About to start ICSI... horribly nervous

[crispyeggs]

Hello,

Had my drug appointment yesterday and will start my first cycle in September (unpredictable cycles) and I just feel sick with nerves and could really benefit from a bit of insight from people who have been through it?

Infertile due to PCOS and endometriosis, ICSI because we paid for a sperm DNA fragmentation test and my husbands sperm showed some DNA damage (they weren't sure if it was due to Covid infection which he'd had a few weeks prior or due to other factors), but they felt it was best to opt for ICSI.

I'm 31 and my AMH was 135 and high risk for OHSS, so taking 3 x 500mg metformin daily. I have almost daily pelvic pain because of my gynae probs, so nervous that the treatment is really going to amp this up and i'm worried how I'm going to work and cope as I've been told I can't use ibuprofen (paracetamol does absolutely nothing for my endo pain).

Doing a short cycle, starting with Norithisterone if my period doesn't come, and using Meriofert, Gonasi and Cyclogest (already forgotten which order!). If anyone has any similar experiences and feels okay to share, would so appreciate it.

Did your husband have a urine or semen culture? My partner had high DNA frag and the culture identified BV so we both had antibiotics as I also had a vaginal swab that showed signs of inflammation. So I think it’s worth doing before ICSI.

Good luck with your cycle. I had my first (and most likely last) this year and we got a pretty good result 💛

Hi @MyEasterEggs

Thanks so much for responding.

He just had a semen culture - initially had low sperm motility but this improved with lifestyle changes and is now normal/high, but still indicating high DNA frag so they suggested ICSI, which we're now fine with and feel grateful that they're able to help us with it.

We don't have time for any further testing as our pathway has a strict 16 week timeline, and it took so, so long for all these extra tests to be done.

I'm so glad your cycle went well and hope you and your partner are doing well!

Sounds like you’ve done what you can from an ICSI perspective! My FET cycle starts next month so I’m a little nervous to take an embryo out the freezer. But that’s what we’re here for, right?!

Hope it all goes well for you both ☺️

I'm on day 6 of stims for my first cycle of ICSI for male factor infertility. I'm most scared of DNA fragmentation as my husband had a varicocele that can't be embolised, but the rest had been fine. Can feel stims working, injections aren't as bad as I thought and although I'm having side effects they're nothing that we ladies haven't had before, like bloating, fatigue and a bit of nausea. I have my first monitoring scan tomorrow to see how the follicles are doing so happy to answer any questions if you have any about the process ahead :) x

@MyEasterEggs I have everything crossed for you! Can I just ask, how long did you freeze your embryos for? I've asked my clinic about how long the wait is and they didnt really answer me. I guess it must be different based on how high OHSS risk is?

@Imisscoffee2021 oh my goodness, best of luck for tomorrow!

This makes me feel a bit more hopeful - my nurses have been quite doom and gloom about my ohss risk and whenever I ask how poorly I'm likely to feel they're vague but negative, haha. Great to hear you can feel it working but it's not too uncomfortable for you!

@crispyeggs I did EC in April so they’ve been frozen four months now. We paid for a year’s storage as part of our cycle. I had a slight OHSS risk but was okay and could’ve transferred the next again cycle. But I needed a hysteroscopy plus a few other tests before FET and I’ve had a cycle of rest either side because I didn’t want to rush the process.

As stims continue it can get a bit uncomfortable, especially with OHSS risk, so do give yourself space to rest 🥰

Hi! I don't have any experience of endometriosis, but I do have PCOS with a very high AMH level too (64.4). I was put on a very similar protocol to you:

150iu Meriofert (reducing to 112.5iu from day 7)
0.25mg of Cetrotide from day 6

I stimmed for 10 days, triggered with Buserelin and egg collection was on day 12.

All went very well, I had some discomfort before egg collection but no OHSS. I had 29 follicles, 18 retrieved, 18 mature, 13 fertilised (with ICSI).

Hi @crispyeggs - I hope your journey is going well so far! I’m very new to all of this but I’m soon to start ICSI - very nervous!

I ended up having 7 eggs (afc dropped from 21 to 11 in one month, crazy!) All mature, and all fertilised, got 6 blasts - 3 top quality and 3 good quality, one frahbtranafer and 5 frozen :) still in TWW, so my husbands lifestyle changes seemed to have done something as we were waiting everyday to hear the embryos had stopped growing, and call never came! Good luck with yours, hope you're getting on well!

Ah that sounds really positive @Imisscoffee2021 :) crossing my fingers for you! We are due to start at the end of the month and it’s all very overwhelming and a lot to take in!