Argh. Not responding to menopur.

Hi all,

So, 1st ever cycle of IVF - just had bloods done on d5 of stims (150iu of Menopur) and they've said it looks like I'm not responding to the drugs. This journey has definitely taught me to lower my expectations, so I have been expecting this to fail and for it to be a learning curve for future cycles. It's just my AMH is 29, so they'd been raising worries about OHSS, so being labelled a poor responder isn't quite what I'd expected at this stage! They've said to up the Menopur to 225IU, and scan on Weds.

I tried asking the clinic how common it is to need to adjust meds, but I didn't get an answer. I'm trying to figure out if this is quite common and usually comes good, or if it means I should be expecting not to get as far as egg collection. Can any of you ladies provide any advice on what to expect from here or what to do? Or any questions I should ask at my scan on Wednesday?

Thanks!

[Millbanks]

Hi lovely, I think it's quite common for your meds to be tweaked during stims. I've definitely had mine increased and decreased before. Do you know how many follicles you have? x

[Hidden in reply to Millbanks]

Hello lovely, Thanks for replying 🙂 They didn't scan today, but on d1 they scanned and said about 20 follicles could be seen, so she was expecting a really good response to the drugs. Which makes today all the more confusing! Good to hear it can be quite common to tweak meds, hopefully the upped dose will do the trick 🙏 Otherwise it's quite a lot of cash to find out that Menopur is not my body's thing! x

[Millbanks in reply to Hidden]

I wouldn’t worry right now. I think once you’ve increased it a bit you should see some improvement. They will monitor you closely 👍🏼💖 xx

[jinis]

Hey lovely, I had my first cycle in Feb. I had my trigger meds swapped as I was in the risk of developing OHSS due to a high oestrogen level.

From what I have experienced & what I've read here/elsewhere, it's not uncommon for the dosage/medication/length of stimulation to change according to scans/blood tests & they monitor you closely for this reason. It is really difficult even for medical professionals to expect/explain many aspects of IVF sadly, and it's frustratingly more of a guided trial & error.

Have they told you if you have any follicles growing?

They should have checked your hormone level (e.g. oestrogen) as part of a checkup, which they use to monitor the risk of OHSS. They wouldn't have told you to up the dosage if that would've significantly increased the likelihood of you developing OHSS. Hopefully your ovaries would respond better to the higher dosage, but if not, there might be a chance that they cancel your cycle.

I have seen stories of initially poorly responding ovaries picking up later in cycles, but again it's difficult to expect what would happen in your case. Also even with same medication/dosage/treatment plan, individuals cycles can differ significantly from one to another.

I'm crossing fingers & toes for your next checkup to be a more positive one 🍀

[Hidden in reply to jinis]

Hello,

Thanks so much for replying, and for crossing your fingers and toes for me ❤️ The only scan i've had was on the day they said I was good to start stims, at which point she counted about 20 follicles.

As you say lots of trial and error to be expected, and I knew that going into this from reading other people's experiences. It's a bloody expensive way to be a guinea pig, isn't it?! Here's hoping I'm one of the people who is slow to start but then does respond eventually....x

[jinis in reply to Hidden]

No worries lovely - it's so frustrating for things to be so out of our control!

The follicle count of 20 is definitely a good number to start - keep us posted, we're here & all in this together x

[Hidden in reply to jinis]

Thanks - I really appreciate that. Felt a bit thrown by the rather abrupt call from the clinic. Nice to feel a bit less confused and a lot more supported thanks to you and Millbanks ! Hope your week is going well x

[Fizz37]

My menopur on cycle 1 was 225iu cycle 2 was 225, then cycle 3 was cancelled as I failed to respond to 225 at all. 4th cycle I'm now on 325 and we collected 25 eggs of which 18 were mature and 16 fertilised. So its normal to have your meds tweaked based on an over or under response so you can get the best from yourself

xx