IVF first stimulation scan-am I worrying about nothing…again??

[JLB234]

Hi all,

I went for my first (day 5) stims scan on Wednesday. The consultant said there had been some growth but wanted to give my ovaries a boost so put my meds up. There were currently 7-8 follicles, 2 at 10, 3 at 9, 2 at 8. He initially wanted to go from 225 to 375iu (I’m on meriofert). However, he went to check my notes and said because my ovarian reserve is good, he’s only going to put it up to 300iu for 5 days.

He was very calm and didn’t seem concerned at all. However, because I’m a sucker for punishment, I’ve spend the last 2 days google obsessively and have convinced myself that I’m going to be a poor responder and that my cycle will be cancelled. I would love to blame the hormones for the irrationality but unfortunately, I am quite prone to it anyway. Was just wondering if anyone had any stories or similar experiences to share?

It’s all so stressful, isn’t it??

Thanks so much,

Jenny

Your first cycle is always a bit of trial and error. I wouldn't worry at all, my understanding is you see more growth in the second half of the stims anyway. It's good to try and trust your clinic and avoid google! Not sure if you're private or NHS but I always think that I'm paying them for their expertise so I'll let them do the worrying!

@JLB234 it is so easy to worry, i did the same. I also have a high AMH and my consultants were constantly worrying i would overreact and get OHSS. On my first early scan which was at day 6 i had 10 folicles but all very small. I was on 100iu! They literally only increased me to 112.5! I felt this was going to be too low but i had to trust them. By the 2nd scan i only had 6 that were of collection size! I was gutted and do believe i could of got more if i was on a higher dose but remember i was on a lot lot lower than you. They ended up getting 8 eggs. It is all trial an error for the first one.
If i dont get any to transfer this round they will certainly give me a higher dose next time. But everyone is different and reacts differently to the drugs. You cant really control how it will go.

My meriofert dosage was also put up to 300. I seem to remember it was day 6 and I had no follicles above 8mm. In the end I shimmer for 14 days and I got about 14 good sized follicles so it was all good. I’m glad they put my dosage up because I had the same problem in my first cycle but as it was mild IVF they didn’t put my dosage up and I only ended up with one follicle of a good size.

good luck!!!

Stimmed not shimmer!

Thanks so much for all of your advice/support!

@TwoWaits it makes me feel a lot better that you had so much success with the increase! Thanks for sharing x

Just been for my scan. There are more follicles and there has been definite growth with the smallest being 12 and the biggest being 16. Another scan on Wednesday and then hopefully EC on Friday. Not out of the woods yet but very relieved! Thanks again for all of your support x

@JLB234 i have just found this after my frantic googling as I’ve just had the same issue on my day 8 stims scan. In previous ultrasounds (pre IVF) I have had 12 follicles on each side and yesterday on my day 8 scan… 8 and 4. I was so upset! And I think they were pretty shitty sizes too. I was too upset to ask details. Could you update me on how everything went for you? Hoping it’s great news! This journey is a rollercoaster!

Please try not to stress (rich coming from me as I was panicking so much), I went for egg collection yesterday and we got 24 eggs, 20 of which were mature. They’d only ever seen 12-14 follicles so I was shocked. The consultant said sometimes people have shy ovaries where follicles hide up until the last minute. That was certainly me! Good luck with everything x

@JLB234 what the hell?! That’s amazing! I am so happy to hear this. I can’t believe you got so many mature ones- you must be over the moon! I have a pretty good Amh (18) so to hear 4 and 8 yesterday, I was so disappointed. I’m taking it super easy this weekend, have a hot water bottle on my stomach and I’m just trying to sleep, hydrate and eat protein. I hate when things feel so much out of my control! Really hoping I’m lucky on Monday and get good news. They are talking about cancelling this cycle if the results don’t match up to what we were expecting 💔

Yeah, in the end 20 were mature and found out this morning that 13 fertilised so please try not to lose hope.
I’m keeping everything crossed for you. If you need to chat or just want to rant, please feel free to message me. I know how lonely it can feel when things seem to be against you ♥️

13 fertilised! Oh my god I can only dream about this number. So so great! Thank you so much for your lovely words. We have gone through nearly 2 years of infertility, realised it was male factor and were given 0% change of conceiving naturally so getting to IVF was an uphill battle. I think I was naive to assume that when we got here, it would be plain sailing! Every step is traumatic!!

are you going for a fresh transfer or freeze all? How did you find the procedure yesterday? X

Bless you-that sounds really rough! It’s so frustrating when you know something is wrong but you have got to jump through all of the hoops. We have unfortunately had 4 early losses and only got tested after the third in which they found I had ridiculously low progesterone to the point that I would never be able to sustain a pregnancy without intervention. In the meantime waiting for IVF, we lost another one. You’re not naive at all-you’re being hopeful which you have got to be to keep yourself sane. From day 10 to day 12 I saw the same amount of growth that I’d seen in 5 days from day 5 to 10. I’d heard that much more growth happens for lots of people in the second half of stims because your body gets used to the meds. Is this your first round?

So far, we’re planning to do fresh transfer. Egg collection was fine. To be honest, the drugs they give you work very well and as a result, I remember very little! Have been feeling very tired and a bit sore since but nothing too bad.

Oh my goodness what a journey you have been on. I am so sorry! I honestly feel like infertility strips you of all innocence and tests you like you never thought you’d be tested. It’s so great you got to the bottom of why you were experiencing losses and the doctors can take control of that now. It’s so weird but I have loved starting IVF. I felt like we had so many months of inaction, waiting on appointments, results etc that now I felt I was finally taking action. So the shitty results on Friday was a blow I wasn’t expecting. I feel great on stims.. and now I’m thinking maybe that’s a bad sign! I should be feeling heavier or something maybe?!

so yes. This is my first round. I believe they put me on a very low dose of follicle stimulating drugs and I’m desperate to increase them but doctor said that wouldn’t be wise at this point.

Fingers crossed for a fresh cycle for you! I know it’s still nail biting but hopefully you can breathe a little after your results today!

Yes, it’s an awful journey. I wouldn’t wish it on anyone.

Try not to look into symptoms too much (although it’s really hard) apart from a tiny bit of nausea and some bloating at the very end of the day towards the end, I felt fine on stims too.

I’ll be thinking of you and hoping that things start moving in the right direction. When is your next scan? X

I had a terrible first round I had good AMH and AFC for my age so they gave me 180 Rekovelle. I had 20 follicles but only got 3 eggs from 5 follicles. They only scan at Day 10 so no chance to change anything.
The clinic said it was concerned I was a poor responder and they recommended I did the blood test to check.
At that point I didn't realise how low my stims had been considering my age and I got second opinion privately who suggested I just went for it at 450 Menopur or Meriofert as the chance of OHSS was very low.
My consultant wasn't happy due to OHSS risk and my slight increase of blood clotting but conceded to a compromise of 300 then up to 450 at Day 5 if not responding well.
Day 5 and again only about 5 follicles on the move - was furious! Thought it was happening all over again and would have to cancel my cycle. Upped to 450 and Day 8 more on the move and Day 10 more had boosted, had collection Friday and got 10 eggs.
It's hard work. I feel I need to do my own research for everything and even had to suggest Menopur myself as they suggested putting me on a poor responder stim for round 2 which was £700 more. I had no idea until the private second opinion that my Rekovelle dose was actually not that high and still now am cross why they weren't forth coming with my dosage and why that wasn't the immediate thought for why I hadn't responded well to cycle 1!