Egg collection - Overcoming bad experience

[MrsB2019]

Hello, I'm newon this forum and am currently awaiting my review appointment for our first ICSI IVF treatment. It was unsuccessful however I'm lucky that in my area we do get a further two attempts. I had such a terrible experience with the egg collection and was wanting to know if anyone had similar experiences or any advice.

The actual collection was extremely painful, at my hospital they only offer sedation which didn't touch the sides and as I don't think I responded well to the drugs (short protocol, menopur), I had many follicles but few eggs and I had a very high left ovary, I believe all of this made the procedure more difficult.

Any advice or suggestions for what I can ask in my review would be appreciated.

Thanks

[Deelit3ful]

I just had my egg retrieval 3 days ago and they were able to collect 11 eggs and 8 matured 7 got fertilized. During the procedure they put me under anesthesia and collected all the eggs. I also had a cyst on my right ovary that my Dr. drained and it was 4 vials of clear fluid. I woke up 30 minutes after being put under. I believe the procedure last 15 minutes to 20 minutes. Your Dr. would know how many they collected, how many matured on the same day. The waiting game in the next couple of days we will see how many survives the blastocysts. I am still feeling discomfort aches and pain in my stomach after 3 days of the procedure.

[CAS2]

Sorry to hear it was so painful. I’ve. It experienced it. I think they need to look at your protocol though. Having lots of follies but no eggs might suggest they need to change it up a bit and get them all to a stage of maturity xx

[Lowamh]

I’ve had 3 collections so far - the first time I was awake before I got to recovery and I felt the needles during the collection procedure. I raised this with the anaesthetist before the 2nd egg collection and they added/increased the sedation, same with the 3rd - worked a treat, I didn’t feel anything during the procedures and took some persuading to wake up afterwards! I would advise you to raise this with your consultant at your review so it is in your notes but you must also raise it with the nurses and the anaesthetist on the day to ensure they do it differently the next time.

You could ask to try long protocol next time - it does mean more injections but it worked much better for me after 2 short protocols. If you are funded that might take some persuasion - at our review the consultant advised that we do short cycle again but did change the medication. With hindsight I wish I’d insisted on long protocol at the time as it worked much better for us. Menopur worked better for me. I don’t have any experience of ovary position unfortunately x

[Cinderella5]

I only had sedation with my egg collection and I dont remember a thing and I also have one high ovary....however I didn't have loads and loads of follicles! Apparently I was chatting away, dread to think what about! It's such a shame that you've had a bad experience. I would definitely discuss with the consultant that you were in a lot of pain and if you're considering further cycles to ask for more drugs. I guess the main thing to ask is what do they plan to do so your cycle can be optimised. Is there different drugs you can try? Different dose etc? If you PM your email address to DianeArnold she has a great list of questions to take to the clinic with you!xx

[Wrighty82]

I also had a bad experience.. at my clinic they just give you 20mg tramadol (like having 2 g&ts) so nothing to get excited about at all!! Oh and a bit of local anaesthetic. It’s was so uncomfortable. I just had to do some deep breaths through it. My right ovary was high and the doc said to the nurse I would need gas and air. Unfortunately I think it was too late by this point. I nearly asked them to stop I was crying! I was totally fine as soon as it was done but it wasn’t a pleasant experience.

When I went for my review after the cycle didn’t work, I mentioned to the consultant that I found it very painful and he seemed surprised!!!! So obviously a man!! He said next time they would give me gas and air from the start. Let’s hope it’s a better experience.

Sorry you had the same experience to 😔 xxx