IVF&FET June/July cycle buddies

[Lemongrass1]

Hi, we are starting a FET this month after a bit of back and forth with the clinic. Start downreg on Fri with ET hopefully first week of July. Wondering if anyone else cycling around the same time? X

@LongtermTTC we are on the same protocol by the sound of it. The drugs are terrifying, my gonal f is in 900s, so presumably I'll have to measure it out myself as I'll be on 375 a day. All being well they will explain it all to me on Tuesday at my scan.

I also have low AMH and low follicle count, I've been taking co q10 too but no dhea, by the time I heard of it it was quite close to my cycle and I didn't want to try anything new. Plus I take omega 3 (which cured my dry skin so must do something), pregnacare pre conception and extra vitamin d. It does feel like I rattle and they are not cheap!

I feel like I'm drinking tonnes of water but on synarel I am always thirsty. It's a struggle to drink enough!

That's amazing numbers from your last cycle @UncleBrynsfishingtrip!

I’m taking a prenatal vitamin, Coq10, drinking raspberry leaf tea and eating Brazil nuts! Not sure any of this actually works but it doesn’t hurt either so better to give it a chance! How much Coq10 are you all taking? I’m doing 400mg

I have just had this message sent to me so I thought I’d share with you lovely ladies as the words are so important....

Check-in with yourself today, how are you really feeling? What do you really need? How can you be a really good friend to yourself today? Choose the words you speak to yourself carefully.

Life has been gruelling lately, it's layered up on what we've had to deal with and many of us haven't adjusted our approach other than to take on more and more and more. Some of us will be keyworkers and carers and parents or isolated and lonely and not have had much of a choice over our circumstances but we do get to choose whether we're going to be our own friend or foe within all of that. You do deserve it despite your knee-jerk guttural reaction that says you don't. You do.

If you need time, take time. If you need space, find pockets of it. If you need to express the stress, find a way to do that. If you need to stop, do so, even if 15 minutes is all you've got. If you need to stay off social, use one of those app blocker tools. If you need to be more considerate of your self-choices, slow down and think things through. If you need to drink more water, pop reminders on y our phone and heed them. Take whatever you need in the same way you'd bend over backwards to help a friend in need. Be that friend to yourself.

Being kind to yourself is truly transformational and will touch every area of your life. If you really can't find it within yourself to do it for you, do it for them; the people who care about you, admire you, are influenced by you, who look up to you, who learn from you.

I just thought the words were perfect for us all right now. Let’s all do 15 mins of something for ourselves today. I’ve bought a loaf from the bakery and it smells lush!!!!!

@Cassette I'm doing 200mg ubiquinol. Don't know much about it really, I just bought some and take the maximum dose it recommends on the bottle.

@UncleBrynsfishingtrip that's lovely, thanks for posting! I'm finding work a bit intense at the moment and I do need to be reminded to take time.

Yeah I think we forget emotionally how this IVF stuff zaps the energy and my medications are definitely kicking is so today I’m doing as little as possible!

Hi ladies just noticed I don’t have syringes or needles to start my burselin on Monday morning.
I really want to ask my Manager if I could take few from our ward before I can go into the clinic to request for . Now one can’t do a walk in to my clinic due to corona.
This is really stressing me out . I was meant to Collect the needles and syringes during my appt with the nurse but covid changed everything.
I don’t think I have a choice than to ask permission afterall it’s just needles and my treatment is on NHS.

@RosettaR , @Tarsette I am taking 400mg

You’ll be able to get some from a clinic. They are open Sat/Sundays. My meds hadn’t arrived and my clinic paid for express courier to deliver on a Sunday. Phone them now if you can xx

@Rovera12 I would phone the clinic now, or first thing Monday morning if they are closed. They might be able to courier them to you on Monday. It's bad that they have left you without them so I expect they will do everything to put it right. Sorry to hear this, it must be stressful.

Thanks all , I got some needles and syringes. I went to the IVF clinic where I work n I explained to them.
I am relieved as my secret is safe, I did not want any of my colleagues or managers/matron to know I was going through IVF.

Phew!!!! Well done!!! Good syringe finding!

@Rovera12 that’s great, one less thing to stress about. Thank goodness there was an understanding IVF clinic where you work!

@Lemongrass1 yes 😁. I went wearing my uniform and my badge. I did not mind paying for it but d pharmacy closed early today.

Well done @Rovera12, now you an relax a bit.

I'm planning a very lazy day today because I've been very tired and headachey. Starting to get nervous for scan on Tuesday. Just really hope they let me go onto the next stage!

Argh I just took out my meds to check I had everything, my ovitrelle was at the back of the fridge and had ice on it! Will talk to the clinic on Tuesday but I suspect I will need a new one. Luckily it's the cheapest of all the meds, only £15 so I suppose it could be worse. I also realised last week I was meant to keep the synarel in the dark and I'd just been keeping it on a shelf in the bathroom... so I'm not doing very well at this so far.

They will sort it out I’m sure. Just pop it in the sun for a while?! Good idea to phone then to check.
I keep thinking about my embryos at -196 degrees!!! 🥶🥶🥶brrrr!!
Hope everyone has a lovely Sunday. I’m just out on a walk. It always makes me feel sooo much brighter. Serotonin release and all that! ☀️ 😁 xx

Hi Ladies, mind if I jump on here?

I'm starting my 2nd cycle of Natural Modified next week. I'm 40 ... with low AMH (0.7) and high FSH (13). Been taking Ubiquinol 600mg and PQQ, and something appears to have helped as my follicle count has gone up from 0 to 3 to 6 in a few months.

I also take vitamin D, Folic Acid, Maca, Proceive, Brazil nuts, veggie smoothies, Green tea, and just started taking Inositol and also Glutathione, just hoping something in that mix pushes my eggs to make it a bit further along next cycle. The last one we did we only got 1 fertilised but didn't make it to day 3. To be honest I was shocked an egg fertilised at all.

I'm hoping they'll adjust my stimms as I only took 2 shots of low dose Bemfola and a couple of cetrotide then trigger and was called in for egg collection all in the same week. Natural Modified concentrates on just one egg, so maybe it's just a quicker process.

Anyway, I just wanted to join in the discussion with you ladies. This is my first time doing IVF so it's all new to me. To be honest I wasn't even expecting anything at all to fertilise as the Dr I saw on the NHS said I'll never have kids with my own eggs (said I have 0 follicles and 0.2% chance with IVF). The clinic I'm at now specialises in older women with low AMH so I just want to give it a shot.

Good luck ladies.

Welcome @Heart4

I admire your healthiness!!! Well done 🍉 🌽 I’ve just eaten a very unhealthy breakfast of Brie, crossiants and French baguette!

Sound like you are doing everything possible to maximise your chances. I’ve not heard of natural modified but it sounds like they know exactly what you need. Keep positive and we are all hear to support each other xx 💗 xx

@Heart4 welcome. That's great your follicle count improved so much.

Do you mind sharing what PQQ is, and also what brand of inositol you're using, and how much? I looked into it but I couldn't find a familiar brand. I'm not going to start anything new this far in but it's all useful information in case I need to do a second round. I'm early 30s but my AMH is low for my age so I'm trying to do everything I can.

I'm sorry the nhs doctor was so negative, the follicle count seems to really vary and I'm sure if they'd seen you in the month with 6 they would have said something completely different. I've had 8 and 22 follicles in two scans (three months apart) so I'm surprised they rely on it so much given how variable it seems to be. In my baseline scan for this cycle it had gone back down and I had no follicles on one side so I'm hoping it's not a bad time to do ivf, I was really hoping I'd get another good count like my 22.

Thank you for such a warm welcome! I haven't told anyone about my IVF except my mother and sister, so it's great that we can all support each other on here.

@UncleBrynsfishingtrip Brie and croissants sounds delish! I confess I ate a load of Camembert last night, on brown bread though. Everything is wholemeal anything to give my eggs a fighting chance. If I get nothing else from this, at least I'm healthier than I was before.

@RosettaR 22 follicles is fantastic. Well done!
PQQ is Pyrroquinoline quinone. From what I understand it helps CoQ 10 work better. So where CoQ10 (or Ubiquinol) works by fuelling the mitochondria in the cells, PQQ is supposed to help create new mitochondria - which sounds like a miracle to me but that's what I need, so worth a try. It's not as expensive as Ubiquinol and it makes Ubiquinol work better, I believe. At the very least PQQ is an anti-oxidant and protects the mitochondria from oxidative damage. Im not an expert though - I just read too much of this stuff on google LOL

xx

@RosettaR
Best of luck with your next scan. I hope you are back to having lots of follicles again.
I have a phone consultation on Monday to see where we go from here with the next cycle.
xx

@Heart4 I know I just don't know where I went wrong since then! Thanks for the info, I will keep that in mind if there's a next time.

Cheese has quite a lot of protein so I wouldn't think it was a bad ivf food.

Welcome @Heart4! It sounds like they have you in a good personalised protocol. I’ve heard from ladies in Natural Modified from other threes. If I recall correctly, the idea is to aim for quality rather than quantity in terms of eggs, which sounds like a pretty good approach to me! In my experience, being able to share what is going on during your cycle on a thread like this one is invaluable! You’re speaking to others who know exactly what you are going through, and are going through it at the same time. Even though you don’t know them personally, their words can sometimes feel more comforting than those of friends and family...

Yeah I don’t think friends and family understand unless they’ve been through the same.
I tend to just tell them I’m ok as it’s easier!!

Thank you @Tarsette, it really is lovely to meet all of you.

@RosettaR I forgot to mention the inositol I'm taking is by Zita West and it also contains folate. I have no idea if it works yet, as I've only just started it yesterday.
Do you mind me asking - did I read correctly that you had a polyp? They found one in me too. I hope they can remove it easily at the clinic, as I really don't want to go elsewhere for that procedure right now. Do you know what's involved?

Have a lovely evening all!