Abandoned cycle due to low response- any advice or history please?

[Yorkshirelass27]

Had my second scan today for my second Isci cycle. On the antagonist protocol and taking 450 Merional this time (was on gonal F last time). The scan only showed one follicle of a decent size (13mm) with two very small

Hi Yorkshirelass, I had exactly the same thing happen to me. I didn't respond properly to the drugs & I was advised by the clinic to abandon the cycle (we were icsi too).
My husband & I looked at each other & refused to abandon it. Call it a second sense, but we still wanted to carry on.
In the end I ended up with 3 eggs (two good quality) The two good ones were used.
The result is a very special young man who is nearly 11 years old, who makes me proud every day.
I wish you all the luck in the world

I'm sorry to hear that Yorkshire lass. My cousin didn't respond to her first cycle. But did to the second which resulted in her son...

Who are you cycling with? I'm near Leeds...

Hi, thank you both for replying.
dumpsadaisy I was really interested to hear your story, thank you and for sending your well wishes. Just goes to show its not quantity, it's quality. We go again tomorrow to see if anything has changed. I'm dreading making the decision, if we go ahead and it fails, we then have to start from scratch saving for another go, which will take months, Of course, if I had a crystal ball and knew it would work, I'd do it in a heartbeat!
The other option is to cut our losses and try again, once we have saved for the medication.
Thank you physicskate. Good to see your cousin had a positive outcome, despite a cancelled cycle. It gives me hope. I am cycling in Sheffield

Hi Yorkshire, I had a cycle cancelled earlier in the year due to poor response to treatment.
Given the number of follicles in your last cycle it could be that this protocol hasn't agreed with you did whatever reason.

I haven't got pregnant yet but did go on to have a subsequent cycle with a much more positive response to the drugs.

Good luck with whichever path you are taking.

Hi. I’m in. Very similar boat.
First 2 cycles I got 11 eggs.
This time round at my first 3 Scans there was only 1 decent follicle and a few tiddlers.
We haven’t cancelled and have persevered and there are now 4 potentially of the right size and ec is tomorrow so I’ll update you then. Frankly it’s been miserable and stressful and expensive (on 600 units total stims). But the main reason we carried in was that they couldn’t give me a reason why a subsequent cycle would be any better and I couldn’t face waiting 3 months for the same outcome. We are also in a multi cycle package so theoretically have already paid for one more cycle.
It’s been soul destroying but I’m desperately clinging on to the hope maybe the quality will be ok.
Good luck x

Thank you JeNeBaguette and beanhunter for your replies, they are very much appreciated.
The cycle was cancelled this morning, having only had one follicle of a decent size. I am wondering if like you say JeNeBaguette, if this medication didn't agree with me for some reason. Although my FSH was higher (15) this time around (11 before).
I do wonder if we had been given the opportunity to continue whether there would have been more follicles of the correct size. I just darent risk the total cycle cost on one egg. Although I am scared it may have been my only chance.
Sorry to hear things have been miserable beanhunter. Really hope things work out for you. Please keep us posted.

Good luck both of you, wishing you positive outcomes xx

Hi OP. So sorry to hear of your cancelled cycle. It’s massively disappointing and so hard to know which call to make in that situation. I guess you have to put your trust in the clinicians and be guided by their experiences but there will always be what-ifs so go easy on yourself.

I have a similar experience to share. I’ve recently finished a 3 cycle egg collection package and when I started in September last year I very naively thought I’d have all three done by Xmas ready to do a FET in the new year. As it was when I went along in September I only had one follicle and it didn’t really grow so my cycle was cancelled. Then I went in October and I had a functional cyst on one of my ovaries that was secreting hormones so again, the cycle was cancelled. I started to think that it was over before it had even began and that I was such a lost cause I couldn’t even get off the starting blocks with IVF, let alone conceive with it - it was a really shit time. I went in November ready for more bad news on the day of the baseline scan but that cycle was a totally different story, I had a decent (for me) number of antral follicles and I responded well to the drugs - I only stimmed for about 4 or 5 days. I got three embryos from that cycle that are currently frozen, along with the ones I got from collection cycles 2 and 3 which followed in Jan and Feb this year. So I do believe we all have rogue cycles and it could just be bad luck that, like me, you attempted IVF on one of yours. It’s gutting from an emotional and financial point of view and it makes an already tough process even harder though so I’m sorry that you are in this boat.

Good luck for your next attempt, fingers crossed it will go much better 💐

Thanks. Went better than anticipated and we got 5 eggs - though don’t know how many are mature.
I’m so sorry that you’ve had to cancel x

Thanks for your message AndCallMeNanacy, sounds like you have also had a tough time. I am hoping it was the meds that didn't agree with me. Really hope you have a positive outcome.

Well done on the 5 eggs beanhunter, really pleased to hear you got more than expected! Hope you are feeling ok. Got everything crossed they are all mature and fertilise
x

Yorkshire don't question whether you did the right thing, you did the very logical thing. I didn't have a choice re my cancelled cycle, the clinic weren't prepared to keep stimming me.
I think you did the right thing by saving your money for a future cycle as egg collection is the most expensive part of the process due to anaesthetic and the procedure itself.
See what they say at your review. Try and get it sooner rather than later, ask what they'd do differently.

Good luck to the others here too.

Same thing happened to us on our first IVF cycle. I was on Puregon and didn't respond, had just one follicle. We're in Ireland so we pay privately but my clinic gave a very decent refund if the cycle didn't make it to collection so we agreed to cancel and save our money.

In previous IUI cycles, I stimmed with Menopur and had gotten good results so I told my consultant this. We went straight into a new cycle the next month, with a combined protocol of Menopur and Puregon. I got 15 eggs.

Only 1 fertilised normally (for other previously unknown reasons), we did a 3 day transfer and our baby is more than 1 now.

We made the right decision to cancel the first cycle, as upsetting as it was at the time - if we only had 1 egg and then ran into the fertilisation problems we didn't expect, it would have been a failed cycle and we'd have been back to square 1 saving for a new cycle.

You made the best decision for you at the time - all the best for the next cycle.

Hello Meredith, thank you for your message. It has really helped hearing how others have been in a similar situation and things have improved. Great to hear how you went on to have a baby.
We are back next week to see what can be done next. After hearing others experiences I am hoping a change of protocol and some medication tweaks will help. Feel like I have been knocked back, but I'm not ready to give in yet.
Thanks again and have a lovely weekend x