Create Fertility - Experiences (Part 2)

[Sunflower360]

Hi 👋

A thread for anyone who wants to discuss their Create Fertility experiences.

I'm 38, currently in a 3 cycle Natural Modfied ICSI package and nearing transfer stage.

Tagging as follows from previous chat, please tag any others I may have forgot. New joiners to the thread welcome to share your stories/journey!

@gemso2020
@Doxy21
@VSRCM
@GirlAgirlBboyC
@HopefulElle
@Maddie23
@Jennaqua

Hi @VenusStarr yep heading in now and started cetrotide today. Are you with St Paul? Communication has been so bad recently - my patient co-ordinator never contacted me about meds so I have none this cycle! Have to keep getting from clinic.

Hi all,

Had a follow up call with a doctor yesterday (yet another one!), actually asked him lots of questions and he was a bit more responsive. Feel like I've gone through the process without a clear understanding of what's happened at each stage. Also asked to see all my results so I've got them for my records and he said he'll sort that with my coordinator.

In general I said I wanted some more diagnostics as I've never had a successful HyCoSy etc to rule out issues with tubes. I don't want to jump straight into another round of natural modified, its a lot to go through for just one egg, without understanding if there are issues other than just age/egg quality. Also been doing a lot of additional reading including Sir Robert Winston's thoughts on fertility in your 40s!

@buttonfour what clinics do you reckon for starters.

My experience at Birmingham clinic wasn't quite nice.

Fingers crossed @Doxy21 🤞 how did you get on? I'm with Birmingham. That's really annoying about your meds, I'd find that stressful. Hope you're OK.

Hi @GirlAgirlBboyC what tests gave you done? I've found a hysteroscopy (twice) was helpful and I've done a hsg and a hyfosy but all is fine. I've never had a laproscopy though.
Have you tried natural modified because of your amh?
What does Sir Robert say about fertility in your 40s? (Do I want to know?? 🫠)

Thanks @VenusStarr had the scan, got 1 on the accessible ovary but also another 2 on the inaccesible one (of which of them is the dominant one so far), but deflated as that could end up with just one egg at the most as the inaccesible ovary would limit that. Will see what happens. I'm on Cetrotide now, so will see what happens

@Doxy21 were they able to give you some indication on how many they are hoping to collect and when?

@Sunflower360 I'm sorry youre disappointed. Why is your one ovary inaccessible? Is your dominant follicle getting close to the line? On my first mild cycle, I only had 2 follicles but when we did egg collection they got 7, so hopefully might be similar for you 🙏 keeping my fingers crossed for you. Are you back again on Saturday? X

Welcome @buttonfour , good luck on your journey! I've found the care to be good with Create, good monitoring - admin side is my only complaint.

@Doxy21 Same happened with me with meds, no delivery and despite paying in advance, I've been asked to pay every time I took meds from the clinic, it's been massively stressing me out as they don't seem to have a clue. Good job I'm tracking everything carefully though.

@Sunflower360 Sorry to hear that you're disappointed, do you think you'll likely go ahead and collect that one?

I had my EC this morning, they collected one which was as expected, so will just wait for updates now. We're doing pgta testing too.

❤️ @gemso2020 hope you have good news in the coming days x

@Sunflower360 @VenusStarr i have 5 over 10mm, scan again on Friday.

@gemso2020 ive asked them for a breakdown so I can see what I’m paying for!

Great news @doxy 😊 did they test your bloods again today? What dose stims are you on?

Thank you for the welcome! Just had my ultrasound scan and they offered a free blood test 😅 I have my digital consultation tomorrow to understand the options. The clinic is nice and the staff were friendly.. so good vibes so far.

What I'm curious is how often do I have to go to the location if I start mild IVF? It takes me an hour to get to the clinic so have to plan between work and what not... luckily I am taking a sabbatical so a bit easier during that time but was initially hoping to really relax and travel during my sabbatical!

Glad you got a good vibe @buttonfour when I did mild I was at the clinic every other morning for a scan, but as it got closer to egg collection, I was there 2 days in a row. So 6 times in all from first scan to transfer over that period.

I got a free amh blood test when I went for my scan! That was a bonus 🙂

@VenusStarr im still on 250 a day and yeah I have blood tests every time I have a scan. I thought that was the norm. I reckon collection will be Monday if I have a scan Friday. Do they do collections on a Sunday?!

I finally heard back from the NHS King's Fertility. Do you think I can provide all my results to them so far to get them to refer me for free IVF with Create? I think NHS will help cover for three sessions if you are eligible. Does it work like that..? Debating if I should go thru all that faff and admin or fork over a mini fortune.

Yes @Doxy21 with my fresh cycle they were thinking I'd have collection on the Sunday, but they tested my hormones and I was on the Monday instead.

@buttonfour I had my nhs round at Create but that's because my ccg had chosen them as the local provider (it was my hospital who'd done all our fertility tests but they lost the contact during covid). We were only entitled to 1 fresh cycle on the nhs.
Has your funding been approved? I found once ours came through it was really quick.

NHS was willing to accept my previous tests so I will see how soon I can get an appointment to see if they can give me a freebie. It would only be 1 fresh freebie from NHS? I read 3 on the website. I'm guessing you can pay the difference to have it frozen.

@gemso2020 @VenusStarr Thanks both, just feeling bit flat as there is a big chance any follicles on the inaccesible ovary may be hard to get to - basically the one ovary sits too high, which can make getting the needle in hard to get to the follicle, Drs have said they will try to access it but so far in each of the 2 collections with Create it hasn't been accessible and they don't want to push it and take unnecessary risks so I'm anticipating it would be the same this time. Will see what happens, my Estradiol at the moment is 2200 with lead follicle at 14mm at the moment, in total there are 5 visible follicles but a couple are under 10mm. I'm planning on going ahead with the collection whatever, just want to get on with it and hope to get 1 egg. Will see what happens, I'm going into this one expecting to get nothing now to be honest but that's always a chance with low numbers, just want to move on with a transfer and learn from that if it wasn't to work as I could have another go as we have 2 x day 5's frozen at the moment and a day 3. If we were to have further egg collections I'm going to stick with natural modified, not sure mild has been any different to be honest (not for me anyway)

@Doxy21 that is good news, have they indicated if your Estradiol levels have gone up? I'll know more on Friday about possible egg collection, but would imagine it'll go into next week.

@buttonfour hi! Hope all goes ok for you. I also transferred our previous test results to Create from our NHS clinic

@buttonfour that was all they give in my area. Some areas are 3 with all fresh and frozen transfers included per round. But mine was one fresh transfer cycle.

Sorry @Sunflower360 I cross posted with you. I'm sorry you're feeling flat. Your levels are good, I hope there's a few more follicles on your accessible ovary 🙏 when are you thinking collection might be? X

Thanks @VenusStarr Nurse seemed to suggest mid next week but I'm not sure, seems a while away when I have 2 follicles at 14mm and 12mm already (the latter being on the accessible ovary)...will see what comes up on Friday

Unfortunately had a call from the clinic first thing to say the embryo had degenerated, so we weren't able to get anything at all from this cycle. Feeling fairly disheartened, but will of course move on and look forward to the next cycle (hopefully beginning of Jan).

Just curious what dosage are you all on, I've been on 300 both times now and it just seems high to get what will likely only be one or two eggs, wondering if I should ask to switch to Natural Modified or best stick with Mild..

Anyway, hopefully some more positive news from those of you who are having EC next week!

Oh @gemso2020 I'm so sorry to hear that ❤️ I've only done mild, I'll be on 225 so not sure about natural modified. It might be worth exploring?

Sorry @gemso2020 😞 I’m on 250 for mild. I was on 125 on alternate days when I was doing natural modified - the meds are a lot cheaper!

@gemso2020 really sorry to hear that. I did natural modified in the previous 2 cycles and would strongly suggest exploring it, was on 150 Gonal-F both times although in the last cycle I went up to 225 for the final 2 days. I'm doing mild this time and still been on 150 but extra days of stim (you start day 2 instead of day 5 on nat mod)...I was not keen on high doses as my lead follicle just goes well ahead, but everyone is so different.

Also as @Doxy21 said it is also cheaper as you're on less meds for a shorter duration. If it is most likely going to be one or 2 eggs then natural modified is probably best, hence why I would probably stick with that if we have further egg collections