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.

@Hopefull1981 I did an Ovitrelle 250mcg trigger on Thurs am
Agree i think lining can rapidly thicken

@Cayandsimit That all sounds really positive, I’m keeping everything crossed for you, what are you injecting?

I’m currently doing the twice daily progesterone pessaries, I must say I do not have 20 mins in the morning for absorption… really hope enough is happening

@WaitingForEgg thank you ❤️ I am injecting 1x Prolutex 25mg + Clexane heparin at 17:00, 1x Cyclogest pessary at 23:00.

@WaitingForEgg can you get tested? My doctor didn't suggest it. I wanted to get tested and paid privately. It is not so expensive as far as I know. Many clinics have inhouse labs and you get the results in a day.
Also, if you don't want to get tested but if you feel bloated and your breasts get tender, I think it is working. Just make sure the evening one doesn't leak out for few hours, it should be fine

@WaitingForEgg I have a gonasi trigger 10000. Takes ages to leave my system. Not really worried about the lining it’s the follicle growth. They have changed my scan to Thursday.
Sorry for TMI but I took them rectally and carried on my merry way 😂 how are you feeling?

Hi,
How is everyone doing?

I had my ET today. Lining was 9mm, hormone levels are good and blastocyst thawed very well. Doctor said we did everything we could and everything looks very good. All I can do is to pray now...

The blood test will be on the Feb 22nd. Since we are trying this hCG booster method now, home pregnancy tests can show false positive so I won't test on my own. I really need to be patient which is not my strongest suit 😬

@Cayandsimit - delighted everything went today. Positive vibes all the way. How much of a trigger did they give you?

@Hopefull1981 I got Ovitrelle 250 microgram as a trigger. I checked it is equivalent to approximately 6,500 IU.
Today I will be taking a different hCG brand with lower dosage. It is called Brevactid 1500 IU. I will inject one tonight, another one on the 12th and the last one on the 15th. Hoping to help with the implantation 🤞

How are you doing? Are you nervous about tomorrow's scan?

Ah, the scan has been moved to friday at 9am, so I am guessing I'll ovulate myself in the meantime, although if the follicles were 10mm on Monday maybe I won't. We were told to keep DTD in the meantime. My OPK's are showing a small rise in LH. have you every listen to the egg whisperer podcast? I was listening to once episode lastnight about recurrent miscarriage. I am 40 and the doctor on it said that at my age only 1 in 10 eggs are normal. That's scary going in to IVF.

@Hopefull1981 I never heard of that podcast.
Some doctors love talking about statistics. Honestly, I feel like it puts extra pressure on women. Also the data is not so consistent. Did they refer to the data in the world or just in the US? Maybe US success rate is lower due to diet and life style...
I just checked German IVF registry between 2015-2019. For your age live birth rate is 14.4%, whereas for 35-39 it is 22.7%. So, not a huge difference. And according to the German embryo protection law, we cannot even get our embryos genetically tested (unless you have a genetic disease in your family etc.). With the PGT-A option in the UK, pretty sure the success rate increases.
Also you might respond to the fertility treatment very well, you never know. Or maybe your eggs are ok and but you have a coagulation issue which will be solved now with heparin... There are lots of women in the Jan/Feb/Mar IVF group, even older than you are, who got good results with the stims. In the end you only need one.
I hope you don't take this message in the wrong way. I know toxic positivity is not helpful but I also feel like we need to hold on to a tiny hope if necessary. Otherwise this whole TTC is a dark pit... It worked for others before, why wouldn't it work for you? Looking forward to hear good news on Friday 💐

@Cayandsimit I really appreciate your message. It's good to have a positive slant on all these things. In other news, I got some clear blue ovulation sticks to track ovulation., big O today which is weird as I thought the surge was happening according to the IC OPK's. :-) just wait and see on Friday.

@hopefull1981 you have ~48 hr window so don't wait. Hop on the DTD-train tonight! 😅

@Cayandsimit I meant big o as in it says I am not surging as opposed to a smiley face. Sure I’ll jump on the train anyway😂😂😂

@hopefull1981 oh, sorry I misinterpreted it. I thought O as in ovulation. I never bought Clear Blue, always used super cheap drug store or Amazon ones 😅 Jump on the train just for fun then. We deserve to have some fun in between! 😜

Hi ladies

Sounds like it is all progressing really well

I’m having a real down couple of days. My skin is horrific and so im convinced my period is approaching. I’m CD21 and cycles are usually 31-36 days, but with the stimulation, and the fact I triggered on cd14 im thinking this cycle is likely shorter (poss 30 days).

Has anyone found that the progesterone pessaries make your skin shit? It’s been a few days now and it’s awful

@waitingforegg yes, progesterone causes acne and oily skin. Also discomfort in abdominal area, a feeling like as if you will get your period soon...
I had 2 ICSIs with stims, triggers, heparin, progesterone etc. I even inserted progesterone until I got my period. But never had an early cycle. I usually have 30-31 days cycles. So do not loose hope, it is probably just progesterone x

Hi ladies how are you doing?

Just a small update from me. Had the scan on Friday (day 17), lining was 7.5 but she found it hard to find left ovary. She eventually did and the biggest follicle was 12.5. I had a positive ovulation test on clear blue Thursday evening. We DTD Thursday and Saturday. Today I have the attached. I see more a baby dancing in my future 😂😂😂 the consultant wants to scan me tomorrow morning. Fingers crossed it’s more positive although I am worried about it being so late in the cycle, possibly due to chemical pregnancy last month? Interestingly when I got pregnant this time last year I ovulated on say 25 as I had EWCM and blazing positive OPK. Although it ended in a MMC it was the longest pregnancy so far. I am hopeful.

Hope you are all keeping well.

Forgot the photo.

@Hopefull1981 7.5mm lining is very good for pre-ovulation. It will probably be around 9mm post-ovulation 🤞 You DTD often enough, probably covered all the bases. Maybe throw in another one tonight if you guys have the energy 😅 Good luck tomorrow 🍀

@Hopefull1981 that all sounds really positive! I have REALLY bad pms today. So I am thinking more and more that this cycle im out. I’m psychologically struggling so much now. I said to DH im tempted to push and move on to ivf, but I know ivf has far more intensity to it. Logically I know things have to perfectly match up, but I had 2 good follicles, dtd 4 x and had a good lining. I just don’t get why im not pregnant

I know I have adenomyosis so im worrying more and more that it’s an implantation issue

@WaitingForEgg how many days DPO are you? Keep the faith. This journey is so frustrating for us all. Thanks @Cayandsimit. How are you feeling?

@Hopefull1981 I feel quite hopeless to be honest. I have cramps since 3dp5dt, almost like PMS. Today is 5dp5dt and still no spotting. I have weird hot flashes today. I am really scared that my estrogen is dropping and my body is preparing to start my period. The due date is Tuesday but I am injecting this hCG booster so I feel like even if I am not pregnant, injections will delay my period.
We still have 2 more frozen blastocysts in cryo but if this round fails, I think I will be quite hopeless for the next FET. This one was a very good quality expanded blasto, I got all the good medicines, heparin etc., hormone levels and lining were perfect. If it doesn't work, I would be so sad, even more than the 1st ICSI fail...
I hope this doesn't scare you about IVF. Our biggest issue is my DH's low morphology. The low sperm count doesn't usually affect the IVF/ICSI outcomes but morphology is a b.tch :( There is no reason to be found and there is nothing doctors can do other than making you swallow some vitamins and hope for the best :( I was going through Plan B, C, D.... Z in my mind the whole day. Shall we apply for adoption? Shall we try one more time abroad where we can get PGA-T? Puff, it is exhausting 😥

@Cayandsimit oh you poor thing. I feel for you. Please don’t worry about sharing your IVF experience. It’s definitely better to share how you are feeling. Have you done the ERA tests? I was reading a thread yesterday about it. I will keep everything crossed for positive news for you. Is it this Tuesday?

I am off for another scan this morning. Lots of cramping pain today which is very unusual.

@Hopefull1981 I haven't done ERA. I think only few clinics in Germany offer it. Also I am not sure if I can go through another uterine biopsy 😬 I will check it out with my clinic. Definitely a thing to look into before flushing down the blastocysts in the cryo!
My blood test is on the 22nd, Tuesday, so next week.

Looking forward to hear good news from your scan today. I hope everything goes well xx

@Cayandsimit im so sorry that sounds so incredibly stressful. Please do share. If anything I want this realistic perspective so I can think logically about steps. Can I ask did you try for long before moving on to IVF?

@WaitingForEgg we actually didn't have a choice. We TTC naturally for about 6 months at the beginning of 2020. Nothing happened... I was already 33 and my DH was 34 back then. So we didn't want to wait that long before diving into fertility investigation. My hormones, thyroid and ovarian reserve were all really good for my age. DH got spermiogram and the count was 200 million, motility was really good and morphology was 4%. Both my gyno and his andrologist insisted that everything was normal 🙄
A few months passed and I went to my gyno again to show DH's result. She said morphology is at the border and better he gets another spermiogram done. He did it again and this time morphology was 3%, so we got referral to the fertility clinic.
In Jan 21, fertility clinic did an extensive spermiogram where they check the sperm for 24 hours. They found out that real percentage was only 1% and even those were not surviving 24 hours. Basically it was impossible for his sperm to fertilize the eggs naturally, or even in IVF. So, we had to moved to ICSI.
We had poor fertilization rate in the first one, two transfers with double embryos on Day3, and both BFN. So we did more test on me (biopsy for NK and infection, coagulation check etc.), stabilized my thyroid because it also popped up in 2021 as a surprise 🙄
We went crazy on supplements and got two add-ons (PICSI & calcium ionophore) in the 2nd ICSI. We got much better fertilization rate and 3 blastocysts.
From what I see in this forum since Nov 21, male factor infertility is harder than female. There is a lot of research on female infertility but not so much on MF... If you have only female factor, I think you have higher chances to be successful in IVF than us. Because the only thing doctors can recommend to my DH is to take supplements like Proxseed 🙄
That is why I don't want to scare you about IVF. ICSI is like the last resort and super expensive. Except the moderate OHSS I got in the 2. ICSI, I had no problem in injections, egg collection, transfer etc. The procedure for women is the same in both. I wish we found out about our main issue way before and act earlier. We basically lost almost two years in fertility investigation + trying...
Feel free to ask any questions here or in DM. I hope this helps with your decision for the future 💐