TTC with Letrozole/Clomid

[acaciabluebell]

Anyone else here on Letrozole or Clomid for ovulation induction?

I'm on my 2nd cycle of Letrozole and looking for others in a similar situation.

Info about me:
26 y.o
Been TTC for just over 2 years.
Dosage: 5mg of Letrozole on days 3-7.
Diagnoses: Male factor (0% morphology), low AMH, low progesterone

I'm currently on CD10 and using OPKs to track for ovulation. I'll be taking a blood test on 7dpo to check if I ovulated.

Oh @Hopefull1981 I still have everything crossed for you. As @acaciabluebell says tests are not always that accurate. Can vary by urine hold etc too

I took my first Letrozole today. 5mg for 5 days and then scan on Friday

Hi ladies. Yes I am on progesterone. GP tool blood on Friday and will do it again tomorrow. I get Fridays results tomorrow and Mondays on Tuesday. Good luck on the letrozole @WaitingForEgg. I really hope it works for you. X

@Hopefull1981 fingers crossed for you, how are you feeling?

@Hopefull1981 how are you getting on?

Anyone else had really severe fatigue with letrozole? Man alive I am so so tired

Not great ladies. Looks like another chemical pregnancy. Consultant said to keep taking the progesterone, but there is barely a line now. This is my 3rd chemical since July, not to mention the MMC in June. I just don't understand what's going on. @WaitingForEgg I didn't notice I was extra tired on Letrozole, I started taking it on st stephens day, so it may have just been thrown in with general Christmas tiredness.

@Hopefull1981 I’m so so sorry. I will continue to hope that this isn’t the case. Thinking of you

Thanks @WaitingForEgg I just knew on Saturday when the lines were getting darker that this would be the outcome. I still have very faint lines on the tests but strangely enough a very positive LH strip. God knows what’s going on. Still no sign of AF so I guess HCG is still high enough it will be another few days.

@acaciabluebell how are you getting on?

@Hopefull1981 how strange
I genuinely have no idea. I find all this fertility stuff utterly perplexing. Has your consultant said when you will make a decision of what to do next?

@WaitingForEgg Not yet. Although AF arrived today being a really bad tummy. I have let them know this morning, no reply as of yet.

When are due to ovulate?

Hi everyone!
I hope you don't mind me joining.

I am 35. I had OHSS in December in my 2. fresh ICSI round. Therefore, we had to freeze all the embryos. We are doing ICSI mainly because of the male factor. Otherwise, I don't have ovulation or hormon issues. My cycles are 30-31 days long and quite regular.

I am doing FET this month. I was on Letrozole 2,5mg for 5 days (Cycle day 3-7). I don't have stims. However, I will use Ovitrelle to trigger. So basically I don't need the egg this round. I just need to ovulate to release progesterone and get the uterus lining ready for the implantation.
I had my baseline scan yesterday (Day 10 in the cycle). My lining was 4.4mm and there was one follicle (9mm) and 5-6 more but smaller. I guess 9mm one is the leading follicle.

I never had such a thin lining on day 10... It was usually around 7mm on day 10. It is the first time I am on Letrozole. My doctor didn't seem worried (then again she never is...) . She just said "you will ovulate a bit late, that is all". Do you remember your scan measurements around day 10-11? I know that Letrozole suppresses the estrogen so glands can produce more LH and FSH to support the follicle growth. I am a bit worried because I have already been in this ICSI journey for more than a year now and don't want to loose the good blastocysts in an unsuccessful frozen cycle :( I would really appreciate if you can share your experience on Letrozole on the Day 10-11.

Hi @Cayandsimit welcome. I have just had one cycle with Letrozole. When I had my day 11 scan my lining was 5.5mm and follicle 15mm. I was brought back on day 13 and the lining was over 8mm and egg follicle was ober 18mm, so I was able to trigger that night. I was worried about the lining, but the consultant said it varies, and it doesn't take that long to build up. When is your next scan?

@Hopefull1981
Thank you for your answer. Wow I thought two days wouldn't make that much difference. I am relieved... My next scan is on Monday. Doctor thinks the leading follicle should be around 20mm by then. I can hopefully trigger on the same day.

The below is from the clinic on this cycle. Looks like we are moving onto IVF but can do one more OII cycle while we wait.

Dr Lowe is happy for you to move onto IVF if you like. You will not be able to start with this bleed but we can get started next month .Between this cycle and your next cycle we will need to organise a nurse consultation for you both and we will need to organise viral screening bloods for you also in the clinic.

If you like this cycle when you are getting organised to start the IVF cycle you can do another OII cycle or you can leave it off . Dr Lowe said that in regards to your biochemical pregnancies over the last year we can add in a heparin injection from a positive test to see if this will help. We will also do this in an IVF cycle. Heparin is a blood thinner which may help with blood flow and you will also use the progesterone (cyclogest pessaries) again.

In regards to the egg quality when we collect the eggs at egg collection and put them together with the sperm we see how they fertilise and develop in the lab. This does give us some answers about the eggs but it will not tell us the chromosomal makeup of the embryos before transfering them back . Even the a good grade embryo only has a 50/50 chance of producing a pregnancy .

@Hopefull1981 I used heparin (Clexane 40mg) in the 2. ICSI. I got blood coagulation test done and found out I have a certain genetic type.

I think heparin injection is overall very useful. I know people who previously had miscarriages. They used it during the whole pregnancy and had healthy babies. I also noticed that it increased overall blood circulation. For example I had 9.4mm lining after the EC around Day 21. Also we got more mature and bigger eggs and higher fertilization rate in the 2. round.

If you choose to go down to IVF road, I can say that it is definitely more stressful than TTC naturally but you also have higher chance to get pregnant. Both of them are emotionally draining anyways... I wish you good luck ❤️

Sorry @Cayandsimit I've not reached that stage yet, but glad hopefull could be of help

@Hopefull1981 It sounds like things will move swiftly forwards. Also positives are they identifying issues and giving you solutions for them (heparin) rather than being in a situation of trying with no changes.

I took my final letrozole of this cycle today
If im honest I feel utterly shit. Its made me so fatigued and nauseous. The metformin gave me some pretty bad nausea initially but had mostly settled down, this felt the level up from that Im CD 6 today, Scan is on CD8 so im pretty sure I will be heading back for a further scan next week. I can't see follicular growth being enough by CD8 surely?

All the clinic have said is 2-4 scans per cycle with a cap on cost... I guess will just have to wait and see

@Hopefull1981 sorry it was another chemical and af arrived for you.

@Cayandsimit hi and welcome, I'm afraid I can't be of much use as I'm on clomid that isn't working 😕 hope you get it sorted though

Hi everyone,
I supposed to go to the doctor on Monday to get the last scan before the trigger. The last scan on Tuesday showed that I still have a bit time until the ovulation occurs.
I got a bit discharge today. I feel like the ovulation will be sooner than expected. So, I did an ovulation test. What do you think? I feel like I will ovulate naturally before Monday and I shouldn't. I need the trigger so the doctor can calculate the exact timing for the FET. Do you think I should reschedule the scan to an earlier time? The first line on the left side is the ovulation indicator.

@Cayandsimit - That does look like you are surging already. I would reschedule if I were you, just to check. Can you contact the clinic today?

@hopefull1981 it is already closed but they open at 7:30. I will call as first thing in the morning.

So I had my day 8 scan today
One bigger follicle which was 10? I assume mm?
Consultant said prob just needs time but has decided to start me self injecting Menopur. I need to inject tonight, Sun and Tues then have another scan next wed

Anyone else done this? I’m a bit nervous. I was surprised she jumped straight to this as it is my first monitored cycle

Hi @WaitingForEgg. Yeah it would be 10mm. My consultant said 18mm+ is the ideal. Did they say anything about your lining? I have not heard of menopur. What does it do?

@Cayandsimit how did you get on with the clinic today?

We have our IVF booking appointment on Wednesday. We need to viral bloods etc this month to be ready to start should this cycle not work. I am in on the 07th for my tracking scan, picked up the meds and trigger shot yesterday.

@Hopefull1981 Hi, I did 2 more ovulation tests today and the line was lighter than yesterday. I guess yesterday's urine was much more concentrated. I contacted the clinic and they said no need to worry, so I will go to the scan on Monday.
How are you feeling about upcoming IVF? Are you excited?