain. I have a very low AMH of 0.63 (or I did have nearly 3 years ago aged 34) and very high NKCs. I decided after 5 and a half long years of TTC, with 3mmc and 2 years of unexplained infertility during that time, to look into IVF and compared the Lister and ARGC. I didn't fancy the Bootcamp route and saw that the Lister were specialists in treating low AMH women like me. I had a consultation with their Immune Specialist, Dr Thum and he was fantastic. I had a cytotoxicity test done which determined IVIG would be the only way of reducing my NKCs to allow a pg to develop. We decided to give them a go and we were exceptionally luck and our first cycle worked, despite only having 2 follicles at EC, both contained eggs, both fertilised and went back in and my DD was born in March last year. She is now 10 months old and full of mischief! I cannot praise the Lister highly enough.

As Brown says though, Serum is also supposed to be fantastic and would be worth a look into too.

Hi Breeze

That's one hell of a good news story on Lister - I put a call in today and I am waiting for a call back - I think it would at least be worth seeing them to get their opinion - Dr S did say to stay with him for immune issues - you obviously didn't go that route. I hate the feeling that it's a money racket!!

Speaking of which Brown I will definitely look into calling Penny for an opinion - I certainly haven't come across anything else that's been for free.....

Definitely a good idea to have a consultation and see what they say. I decided to do everything with the Lister as I felt they had my best interests at heart. I am also very lazy and it meant all treatment, scans and IVIG infusions were in the same place. Having said that, because I had moved on from Mr S, there wasn't any option to have immune treatment with him. He seems to have moved on with treatment since I saw him as there was only the option of prednisolone and intralipids, certainly no humira or IVIG.

When I talked of moving on to IVF with Louise, she begged me to look into doing it with them in Epsom, is it Dr Gafar that does it there? But for me it would have been too far to travel and I wanted somewhere that specialised in low AMH and that was the Lister.

An amazing story, Breezy. I've just looked at the Lister's website. It looks very good and the information is very clear. I see they had a comparison of someone of 43 with loads of eggs for their age versus someone of 34 with low AMH. The chances of the person of 34 are still infinitely better because of the age of the eggs. So that probably rules me out with ancient eggs AND low AMH!

Hi ladies ... back at work now, which means I have a bit of time free again for forums! :D Welcome kerry and good to hear you're still positive about trying with your own eggs; as brown says, I'd consider you still a young 'un compared to me! :) Obviously I'm biased but I would also suggest a call with Penny after filling in their form - she's a complete breath of fresh air, full of down-to-earth common sense and boundless optimism and positivity. And as brown also said, her advice comes free, which is extremely unusual in this field.

/waves to everyone, how are you all doing?? pebbles you've gone quiet (I think), how are things with you? village I will attempt mightily to reply to your PM; sorry, I promise I'm not ignoring you, it's just finding 5 mins to myself is v difficult currently!! :)