Any IVF pregnancies - coming off medication anxiety!!

[Liathroid]

Hi all, I’m 12 weeks yesterday with an IVF pregnancy. Clinic said to stop taking all meds today but I’m absolutely crippled with anxiety about it! Just worried something is going to go wrong without the support. I also couldn’t get booked in for a scan this week so I have to wait until next week. I did have scans at 6,8,10 weeks and all fine.

So worried now something will go wrong and it’ll be bad news next week. 😭 it doesn’t help that I’ve had a bad cold all week so already worried about how that might have affected the pregnancy.

Can you taper off the meds? I did the same, came off all the meds at 12 weeks and i was on quite a lot so worried about the effect of withdrawing all that support at once, so i went tapered the doses (eg going from 3 progesterone pessaries to 2 to 1 then coming off them completely).

It should be fine, if you are taking steroids you do have to wean off them gradually but for everything else give yourself couple of days tapering off for your peace of mind. Also its glorious not having to worry about all those meds post 12 weeks!

I didn’t know you could taper the meds. I was on x2 pessaries and an injection so maybe I’ll do two pessaries for a few days. I am on steroids too so am weaning that down from today. I just deleted 8 alarms for meds from my phone! How many days did you taper down progesterone over?

I stopped as instructed with my progesterone at 12 weeks, now 20 weeks and she is looking great ☺️. The clinic assured me that my placenta was doing the work so I just followed their instructions. Good luck with your pregnancy! X

Thanks @Wifflywafflywoo took some progesterone yesterday but trying cold Turkey today. Have to just man up and hope all be be ok!

That’s great to be 20 weeks!! I hope the rest of the time flies by!

@Liathroid totally understandable to be nervous - IVF is so stressful and anxiety inducing!

You might know all this already but, for a non-IVF pregnancy, the egg leaves behind the remainder of the follicle, called the corpus luteum. If you get pregnant, the CL stays behind and it's what produces most of the pregnancy hormones for the first 10-12 weeks, by which point the placenta is in place and takes over. In an IVF pregnancy, there's no CL as you haven't ovulated naturally so they put you on the meds to take its place. By 12 weeks your placenta is in place and doing what it should so no need anymore.

If your scans have looked good at 8 and 10 weeks, when the placenta should have been good and ready to take over, then you should be absolutely fine ☺️

I'm with you. I had a missed miscarriage December 2020. The bleeding started a few days after I stopped progesterone. I took my last progesterone on Wednesday morning and I'm utterly terrified it'll happen again.

Thanks @Shroedy l had scans at 6,8 and 10 weeks and all looked fine so fingers crossed

@Cakecakecheese sorry to hear about your miscarriage. That has not helped my anxiety 😥

The baby had stopped growing before I came off the meds. Coming off the meds induced to bleed, it didn't cause the miscarriage.

Just to add, I was told to come off my progesterone at 10 weeks, didn’t have enough left to taper off, I’m now 35 weeks! So you’ve had an extra two weeks on them from what I was advised (and a lot of other people from the reading I did at the time) I think some clinics say 12 weeks just to be extra extra safe

My clinic wanted me to come off all meds at 10-11 weeks. I was anxious about it been too early so tapered down to about 12 weeks where I had enough meds leftover. It was all fine. Now 19 weeks x

Coming off at 12 weeks is quite conservative - some clinics say 7, 8 or 10 weeks. There is no reason for the clinic to give you dodgy advice as they are also invested in you having a lovely healthy baby.

I felt very nervous in my first pregnancy but all was completely fine. Just finished my progesterone for baby 2 and am absolutely delighted! The advice this time was different and they advised going from 2 to 1 pessary for a week. But to be honest, I think that’s more for patient reassurance! Made no difference last time.

Good luck OP, I’m sure all will be well. Xxx

I stopped all meds cold turkey as instructed by clinic at 10 weeks. I was on 4 pessaries three tables abs patches a day!! Was shit scared. He's now an amazing 22 month old!

Thanks guys, great to hear positive stories and congrats to all on your pregnancies. It took me 4 years and 6 rounds of IVF to get here so I think I need to accept that I’ll likely be having anxiety the whole way through and I need to trust the process.

As you said @Passanotherjaffacake the clinics have my best interest at heart.

Thanks all for taking the time to respond! I have my 12 week scan next week (they couldn’t fit me in this week) so at least I don’t have to wait too long to see that hopefully everything is still fine even though I’ve been off the meds!

@Liathroid I no its an old post but just wondered if everything went OK, I'm in the same position with my first ivf baby and I'm absolutely terrified off stopping the medication xx

@Pippamorgan hiya I wasn't in the original thread but have been in the same situation and the advice given on the thread is spot on. The meds are only there until the placenta takes over. I am currently 33 weeks pregnant with my first through IVF and was on alot of meds so when they said to stop I was like ummm are you sure. But as everyone has said the placenta takes over. I was fortunate enough to book private scans so I was able to see the placenta doing its job and baby was living its best life. Congratulations on your pregnancy, IVF is not for the faint hearted it takes a lot to get here, I hope you have an amazing uneventful pregnancy 💖

@SPR40 thank you so much, I was really panicking. Its a long journey isn't it but feels amazing to get this far. Congratulations and good luck to you xx

Great advice from @SPR40 - the placenta has taken over by now and it's not just a case of "hope it steps in when you stop your meds" but that it's already doing that job by now. Congrats on your pregnancy @Pippamorgan - the anxiety is real when you've gone through IVF but sounds like it's all going swimmingly 😊

@Shroedy thank you that's reassuring. So hard to try not to doubt when I'm sure they no what's best. Just overthinking things I guess. Appreciate both of your comments xx

Jumping on this thread, though it’s slightly old. I’ve just been told to wean off wk10 and that feels scary. @Pippamorgan assuming all went well? X

@Butterflybluey hi there congratulations, yes all is very well thank you I have my 20week scan now on Thursday, I was so nervous to wean off but had no issues xx

@Pippamorgan that’s great! Gives me more reassurance hearing others stories. 20 week scan how exciting! Wish you all the best x

@Butterflybluey Hi! Sorry for butting in! I’m pregnant with my first through IVF and just about to enter week 10. Clinic wanted me to stop at week 10 and I got them to agree I could have meds til 11 and a half weeks. I’m now thinking I need to wean off so I feel in control. Cold turkey is a bit scary. Well all of it is.
Just wanted to say really I share your terror!
Hope everything goes well for you x

I, on the other hand, was absolutely over the moon at stopping the medication!!!!

Id read a LOT of studies about progesterone use in IVF and came to the conclusion it is just a "Just in case", and not really necessary. Further more, the clinics that have you go until 12 weeks are erring even MORE on the side of caution, and there is absolutely zero evidence it does anything past 10 weeks (and not a lot of evidence it does anything past a positive test, but thats another story!)

They were the bane of my life and I could nto wait to be rid of them!!!!!!!

Hope everyone coming off their meds has a smooth ride and a great pregnancy going forward!!!!

@CazzyM1983 im with you on the scary bit, glad you managed to get them to agree to 11.5 weeks. I am also on steriods and I was apprehensive of dropping dose before 12wks, so I’ve dropped from 20 to 15 and will continue that till 11.5 weeks and then drop to 10 as I approach wk12. I know the Doctors are invested in us succeeding but I still believe as it’s your body, you got to listen to your gut and advocate. Wish you all the best. Xx