IVF February/March 2021

[Alexm06]

Hi

I’m due to start IVF mid February depending on when my period in January starts.
Had a fresh cycle end of august which sadly ended in a missed miscarriage in October.
I only had that one embryo so will be starting a new fresh cycle.

Would love to chat to any ladies starting then as I found the chats really helpful during my first round.

@dragonfly1978 good luck! I've heard it hurts but my consultant assured me it doesn't. 😂 they said to take pain relief before going in. What's the reason for yours? Mine is because I've got some adhesions from previous c-section.
Still not heard from my clinic! They were supposed to call me yesterday to book all my appointments in. I'm not a patient person so I'm struggling. I left a voicemail yesterday but still nothing. Hope it's not because they don't have room for me.

Welcome to all the new people who have joined this thread! Good to learn a bit about your stories as we prepare to journey together. Well, I got bored waiting for the clinic to call me to book everything in after a week and called them. Seems the wait has cost us starting at the end of jan but we are booked it to start to end of feb and have our appointments in the diary now. It's short cycle so will be transferring mid March if all goes to plan (I say that as last FET I lost my period for 60 days after a down regulation was disbanded!). Hopefully it will come back at end of jan and be ready and regular for a new fresh cycle at end of feb but at least we have some wriggle room if it doesn't! It was potentially going to have been a rush for end of January so am ok with a feb start - we will be cycling again almost exactly a year since the last fresh cycle - everything and nothing has changed in that time!

Hi, can I join?

I was due to start stims on Friday but my period arrived 8-days early so missed starting this week :(

I guess these things happen for a reason. So I'll start in 3-weeks time I think, unless I am now on a 21-day cycle!

A little about me, this will be our 3rd cycle, cycle 1 and 2 yielded 5 blasto. I have endo and MFI to deal with too, we are a right pair!

Mrbay That's so annoying! We do all of this prep to make sure things happen exactly when we want them to and mother nature steps in to mess things up. Hopefully you don't end up waiting too long to start.

I had my consent signing / injection teach appt yesterday and the nurse said we didn't have to self-isolate for treatment. I'm surprised the clinics aren't all following the same rules to be honest, but it does make life easier for us as I'm a key worker and still have to go into work. I'm starting norethisterone next Thursday for 12 days, then onto meriofert on day 2 once I get my withdrawal bleed.

I'm feeling a bit apprehensive about all the hormones, with Covid, lockdown, dreadful weather and everything else that's going on in the world I'm worried the hormones will feel even worse this time than they normally do!

Hello!
Joining this thread hope that’s ok!! I am new to all of this and finding it a very scary time. We are having ISCI IVF in March. Probably start around mid March. Can anyone give me any tips that might help the process?
Also, did anyone take any time off work to have IVF? I am curious with this question. I have a very stressful job, I am a nurse and work is mad busy and also with covid I wouldn’t want to risk catching that mid IVF cycle.
I am 25 ttc baby number 1, ttc 17 months now. I have tried Letrozole which has made me ovulate each time but sadly we have recently found out my partners count is low! Cannot understand why as he’s one of the healthiest people I’ve ever met!
Anyway feel free to ask me any questions or give me any advice!
Thanks 🙏

@swirls3468 welcome and welcome to everyone else. It's my first Ivf cycle I am working from home but work is stressful so my plan is take take at least 7-10 days sick leave following transfer. I just think putting so much money and time into this process I don't want to regret not taking time off and stressing myself out.

Hi all, please can I join? Hoping to start round 1 NHS funded IVF ICSI in Feb/March but I have no dates yet. The clinic wanted my TSH lower before we start so on medication and got to retest on 1st Feb. Think it's more likely to be March than Feb now, possibly even later if they can't fit me in. I will be on short protocol due to higher than average AMH.

We have severe male factor- very low count and morphology. I also found out last week I have adenomyosis.

I am also a key worker in the NHS (office based though) and have a very stressful job.

Hi to all joining, and hugs to all feeling the stress as if it isn’t all stressful enough for us, throw a global pandemic into the mix and the stress levels are off the chart.

I had a phone call yesterday that my FET meds are going to be delivered on 4 Feb. I’m hoping they wouldn’t book my meds delivery if cancelling me was on the cards, though deep down I know really this is totally false. Looking forward to seeing what protocol I’m on, as I’ve no clues until I see what drugs show up

Hope everyone is managing to get through the week

Hello please may I join? I'm 34 trying for our first for just over 1.5 years. I have Diminished Ovarian Reserve with a very low AMH of 0.2.
After this months IUI just got cancelled (none of my follicles got any bigger than 13mm😩) my consultant said we can go to IVF on my next cycle which is in about 2 weeks. I'll be doing a Natural Modified protocol. We're doing this privately because I don't qualify for funding from the NHS due to my low AMH. So excited to be moving forward but feeling a little daunted about the IVF process. Also it's working out at about £5 for this one round which may not even work for us as I'm only going to get a few eggs so feeling a little stressed about money.x

I'm on cycle 3 so I might be able to give some tips (I'm not a medical professional) but they are things I've picked up across the boards.

Firstly, injecting yourself for the first time is a little worrying but once you've done it, it is really simple!

Protein can help with follicles to grow, I think around 60 to 100g aday - I used clear protein shakes to help top me up.

Vit E can help with lining development.

However, first and for most, just need to relax, there is very limited scientific evidence that you can do anything to positively influence your IVF cycle. That being said, there is an Australian study that showed those who laughed after ET, had a slightly increased outcome of implantation. Get your YouTube video ready with a bit of stand up!

@Dbop100 - I have a low AMH (1.9 or 2.1 I think), 1st cycle 3 eggs all got to day 5 - all transferred but only one made to 5wk 5days. cycle 2, tried lots of changes got 2 eggs, only one transferred neg. So this time I am going back to how I was for Cycle 1 - relaxed and not stressing about what it says in It Starts With an Egg.

Thanks for the tips @Mrbay that's very interesting about the protein, I've not tried this yet but I will give it a go for sure. I went gluten free for this cycle as I have suspected Endo (but cannot get a laparoscopy incase it lowers my AMH) but then had the worst results with follicles I've had yet! Previously I've always got 1 and sometimes 2 on Clomid.

May I ask which clinic you're at? I'm London based and been doing IUIs with Amanda Tozer who is sort of independent but works with Care. One round is so expensive I don't know if we would be wiser to get a 3 cycle package.

@Dbop100 - a fellow IVFer passed that on to me, I think she went to Zita West and that was the advice she was given.

I'm Care, Bath, currently NHS funded but this will be our last cycle, fingers crossed I get a positive test during this cycle.

I think 3 cycles, back to back with batch freezing is around £8k plus meds but includes freezing and one FT - please don't quote me as we only asked for an about cost. We've have to have ICSI so that will be additional I expect.

So far, I've not had any additional adds ons via Care, but I have had a laparoscopy to check tubes and endo and then an open myomectomy to remove a fibroid so hopefully that will be the key that unlocks the puzzle that is IVF and infertility.

@Mrbay @Dbop100 yes, for my successful fresh cycle, I ate lots of protein during stimming injections. Raspberry leaf tea and pomegranate juice is also supposed to help thicken lining.
I also had a head and shoulder massage 2 days after transfer and imagined the embryo implanting 🙈 it helped me relax anyway. X

Thanks For the tips everyone. I'm not even sure what protocol etc I'll be on but I am a bit worried about body over responding as my AMH Is 72.6 or something mega high because I have pcos. I produced 3 eggs with letrozole all 18mm at day 11. Has anyone had experience of ivf with higher amh and know what kind of cycle I will be doing? Thanks everyone x

My FET has been postponed to March/ April. I’ll leave this thread for now.
Good luck everyone x

@BeHereNowx32 oh no I’m sorry. Good luck! X

@swirls3468 this is my first cycle but I think with high AMH you are likely to be on a short protocol with a low stim dose as you will likely respond well and you will be at risk of OHSS. My AMH is 44 and that is what they are doing with me.

Oh sorry to hear that @BeHereNowx32 I meant to say sooner thanks for your advice - good luck for March x

Oh I see ... that would make sense! When do you start? Do you know how long to whole process takes? From first injection to transfer ? I'm so anxious about it all. About how each stage can go wrong. And only get one round on nhs where I live! X

@swirls3468 I had a high AMH (it was written down as 27.5 in category 4, but I haven’t managed to find a scale to compare this to so I’m clueless as to whether it’s really high or not but I had a high follicle count to begin with which also added to the OHSS risk). I was on short protocol with the lowest dose of Meriofert. I ended up with 17 eggs retrieved. I was always going to be a freeze all because my embryos needed PGD, but what I would say is if you’re at risk of OHSS then prepare yourself that you might need a freeze all cycle and not transfer right away

Thank you ! This is really useful advice. Mines in the 90th centile as above 70. This is why I am so worried. We tried letrozole to induce ovulation and that produced 3 eggs so they advised against intercouse as a risk of multiples. I've heard frozen is not as successful as fresh transfer ? Is that true ? When did you have your ivf ? 17 eggs is amazing 💓Xxxx

@swirls3468 I had heard that too but I’ve seen recently that some clinics are switching to favour FETs because they’re now getting better results with those. It gives a chance for the woman’s body to recover after the stims drugs. I’ve been told it’s 50/50 whether it will stick or not for my FET, not sure how true that is. I had my egg collection in October and I’m due to transfer my first embryo w/c 15 March, I should be starting meds in Feb xx

Hi, I'm about to start my first round of IVF. My Long protocol starts with burserelin injections tomorrow. I'm nervous, but mainly excited! It's been a long road to get here but we're NHS funded, treatment is through Nurture Nottingham.

I'm 31, been trying for 2.5 years consistently but also various times before that (been married 8.5years and we first tried the year after we were married). Was on Clomid through Spring and Summer but no results.

Anyway, we've been told unexplained infertility, so I'm hoping IVF will be successful and not throw us many (or any!) curveballs. Maybe that's naive?! This forum looks like a great place to share our experiences and learn from each other.

@Donimo it sounds like we'll be close together time wise! Hope all goes well for you.

@thetallgirl unfortunately my treatment has been delayed. Had my appointment on Friday and was due to start. We spent 2 hours with the nurse going through all the protocol, had bloods, taught how to do the injections, and paid in full for treatment and meds. All that was left to do was get a time slot for my baseline scan. But the nurse come back in and say I can't start this month!!

The anaesthetists have partly been redeployed so they have reduced capacity . We have now been booked to start on my next cycle and given timeslots for scans now! As long as my period isn't late, its due this week.

I hope your first injection goes well tomorrow. Its all quite daunting! What date have you got for egg retrieval and transfer?

@Donimo on no! That's frustrating. Fingers crossed AF comes on time and all goes smoothly next month.