IVF first timers - June 2021 Protocol

[Luan82]

Hello 👋🏼!! About to embark on the absolutely terrifying process of IVF in June (once my next cycle finishes) and though it might be nice to get chatting to some people going through the same? Meds due tomorrow and bloods booked in for Saturday - Let me know if you are in the same boat would be great to get some support from some fellow infertility warriors ❤️x

@Luan82 oh no, but it's only a few days so hopefully won't impact things much at all. A few more runs then before the couch potato sets in!! My current state...wheatgerm bag, blanket, mint tea and the real housewives of somewhere on the Tv!

@Cat028 I'm definitely trying just to get these dog walks done, but it's just a bit of a mess at the moment...I think since I started on clomid last year it's all got progressively worse in the gut department! 😫 My first scan is booked on day 6 which is Thursday. I'm interested to see what they say as it's the first thing this place will have actually done apart from blood test and swab! My scans had been done in preston for me starting on clomid, then at the end of clomid to tell me it hadn't worked...they didn't really give any explanation of the scans. I also don't push and ask which I possibly need to work on!!!

I have no idea what to expect from the scan so I'm really interested to hear what they say 😊

Hi everyone,
Can I join? IVF first timer here.
Unexplained infertility, six rounds of clomid and hcg and one round of Femara and Hcg. We’ve ended up paying for a private IVF-ICSI due to all the covid closures and delays in our area (not UK). I’m 31 and we’ve been ttc for over 4 years with no bfps.

Not sure what protocol I’m on, but started 150 Gonal f on Wednesday. Been injecting myself and as someone who routinely faints in blood tests it’s actually not too bad at all! I’ve got the prefilled pen though... don’t think I’d trust myself with mixing.

@Coops0406 oh no! Dod clomid not agree with you?? It's a real shame they didn't go into a bit more detail for you other than the clomid didn't work. Fair play to you for keeping at it being active though. I've had a scan with my clinic and they explained everything so carefully it was lovely. But we haven't started talking about follicles yet. It will be interesting to do that. I have one booked between day 1-3 for a baseline. I'm not sure what they'll be looking for but hopefully everything will be okay.

Just woken up from a stinking migraine so looking forward to half term and an Indian tonight. Hope you ladies enjoy the bank holiday weekend! Any nice plans? Xx

@Tealismycolour sorry we must have crossed posts!
Welcome!! Glad to see a fellow blood test fainter. So pleased to hear that you are finding the injections okay. I'm dreading that a bit to be honest. How have you find your cycle so far? What part of the world are you in?

I'm 30, been TTC for 5 years. 1 chemical and 1 miscarriage. Praying for a rainbow! 🌈 We have also decided to go private due to the delays. Wishing you the best of luck.

@Cat028 I think it's to delay the follicles so they can plan egg collection in accordingly
@Coops0406 that sounds like the perfect day to me !! I've spent the whole day in the garden weeding, I figure that I won't be able to do that after transfer as I'll be taking it easy and this summer we'll be spending a lot of time in the garden!
@Tealismycolour welcome !! Sorry to hear about your unexplained infertility diagnosis, I know exactly what you mean about the mixing I'm not sure if I trust myself to mix the solution and make sure there are no air bubbles but we'll see !!! 😉

Hi @Tealismycolour good to hear the injections are going well. Will you be having a scan in the next few days?

I too was on clomid for 6 months but on the lowest dose and not checked on it, then I pushed for them to increase the dose which they did slightly...then in the last month they did a scan and progesterone test and said it looks like I was resistant to clomid! Hoping the ivf will be better with the scans to monitor 🤞🏾

@Cat028 I just think all the messing with hormones hasn't helped really. Although the one thing clomid did do was regulate me to between 29 and 32 day cycles which is unheard of for me for that period of time! Isn't it interesting how different clinics are...are you nhs or private? I wonder if there is a slight difference?
When is you scan going to fall?
Ooh, a nice takeaway! Perfect! 👌🏾 we are just isolating so will probably potter about in the garden...if I can find any clothes to fit fit this warm weather we are having 🤣

@Luan82 I left OH out in the garden to do the weeding! 🤣🤣🤣

[quote Cat028]@Tealismycolour sorry we must have crossed posts!
Welcome!! Glad to see a fellow blood test fainter. So pleased to hear that you are finding the injections okay. I'm dreading that a bit to be honest. How have you find your cycle so far? What part of the world are you in?

I'm 30, been TTC for 5 years. 1 chemical and 1 miscarriage. Praying for a rainbow! 🌈 We have also decided to go private due to the delays. Wishing you the best of luck. [/quote]
Thank you for the warm welcome. I’m in the Middle East.

I think it helped that for the first injection the nurse showed me how to do it and I had to focus on what she was doing, then realised it didn’t hurt at all. Luckily I’ve also had no bruising or anything.

Best of luck to you too!

[quote Luan82]@Cat028 I think it's to delay the follicles so they can plan egg collection in accordingly
@Coops0406 that sounds like the perfect day to me !! I've spent the whole day in the garden weeding, I figure that I won't be able to do that after transfer as I'll be taking it easy and this summer we'll be spending a lot of time in the garden!
@Tealismycolour welcome !! Sorry to hear about your unexplained infertility diagnosis, I know exactly what you mean about the mixing I'm not sure if I trust myself to mix the solution and make sure there are no air bubbles but we'll see !!! 😉
[/quote]
Thank you. Is it standard procedure in the UK to have to mix the solution rather than the prefilled pen? Could that be an option for you?

@Coops0406

Hi *@Tealismycolour* good to hear the injections are going well. Will you be having a scan in the next few days?

I too was on clomid for 6 months but on the lowest dose and not checked on it, then I pushed for them to increase the dose which they did slightly...then in the last month they did a scan and progesterone test and said it looks like I was resistant to clomid! Hoping the ivf will be better with the scans to monitor 🤞🏾

@Cat028 I just think all the messing with hormones hasn't helped really. Although the one thing clomid did do was regulate me to between 29 and 32 day cycles which is unheard of for me for that period of time! Isn't it interesting how different clinics are...are you nhs or private? I wonder if there is a slight difference?
When is you scan going to fall?
Ooh, a nice takeaway! Perfect! 👌🏾 we are just isolating so will probably potter about in the garden...if I can find any clothes to fit fit this warm weather we are having 🤣

Scan arranged for Monday morning, apparently I’m high risk for OHSS because my AMH is high so they’ll keep monitoring me closely.

I started off on the lowest dose of clomid and they kept putting it up and up but still only made the one follicle each time. Then a private hospital switched me to the femara.

I have had high prolactin since my first ever referral from the GP and only now I’m at the private IVF clinic are they treating it- been on the meds for 3 months now so hopefully that’ll help.

@Tealismycolour that's great that they will monitor you. They said I was also at potential risk of OHSS due to my AMH but I just have a day 6 and day 10 scan which is next Thursday abd the following Monday.
Let us know how the scan goes.
I think the mixing depends on the medication...one of mine needs to be mixed, the other is pre-filled

@Coops0406 @Tealismycolour my Menopur is me I have to mix and gonal-f is prefixed. I quite like the alchemy of mixing the menopur!

I start fyremadel tomorrow just to make sure that dominant little follicle of mine doesn’t pop. Scan on Monday. Have everything crossed for growth!

@Luan82 @Cat028 @Coops0406 @Kemqueen @Tealismycolour

So Teal is in the Middle East, I’m curious whereabouts does everyone else live? I’m just nosy and I appreciate how places like this bring us all together, connected by this unique experience.

I’m in London.

@Ofpalestsilver I've heard fyremadel is a bit stingy and itchy so please let me know what you think.
I'm from preston and having treatment in Chester, bizarrely that when our nhs trust send us for fertility!

Am in Sutton, Surrey, London but having my treatment in Croydon hospital, London

@Coops0406 isn’t that quite far away? Do you find it stressful or is it ok?

@Kemqueen is that nhs? Are they good ?

@Luan82 they definitely know what they are doing. 😊 Hopefully they days will fly by until you start.

@Coops0406 it's good that something good came out of it at least! Were your cycles irregular before that? We are private and the scan should fall around 21st/22nd June depending on when my period shows up. It was lovely to get out. Making the most of it before isolating starts. It's nice to have some warmer weather, I bought some new summer clothes last year when we had a heatwave but I struggle at night. I have even bought myself a cooling blanket for the nights. 🤣 It's nice you have the weather to enjoy the garden.

@Tealismycolour aw that's good! Better when you have something to take your mind off it. How long will you be injecting for? My meds are pre mixed for me and in a pen style device.

@Ofpalestsilver South Wales here. I'm having scans and checkups not far from where I live but the procedures will be in Cardiff.

@Ofpalestsilver it’s a free cycle on NHS. Finger cross on how it goes. I haven’t met anyone to testify the effectiveness to be honest but am hoping for the best!

@Ofpalestsilver yeah it is a little far away but tthe other place they referrred to was Liverpool and their NHS waiting list was longer. The only thing we've had to go to Chester for so far was a blood test! The scans are both booked for 9.30am, it takes about an hour and 20 mins without morning traffic so we'll need to leave around 7.30am...which is why we started the injections quite early yesterday. I think I will a bit stressed on the morning if EC as well have to get there for 9am. And my poor OH has to give his sample there whilst I'm having EC! And then has to sit and wait in the car until I'm done!

@Cat028 yes anywhere between 19 days at the lowest and 53 days at it's highest. When I was younger and came off the pill I didn't have a period for a couple of years!
It's going to be so lovely, definitely make the most of it! Since coming off the norithisterone I have been waking up in pools of sweat!! But it could be the change in weather too as it's slightly coincided!

@Coops0406 Wow! That's a long time. Did you feel bloated when you had extra long cycles? How did your periods restart after the pill? I had to be taken off the pill as I was suffering with migraines and they were worried about a stroke. We are definitely going to make the most of it. My DP is off for the Bank Holiday weekend so that's nice. I've been waking up sweating recently too, it's been so warm here in the nights. The cooling blanket has been a relief some nights.

@Cat028 it's strange as when I was you I was always late but never really paid too much attention to it. Then was only the pill at uni fir a short time but came off it and then just nothing until it just randomly came back. Then since then it's always been up and down. I think the bloating has been more of recent years...I don't know whether you just become more sensitive to things as you get older, for example I had to cut out milk as I looked and felt huge after 2 or 3 coffees, where previously it never bothered me. I'm pleased to say that today all my bloating and pain had subsided...lots of mint tea was had yesterday! 🤣 so today I am going to actually try and be productive! 😊

Morning everyone! Sorry for the radio silence yesterday I spent the whole day outside and popped to the garden centre with mum which was lovely as it's probably the last time I'll see her for a little bit! 😭 all worth it though. I was absolutely shattered last night so took myself to bed early and slept right through must have been the excitement of it all. I think the first injection that I take in the evening you have to mix and think that's pretty standard for the uk.

I love hearing everyone's stories - getting to know their history ! Bit of background on me I'm from York- 38 (39 in December) TTC for two years, my clinic is NHS and I've had some private treatment at Sheffield during the pandemic too as was the only way I could move things forward - I had issues at Leeds with delays for over a year so I plan to pay for the next cycle privately at Care Sheffield if things don't go to plan as they were very good and have heard good things. Six months into TTC I had an ectopic pregnancy which was treatment with mexotrethate following that I had to stop trying to conceive for three months due to folic acid levels, during which time I took more tests and discovered that my AMH was low level 4.6, my FSH was normal, prolactin was a little high and my AFC count was low at 7 which all suggests diminished ovarian reserve (DOR) and points to early menopause. Suddenly time became a very big factor for me so I also paid for a HyCoSy test and thankfully my tubes we clear, the only real diagnosis for my unexplained infertility is poor egg numbers and quality which is why I'm incredibly nervous going into the egg collection part of the journey to see how my ovaries respond!! I'm on a group of low amh-ers that are a little further along in the process and quite a few are pregnant from first transfer so that's really lovely to read !! 🌈❤️🙏🏼🤞🏼 sending all of us lots of positive vibes and well wishes on our journey!! Xx

@Coops0406 strange what our bodies do to us isn't it. I'm glad they have seemed to regulate a bit for you. I feel you with the bloating, I was fine for years but recently discovered I have an intolerance to gluten. Best thing I did cutting it out. How you feeling now you are off milk?
Glad the mint tea helped! Were you productive yesterday?

@Luan82 hope you had a lovely time with you Mum. Like you say it'll be worth it and hopefully only for a few weeks. Are you starting injections on Thurs?

This journey is so hard isn't it and no one's is the same. Sorry to hear about your ectopic. It must have been heartbreaking. I'm sure your clinic will do all they can to get the best possible outcome for your egg collection.

We started our investigations for fertility when we were already at 3 years of trying. In hindsight would have liked to start earlier but that's just one of those things. Like everyone else we got held up by covid. Unexplained is what they have told us. However, my DP has marginally low morphology but they didn't seem concerned. Through lockdown we found our we were pregnant and miscarried at 9 weeks. 😭 It took me a long time to come to terms with but I'm finally feeling positive and ready to start this cycle. Fingers crossed we have as much luck as your AMH ladies. Baby dust for everyone!! 🙏🏻🌈💕

@Cat028 I too seem to have developed an intolerance for gluten...I try my best to cut it out but I'm bad for a slice of bread and somehow the gluten free bread and wraps don't seem to do it for me!

I actually got out in our garden and repainted an old wishing well that needed doing. Feeling even better today so will probably Porter about in the garden again...not much else to do when you're isolating so thankfully the sunshine is blessing us ☀️

@Luan82 I have noticed on other threads that people with low AMH have produced good quality so fingers crossed for you. And as they say, it only takes one 🤞🏾

It's so nice to hear everyone's journeys and know that you're not in your own. You don't realise just how many people go through fertility struggles.

@Coops0406 it really isn't the same is it! I found some nice pitas to have for lunches. But DP has started baking me bread instead. Every now and again I do indulge, some days I'm fine others I have a bad stomach it's hit and miss really.

A wishing well sounds lovely. It's beautiful today. Lucky when you are isolating! Has it been easier with this weather?

100%! Lovely to know you aren't alone in all this. 💕