How do you feel during egg collection/stimulation cycle

[HollyTheHarrier]

I’m working towards my first round of IVF starting December/January. I’m just wondering, if you’ve been through this how was it? Did you feel ok or very unwell? If you generally exercise were you able to continue during the process? When did you feel ok again afterwards? Just want to know what to expect as much as I can. Many thanks for any advice!

@HollyTheHarrier I think it's very individual - some have very few side effects. For myself, I've been fine the first week of stimulation apart from headaches but from the second week I've been increasingly tired, bloated, nauseous, and emotional. I think it depends on the number of follicles and dosing of medication (the higher, the more likely it is to have side effects). Good luck! It's a pain but hopefully worth it x

@HollyTheHarrier Ive had 2 stims/collections and was maybe one of the lucky ones who didn’t experience any side affects to the stims. I was able to continue as normal and actually felt quite well.
However, even though same dosage stims on both, the collections experience were different.
I was slightly sedated on both so didn’t feel a thing, however first collection within half hour of leaving the hospital I started experiencing pain, I couldn’t put my bum on the car seat with constant shooting pains going through me. I went home took strong painkillers and stayed in bed the rest of the day/night. Again I had pain the following night so spent it in bed. I thought it was normal as there was no bleeding or other side affects just pain below. I didn’t contact my clinic for feedback as was sure it would pass. The next morning was completely fine and I went back to work. After Googling I now believe it could have been slight OHSS as I had 14 follicles taken that time.

The second collection I was prepared for this again but surprisingly didn’t have any pain at all and I mean not even a single twinge. I was able to go for a walk and a meal afterward the collection. They collected 8 follicles.

Hope it doesn’t put you off lol, everyone is different and will have different outcomes. I really appreciated people’s honestly about the process as I wanted realistic feedback. Good luck.

Thanks so much! It won’t put me off, I just like knowing what to expect 😂 but agree it must be very variable

@HollyTheHarrier My experience was very similar to @IVFgothope to be honest. First week fine, got tougher second week. Mentally I struggled to focus on work. I drank insane amounts of water and that stopped the headaches. The actual egg collection was fine, had a bit of a stomach ache after and for a few days I’ve been bloated and had a bit of stomach ache. I took a few days off work.
Egg transfer is this weekend so can’t report on that yet. Best of luck.

@HollyTheHarrier it's so dependent on individual circumstance. I have low AMH and a low AFC. Although I was on the highest dose of stims I felt absolutely fine during the EC stage. I had a bit of bloating towards the end (but could still fit in all my jeans as normal) I felt a little uncomfortable after the EC, but no pain (didn't need any pain relief) and I actually didn't notice any change in my mood either. However - we did only retrieve 4 eggs so I was never going to bloat much or feel too awful!!! X