Follicles and short protocol?

[Amanda86]

Hello ladies. Hope your all well 😊

I had my appointment with ivf consultant today. She done a scan of my womb and said all looks well and that I had 7 follicles in each ovary, is this number ok? I wasn't sure how many follicles ovaries usually have. She also said she thinks I will need shot protocol injections. Does anyone know the difference and why would she have recommended short? She did say that at my next appointment in August this will be discussed further and I will be shown how to use injections.

It's getting so close now and I'm getting really nervous about everything.

Xx

[Hidden]

Hi, when I had egg collection, they retrieved 14 good ones so the 7 in each sounds good. I would suspect she is saying short as your ovarian reserve must be high and as you have a good number of follicles but they should explain all that to you.

Good luck as you start your journey 💕

[DianeArnold Partner Nurse Fertility Network UK]

Hi Amanda86. A short protocol is often recommended if the ovarian reserve is a bit on the low side, so as to not “switch off” the ovaries too much. However, this is not always the case, and can be just down to clinic preference. It is not only shorter but much less stressful on the body - no nasty side effects normally associated with down regulating. Because of this the drugs are cheaper also. The basis of this short protocol – sometimes called an antagonist or mild, IVF - is that you start straight away with the stimulating drugs a couple of days into your own cycle and then a week or so in, add a down-regulation drug to prevent natural ovulation. You would then most likely have regular scans, and possible blood tests every couple of days or so, for a few days until your womb lining is a good thickness and a good number of follicles are the right size. Once you have a few the right size egg collection goes ahead and they are then fertilised. Obviously clinics vary from how they do their cycles, but this is a general idea. Regarding follicle count, anything above 15 in total is good, so yours was only 1 below, so well done! Good luck with it all! Diane.

[Amanda86]

Thank you both for your replies 😊 this information has been really helpful xxx