IVF September/October 2021

[thislittlebird]

Hi all, I had a search and didn't see a thread for September/October. If there is one already please let me know and I'll join. I'll be starting stims at the end of September/early October with the Lister. I'm pretty terrified tbh, would be happy to hear from anyone else starting around the same time. I'm a first-timer and we'll be having ICSI (possibly IMSI).

Hiya, I am starting ICSI end of September! Nervous excited but as a first timer too, I have no idea what to expect! How are you feeling? It’s going to come round so quickly!

Hey @Greenlandic! We’ll be really similar timings then. My cycles are at the start of each month right now, but they can be a little irregular, so they could be earlier and I’ll start late September. Will be interesting to see which day my mystery cycle turns up, hopefully in the next few days!

I’m ok, mostly scared about doing the injections tbh. How about you? My husband will be away for work so it’s going to be hard to time it all so he can have leave the same time it’s ongoing.

How long have you guys been trying and what’s your reason for ivf? Ours is low motility and lack of ovulation because of recently diagnosed PCO(S).

Oh the dreaded injections! I am not good with needles anyway so it’s going to be a test. Oh that’s annoying he’ll be away - is he away for the entire time?

We have been ttc for a year but fertility tests showed low morphology, so thankfully we caught it early so we can start IVF sooner.

Have you told any friends / family? I am still in two minds as I don’t want to feel the extra pressure they know just in case it’s unsuccessful.

@Greenlandic I’m awful with anything medical and I’m a huge wuss. Really, really wanted him to do them. Oh well!

He is indeed away. He’ll have to come back for egg collection onwards for a few days, but he’s started a new job and I can’t move yet so he’s staying with the parents six hours away from the end of august. It’s the worst possible timing because we really need to sell up and start house hunting, but ivf is going to stop all of that for now. Ugh.

We have now told some yeah. A couple of friends for support, one friend because it was proving impossible to get out of something, and now we’ve told parents too. My mother is rubbish so doesn’t say much, but his parents were a little shocked. I don’t think we’ll be updating them regularly, will just let them know the outcome. What about you?

That’s not great timing, but at least it’ll all be worth it in the end and he will be there for egg collection and after - which is probably the days you might need the most support. Then once it’s all successful you can start planning other things. I’m the same - it does feel like my life is on hold at the moment, but I keep on telling myself it’ll all be worth it in the end! I’ve talked my husband into giving me the injections - let’s see how that goes, it might not be pretty 😂

I have told my closest girlfriends and my parents. My mum was similar to yours, didn’t really say much at the start but has come round to it now and starting to get quite excited. I haven’t told siblings or in-laws as yet but I am sure we will tell everyone if successful. Just don’t want the pressure of everyone knowing and expecting it to work. Hopefully it will 😀

How long have you been trying? How’s your husband feeling? Is he excited / worried about ivf?

@Greenlandic well, my move and absent husband dilemma didn't last as long after all. I completely had a meltdown last night about not wanting to deal with all these stresses at once, and I'm not sure I could cope tbh. We agreed he'd turn down the job offer and we'd both focus on the ivf for now. I feel better already, don't have a million one one things to be worrying about as well as the ivf. Maybe I will get some help with the injections yet!

My life is definitely on hold, it's frustrating, but we're so close now, at least something will be happening soon.

I don't think my mum will ever be excited, she's not a very excitable person, but my mother in law may well be. It is what it is now, I thought it best to tell a few so I could talk about it at least. Pressure is on

We've been trying officially since October 2019. I'm 38 now, I had no idea it would take this long or I would have started trying earlier. I think he's nervous at the moment, we both are. Less stressful now we know we'll be together and not across the country while it's ongoing. It's hard not to be too optimistic, I can't bring myself to believe it will work really, feels hard to imagine. How about you guys?

I'm hoping to start September/ October although haven't had confirmation yet so I guess it could be November. Have you all got your dates booked in and did you get an option of when to start? Do you have to start on a particular day of your cycle?

We have male factor issues so will be going for ICSI. I know what you mean about the optimism. It's hard because a big part of me is hoping I will be pregnant on the first cycle when I know that may well not happen, our issues are pretty severe :(

Hi @want2bemum, I don’t have a date yet but am booking in to see the nurse about the injections etc in the next few weeks. My understanding is you call on cycle day 1 (of the month you plan to start) and you go in for a scan on day 2. I’m on short protocol though, long protocol might be different. And we’re private not nhs, so I’m not sure how that works exactly.

Have you chosen or started with a clinic yet?We’ll also need ICSI and maybe IMSI as well.

Hi everyone, can I join?

We are due to start short protocol ICSI at the Lister at the end of September all being well. We’re waiting for results on DNA fragmentation, due on 24th August. Fingers crossed they are good and we can proceed as planned. We discovered serious MFI in April and have been working with Mr Ramsay since then.

@thislittlebird sounds like you’ve had an emotional few weeks, pleased it is settling and your OH will be around to support you.

I know what you all mean about telling friends and family, we started off not telling anyone but I’m finding it hard to hide at the moment because it’s all I can think about. I’m getting braver at telling people and there’s something quite comforting about it for me. Although like you say, not sure how helpful it will be if things don’t go to plan..

Hi everyone, hope I can join too 😊

Starting our first round of long-protocol ICSI at the start of September for MFI. Feeling terrified now that it is so close but also excited to just shut down some of the 'what ifs' that are constantly going on in my head. Is this everybody's first round?

Our families know we need ICSI but we've decided we won't be telling them when we are actually doing it, it feels like more pressure with them waiting for updates too.

Wishing everyone lots of luck for their cycle! 🍀

@hippo256 I know what you mean, you just want to get on with it. Are you trying for your first baby? It’s our first round of IVF for our first baby. Do you mind me asking, has your OH been having treatment for MFI at all? Keeping everything crossed for you 🤞🏻

@Halftime23 It's our first round for hopefully our first baby too so in the same boat as you!

We actually went to see Dr Ramsay too- our problem is with severely low count and it's not something we will ever get to 'normal' levels so we are just doing as much as we can with supplements, diet and exercise and hoping that is enough for ICSI. How have you found Dr Ramsay? Do you have any treatment plans with him at all?

Thank you, fingers crossed for you too xx

@hippo256 sorry you find yourself in this situation. Sounds similar to us, although we have severe low count, mobility and morphology. Mr Ramsay gave my OH 3 months worth of Anastrazole to see if that helps, we won’t know until the end of August when we will also get the dna fragmentation results. He’s hoping that the anastrazole will improve the count and a previous round of antibiotics will help with the morphology and motility. Here’s to hoping. What did he suggest for you? How has your OH adjusted to the changes in diets, supplements etc?

@Halftime23 oh wow that sounds really similar - our motility isn't great either and I think the count was so bad they didn't really comment on morphology. We were also prescribed 3 months of Anastrazole but my husband hasn't taken them yet as with some lifestyle changes he did manage to increase the count and quality significantly (to a still terrible but slightly better position). At the moment he is definitely very focused and in the zone but I think he's quite resentful about having to cut out alcohol etc, I keep telling him hopefully it's a short term pain for him. How is your OH coping with the changes? Good luck with your results in August, would be interested to see how different your results are after the Anastrazole!

Welcome Halftime23 and hippo256!

@Halftime23 we’ll likely be late September at the Lister too! We had our DNA frag results recently, also with Mr Ramsay, which were ok but need to wait until the mmr is out of my system to try. I need a few more tests too, like another AMH and need to ask them to do a TS3. Also need to get documents from my GP to show I’ve had a chlamydia test and so on. It’s a lot of admin!

It’s been a horrible few weeks and this job has now slipped away which is really annoying but it is what it is. We’ll have to come up with a new plan and DH might need to retrain if we want to move.

I’m pleased to have support. I suffer from hormonal migraines and my periods went a bid weird last autumn and my migraines sort of went with them. I’ve had the odd one since but not many, and I assume it’s wonky hormones doing this. Anyway, I got a migraine yesterday and still have it now, reminded me that I could react quite badly to ivf meds and might need all the help I can get.

@hippo256 do you know roughly when the long protocol will start? We’ve told our families october and hoping they’ll just deal with DH but most likely we’ll start late September and I don’t plan on providing regular updates.

It’s our first ivf and hopefully our first baby too.

My dh is still having alcohol but it’s really not much and he didn’t drink much before. What we did do was swap everything to low alcohol so that it’s not a lot if he does have a beer.

Hi,
We are also starting our first round of NHS funded IVF with ICSI on my September period.
We started trying in Oct 2019 and were originally referred due to male factor issues, however on further investigation the tests showed that my AMH is in the low fertility bracket so we have both those issues to contend with.
My husband has had a frozen sperm sample taken and we have had our protocol outlined.
Feeling ready to get moving on this but also nervous about the potential impact of low ovarian reserve and wondering if any of your ladies have the same thoughts/worries etc? Xx

@Littlemeadow26 hi! We also started trying October 2019. Feels like a long time ago now. Unfortunately our nhs referral experience has been abysmal and messy and when we saw the gynaecologist she just sent us away again and told us to go back to the GP. So after a year of doctors and investigations we are no further towards nhs help, and I really should have been given clomid or Letrozole since I likely don’t ovulate regularly. Anyway, here we are getting private help! Like you we have male factor but I have the opposite issue of low reserve, or so it seems, and I have PCO with a fair amount of follicles and high AMH. My main worries are overstimulation and getting sick because of it.

My other main worry is mine and DH’s age. I’m 38, he’ll be 40 in November. I could have a decent number of eggs but they might all be awful quality, so I’m very nervous of what the outcome could be.

I know low OR is a common issue though, lots of women seem to suffer with it and it makes me very annoyed we aren’t all told more about this stuff years ago.

@thislittlebird Thanks for the reply. It's certainly been a long road even to get to this point. I'm really sorry to hear you've had such a negative experience on the NHS so far! I am glad to hear you are able to get support privately (although that's another discussion in itself!!)

My husband is only 30 but has low motility after contracting mumps in his teens. We have done a frozen sperm collection to mitigate any risks on egg collection day and have 6 straws in the freezer ready for ICSI.

We were blind sided by the low ovarian reserve and I am worried about the male factor element coupled with my low ovarian reserve.

Our consultant massively down played this and I agree that we were not made away of the impact of low ovarian reserve! I am 33 and started TTC at 31.

I understand your concerns anout over responding to medication, however as I understand it it's great news for IVF that you have a good ovarian reserve and all signs point to you responding well.

Have you considered freezing sperm before IVF begins so they can test and let you know it's viable and ready to go. Would take a weight fo both of your minds!! Xx

@thislittlebird sorry to hear about your migraine. My OH is the same, hasn’t given up alcohol but has significantly reduced. @hippo256 don’t feel you have to share, but I’d be keen to know how much of a difference supplements and lifestyle changes made to your husbands count? We haven’t had a repeat since we found out, and like you, we know we won’t get back to ‘normal’ range, but it would be amazing to know that the things we can do at home could help. We started with 200k sperm, but none swimming in the right direction and none the correct shape. My husband is super fit and heathy, so hoping the antibiotics and anastrazole will have helped - I’ll let you know.

@Littlemeadow26 we started in Oct 2019 too, it feels like a lifetime doesn’t it and Covid has made it feel even longer!

@thislittlebird I think down regulation should be around 11th Sept and it's about 4 weeks to EC. What are your expectations with short protocol?

@Littlemeadow26 can sympathise with your worries about low AMH, mine is at the lower end of 'normal' for my age and it's just another niggling worry in the back of my mind. Is it only recently you've found out that could be an issue coupled with MFI?

@Halftime23 we have had 3 SA in total, the initial one which blindsided us, one a month later and then a third which was about 3 months later for our NHS referral (although we have sacked off the NHS now due to their insane waiting list and going private). The first one had a total count of 60k, the second was 1.1m and the third was 2m. My husband was overweight and drinking more than the recommended weekly limit so I think fixing those things has made a big difference and hoping it's still improving now!

@thislittlebird. Oh absolutely! And there were parts of our investigation that I feel should have already been done but haven't due to the impact of covid. I hope they will take place once the IVF begins!! X

@hippo256
Our consultant just 'advised' that I had an AMH blood test following our successful referral to IVF which I had to pay for even though we're NHS funded patients. In his words it was to determine what was the best protocol to put us on.

He said that this wouldn't have impacted our ability to conceive naturally and that it was due to MFI. However my AMH levels are the lowest they can be to qualify for NHS funded IVF I am worried that I won't respond as well as I'm hoping and we could get a low number of eggs and less chance at success.

@Littlemeadow26 The advice I keep getting from the consultants is not to worry about AMH too much as it is the quality of eggs that matters more than the quantity and you are young in IVF terms. Did you have an internal scan with an AFC count?

@hippo256 I know that AMH levels aren't indicative of quality but I just worry that if I don't respond well to the protocol and we get a low number of eggs that will impact our chances of getting any to blastocyst stage. Im hoping you are right and it will all be down to quality! Thanks for sharing that.
My baseline scan is due on the 26th so hopefully they can give me an idea of AFC count then x

@hippo256 thank you for sharing! Your OH sounds like he’s doing brilliantly! It’s great to hear that it’s made such a difference. Good on him.

@Littlemeadow26 AMH is a minefield, I hope they can give you some answers at your baseline scan that will offer some reassurance.