Ivf, icis January 2025

[Nobodyknowsitall5]

Anyone starting next month? I'll be on my 4th cycle. I've just bought 2 cycles with manchester fertility and it will be me done. I'm 36, have a low amh of 5.2 and afc 10. I'm doing the estrogen priming protocol so will take estrogen tablets for 7 days starting from day 21. I then take 450 meriofert. I'm not sure whether I am excited or nervous. It has been a year since my last cycle and I'm going to struggle with another loss but wanted to get started again also. No children yet and over 3 years trying. Have blocked tubes and endo xx

@ForeverHopeful17 that's great news RE the funding, I know I was pretty pleased to find that out!

So I had a high progesterone reading on the day of egg collection, that's when the consultant mentioned doing a freeze all. In terms of the OHSS, I'd say that I noticed the bloating not going down 2 or 3 days after collection (the previous times it had gone down pretty quickly). By day 5, I was feeling better but looked pregnant I was so swollen from all the free fluid. I had a scan on day 5 (which would have been transfer day) and my ovaries were still large and the follicles had refilled with fluid, there was lots of extra fluid too. I was 2kg heavier as well. I'd say that took 6 or 7 days to go down. The weight dropped off too and externally I'm pretty much back to normal now. Bleed started 8 days after what would have been transfer day, which was within the 7-10 day time frame the nurse gave me. It wasn't painful at all thankfully, just weird, although I did feel pretty tired (not unlike what I assume early pregnancy must be like!)

Hopefully it will be ok for you.

Interested to know how you knew you had mild OHSS? I was given a leaflet and told I might be at risk too because of the number of egg, but they seem to be going ahead with fresh transfer anyway.

I don't have any symptoms other than a bit of cramping, bloating and constipation but nothing unmanageable, and I think that is down to the cyclogest pessaries. Slightly gone off food but I also think it's because I don't want to aggravate my stomach.

oh sorry, just seen you said your OHSS symptoms @uhhuhyeahok

They didn't do any bloods or anything for me on egg collection day. Not sure how they would know if my progesterone was high or not.... Feeling bit unsure about it all now. I don't feel like I've got OHSS but now I feel like I could talk myself into thinking I have it.....

@OneWaryCat it was a blood test on the day of the trigger injection. Its a new thing for my clinic, they didn't do it the last 2 cycles last year. Also I don't think progesterone levels have anything to do with OHSS, otherwise it would be a standard test everywhere.

If your clinic isn't worried about it I'm sure you'll be fine. The bloating was definitely different, it went all the way up to my chest, not just my lower tummy if that makes sense.

Ok thank you @uhhuhyeahok.

I'm probably just bloated and constipated from cyclogest and too much gluten and overthinking it all. I guess they will do checks on fresh transfer day and send me home if not right and freeze all.

We get our day 3 update tomorrow and we are both feeling really nervous as to how many are still progressing. I thought because I had a good amount of eggs that we would have lots fertilised but its been lower than expected and lower than average.

@uhhuhyeahok thanks for taking the time to explain. Sounds like your bloating would have been super uncomfortable with it going up to your chest...wow. Hopefully I also have a pain free bleed

@OneWaryCat good luck with your D3 update tomorrow!

@uhhuhyeahok @ForeverHopeful17
same here I had mild OHSS and the way I felt for 3 days I am glad they made the decision for me.
my bleed came 5 days after egg collection and my symptoms got a lot better after 4 days and now almost totally gone at 8 days. And same self funded and clinic said if frozen for medical reasons it is no extra charge.

Uncomfortable but not painful thankfully! Hope it helps.

Seems like a few of us have been in the same situation, fingers crossed for good FET cycles next time.

@Kr0 glad you're feeling better and your bleed came really quick! Are you planning to do your FET in your next cycle?

So glad all of our clinics are waiving the fee for the FET I hope we all get success in our next cycles!

@ForeverHopeful17 thank you.
yeh it came so quickly I rang the nurse because I wasn’t expecting to be so soon. Yes we are hoping to. We have a follow up appointment 10th feb to see what our next steps are. Hope you recover well and pleased for you that your collection went well.

Hi all, hope everyone is doing ok, this journey is ROUGH they aren't joking when they call it the hunger games.

Update on me is I had my follow up with my consultant and she is happy for me to go again, no changes to my protocol as my egg numbers were good, she said the issue was fertilisation so they will be adding calcium ionosphere at that stage to try to increase this. She was very reassuring and said its not uncommon for the first round to be a bust and not to write myself off yet.

I have started norethisterone already which feels a bit crazy lol but glad to get started again.

Really resonate with you @OpalMaker think we have had similar outcomes, hope you are healing ok and can gather your strength to go again xx

Nice to see you back @Chickenqueen. Glad you are in good spirits and ready to go again. They learn so much from the first round so it should all help.

I am being called into the clinic for a scan and bloods to check if I have OHSS. I think it might just be constipation which would be a bit embarrassing after all this fuss but my husband pointed out better to be safe than sorry, and actually, we WANT it to be constipation.

Had an update on our day 3 and we still have the same number, albeit with different qualities, so I am feeling relieved. Fingers crossed we can still transfer on Sunday.

Fingers crossed those waiting on embryo updates

omg @Chickenqueen I think hunger games is right ! It’s absolutely ruff !!!

got a follow up in a month … now just got to pull 3.5k out of my behind lol 😂

fingers crossed for next round lovely xx

I’m just waiting for call from clinic to let me know next steps and when I can do FET, but I think they told me I would have to wait one cycle, and tbh I’m quite happy to have a month off! Although my bleed started on Wednesday and it’s a beast 😂

hope everyone is doing ok 💜

@OneWaryCat my god constipation made me feel horrendous, probably worse than my actual OhSS 😂 I chugged some prune juice and was fine after that.

@Chickenqueen great to hear from you. Glad they have said you can go again and fingers crossed for this time.

@Lozzy000 I hope your EC went better than expected and that they managed to collect some follicles.

Mine was fine, but I feel worst than my previous EC, I have some cramps and nausea at the moment. I think I was lucky that I had barely any symptoms after my first EC

They managed to collect 6 mature eggs, we will know more tomorrow about how many have fertilised!

When did your body start to feel 'normal' again after EC? I still feel bloated and tender. Had a scan today and was told I don't have OHSS (ovaries are big but not at the threshold) but they also said if I am not feeling right in myself by Sunday then they advise me not to go ahead with the fresh transfer. So hard to know what to do.

Willing myself to feel back to normal but does anyone by day 3?

@OneWaryCat I'm Day 3 and definitely don't feel "normal" yet. Have similar bloating symptoms as a few ladies on this thread - my stomach is also bloated and the clinic said it's common. Feeling tired often so afternoon naps are quite a treat!
Had mild OHSS my 1st round too. I think the bloating started to go down when my bleed came, which was around a week after EC.

@Rebekah77 hope you are ok lovely xx not sure on your circumstances etc but when I was stressing about the financial side I looked at taking our embryos out the clinic and putting them into the local nhs hospital,was going to work out a lot cheaper for FET even with the cost of moving them. I’m not sure on waiting times for private in an nhs hospital but it might be worth a look xx

My clinic does all the nhs fertility referrals anyway

skyhjtly terrifying how much it will cost for two more fet & another round but it is what it is !

unfortunately time isn’t on my side really I’ve got this year left maximum

Hi everyone. Hope you are all doing ok and hanging in there.

We had our fresh transfer today. Fingers crossed its sticky. Was slightly thrown as just before transfer they told me the other embryos still hadn't made it to blastocyst stage so they were giving them one more day. It could be that we have nothing to freeze which will be worrying. I know I need to focus on this little fresh transfer for now, but can't help stressing a bit if we don't get any others. We had 5 embryos on day 2, although 2 were developing slower than the others. Really hoping some will pull through and be frozen.

I know we are lucky to even have 1 to transfer. Just think OTD will be even harder if it's not the news we want.

Hope everyone is taking care of themselves today. Xx

Hi @OneWaryCat - congrats on your transfer, everything crossed for you!

We had a very similar situation on transfer day. After having a really good number on day 3, when we went in for the transfer we were told we had 1 to transfer and 1 to freeze but that the rest were behind where they needed to be and not at blastocyst yet. We still would have been reasonably happy with that given it’s the first round but we were still a bit shocked at the drop off. Anyway, the next day we got a call to say the others had caught up and just needed another day so we ended up with 6 in the freezer in total. Did they say they would call in the morning to update you? Xx

@OneWaryCat congratulations on your transfer! Fingers crossed the others make it up on day 6

Good luck lovely xx enjoy the bubble and relax

Wow that's great news @Geordienewbie - exactly what everyone hopes for, really pleased for you and what a turn around.

I think we were hoping for 2 to freeze and anymore is a bonus so if we can get that tomorrow then it would be amazing. 🙏

Not sure what time they will call tomorrow but I'm definitely keeping my phone on loud and running out of meetings if need be.

Thank you @Kr0.

Feeling weirdly down today after transfer. Having to plan ahead to OTD as we're meant to be at a gig that night and I don't think we can go if the news is bad. Plus we'd be there with a friend who is pregnant with her second successful IVF baby. Thrilled for her, but might be too hard for us.