Small follicles on day 8

[Clairelee86]

So ive been on gonal f (dose 375) for 8 days, i had another scan today and whilst I've got a quite a few follicles (10 left, 9 right) a lot of them are small and ive been pre warned they may cancel my cycle if they don't grow. They've upped my dose to 450 and I'm back in on Monday to see if there is an improvement, I think they'll then decide if they cancel or go to egg collection. the nurse told me they can have a growth spurt but I'm just wondering if anyone else has gone through this and if their follicles did grow quick enough in time?

[Ivfgotadream]

What sort of size are they?

I had a similar cycle and decided to continue to egg collection knowing we’d only get 2 but ironically that has ended up being my best cycle and both fertilised - frozen and remastered last month and now 9 weeks with twins. But my clinic are used to treating women who don’t get many follicles and don’t have a minimum number they insist on for egg collection

Eat loads of protein, drink lots of full fat milk and hot water bottles/warm baths as supposedly that should help them grow

[Clairelee86 in reply to Ivfgotadream]

They didn't tell me the size of the small ones, i had one 15 and one 13 which I know is okish, but they said they need to have at least 3 at 20 to do the egg collection. I hate milk so I wouldn't be able to manage that but i love a bath and my hot water bottle so I'll try those. thank you and congrats you're having twins ❤️👶👶

[Hidden]

Hi, yes. They told me they might cancel my last cycle but then the follicles had a growth spurt and also more showed up. I had three small on a Friday and by Monday I had 8 that were medium or large.

[Clairelee86 in reply to Hidden]

That's reassuring to hear, was your meds increased as well?

[RhinoCat]

This sounds like me. I was on Gonal f, first scan day 7 I wasn’t ready they scanned again , not quite ready then by next scan they were 20,22,24 etc . Hopefully they will grow by Monday 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻 and if they haven’t it’s better to cancel. Prepare yourself for all eventualities 😘😘😘😘😘😘💐

[Loma1]

Hi Clairelee86 - firstly don’t despair- it seems we all grow at different rates. But there is also the possibility that the drug dose needs to be increased. I was on Gonal-f 450 for my first egg collection which didn’t occur until day 16 - and afterwards it’s was discussed that perhaps They should have waited an extra day. I had a different drug regimen for my second cycle (gonal-f 300 and meriocet) and again slower growth than the norm. Another day 16 collection.

I just remember the first time panicking about how the average was day 10-12 and how far off I was from any 18mm follicles on day 8.

You didn’t mention the sizes of your follicles so I can’t compare or know if they are showing signs of growth, but you are not the only person to go through this. I found comparing myself to average caused needless anxiety. Relax this weekend and allow your body the time it needs because we are all wonderfully different X

[Clairelee86 in reply to Loma1]

Thank you. I think ive read so much about the risks of so many different things during an ivf cycle, but my follicles not growing at the rate the clinic expect just wasn't one of them and it really threw me off balance yesterday. Ive woke up this morning, given my head a wobble and I'm just going to try and enjoy my weekend and what will be, will be on Monday. 🤞I'm going to try the things suggested above too and hope for the best, there's not much more I can do now. You ladies have put my mind at ease, so thanks for that. 🙏😁

[Ivfabroad]

Hi Claire

They definitely need to increase your dosage . So when I went Greece on day 4 they increased my dose then again on day 7 and then again day 9 and kept calling me in for scans every other day to see the size of the follicles.

This is the main problem in the Uk they don’t do this and then cancel the whole process and expect people to try a new cycle . Whereas abroad the dr scans you before the treatment and literally every Other day and Monitors the growth and increases the drug dose if required x

[Clairelee86]

**update** they've all grown loads!! There's a couple that are now at 18mm and more not far behind, im being kept on gonal f 450 for 2 more days and then back for a 4th scan on wed to see how they are and egg collection is hopefully going to be friday. 🤞🥚

[RhinoCat in reply to Clairelee86]

Sounds great ! So happy for you, it’s tough waiting to find out 😘 hang in there 💐

[Hope76 in reply to Clairelee86]

Hi how did you get on ? Am interested as I have my first monitoring scan tomorrow. In past I always feel my clinic collect too early (usually after my 2nd scab and we miss the smaller ones) I want to ensure they are all at maximum size this time. Just out of interest what size did they allow yours to grow to before arranging EC ?

[Clairelee86]

So ive just had my egg retrieval this morning, they got 19 eggs!!! The embryologist has rang and said they will call again tomorrow morning to say how many have fertilised. I dont know the exact size of all my follicles in the end but she did say there was a few more smaller ones that may not have produced a mature egg, but all I can do is keep my fingers crossed and wait for tomorrows call. 🤞😁

[Hidden in reply to Clairelee86]

Wowzers thats amazing! Hope the phone call tomorrow with fertilisation numbers is good news!x

[Clairelee86]

So out of the 19 that were collected, 13 were mature. 10 of those 13 have fertilised. Im just keeping my fingers crossed for my transfer on Wed. 🤞

[Hidden in reply to Clairelee86]

That's great news! I had my day 9 scan on Friday and had double the number of follicles than I had in my first round! Had 10 in my first round and 20 this time. I can only pray I get similar numbers collected and fertilised as you. All the best for Wednesday!x

[Clairelee86 in reply to Hidden]

Thank you, ive got my fingers crossed for you too and your retrieval. I started the pessaries today, oh the fun I've read about these little fellas 😳😂 x

[Hidden in reply to Clairelee86]

Thank you! I've got the crinone gel when I get to your stage which is a treat as well! 😂. Positive is it's easy to use down side is the residue. Urgh!x