ERA EMMA ALICE testing thread 8

[Gardenlady543]

@2021ivfagain @kerrym87 @Janefx40 @seven201 @thislittlebird @Spin101 @Enfys23
@CailinInUK @BewilderedBee @Loz2467 @Lori2022 @VenusStarr @clhiu @Faithhopelove83 @APSR @ChickenT2b @Mina209 @IVF22 @Lizzybeth1988 @AM08 @Fluffykins33 @Sar1010

Continued in from thread 7 :)

@Gardenlady543 all the best for tomorrow. Thinking of you. Catch up with everyone else soon ❤️

Just got my progesterone back as 128, so that's interesting as I thought it would be higher than last time with daily pio rather than alternating between pio and lubion. In addition to the corpus luteum and the cyclogest twice a day.

@Gardenlady543 good luck today!! Hope it goes well.

128 is pretty high (in a good way). The corpus luteum only produces about 10 so the rest is PIO and cyclogest.

Thinking of you x

@Janefx40 thankyou, I hope I didn't mess everything up by not taking the extra cyclogest on the first day, but I hope maybe that it mimicked what happens naturally, since I guess it starts low and increases up.

@Gardenlady543 that will be fine. Honestly you are in a great place in terms of progesterone and hopefully everything else too 🤞🏼

Good luck Gardenlady x

Thanks @IVF22 and everyone else :)

Thanks for the reassurance @Janefx40

Doing all the last minute heavy jobs before the transfer, did a day of gardening and a tip run yesterday!

@Gardenlady543 best of luck for the transfer today!! Sounds good that you got your heavy lifting jobs out of the way and you’ve got double acupuncture today.

I’ve been in for my blood test this morning, they said they will try and get back to me today but a bit worried about it being a bank holiday. Also today my nausea have cleared up… so think another chemical, so difficult when on Saturday the test lines were so strong but let’s see

@Gardenlady543 Good luck. That is a good level. Anything over 100 is optimal. That is what I’ve been told. So you have already achieved that even taking less medication.

@CailinInUK How is everything going? Are you waiting for your swab results? It’s strange that even with probiotics and canesbalance Invivo were still able to pick up my atopobium vaginae.

Did you ever use vaginal probiotics from Good Clean Love? I remember you mentioning that brand. Which ones have you been using?

Just a quick update, I did have a call from CRGH and it was a positive Beta, it was over 1000 at day 12 - we’ve asked to go in on Wednesday for another blood test as I’ve had bad cramping today (maybe stress) and just to confirm things after the last chemical but cautiously feeling positive!

On a slightly more silly point, I’m feeling a bit annoyed with myself as I had a pret chocolate croissant due to the stress of everything today after no sugar since transfer… and I keep thinking that’s what’s caused this mornings cramps…

@AM08 that's a great level, you must be really happy with that. Don't worry about the sugar, it probably got the endorphins going and did you some good.

I did the acupuncture and I'm at the clinic but they're running late so I'm refilling my bladder! I'm not making the mistake I made a few transfers ago where I sat with a full bladder for hours.

@AM08 , very pleased to hear about your HCG result, cautions congratulations.

@Gardenlady543 I can see why you’d want to be careful about how much you’re filling your bladder, only had that one transfer and was in agony as my procedure started 30 minutes later than scheduled and lasted longer than the average transfer because of the HCG beforehand, never enjoyed a wee more afterwards!

I did not know you weren’t supposed to have sugar post transfer, are you? Because I certainly haven’t been avoiding it, in fact I’ve been rather indulgent given the general stress. Have I messed up my chances?

@clhiu there are all kinds of things people follow, sugar free, gluten free, antiinflammatory.

The only transfer I got anywhere with was my chemical where all I could stomach was crisp sandwiches and vegan burgers. Other transfers I was having super smoothies. One I only ate fruit and veg and nothing else because I was reacting to progesterone. And those super healthy diet transfer and I didn't test positive at all. Plus there is the salty fries from McDonald's ritual that lots of people do. I don't think diet has that much influence to be honest, it hasn't helped me.

Thanks @Gardenlady543 . I heard sugar and carbs are bad for egg so if you’re pre EC or natural conception phase you may want to cut down, but never heard it in relation to implantation. I guess sugar also increases the risk of yeast infections am I right in saying so? But not an issue I have si hopefully I’m safe on that front.

@Gardenlady543 wishing you all the best with your transfer!

They want to go ahead with my transfer tomorrow. Although I’m hesitant my consultant said that the fibroid is on the margin and not actually in the endometrium and the down Reg would have slowed down / stopped its supply. The consultant said I would do more damage by removing it? Which I can’t quite understand.

I guess if this one fails I need to get more testing like immunes or the Emma and Alice maybe. I don’t know much about all this so I’ll just have to wait.

My progesterone was only 73.9 - they said anything over 30 is fine but I’ve just read from you guys over 100 is better. I’ve spare cyclogest. Do I just do an extra one? Maybe every other day or something?

*egg quality I meant

@Loz2467 I completely understand your concerns with the fibroid, but sounds like good news, I’m sure your clinic knows what they’re talking about? Which clinic are you with? Some clinics want to se >100 progesterone, definitely mine, but I think it doesn’t actually need to be for successful implementation. @Gardenlady543 can tell you more, and I wouldn’t want to advise using excess medication, but at best it wouldn’t probably hurt to have an extra cyclogest if you’re concerned about progesterone levels?

@Gardenlady543 how did your transfer go? Hope all went smoothly and you got your bladder to a good level - so tricky, on my 3DSIS I REALLY filled it and the nurse couldn’t find my cervix for about 20
minutes. I’m feeling cautiously optimistic but trying not to get too ahead of ourselves with it being such early days.

@clhiu thank you, I think the sugar thing might be a myth but I read somewhere that women who have PCOS have difficulties managing glucose and that can impact implantation and I’m borderline PCOS (never been diagnosed fully but have a few indicators) so felt like I’d give the limiting/no refined carbs/sugar thing a go.

@AM08 ah, that makes total sense, thanks for explaining.

I had the transfer, I didn't think the lining looked that good, just an ill defined mass the doctor said it looked fine but they have lied to me before on transfer day. I hope it's ok since it looked good at the last scan. The embryo thawed well and it was a nice smooth transfer. There's nothing I can do now anyway. I went to acupuncture and home now.

@Loz2467 Dr Gorgy says above 50 is good, above 80 is better, you are almost at 80. There's a load of studies showing about max 30 is good and then outcomes are worst but all the specialist clinics seem to think differently, so who knows.

@Gardenlady543 I’ll be crossing everything for you! Same with my lining at my last transfer - looked completely diff to how all the images seem to look on Dr google! Mine was just really puffy and not smooth lined at all. I think I may of posted a pic back in Jan. I can’t remember. Like you say though it looked good before progesteone start and they don’t tend to re access it do they? I’m already worried about what mine will look like tomorrow.

How can we control what the lining looks like at transfer? Or can we simply not as we are always getting checked before for mm and triple layer appearance then start progesteone?

Ah I’m not too far off - maybe I don’t just go adding extra cyclogest then but I’m tempted. 😫

@clhiu thank you. To be honest I don’t quite feel reassured - I don’t think you ever do regardless of what some consultants tell you and I can’t help but think this fibroid is the cause for my secondary infertility.

@Loz2467 of course I totally hear your concerns and I know I would feel apprehensive too, but I hope they’ve got it right and this is the one for you. I hope the transfer is smooth. I don’t think an extra cyclogest a day will do any harm if it brings you peace of mind.

@Gardenlady543 glad to hear the transfer went well, sorry to hear about the concerns with your lining, especially if you felt they have lied to you before, not a great way to feel confident during the tww. Congratulations on being PUPO for now. From my single experience the tww can really do one!!

@clhiu I also remember the crisp sandwiches I had about 2 weeks after transfer when I felt sick most of the time when I was pregnant with my son! I remember drinking hot squash and hating tea or decaf coffee which I loved pre-transfer. My nausea was really bad. I remember also eating chocolate and then feeling more sick.

This time around I have to be more careful due to my vaginal microbiome being bad but I was told you can eat what you want. You have high oestrogen and progesterone levels, so you don’t need to worry at all.

I wish I was doing my transfer this month but will not have time to take vaginal clindamycin in time. I sent another email to my clinic today in response to the last one where I was being told at least your gynaecologist is listening to you now. Anyway, I have a plan but worry my oestrogen will not be high enough even though my lining usually gets to 12 or 13mm. I hope that my being a bit rude to the Secretary is not going to go against me, but I felt I had to get my point across. I was being patronised and told I could speak with an in-house counsellor if feeling low. I already speak with one of their counsellors and she is good. Why change things? She is astonished at how I’ve been treated.

@AM08 Congratulations. I have thought about complaining but also worried. Last time I had a go at my consultant he got really annoyed with me and told me I could go elsewhere. The thing is when I was in my late 30s we just had male factor issues and he was good, but when I started to get high fsh things changed.

@Gardenlady543 I’m keeping my fingers crossed for you. You have done everything you could. Your oestrogen and progesterone levels are good. Your lining was at a good thickness. It does look different after progesterone. I did not take much notice when I had my fresh transfer for my son. They would not have done the transfer if there were issues.

I really find this time of the year difficult to do IVF. It is 20 degrees in my room. I have the window open but curtains closed to keep it cool. I’m just getting worried as last year it was really stressful. How are others storing Blood thinners inhixa? I know cyclogest can go up to 30 degrees.