Different IVF drugs? Why?

[Sofie19]

Hi,

I wondered if anyone could help. I previously have a son from an NHS IVF round. I took buserelin, gonal f (dose increased to 450 after a few days), ovitrelle. My son came from one of the embryos created. Next cycle, same clinic, now a paying customer and did short protocol so took fyremadal, gonal f and ovitrelle. None of the embryos took this time but I did get 3 blasts.

I've changed clinics for my final attempt for a second child and I have completely different drugs. Does anyone know if any drugs are better than others or focus on different things? This time my drug list includes fostimon, meriofert, certotide, gonasai and dexamethasone. Are the gonal f pens no good and is that why I am on different things? Is ovitrelle no good either? Or I it just different drug companies that do the same thing?

Thanks

I changed clinic recently and they used completely different drugs because they said the don't use the same ones as what my old clinic were giving me. As a clinic they obviously just have a preference of what drugs work better I guess 🤔 buserelin is out of stock nationally at the minute too.. it's a nightmare! So that may have impacted things too. Good luck on this cycle x

Also just realised your new clinic have put you on the exact same drugs I was put on. I don't suppose you are with CRGH? x

@lemons44 yes! How was your recent cycle? Ahh I thought I was in a carefully selected plan but maybe it's a generic one if we have the same drugs...how has the cycle gone for you?

@Sofie19 , the drugs can differ a bit but in general they are supposed to do the same thing. Some are supposedly providing more even growth of follicles, the other ones ensure that the risk of OHSS is minimised (agonists vs antagonists).

Gonal f and ovitrelle are both good drugs and are used as standard in my second clinic. In the first clinic I had menopur instead of gonal f, although I read it’s mainly used in older age women and I was 33. Another difference is natural or artificial urine used in creation of the drug.

I would ask your clinic but it can be that the clinics prefer to work with curtain drugs/drug providers, or get better results with them.

Hey, I'm no expert, but I've noticed that clinics might take different approaches based on their experiences. For instance, one of my friends was prescribed Viagra, which surprised her. Her doctor explained that based on their experience, it had worked well for patients with conditions similar to hers. It just shows how personalized treatment can be in these situations.

I too wish to understand how Fertility Clinics decide which drugs/doses work best for each patient, bc honestly it feels (most of the time) that they just give any stims they use at that clinic to every patient they have, regardless of the particularities/individualities/patients’ conditions.

Had my first Egg Retrieval Cycle in October and only got 5retrieved, 4 mature eggs frozen. For stims, I was only on Ovaleap 450iu (highest dose), and used Ovitrelle as trigger. I was disappointed but somewhat OKAY with the results given that my AMH is low-normal for my age (37), baseline AFC was 15. No other known fertility issues, but assumed - first cycle, it’s a bit of a shot in the dark they don’t know how my body will react to stims.

Now, for my second retrieval starting in a couple of weeks time I was ABSOLUTELY hoping that they would try to work around and experiment with different meds, see if I would have a better response, but not really…the protocol is 375iu Ovaleap and 75 iu Meriofert (which supposedly helps with quality according to the planning nurse). She said Ovaleap improves quantity and Meriofert improves quality.

Well, I did higher dose of Ovaleap in first cycle and what did that get me, 4 (great quantity, not really🤪). Needless to say I’m not going into this second cycle very hopeful - if results are dim, as much as I like my clinic (they are very conveniently located and to be fair they have always treated me well), but I will have to consider doing further cycles elsewhere where other types of drugs/stims might be offered and see how my body responds to it. If other stim drugs don’t do any better then I can accept that maybe the problem is with me 🤷🏻‍♀️

Good luck to all of you ladies, here is to making dreams come true in the near future 🤰🏻