Experience of what sized follicles produced a mature egg?

[Rosiestraws]

Hi

I'm doing egg freezing, not IVF, but as I understand it, what I'm doing is the same as the first stage of IVF (at least for those on a short protocol - works with my natural cycle and start injections on day2/3 of the cycle).

I have DOR and therefore was only expecting to be able to get a few eggs a cycle.

Day 6 (of treatment) scan showed 6 small follicles of left (baseline scan pre treatment of 4 follicles on left) and 1 on right (never changes...lazy ovary!) so they weren't happy I was responding as hoped and continued on same meds, not adding new injection.

Day 8 scan today showed they were all growing apart from 2 (which presumably were the ones stimulated by hormones to appear) but not great sizes yet and quite spaced out.

1 at 13mm
1 at 11mm
1 at 10mm
1 at 8mm (right ovary)
1 at 7mm
2 at less than 6mm (these havent grown at all)

I'm starting my additional injections tomorrow and then back in for a scan Monday and if all goes well then egg collection near the end of next week.

Just wondered what people's experience is of how small a follicle has to be to have a mature egg in? (I know it's meant to be at least 16mm-18mm but we're all different aren't we so just hoping for some success stories with smaller :) )

I also know they'll continue to grow (hopefully) but it seems likely that the dominant follicle is going to forge ahead and cause me to have egg collection when that is 18mm but the others may still 2 or 3mm behind. Was hoping for maybe 3 eggs?

Thanks for any replies

I'm a control freak and kept spreadsheets of all my follicles over 5 rounds of IVF 🤣🤦‍♀️ - all
Follicles that were 14mm or bigger on day of trigger (so 36 hours before Collection) yielded a mature egg in My case

Thanks so much for replying

@Rosiestraws the smallest follicle I had at the time I was told to stop the stims and take the trigger, that yielded an egg was 12mm. I didn’t expect to get an egg from this one, it only seemed to appear right at the end.

Good luck, it sounds like you’ve still got a few more days of stims left, I hope they grow nicely and you get a good yield of eggs

Follicle size was never a very good indicator for me. The Estrogen blood result (they do before trigger at my clinic) was always spot on though. They say roughly a 1000 per egg. It's worth asking them this as my clinic didn't mention this until after egg collection. If if I'd of known I'd have had slightly lower expectations going in. Most women find their estrogen level is online with the follicles and hopefully you'll be one of them. Best of luck x

I don't remember sizes at all I'm afraid, but I distinctly remember being told to expect 10-15 based on last scan before collection and given more meds to boost smaller ones. Ended up with 25 mature so I agree with PP that it isn't an accurate indicator. Good luck!

Thanks ladies - it did not go well at all as 0 eggs (I have posted separately about this) so I'm pretty gutted. But just wanted to thank you for your replies as I hadn't already done so.
I've also heard about the oestrogen test now being an indication of number of eggs and will be insisting on this next time.

I saw your other thread, @Rosiestraws. I'm so sorry Really hope you have a better outcome next time.

I'm so sorry @Rosiestraws to go through all of that for nothing must be heart breaking. It seems odd that they didn't test your estrogen levels prior to surgery as I believe they do this to check the risk of OHSS but then again it might be that in egg freezing, as no embryo goes back, that they worry less about this (embryos are often frozen if they are concerned about OHSS after IVF). It's worth asking though. I would also ask about follicle flushing. At my last collection they were worried I'd get no eggs as the first few were empty through follicle aspiration alone. The consultant then decided to switch to follicle flushing which produced my 2 eggs (one of which is now growing inside me at 22w pregnant). She must've switched to that for good reason so I'd ask if this is something they could do next time. If she hadn't of done that I could well of left with 0 eggs. They don't do it as standard as I think they worry that the flushing could damage the egg. My final bit of advice is to read the book "It Starts With an Egg" by Rebecca Fett. I followed this to improve my egg quality. Just be careful with DHEA & Melatonin as you'll need your clinic to agree to that (she says all this in the book). Best of luck and I hope your consultant suggests something to help. Xx

Thanks both of you.

@SpyroC I have diminished ovarian reserve so in total had 7 follicles across both ovaries, only 4/5 of which were anywhere near big enough to have an egg so I am at very low risk of OHSS which is why I assume they didn't do the oestrogen blood test to check for OHSS. I have since read that this is also something that links to the number of eggs likely to get - i.e. higher oestrogen = higher eggs so that's the reason I'm hoping they'll do it next time. Along with a test to check for early ovulation. I think I explained in one other post but I wonder if I ovulated early because the other follicles start shrinking when you ovulate don't they, and my right one had shrunk 14mm to 13mm Mon-Wed and then apparently was 4mm on Sat so who knows what that means.. I also didn't start my Fyramandel until 2/3 days later than the standard because my follicles weren't stimulated enough so they wanted to keep stimulating me for longer.. again.. wonder if this played a role?

I've never heard of follicle flushing vs follicle aspiration - had a quick google but not found anything that makes it clear - do you know the difference by any chance? Not sure which I had...

Thanks re It Starts with the egg - I've heard of that so will download it.

@Rosiestraws that's right about the estrogen. It's a much better indicator for me. In all 3 cycles I had my egg numbers were correctly predicted by the estrogen yet the follicles suggested more eggs. The estrogen is good as it stops you from getting your hopes up. They say about 1000 per egg. I was never at risk of OHSS either but they still always tested estrogen. I didn't know much about flushing either, in fact all I had heard was that it can damage the egg so it worried me a bit. Basically the standard procedure is aspiration- basically they pop the follicle and suck out the egg. In flushing they use a bigger needle and from what I can remember fluid is used to flush out the egg. It leaves no stone unturned. There is some suggestion that eggs can stick to the follicle wall and be missed. I'm by no means an expert on this so see what your consultant says. They should've been able to tell if you ovulated naturally as a natural ovulation would be visible on a scan as I'm assuming it would still form a corpus luteum, they should be able to advise you on this. X

Thanks, that's really helpful. I'll add it to my list of qs for consultant.

I think I read that the corpus lutuem wouldnt show up on the scan if it had just happened? I.e on the Sat if the delay of 30 mins had caused it, it wouldnt have had time to form.. but if it was now it would show up. Of course no current scans planned so no way of knowing for sure :/

Just wanted to say that my egg collection was slightly delayed and it didn't affect my collection. (I remember being concerned because they told me to be exact with the timing of the trigger shot!) Nobody seemed concerned about the delay though and others on the ward going in after me were also late, so I assumed it wasn't likely to be an issue. That doesn't mean it didn't affect yours, of course. Worth asking your clinic but I'm guessing slight delays aren't that uncommon.

@yokey thanks - others have also said 36.5 hours no issues.. I think still something I'll insist on next time though, as perhaps it depends on the woman? Who knows..!