Completely natural IVF cycle? Help!

[Rosiestraws]

I'm with Create and have been doing natural modified IVF/mild stims in the past as I have severely diminished ovarian reserve. Only get 1 or 2 eggs per cycle.

I had an egg collection approx 2 weeks ago (natural modified) and got 1 egg. Was just in for my day 3 scan today to consider another cycle now and I had the remnants of my egg collection on my right ovary and something else a similar size on the left. My Dr wasn't sure if it was a follicle or even a cyst on the left as it was quite large for this time in my cycle, but obviously did the usual bloods and added progesterone (as if it was a cyst it would be giving out progesterone).

They've called me back to say they're happy with the progesterone (so presumably think it's unlikely to be cyst) and my oestrogen is actually quite high (700) so they think that it is a follicle on the left and producing a lot of oestrogen already so they want me back in for a scan tomorrow and that we could go ahead with a completely natural ivf cycle with no meds, with an "early" egg collection.. not sure how soon they mean! I'm having another scan tomorrow and bloods again to see if it keeps growing (and if progesterone is still low).

Has anyone done this before? I'm a bit concerned.. I guess I already have risks of no eggs at egg collection when I only have 1 follicle growing and I've always had an egg thankfully..but is this different with natural ivf? I guess there's higher risk of premature ovulation but that's something they'd know before EC (as I'm always scanned before they put me under).

Any experiences or knowledge of this would be gratefully received!!

Hopeful bump...

Im not an expert in ivf, I only know what iv been through myself also with low reserve . My thoughts would be a no to natural ivf. Id be asking for a medicated cycle with a higher dose in hopes to create more follicles. Im not sure why they are happy to collect one egg at a time? Have you asked your fertility doctor why they have decided this is their plan moving forward? Like i said i really have no idea in the grand scheme of all the different protocols there are for each individual person but id definitely be asking loads of questions. Hopefully though my comment has bumped your post and someone with a lot more knowledge can jump on and give you better advice and lead you in the right direction

Hey thanks for replying. I've done a high stim dose before and got no eggs :( (although that was at another clinic).

The place I'm at (Create) specialises with older women (I'm almost 39) with low AMH and they focus on low stims and trying to get the one egg that your body naturally would ovulate anyway (and any others that might grow are a bonus).

So I would always only be aiming for 1 as their thought process is it's better quality but who knows for sure. I've never done one with no stims at all but if we're only aiming for that naturally selected one then maybe makes no difference?

I've actually decided to go ahead with it and I've got an egg collection tomorrow (day 6! (I did have a trigger injection though).) which is ridiculously early for IVF and even for me - earliest I've had an EC is day 10. I've been through a lot of worrying/research and stress today trying to determine if this is the right decision but ultimately, I'm trying to trust the clinic that knows my results and has experience in this. My oestrogen was 1002 pmol yday and the follicle had grown to 18.5mm and I've spoken to a Dr today with my fears. Ultimately, all the evidence they have indicates this is a healthy follicle so fingers crossed it pays off and there's a nice mature egg in there, that then fertilises nicely and becomes a PGT-A tested euploid guy! 😂(Ok that might be a bit much to hope for but you never know!!)

That defintiely does make sense and I hope you get a good little embryo and a successful pregnancy with that little one. Let us know how you go with egg retrieval. Good luck.