Bleeding 2 days post FET, VERY low progesterone

[PineappleC]

Hey, I wondered if anyone has had a similar experience or advice:

I had my FET on Thursday. Due to bleeding early following my fresh transfer earlier this year, I asked to have my progesterone tested. This was done the same day as the transfer, so I didn't get the result until yesyerday afternoon (screw up with clinic...don't get me started!)

Progesterone came back at 7nmol/l. The consultant said it was VERY low, and has prescribed IM injections. Thing is, they won't be here until Monday (even though promises a Sat delivery) and I started spotting this morning.

Is this it!? The consultant seemed to think I didn't need to worry and that low progesterone doesn't necessarily mean anything. Common sense and the spotting seem to be suggesting otherwise!!!

Oh no... is there no way you could get hold of some pesseries today to insert ? I have a few spare from my round if your local I’m near Leeds you can have them or maybe asda chemist may sell them ? x

maybe a doctor or hospital can prescribe some today for you to collect today

Aww thanks for the offer @shazzz1xx but no I'm on the pessaries already and it's still that low. The injections were meant to increase it to normal levels but I think it'll be too late by Monday 😥

How many pessaries are you on? You could take extra until Monday? Really hope all goes well for you

Thanks @ByTheSeaCatsandAll - I was on 2, planning to take 3 today now in a "last ditch attempt". I did ask the consultant and he said you can't take more than 2 (200mg each) but really willing to try anything atm. Do you know how many you can take in one day?
So upset at how this has been handled by the clinic!

I’ve known people on here to take 4 a day

@PineappleC

Ive took 3 per day since egg collection and mine are 400mg - I asked mine be tested on transfer day too (not done so for previous transfers) and mine came back 145 and I'm now pregnant with twins and I really think having high progesterone helped support both implanting

I'd pop a few more in and try the back way of not already doing so - I'm convinced doing them that way is more effective too as seem to get a lot less come out

and I'd file a complaint with the clinic if your cycle doesn't work - they should keep back up supplies of drugs like these in stock for emergencies like these (mine does) and you should have been able to pick some up as soon as your blood test results came back

@ivfdreaming congratulations! 😊

And thank you - actually I've checked and mine are also 400mg each. I have taken an extra one today, and will probably take two this evening. We currently feel we don't have anything to lose!

Yes I am so frustrated with the clinic. It took them ages to follow up and call me back with the results, which made the difference between me getting the injections on Fri vs Monday. Also they recommended using a delivery company which would be "quicker" and get here today (Sat) when I offered to drive into London to pick them up from the pharmacy. It'll definitely be at least Monday now. I should've insisted that they let me pick them up. So difficult when you think of all the possibilities and what you coukd be done differently! Definitely questions to be asked!!

Ugh how frustrating and upsetting. Try not to beat yourself up, we presume our clinics know what they are doing and you should be able to trust their service. But I know from experience it doesn’t work like that in reality.

Just to add I was on 4 pessaries a day, 2 in the morning and 2 in the evening. And my consultant said that too much progesterone won’t do any harm, just might make you feel extra sweaty.

Wishing you all the very best x

Thanks so much @bytheseacatsandall 😊 I will definitely take 2 tonight then. Feel a bit hopeless but will give this one my best shot 🤞x

Hi pineapple, I remember you from the Feb/March thread. I'm sorry to hear you've had this added stress. I looked on your thread as I too am worried about progesterone levels. On cycle one I started spotting a few days before otd and full flow on otd itself. Strangely my distinctive period/endo pain came about a week before otd. For this reason my clinic agreed to add lubion every 3 days. Almost the exact same thing happened however, I got a bfp (2days in to my period). This has turned out to be ectopic (I'm currently being monitored) which was no surprise as obviously my lining has come away. I believe that the lubion was supporting the pregnancy but that it had not built up enough to prevent my period in time. I suspect I don't absorb the pessaries as well. I will be bringing this up with my consultant and pushing for daily lubion next time. I starting using the back way for cyclogest after the bleeding so I'm also wandering if that helped with the bfp too. My clinic don't usually test progesterone (I'll be getting that done next tine for sure) but the EPU did and mine is currently 43 which apparently is fine for this stage in a normal pregnancy. I'm convinced it's the lubion! Anyway I'm not sure how my story helps other than to say that some people don't seem to absorb the cyclogest as well and need more or other forms. My friend was on 6 a day! I think upping it is a good idea. I hope the clinic helps you tomorrow. X

Hey @SpyroC yeah I remember you too! So sorry to hear about your ectopic! When you say monitoring do you mean it's still viable? I really didn't know this was possible with ectopics so sorry if I've got the wrong end of the stick but if it is still going then all the very best of luck🤞🤞

Yes I think I have an issue with absorbing all of the medication - my lining was only 7.4mm on the Progynova tablets and progesterone at 7.2nmol/l. With my own hormones, my lining was 10mm+ and progesterone at 38. I am definitely now taking shitloads of cyclogest and praying things last until these injections are delivered. It seems to be the case with quite a few of us so really surprised this isn't tested routinely. Currently very minimal brown spotting but feel very crampy so not getting my hopes up but really praying 🤞🤞

And yes I've been applying rectally all along but unfortunately doesn't seem to have done very much for me! 🤷‍♀️

@PineappleC I've been told it's very unlikely. I've still had to do the cyclogest and lubion in case of a miracle but it feels like I'm probably making it worse. Hopefully I'll know for certain today.

There's a lot of posts about this over on health unlocked. People seem to be told different things about it as it appears the research is unclear (I've not done In depth research myself...yet, this is just from what I've gathered from others) I think clinics like ours are perhaps conscious of the cost but when you've spent a fortune already Id sooner pay a few hundred more if I need injections. (It must cost a bomb up to 10 weeks if it cares but still a drop in the ocean in comparison!) spotting and cramping could be either way so 🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻 it's a good sign. When is your otd? X

Oh so sorry to hear that @SpyroC, that must be very difficult. It's the "not knowing" that is the worst in all this. I really hope you find out today and keeping my fingers crossed that it is positive 🤞

Yes I am on my one NHS funded FET and they have kept stressing to me that they don't normally test progesterone because its not paid for by the NHS and we have to pay for it ourselves (It's £30 🤷‍♀️). I get that many ppl may not be able to afford to pay for injections over 10 weeks but at least give us all the option! My injections are costing £86 for a week and I'd happily pay £860 for 10 weeks if it was the difference between one baby and no baby! It will also be a lot less expensive than multiple further failed rounds!

I phoned the pharmacy, they had it scheduled for delivery tomorrow so I'm currently on a train from Brighton to London to pick it up myself. A day on the tube is just what I needed(!) but at least I am no longer sitting around waiting for a delivery that won't show up!

Otd is not until 17th! I guess at least I've been keeping myself occupied so far, but last time I didn't even make it to OTD. Hoping that I am not too late in starting the injections today, so far the spotting has stayed brown and light (And I took 6 cyclogest yesterday 😅) so 🤞🤞🤞

A friend of mine at her 8 week midwife appointment managed to get the lubion proscribed and could use her maternity exemption certificate so it was free. I think GPs are better about agreeing to proscribe lubion than they are clexane - clexane is a nightmare/impossible to get on the NHS

I would be interested to see this research as my own experience was that when I took pessaries only I bled before OTD and when I had injections I didn't so I'm now insistent on injections!

Best of luck@PineappleC!

@ivfdreaming that's a really good idea! I hope I get the chance to test this out (iyswim)!

@MabelG thank you!😊 I really hope they will help me 🤞. If not, at the very least I'll know for next time!

I finally picked up the injections, bloody good thing too as the package they'd put together didn't include any needles or syringes 😅 I had to go to a different random pharmacy nearby to get the correct ones, and to plead with them to help me do the injection. This other pharmacy was so kind to me, really lovely (and unexpected for London too!). Currently using a plastic bottle as my sharps bin.

Anyway, fingers crossed these injections help 🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞

Just go update this one too: after 4 days on the injections, my levels rose from 7 to 119. I got a BFP this morning (4 days later) 😊 So don't worry if you don't get progesterone injections until after transfer. Early days though so of course not sure if this will affect the development. 🤞🤞

That’s brilliant news congratulations!

Thank you very much @ByTheSeaCatsandAll 😊 Hoping and praying it stays around!

Congratulations @PineappleC that's amazing news! X

Thanks so much @SpyroC 😊 I really hope things work out for you too 🤞🤞

@PineappleC it was not meant to be for me I'm afraid. 🙁