Natural FET protocol

[IslandStars]

Hi ladies, I was due to do my second FET with meds to help implantation after a BFN. I was taking estrogen tablets, then would have added Cyclogest pessaries as normal, plus Lubion, Prednisolone and Clexane.

Unfortunately my FET was cancelled as 2 polyps have appeared. I’ll need them removed before continuing, but as they feed on estrogen and can reoccur, I’d like a natural FET next time.

My question is, has anyone had a natural FET along with progesterone and/or immune meds if necessary? I want to take all the same meds as planned, but avoid estrogen. Not sure if progesterone is normal in a natural cycle anyway? If anyone can share their protocol and timeline, it would be a big help please, as my review is quite far off yet.

Hi there, I had a natural FET at my clinic and the only meds for that was progesterone (in the form of Utrogestan pessaries). Other than that, it was literally just the FET procedure itself. If you get a BFP, you're expected to keep up with the progesterone until the end of week 11 but if you speak to your clinic they might be able to reduce the dosage if that's possible. The purpose of the progesterone is to help with developing the lining.

Hi, I've had two natural FETs (one successful and one miscarriage) with no medication at all, and am hoping to have another next month. At my clinic there's a scan on day 10 to check your lining and that you have one leading follicle, then you use OPKs and have a scan two days after these first show the LH surge to confirm ovulation. Transfer is 4 days after this (with my first FET the transfer was 5 days after ovulation, but apparently they've seen better results with transfers 4 days after ovulation). If your cycles are predictable and you're reliably ovulating I'd highly recommend natural FETs, I've found it much less stressful than the fresh cycle, with no worrying about medication, side effects etc. All the best

@somethingfunny @pileapetals Thanks for the info ladies, that’s really helpful. I’m happy to still use progesterone (I’ve already bought all the meds I mentioned as my FET was cancelled), but I’d really like to avoid estrogen.

I’ve never used OPKs before, hopefully they’re not too tricky. My cycles are generally every 29 days, used to be shorter but IVF had lengthened them.

My only worry would be that on my day 10 scan my lining was 8.1 but that was with estrogen, so I hope it’s still possible for mine to thicken up without any. Good luck with your next steps too.

OPKs are pretty straightforward so you should be fine. :)

@IslandStars how did you get on? I'm going into another natural FET and was considering medicated but was concerned about polyps too as I've just had one removed, so am sticking with natural FET for now

Hi, I am in a similar situation. Just found out that I have a polyp so will need to get it removed. I am then thinking about natural cycle to avoid oestrogen. How long did you have to wait after your polyp removal?

@NewBee21 I ended up having it removed privately through private healthcare, I could have had it done within 1 week of the consultation but it was Christmas so had it done within 3 weeks. If you don't have private healthcare then it costs around £2k but you can go through NHS too but I would imagine it would take slightly longer that route

Thank you for getting back to me, I might go private as well, just don't want to wait for too long. Did the doctor say when you can have your next transfer? Not sure if the polyp removal will delay things even more as it might need to heal 😞

@NewBee21 I'm going straight into another transfer as I did natural FET and doing the same this time. Also with a Hysteroscopy if all goes well you can go into a transfer pretty much in the next cycle, its quite quick. Good luck!

Thank you so much! I am glad it won't cause a big delay. I wish you good luck too ☺️