IVF/ICSI May 2025

[GamerGirl09]

Hey everyone!

Thought I’d start a thread for those of us starting everything next month :)

Personally, I’m from the UK and will be starting ICSI in Ireland. Just over the BMI limit for the NHS in the UK and have been trying for c.6 years for our first. Had final tests yesterday and consult. Going with ICSI as my husband’s sperm analysis came back teratozoospermic. Other than that, nobody can find any reason we couldn’t conceive naturally, it’s just not happened!

Currently phoning up pharmacies in the UK for medication quotes (struggling to source Bemfola at the moment though). I’ll be on the short protocol and they reckon it’s likely I’ll be a freeze all as AMH and AFC came back decent. If I get get the meds in time, looking like I’ll start at the very end of this month, with egg collection next month 🤞🏼

Would love to connect with others starting around the same time ♥️ Good luck to everyone ✨

Ahhh i seeee yes thats a high dose but its good clinic will be monitoring eveything to make sure all goes well ❤️❤️.

Heyyy everyone, can I ask if any of you have changed your diet in anyway e.g. introduced any foods which are good for fertility? I'm trying my best to enjoy avacados but it's just not happening 😅

Hey! We've also started our first IVF cycle this month. On a short protocol and started stims yesterday (the injection wasn't as horrific as I was expecting luckily!)
Nice to find people in the same boat, it makes things feel slightly less intimidating x

Hi all. I hope you don’t mind if I join? I’m on day 8 of stims with ovaleap and I’m at the clinic this afternoon for a scan to see how I’m responding to treatment so far 🤞🏼. All being well I think they also want to scan me on Monday with potential EC on Wednesday! X

@StrawberriesCream1212 I did try a diet that’s meant to be great for egg quality so nuts, avocados and apparently the Mediterranean diet is meant to be so good for fertility but I really don’t like restricting my diet. I’m more of an eat what want when I want to eat but in moderation kind of person 😂 I’m not eating junk or processed food. I’ve cut out sugar and reduced my caffeine intake and only have decaf.

@bamboobirdie I won’t be too far behind you, I start stims Friday. How are you feeling?

@OliveTurtle good luck at the clinic today and for EC next week. How have you been feeling for the last 8 days?

Welcome everyone 😊
Good luck with your scan today @OliveTurtle. We're almost exactly at the same point, I'm on day 7 of ovaleap and had my first tracking scan this morning. AFC of 16 which is higher than my baseline but they had to use the abdominal scanner so maybe some were just hiding before? 🤷‍♀️ really hoping you see some good news!
@bamboobirdie if it makes you feel any better I've been injecting one thing or another for 10 days now and only one was really sore - are you doing them yourself?
@StrawberriesCream1212 our cycle (due to a consultant's terrible advice) was started immediately and we weren't expecting to start until August so I'd just been on an all-inclusive holiday! I'm not the biggest drinker but I do eat way too much sugar so hoping it doesn't affect things too much. Since we started I've eaten normally but without the obscene amounts of chocolate I normally put away but it's probably too little too late!

@StrawberriesCream1212 I haven’t changed diet, but will be starting stims this evening and I’ve heard it’s good to drink loads of water and pump in electrolytes while on stims so I’ve started drinking ‘liquid IV’ from today (hydrating electrolyte sachets from Amazon).

@bamboobirdie very similar timeline to you, as I’m starting stims tonight! First IVF cycle here too. Glad to hear the injection wasn’t too bad as I’m nervous for tonight. I wanted my husband to do the stims for me but he’s ended up going to Magaluf with work colleagues today until tomorrow 🙄🤣 Can’t be too mad about it though because he’s defo not a lads holiday type, this is literally just to celebrate something huge that’s happened at his work this week that he’s been working towards for years, so wasn’t pre-planned or decided by him 🤣 Just bad timing haha.

@OliveTurtle welcome! Sounds like I’m exactly a week behind you, starting stims tonight, have scan booked for next Fri and the following Monday with potential EC between 21-23rd May :) Hope all goes well with your scan.

@Bunnymum93 Glad to hear your scan today went well and more follicles are showing ♥️

@lemonwrighty feeling okay so far, here's hoping it stays that way!

@GamerGirl09 shame about the timing of your husbands trip but good luck for your first one, you'll be absolutely fine! My husband is doing them for me as I'm far too chicken to do it myself but it honestly wasn't that bad, the anticipation was the worst thing. We'll be very similar timing, I've got scans booked for Wednesday and Friday next week with egg collection potentially 19th/20th

Aww thank you everyone! @Bunnymum93 @GamerGirl09 @lemonwrighty Ive been feeling absolutely fine on stims, which obviously worried me as I’d convinced myself it wasn’t working 🙈. Just got back from the clinic and they saw 37 follicles, lots are quite little but she said she thinks they will have a growth spurt over the weekend 🤞🏼. Next appointment Monday and then looking like EC either Wednesday or Friday next week now!!
@GamerGirl09 How did you feel on your medication? X

Can I join in the this thread, please?! I started stims on Wednesday, so day 3 today. Bit of a drama regarding that...we're in the UK but going with Gennet in Prague. All was set for stimming on Pergoveris 300iu when my period started. When I updated the co-ordinator to let her know my period had come, she realised that the doctor had wanted me on the long protocol involving down regulating on CD21 and a scan 14 days after that, then stims. But this had got missed so my prescription hadn't been updated and I was none the wiser. We were so disappointed and pissed off- we've been under them since February and this was the first we'd heard about the long protocol. I've had the long protocol before and really didn't feel like it suited me. Anyway, one emergency consultation later, we're sticking with the short protocol. And now I'm freaking myself out that it's the wrong choice. But we didn't want to wait another 5 weeks before stims, we're both 35 now and last did IVF in 2023. I just want to get on with it!

Wishing everyone all the best and looking forward to updates. Can sympathise with not feeling very different @OliveTurtle, my brain now has me convinced that I won't have a single follicle to see on my scan on Monday!

@FireFireBurningBright I was the exact same. I'm hypersensitive to any changes in how my body feels so was totally convinced the stims hadn't worked - as I said in my previous post I'm on quite a low dose too which didn't help! No side effects at all except maybe feeling a little nauseous yesterday evening and today (and maybe a little less appetite but could be overthinking as usual) but they said everything was progressing as it should be today 😊 keep thinking positive thoughts - your body could just be handling the meds like a trooper 💪

@lemonwrighty thanks so much! Feeling alright but ask me in a week 😆.

@StrawberriesCream1212 I didn’t change anything in my diet this round as I found it a bit rough with the 4 injections a day and work was awful… I even had the odd glass of wine … 😬.

Welcome and good luck @bamboobirdie @OliveTurtle . Glad your scan went well @Bunnymum93.

@FireFireBurningBright omg that is shocking. I hope you have a smooth round from now!!!

TW AFC numbers

finally have the time to reply now work is done for 10 days and I can breathe 😂

You were right, day 2 there wasn’t many to be seen. We had our day 7 scan today before we fly tomorrow, and I now have 11 on each ovary… not all are large so who knows what we will end up with come the end of stims. We add in cetrotide tomorrow and not sure when we add meriofert yet, won’t know until the morning as we got the scan report emailed pretty late this evening. So all happening just before we have to fly 😂

Not going to lie, your cycle sounds very confusing and I had to re read it a couple of times 😂 it is mad how we are all on different ones, but incredible how medical science can pin point what we individually need. Very fascinated by all this stuff…but at the same time don’t understand a lot of it 😂

Sorry to hear you’ve not had the best ride with side effects, that doesn’t sound fun at all. Are you able to take things like anti sickness and painkillers if need be?

By now you’d of started your cetrotide, I hope that hasn’t added to the side effects and if anything they have eased now you’ve stopped the Oestrogen tablets. Migraines are the absolute worst!

If it’s any encouragement for injections, it’s been okay all in all (so far) I’ve not had much of an appetite all week really, but extra thirsty and completely shattered. The fatigue is fatiguing. I’m only just starting to feel uncomfortable, I wouldn’t say pain…. just feels somewhat heavy in my pelvis and lower back, but that could also be where the Sonographer has been all up coming the ovaries 😂

I see there are also some new faces so I will read back through the thread and catch up. But hello all 🥰

Thank you very much! Getting real now. I’ve just seen you’ve transferred a perfect embryo… that’s amazing!
Wishing you all the luck ❤️

Helloooo everyone that joineddd. Its interesting that everyone has been a bit different with their diet. I've been obsessing over it a bit too much so need to calm down a little tbh.

How are you all going.. I'm still following along in the back ground. I'm really rooting for you all that this cycle gets loads of good quality embryos that lead to a bfp. Iv spoke with my clinic on Friday and we are going to try to start a new cycle next month in June now since this cycle had to be cancelled. If I have the same issue next month then il iv decided il get the extra testing done and probably go ahead with the cycle anyway as my body is rapidly changing and my age isn't on my side.

There is sooooooo much advice out there about what to and not what to eat isn’t there, it’s easy to see how it can become an obsession! I’ve probably done the other way and haven’t done any of it, just tried to make sure what I am eating is healthy, but I have a very addictive personality so if I started I wouldn’t have stopped 😂 just reading over your message up above about avocados…. Did you manage to find a love for them!? I find them absolutely revolting lol xx

everythint crossed for next months cycle! I’m with you on the age part, it’s hard isn’t it is women and out body clocks, we are always aware of how they are ticking. I have also struggled with the constant thoughts of it and questioned if we are even doing the right thing at 40. But we got this?l, positive thought! Wishing you all the luck! Xx

I’m doing ok thank you!! In terms of diet, I’ve made sure I’m drinking 2-3 litres of water, thrown in some electrolytes and made sure I’m having some fruit each day and a proper breakfast but apart from that.. still having chocolate if I fancy it 🙈 it’s hard for it not to take over your entire life!!
Todau is day 9 of stims and I’m certainly feeling more bloated this evening. Impatient to see what tomorrow’s monitoring scan brings!! How is everyone else? Xx

Yesss there's a lot of advice on what to eat and they warn you off things like white rice, pasta or white bread so I've been trying to get everything whole meal and it's slightly driving me insane. I don't like avacados at all....the only way I can stomach them is by mixing them with sundried tomatoes, garlic infused olive oil and parmesan cheese....I spread that on a sourdough bread. I can't even taste the avacado anymore at that point so its the only way i can eat them haha.

All the best for your next cycle @Miraclemuma03 I hope all goes smoothly and to plan🙂

Good Luck for tomorrow’s scan, hope all goes well! I am just behind you on finishing day 7 of stims today, also have a scan tomorrow morning too. The anxiety and waiting is real isn’t it 😂 xx

Guuuysss I am feeling SO SICK today - has anyone else ever experienced this on stims? But hey, at least I like avocados 🙄😂
@OliveTurtle good luck for your scan tomorrow 🤞

@Miraclemuma03 hold onto the knowledge that this cycle didn't hold your baby and wasn't the one. One day when your perfect little one is in your arms it'll be that much sweeter xxx

I felt a little sick for the the second and third day, nothing too much to effect me massively, I found if I ate something small like a snack it helped…. Or in your case maybe eat an avocado 😂 xx

I was a little sick the next morning after having my trigger shot. I actually was turned off eggs. It took me a week to get over it and eat an omelette again.