Apt with consultant after cancelled cycle

[WelshMamtoEH]

Hello,

I recently had a cycle cancelled because I didn’t respond well to stims. I’m still spiralling over this and tomorrow I have a meeting with a consultant to discuss and ask questions before deciding whether to go again. A different consultant told me she wouldn’t bother doing another cycle and I can’t get this out of my head and I’m confused as to why. Because I’m so fuzzy over this I can’t think of all that I should ask, clarify and check. They agreed to start me on a new protocol but seemed to just choose it out of the air. Didn’t explain why this one and I was too shocked to ask anything at the time and just wanted to get out of there. So I left.

Can anyone think of anything I should ask the consultant? What would you want to know?

I’ll be doing a long protocol and will ask that if I’m not responding well, would they be able to change things during, such as dosages/meds. I’ll be asking if there is anything particular about me that makes the first consultant believe I shouldn’t bother trying again and whether she agrees.

Anything else?

thank you all x

Hiya ask all the questions you want to ask, even if you ask them more than once. It was really helpful for me to know the whys for decisions made so that I could feel in control of my own treatment and the decisions made.

It is not unusual for a first cycle to be abandoned, and many consultants use it as an opportunity to know what to tweak for the next cycle. Not ideal when you are in the thick of it but want you to know you won't be alone with having a first cycle cancel.

Also month to month your response might be different, I did mild stim for 8 cycles and 6 were abandoned due to poor response and 2 got to egg collection. I also had a number that didn't start as FSH was too high, even with suppression.

I also had premature ovulation risk so had a cycle concerted to IUI as had ovulate before trigger. It was a all a learning about my body and my individual cycle.

As I said not ideal as I assumed once I was in IVF it would all be plain sailing but the reality is very different. It's tough, it's challenging but the way to feel more in control is to ask questions to understand, do your own research and speak it out the forums on MN are fab xxx

Sorry to hear about the first consultants comments, very thoughtless comments, again I experienced this when I got my first set of test results and was told, it was impossible due to high FSH, low AMH and AFC and not to even try IVF. I was broken for a few months. We went private got retested, results were the same but delivery was different in terms of this is what we can try, we tried did batching was a roller coaster bu we got 4 embryos in the freezer in our year of cycles, so it was possible but I could have easily accepted what I was first told, but didn't, but it was always there as a whisper. I'm sorry you have that whisper now but the good news is it's not a shared view as they are going to try another protocol.

I statted long protocol with NHS, when I went private they explained to me that would never work for me with my various hormone levels as it was suppressing it too much for when it needed to start to grow folicles again 😊

Wishing you all the best for your appointment and your next steps ✨️

Thank you @SPR40 for your insight and providing a bit of your history. It’s been really helpful in lots of ways. Yes, IVF is def not straight forward. So this will be my second cycle and my last and that’s partly why I got so upset and startled to the point of fleeing and not being able to divide and conquer at the time. There’ll be no trial and learning for next time because there’ll be no next time. So it has to be right, now. I’ll be able to accept it, although I will be heartbroken to get no blasts in the freezer, as long as I know they’ve covered all bases and dotted all the I’s etc. It would be soul destroying going through it all, having no luck, knowing they could have done better for me and that my chance has been used up. My first cycle went excellently. Couldn’t have gone better and I’m a mum because of it. So to not even get to egg retrieval this time totally blindsided me. Forgive my ignorance but it just wasn’t on my radar. I knew of the very real possibility that that I might not get to blastocyst stage and I have told myself that I might have just been flukey last time round, but never thought I wouldn’t respond well to the stims. Anyhow, I’ll get researching today and asking away tmrw. Thank you and good luck with your little embryos xx

Hiya hope your appointment went well and you were able to ask all your questions ❤️