IVF October 2024

[spamOFtheDAY]

Hi 👋
I'm due to commence IVF next month (injections to start 2nd October).
Thought I'd start a group for anyone going through the same thing at the same time to support each other ☺️
🌈

I've already accepted I'm out this cycle.

OTD tomorrow and negative yesterday (9dp5dt)

I have some very slight bleeding (brownish) when I go to the toilet (sorry TMI) - I imagine as about to get period - but should this happen when still taking progesterone?

Do you think I should ask that my progesterone is checked/increased for next cycle? (I did have it checked prior to egg collection, but not since)

@spamOFtheDAY I would find it odd if they declined considering taking bloods takes minutes. Have they attributed any of the issues to low progesterone? A lot of your symptoms suggest that's the issue, and I have seen women on here who are on 3 x a day pessary as well as injections, so the doses are able to go high

Thank you - I've booked in a discussion with the consultant so have a lot of questions ready to ask!
They also never tested my AMH which I find a bit odd 🤷‍♀️

@charja100 we're looking at Prague at the moment. There's a few clinics I'm looking at, but looks like it'll end up costing us around 4k euros for a round with meds, so less than half of what we are paying in London. Even with flights and accommodation on top

@spamOFtheDAY I’m sorry to hear this. I do think it sounds like you must have low progesterone. I am also stunned that they didn’t test your AMH. Whilst AMH is not that important for natural conception; it’s crucially important for IVF. The AMH level provides a good indicator of how many eggs you’d be likely to produce as well as what level of stimulants would be best for you.

I got put on the max stims (450IU per day, that’s half a pen!) because my AMH was very low (5.2 pmol or 0.74ng/ml). I still only produced six eggs on the max dose but me and my consultant were prepared for that as we knew my AMH level. I feel that knowing my AMH has helped to manage my expectations for the cycle. Have they given a reason why they don’t test AMH? Maybe it’s just not included in your package? It cost me £450 for the test so maybe that’s why.

Thanks - yes that's one of my first questions.
It seems like my clinic apply a bit of a basic protocol for the 1st cycle and it seems very much like a trial cycle (and not very personal or patient centred 🤷‍♀️)
I have a list of questions (which will also end with a request to switch consultants!).

@spamOFtheDAY i know exactly how you feel I’m 7dp5dt and I am now having AF but it’s intense like the worst one I have ever had. No idea if it’s meant to be this bad. I also have loads questions around progesterone as I was complaining about my spotting well before I start IVF. Clearly it’s an issue

Oh that's rubbish 😞 not only to get AF but to get it hard.
Really sorry. Are you doing ok?
You'd think they'd want to monitor progesterone following transfer?
I had a blood test before egg collection but nothing since 🤷‍♀️

Hi all, first post on this thread. Good luck to everyone whichever stage you're at.

My summary: first cycle short protocol evening injections with 225 Gonal F/ 150 Meriofert. I don't have a long fertility history - I started trying in March of this year. Pregnant 4th cycle which ended in medically managed miscarriage at 9.5 weeks in August. Over 40 so going straight to batching with PGTA to (try) avoid more of the same and because I probably need fibroid surgery.

Totally fucked up and took a trigger shot on day 3 of my cycle/ day 2 of stimulation! Not usually so utterly dumb but was trying to be blase about the whole thing despite how laughably horrendous it is (+ the meds look almost identical and I thought the trigger was in the fridge). Fortunately it was early enough that my ovaries said "Eh? Not a chance" about releasing eggs but given I didn't realise my screw up until the following evening, I went a day without 150 Meriofert.

My follicles seem to be growing relatively slowly. Here is the chart for days 5 and 8 of stimulation. I have another scan tomorrow (10th day of stimulation). On both occasions I was told the bottom two rows probably wouldn't catch up, though it looks like some might have between the two scans (not that anything makes total sense, given the sudden appearance/disappearance of follicles across right/ left). Did anyone else have 7/8/9 mm follicles on day 8 catch up by the time of collection?

@sirensong welcome to the thread. I had some 8-9mm follicles on day 8 which did not catch up by day 12 (the day of my egg collection). It’s probably different for everyone so maybe there’s no point in me sharing this. I did find that I had six follicles over 10mm on day 8 and that’s how many I had at the egg collection.

Do the clinic know you took the trigger shot on day 3? It’s an easy mistake to make but it’s powerful stuff in those trigger shots! Will they give you another or do you have to pay extra for another? I am finding there are lots of extra costs with ivf depending on what happens during each cycle. For example, it’s £2500 per frozen embryo transfer and I have to use all my embryos before starting a new cycle!

I have my embryo transfer today! The clinic will give me a final update this morning but as a recap (because my previous posts are buried) I had six follicles, six had eggs in them, all six were mature, all six fertilised and all six were at 6-8 cells or more on day 3. Looks like I might get three embryos at day five at that rate. I’ll update when I know!

Hi ladies.

@Purpleflowers17 I’m so sorry. I’m in the same boat as you and it really sucks. I have no reason for why I'm bleeding either as I'm on 3x cyclogest pessaries and 1 x lubion injection. And this has worked for me on other cycles. From reading, it seems that on fresh cycles progesterone support just doesn't stop AF on failed cycles when they are fresh.

8dp5dt yesterday another BFN and and AF arrived in full force so that's me out this cycle. 4th failed transfer, not even a chemical this time 😣. My clinic have told me to stay on all my meds except blood thinners. And have said I can bring test day early from Sunday to Friday 11dp5dt. It seems such a waste of medication at this point. Absolutely gutted. Had a big cry that it's another chance gone, as had really had hoped it might be my time with all the changes we'd had to my protocol with immune protocol add ons etc.

Very very fortunate this round has been our most successful so far, and that we have 6 embryos sent off for PGTA testing. I’m hopeful that the changes we made have also improved the egg quality. We saw our best ever fertilisation rates (11 fertilised of 12 mature eggs). Now waiting on those results to come back and praying for some euploid embryos. At my age (2 months off 40) our odds of euploids is much lower, our consultant said 1 in 3. Last time we sent 2 off for testing and both came back aneuploid.

This was our last round of Egg collection in the UK with my own eggs. It’s our third round and we just can’t afford to keep going. If we don’t get any euploids embryos then we’ll be looking at donor eggs and IVF abroad somewhere like Prague. Hoping this isn’t the end of my journey just yet.

Thanks for reading.

@charja100 I hope you get euploid embryos. It must be crushing to have come so far and for the transfer to not have worked. Look after yourself today x

Im sorry @charja100 , everything about this is so unfair. You are doing the right thing though about being rightfully optimistic about what you have in the freezer and planning to go abroad. If our 3 rounds fail, I would likely do the same.

@Feliciacat yes the clinic knows about my idiotic error - I called them on the emergency number the following evening when I realised, to see if I should continue taking medication or abandon cycle. Fortunately I already had an appointment scheduled first thing in the morning and following a scan and blood test they said to play on. I imagine I'll have to pay for the trigger to be prescribed again - fortunately it's one of the cheapish ones.

Was your collection cycle day 12 or stimm day 12?

Good luck with your transfer! 100% egg maturity/fertilisation/day 3 survival is absolutely amazing!

@charja100 with 6 off for testing odds are on your side here. Wishing you all the luck. So sorry about the transfer this time round.

@sirensong ah thank you for the well wishes!

Yes, the trigger shots are not as expensive as the FSH pens! They’re £300 each so mine cost £1800! Then we didn’t even use them all as my follicles got big earlier than they thought. They had to throw £400 of meds away as they couldn’t give them to anyone else. Seems awfully wasteful!

My egg collection was on cycle day 12. I stimmed until the morning of day 10 but a day 10 scan revealed I was ready for the trigger shot so I took that on the evening of day 10. Then had the egg collection 36 hours later on the morning of day 12.

@Feliciacat today is my cycle day 12 - will be my 11th day of injections if they issue another prescription for tonight. Collection most likely to be cycle day 15, depending on what my scan today shows. Will be 2 days since the last one in the image above. Most follicles only seem to be growing 1mm a day, unsure if that's below average as I've definitely seen other people mention 2mm/3mm

OTD for me today and another negative. That is my 5th failed FET now. I am at my wits end with it all. Still 2 in the freezer, which are funded by NHS. I think it is time to go privately for further investigations. My clinic also doesn't check AMH levels either and being 41, I need to get this checked. If low, I am done with IVF after those last 2 have been used, my mental health can not take it anymore.

Good luck to everyone who are still waiting to test and had their collections.

@sirensong well I’m no doctor but as long as they’re big enough eventually then you should have a chance at a transfer. I think they can keep you on the stims longer if you’re not displaying hyper-stimulation.

@AnonS I am so sorry to hear your news. IVF is so rough and I agree that it’s fine to step away forever. I’ve always believed (and I’m sure you do too) that a woman’s worth is not in her reproductive status. Can you get the remaining embryos PGT-A tested in case there’s a dna level reason why they’re not transplanting? Then at least they could only put in euploids and it would not put you through as many transfers.

I just had the call from the clinic and (out of six) I have two that are good enough, two borderline and two that didn’t make it. They might be able to freeze the other two if they grow by tomorrow. I feel that 2-3 is a good number as to be honest, I wasn’t expecting to get many and I was feeling daunted at getting six embryos as then I perhaps would not use all of them. I have ethical concerns about destroying life that I’ve created. Not that other people should, that’s just me.

@charja100 @AnonS sorry to hear yours has failed as well. Honestly feel like this has been a real sucker punch. Especially because didn’t even get to near test day at all and AF arriving a week early.

we luckily have 6 frosties left, hoping to put two back in this time but apparently they won’t let you put back to Grade As? So we will request Grade A & C to be put back in. How long do you have to wait until you can go again? I’m having AF now so assume can go again after the next AF arrives but I have heard it knocks your body out of sync so I could be waiting ages? 🤦🏼‍♀️

@Feliciacat @Purpleflowers17 I won't be having another FET until next year now. My clinic closes in December for a month. I will need to speak to my partner to agree, but id like to get the ERA/EMMA/ALICE testing done privately, along with my AMH. If all clear I want them to do a double transfer, so that I can finish with the NHS once and for all.

My partner also wants to do a trip to Africa in Feb, so it will delay any transfers for a bit due to Ziki testing, which I am totally fine with. IVF is planned around me, not the other way. My life was out on hold for 3 years to it, not anymore.

Once the 2 remaining are done, we will look privately overseas - my egg collection will be when I am 42 though :(

Gosh things and prices are so different in the UK.
Here in Ireland We don't go through HSE (irish NHS) but as I have a drugs payment scheme card I only pay 80 towards the medication I'm very happy about that now.
The cycle costs €5295 where I go then and as same sex couple we cannot get the one free go that others can avail of.
The Donor sperm then on top. Oh its madness.

Sorry to hear about the failed round guys. I know from last try it's so hard. Sending positive vibes and all I can say is look after yourselves. Push to learn more about what may have gone wrong.

Sorry to hear, @AnonS 😥I think it's good to take a bit of time out and focus on other things, that's what I'm planning to do if this doesn't work out. I'm 41 too so obviously concerned about my age, hence I'm doing a duo stim...just waiting for the PGT-A test results from our 1st round.
I think EMMA/ALICE is a good idea, we're thinking about doing that next Jan, if there's any embryo to transfer at all.
Worth looking into PGT-A if you're going private, it's meant to increase the chances of live birth to 40% for our age group!

The success rate of PGTA tested embryos over 40 might even be higher than 40%. I've seen anything from 40-70% in studies. Smaller numbers involved, but here are the stats for my clinic.

I have a follicle size trigger dilemma - can anyone remember their spread of sizes ahead of collection?