Was anyone given a MINIMUM number of mature follicles that they had to have on a scan before their consultant would go ahead with the treatment? I know they need to be a certain size, I’m talking about actually how many you were told you HAD to have.
Thanks ladies xx
Hey do you mean to be eligible for nhs funded treatment? If so, I think I had to have 7 or 8 follicles. If you mean to have EC, I had to have 4. Turns out there was only 1 egg to collect anyway xx
I’m not sure what you mean, aren’t they the same thing? You’re collecting eggs whether it’s private or nhs. 7 or 8 follicles before what sorry? 4 follicles before nhs collection?
So when I was having investigations by nhs they did the antro folicular scan, which needed to show the 7-8 follicles to qualify for NHS funded ivf (that was before any meds and before starting a cycle). Once I was going through my nhs cycle, 4 follicles was the minimum I had to have before EC for EC to go ahead. I had 4 on my last scan but only 1 egg was collected. Does that now make sense. I'm not sure if I've explained it well xx
Ahh I get you now. You had to have a minimum amount before they’d even try you with meds first? Jeez.
Yes. You had to show that you had follicles, I assume to show that it would work. I think if I would have known that I only had 1 egg on my last cycle, I would have cancelled it. Just feels like that cycle was a waste xx
So if you had to have 4, why did they go ahead and collect 1 if you didn’t reach the minimum?
Because until they get into the follicle they don't know whether there is an egg in there and my last scan was on the Friday and EC on the Monday so probably between that time I lost an egg or 3! Who knows what happened to them xx
Its always good to remember that not all follicles contain an egg
Oh you had 4 sorry
Reading as I’m on the go sorry xx
Ok so you mean you actually had more follicles not just 1 but after they were collected you only had the 1 egg?
Yes. 4 follicles at the last scan all measuring really well but only 1 egg collected. It was what they classed as a dominant follicle. It was the one that did well throughout stimms xx
I see. I hadn’t even considered that not all the follicles will have an egg 🙈 thank you Annie, helpful as always x
My clinic says if your ovarian reserve is low, you will only be entitled to one cycle of treatment and if you do not respond well to stimulation drugs or less than 3 eggs are collected then no further treatment will be offered.....just dug my original letter out for you from our NHS clinic when we first started.
The other thing to remember is that not all follicles contain eggs, they can be empty so follicles don't guarantee eggs.xx
Gosh that’s harsh!! Thank you for looking for that for me, really kind! Is that because you were over 40?
Nope that was standard for all patients. In the first instance you qualify for 2 cycles but they have that caveat in bold on the letter. I was 37 when I got that letter and managed to get more follciles, eggs so thankfully I was ok.xxx
Hi, every CCG is different. Mine require an AFC above 5 to be eligible for NHS IVF and they require 3 follicles above 18cm when on meds to go for egg collection. X
The CCG don’t stipulate this I believe. At least mine don’t anyway. It’s the consultant himself that’s setting the minimum so I just wanted to check if he was being fair. 3 above 18cm sounds fair to me but 5 doesn’t.
Hi hunny I had 3 follicles at 18mm at EC but all of them were empty 😢 however some follicles can contain more than one egg so there’s really no way to know until they go into them, but I was surprised they put me into EC with just 3 x x x
Thanks, did they stipulate a minimum before you went for scan?
Yes it was 3, on the Friday scan I had 4 but by EC on the Monday I was back down to 3
! X x
My clinic never mentioned a minimum and I went to EC with only two big follicles and one smaller. They got seven eggs from these with four being mature xx
Oh wait, you can get more than one egg from each follicle? 🙈 how do I not know this
I presumed so but now I’m not sure? Maybe I had smaller follicles at EC they didn’t bother mentioning and just said how many eggs they retrieved but all through the scans I always had the two big and one smaller follicle x
I only had 1 follicle yesterday. First ultrasound. No treatments or meds used.
can I go ahead?
Should I delay, or go ahead (IVF)?
How to increase number of follicles? Any advise? What worked?
Number of transfers before success?
Final scan on day 8. Size and number of follicles. 
