August IVF

[Mseddy]

Had a quick look through but can't find an existing thread. Anyone due to cycle in August after a bit of moral support?

We are due to start our 2nd cycle of icsi for male azoospermia and my premature ovarian aging (full house for us!)

@Mseddy Ahh okay, that makes me feel a bit better. I'll let you know what my doc says about ebiq. I've heard great success stories esp for women with low ovarian reserve so I figure it cant hurt right!?

How did your trial go? How have you found being on Norther? That stuff makes me psycho like I literally want to divorce myself that's how crazy it makes me lol. So glad to be off provera now (:

Awww bless you! It's hard to stay feeling good all the time isn't it. At least you can distract yourself with new school stuff. My DD still has a year at nursery but she'll be moving to a new one in September so I am trying to keep busy with that....

@seven201 If the stress of acupuncture is too much then then best to leave it as you have.

@StayingPositive8 Best of luck with your first injection tonight. I can't wait to get started eeeeek lol

I did acupuncture and Chinese medicine early on in my fertility journey (1-2 years TTC), with a very recommended herbalist and acupuncturist who specialised in fertility, pictures of babies his patients had had covered the walls, but I didn’t enjoy the needles, felt stressed the whole time they were in and had some pretty severe pain with some of them, and the herbs were horrendous. I tried taking herbal pills instead of the herbal drinks for a while too, but felt such relief to give it all up. Maybe if this round doesn’t work I’ll try it again but I’m not sure it’s worth doing if instead of being relaxed it stressed me out! It was also so expensive!

It’s interesting to hear other people had good experiences though and I’m glad it helps some people. Something I would be interested to try is fertility massage, has anyone done that?

@ro198 good luck for first injection, hope it’s simple and quick for you.

Hi again everyone, I posted a bit at the beginning of the thread but just read through the last few pages to catch up. So nice to feel there's a group of women here all going through it.

I had a bit of a rollercoaster today. Went for a saline ultrasound which (short version) showed no abrasions so we are good to go next cycle. Long version involved the consultant seeing some suspicious looking bits and having to repeat angles and views and compare to previous scans. Also had a really thin lining and no dominant follicle even though I was expecting to ovulate in a couple of days. Looks like the one cycle I want to be a regular one is going to be longer than expected. Gah!

AFC was 11 last month and looked similar again today which she said is really good considering my AMH is 5 so I'm happy with that.

Hope everyone has had a good start to the week and best of luck @Ro198 and @StayingPositive8 with your first injections xx

@unknownscot I also don't get a scan and blood work until day 7ish of injections.

What is AFC?

@unknownscot It's antral follicle count, the number of follicles on your ovaries "naturally" give a good indication of how many might grow and contain eggs when you do your egg retrieval cycle.

@zoeyj oh that's interesting norethisterone made you a bit crazy. I've been pretty grumpy for the past few days but work has been horrible, so I've blamed it on that but maybe it's been both!

The trial transfer was fine I guess. Just a bit uncomfy at times and it took a while as she was trying different catheters. I'm glad she didn't have any problems doing it this time.

I do miss the actual acupuncture and how soundly I sleep after it.

@seven201 I don't have PCOS so im ok to take DHEA. I have my baseline scan on tuesday too. If I have my usual 28 day cycle ill be starting meriofert on 7th August, but im getting ovulation symptoms and im only day 13 so i think i might have a shorter cycle this month maybe. I've had all the meds sat in the house waiting for a few weeks now, so I'm eager to just get going! We have decided this is our last shot at IVF with my eggs anyway, so i just want to get going and get it over with so i know where we stand!

@Mseddy apologies, I meant to write zoeyj!

Do you in a way feel a bit relived that you have planned the plan b?

Out of curiosity,
Does anyone have any holidays booked this summer?
What's thoughts on going abroad?

@Bruce2 we haven’t, we’ve spent a lot on home improvements this year and want to save some more for hopefully, if we’re lucky, maternity leave but might get a weekend away in this country. Summer weather has been rubbish thought I’d love to go somewhere hot, especially if this doesn’t work out. Are you thinking of going away?

@zoeyj i don’t get on with norethisterone either from the one time I took it in the past it made me so sick and (tmi) constipated. I was at the clinic today and they’ve just given it to me to take for 7 days, fun times ahead!

On that note does anyone know how soon after norethisterone you have a bleed? I think the nurse said 7 days after but that seems a long time.

@Bruce2 I would love to go abroad but I'm using up annual leave on my cycle and I want to go back to Scotland to see my family as well. Also got the mental gymnastics going on of "what if I'm pregnant?". I've experienced loss (both early and late loss) so I don't think I would feel relaxed going abroad in case anything happened. If it doesn't work though then maybe we'll book something last minute. What about you? Are you going away?

We were thinking about it just to take our minds off the 2ww
I've had 2 Frozen transfers, both times i stayed at home for 2ww, both times it failed so I'm kinda thinking if it's meant to be it's meant to be.
Staying at home might not change the outcome...but then going away might affect it
I'm in 2 minds.

We're from Scotland ourselves so we could always pop up and see family instead of going abroad. When I say abroad, we'd be driving through the eurotunnel and staying in a villa so not too high risk I imagine.

I just don't know.

I stopped the norethisterone on Saturday night and started bleeding last night just as they said I would! Science is crazy!
Go in for baseline and blood tests tomorrow

Morning all,
@kikisparks My acupuncturist is practises Chinese medicine too! I don’t think he does any herbs though. From what I’ve read acupuncture can really help with fertility, so I stuck with it. I too find the needles quite painful, not just the prick but like the dull pain it causes. Apparently it’s good if you ‘feel the needles’ though, means they are doing their job. Is a fertility massage one where you have your abdomen massaged?
It’s weird how all these drugs affect us in different ways isn’t it. When I’ve had norther in the past I would normally get a bleed after a few days (3-5 max).
@Cardboardcat Ohh sorry to hear that but in a way I guess it’s good they are being thorough and really having a good look? Oh and I know what you mean about cycles not going as planned (more on that in a sec) Also I am sorry to hear about your pregnancy losses ☹ I’m planning to use my annual leave for this cycle too.
@Seven201 Ahh I see. Totally understand you want to just get on with it, exactly how I feel. All this waiting is like torture.
@Bruce2 I don’t have any hols planned. Actually that’s a lie….in my head I have planned that I will fall pregnant and DH and I will have a babymoon in Mexico but that’s just a fantasy really lol. I cant really focus on anything else other than TTC at the moment, I don’t really feel like going on holiday (or out generally for that matter, lockdown is serving me well) Also the treatment is so expensive so I want to save as much as I can.
Guys I need some advice please. I am due to start my period today (finished provera on Saturday). And on Monday night….(TMI alert) I wiped and saw some red blood so I was like ok my period is coming but then nothing all of yesterday until the evening when I wiped and saw red again, a bit more this time. So I was like okay period is coming and then nothing all night and nothing so far this morning either. I am SO confused…this isn’t how my period usually starts, even when I’ve taken provera/norther, it starts of and then turns into flow. Does anyone have an idea of why it’s not turning into flow? I hope nothing is wrong. I am crazy anxious and had a cry this morning. I just want to get on with the cycle already and everything is taking so long sigh.
Zoey xx

@Bruce2
There is absolutely no way I'd be going abroad this year, only due to COVID. However, I do think it's a very personal opinion and each to their own.
But, for me the risks outweigh the benefits and I'm happy to stay home this year and enjoy seeing some of our lovely country here in Scotland.
I work in the NHS and have seen first hand the devastation this virus can cause. That, in addition with my own anxiety, means I definitely wouldn't be travelling abroad. X

Sorry me again, It also might be worth saying that I have had EVERY PMS symptom under the sun. I'm moody, emotional, boobs are sore, had a bit of cramping which has eased off now. So clearly the provera has 'worked' just not sure what's going on :(

[quote unknownscot]@Bruce2
There is absolutely no way I'd be going abroad this year, only due to COVID. However, I do think it's a very personal opinion and each to their own.
But, for me the risks outweigh the benefits and I'm happy to stay home this year and enjoy seeing some of our lovely country here in Scotland.
I work in the NHS and have seen first hand the devastation this virus can cause. That, in addition with my own anxiety, means I definitely wouldn't be travelling abroad. X[/quote]
Yes, I completely understand your position and respect your opinion on it.
I know, maybe it's silly, I just feel like I sat around for 2 weeks in 2018 & 2019 after embryo transfer playing it safe, taking it easy and then...period arrived.
Maybe I'm hoping if I try something different this time round then I'll get a different outcome.
It's funny, all my Scottish friends are doing staycations this year including one who's a GP, the same GP friend who travelled to Florida during Zika virus outbreak and fell pregnant over there so I'm a bit perplexed at the difference in her reaction to Covid but again each to their own and I'm not in the healthcare industry so have no first hand experience of difference. It's just an observation.
But all the GP's, including our own, that we know in south east are travelling abroad with their own families (in care not planes)
Funny how we're so close but quite different.

We could get into a full discussion about it all but I'll save that for another thread 😂

@Bruce2 I think you just need to go with how YOU feel about things. Each person will have a different view point, and as we both know, that's okay.

I hope you make an informed decision and have a lovely time either away or at home. ❤️

@zoeyj fingers crossed it starts today for you xxx

@Bruce2 good luck for tomorrow!

@Bruce2 it’s maybe also because being in Scotland it’s not very easy for us to travel abroad in cars- can be done but you’d have several days journey to get there and back!

@zoeyj sorry no experience of provera but I often spot then stop spotting before I have a full bleed just naturally- I appreciate that’s not normal for you but drugs may have caused it? Hopefully you’ll get a full period soon.

I think fertility massage is an abdominal massage- I’m actually not keen on having my stomach touched so might not like that either

@zoeyj I don't think you need to worry. My period usually starts with a bit of blood, then full flow pretty soon over by 5 days. But my last one was really light and lasted 10 days. I think sometimes that just happens. I mentioned it to my doctor and she said it didn't matter. But do speak to your clinic if you are concerned. I'm no doctor!

[quote kikisparks]@Bruce2 good luck for tomorrow![/quote]
Thank you xxx

[quote kikisparks]@Bruce2 it’s maybe also because being in Scotland it’s not very easy for us to travel abroad in cars- can be done but you’d have several days journey to get there and back!

@zoeyj sorry no experience of provera but I often spot then stop spotting before I have a full bleed just naturally- I appreciate that’s not normal for you but drugs may have caused it? Hopefully you’ll get a full period soon.

I think fertility massage is an abdominal massage- I’m actually not keen on having my stomach touched so might not like that either [/quote]
Yes this is true! :)