Mild or Conventional IVF?

[BreezyCoralCrab]

Hi there,
I am trying to decide whether to go for a 2-cycle package of conventional IVF at Herts and Essex, or mild IVF at Create. There are conflicting medical opinions on which method best, mild or conventional, so I just wanted any opinions from real people!
I think I am leaning towards conventional because IVF is a numbers game and the more eggs the better? but it is obviously more expensive.
I have PCOS too so it would be a tailored protocol for my situation.
Any help would be much appreciated!

Hi - I went with Create and as they have a tailored approach, the protocol they recommend for you won’t necessarily be more ‘mild’ than another clinic. My consultant recommended a protocol to maximise embryos as we did PGTA and when I googled my drug dosages they actually seemed to be fairly average. I was happy with the service I received from Create & am 22 weeks pregnant tomorrow, so their protocol seemed to work well for us.

Good luck with your journey ❤️

Hi there!

I had the standard protocol. I had no issues with the hormones and felt fine, if a bit tired. Which was a relief as I was expecting it to be awful. I’m 35 with an AMH of 9. They were hoping to get 12 eggs, but only retrieved 9. However, all of them fertilised and I’m currently 15 weeks pregnant from the first transfer with 4 in the freezer. I’m very pleased not to have to do the egg collection again and it’s nice thinking we’ve hopefully got at least one sibling in the freezer if we choose. HOWEVER, despite not having a symptoms, one ovary is still very large with lots of fluid. If the treatment hadn’t been successful it would have been awful having to wait so long to try again.

At the end of the day I feel you have to trust the consultants to a certain extent! But I’m glad to have done the standard protocol. Good luck!

@BreezyCoralCrab what would your tailored approach for PCOS consist of?

I'm now looking into PCOS issues because my doctor wondered if I'd had PCO when I was younger based on the level of attrition in my round.

@sirensong it will be a lower dose and a freeze all cycle to avoid OHSS

When you say mild or conventional do you mean low dose stims and high dose stims?
I had 2 rounds of high dose stims, 1st round I got 4 eggs all failed to fertilized, 2nd round I got 2 eggs that deteriorated day 4, so terrible quality.
Changed clinics and done mild low stims I got 8 eggs, 7 fertilized.
Unfortunately with ivf it may take a few goes to see what suits you best! My amh was 3 at the time so pretty low

Hi, I'm in the same position. I've booked a scan and initial consultation with CREATE next month. I had standard IVF with the NHS when I was 38 (I'm now 40) I got 7 eggs collected, 3 fertiliser and no transfers were successful. We then fell pregnant naturally but had MMC at 11 weeks. I'm now considering create as they recommend mild IVF for older women but I can't decide.