I had a really fantastic response from you great people last time I thought I would post a development which we weren't expecting. I wonder if others have had a similar story. Forgive me if some of the terms are incorrect - such a lot to take in!
We were all ready to start a second round of IVF with a different clinic. This one, unlike the first, wanted a scan on day 2/3 of the cycle before we start taking the drugs. We found (day 3) that there was already a follicle that was developing. We had a blood test to see if it was already producing hormones and it is. So. Failed cycle. Also doubly annoying as they told us to take the as-expensive-as-liquid-diamonds Gonal-f just in case.
Has anyone else had this problem? Is it very common? In our first IVF cycle we did not have a scan at this stage of the process but later on they said that a follicle had developed more than the rest. In our brain we imagine that this must mean that this has happened twice already, though the nurse said this was not necessarily the case.
We've been told that if my wife either goes on the pill or she takes norethisterone (is that the right spelling?!) then this will prevent this happening the next time. My question is - if it quite common particularly in older women with low AMH why not recommend this course of treatment in any case? It seems obvious that controlling the cycle before the treatment is just as important as the treatment itself.
It's so frustrating not to even start the treatment. We have to wait yet another month and because of diary clashes it might have to wait even longer.
Would appreciate your stories and advice on this latest hairpin bend in the mountain road that is IVF.
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jdiraus
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Were you short protocol? its very common to have a scan around day 2 or 3 of your cycle to check your ovaries are dormant and lining is thin. I have always had that in all 6 of my cycles.
Had the drugs been taken before the scan? Normally you can't start the drugs until dormant ovaries are confirmed.
Seems very early for a follicle to develop? Sorry you have had such a nightmare x
No my wife has low AMH so short protocol would not be the right course for her (I don't think??)
No she took treatment on the evening after the scan when they found the follicle, just in case the blood results (which had to be sent away) came back with a positive result. But sadly the result was not good news and it was active.
It is extremely early for a follicle to develop. We had never heard of this situation before and wonder whether this might be the reason we have had such a problem getting pregnant beforehand?
How annoying!!! You mention older ladies - I’m now 41, but started the journey at 37/38 - my AMH is good for my age so no issues there.
My clinic will always scan you on day 2 or 3 of your new cycle, that’s to check the uterus lining is where it should be. You then get scanned 8 days later after starting your meds, you may then need scanning in the subsequent days dependent on your response to the stims.
Having a follicle grow so early has never happened to me, I’ve been on this forum since the start of my journey and never personally seen any posts where ladies have had this issue (doesn’t mean it hasn’t happened) what posts have popped up a few times is where a ladies had the trigger injection for egg collection and has unfortunately already ovulated so that cycle is a wash out.
You will always have one dominant follicle in any cycle, that’s how they base when your ready for egg collection
I’m not aware that it is common, so it would appear that your new clinic has started their investigation correctly by scanning on day 2/3, this is where I would say there’s a ? Over your previous clinics approach, why didn’t they scan at the same time?! Because really you will have no way of knowing if this happened before.
All you can do is trust what your clinic is saying and your wife take either medication mentioned to get started
Thanks for this info. It's interesting to read that you have not heard of it happening before. Useful to know. I'm not sure why our original clinic did not do a day 2/3 scan and I'm pretty annoyed that they didn't TBH. It's so important to get all the information we possibly can.
My wife is now 39. We started this journey at the start of this year. She has low AMH so we are on the highest possible dose of meds (as and when we are able to start this thing!)
Anyway, it's really useful to hear from you. Thanks so much for replying.
Yeah. It's pretty infuriating. We never seem to get any response more than a sort of shrug of the shoulders, so we are left wondering whether our journey is common or rare, and whether what they are suggesting is a solution or just a finger in the wind.
Not to worry. It's not like these treatments are EXPENSIVE or anything...
Exactly!! The cost is cringeworthy! We’ve done 3 cycles, our last being a donor egg cycle with my sister as the donor, and we’ve spent £40,000.
There will be lots of ladies with low AMH on here that can give advise on that should you need it.
My husband had a normal sperm check and also a DNA fragmentation test, which ensure you don’t have any issues which could cause fertilisation problems.
I went on the contraceptive pill for the donor cycle as they needed to sync myself and my sisters cycles. They could see that my ovaries had shut off, so that may or my not help with what medication to take, I don’t know anything about the other drug mentioned
Hi there, thought I would just comment. My story is very loosely like your wife’s. I started my first ivf cycle in feb and was unfortunately cancelled due to having a couple of dominant follicles well ahead and the rest remaining very quiet. My first scan was day 4 so I had already started stims and therefor they decided to push me to day 6 and see what happened. Nothing much changed on day 6 so they decided to cancel. I was absolutely gutted and never knew things like this could happen but thought that was my trial run and the next cycle would hopefully be different. So what they did for this current cycle is have me take the pill for two weeks prior to make sure my ovaries were quiet and then scan me on day 2 before the start of stims. This seemed to have worked as I have responded much better and all my follicles have grew together. My egg collection is now tomorrow. I honestly never thought I would get this far. I am 37 and my last cycle I was on 150 bemfola but they upped it 225 this time. My amh is 28. I know our stories aren’t the same but just wanted to give you some hope that sometimes it’s just a bad cycle and a trial run and know there is things that they can do for the next time. I think I questioned my consultant a million times about his decisions but in the end I thought I had to just go with it and see what happened. I was naive and honestly had no idea that half the things I read on here could happen! These ladies are warriors and I wish things were textbook for us all. Sending you both lots of love. I hope with some tweaks the next cycle is much more successful!
Thanks so much for taking the time to write. I really appreciate hearing from someone with a similar story. I'm also glad that a similar solution was offered. It gives us reassurance that what we have been recommended is being recommended elsewhere too. We have quite a difficult clashing of diaries next month so it may be difficult but we hope to start again soon.
Once again thank you. I wish you all the best with your collection tomorrow and hopefully you will get through to the embryo transfer stage too.
I was very worried about what it meant but my consultant reassured me that they see these things happen a lot and have different things they can try, it’s just finding which one our bodies responds to best. I think going forward if I need to have another cycle I would definitely take the pill again prior to starting as that made such a huge difference this time. Thanks so much for good wishes, i have done everything I can. Hopefully luck is on my side tomorrowAnd they manage to get something! You seem like a very supportive husband and a great team. Wishing you so much luck on this journey, I will look forward to hearing about a much more positive cycle for you both in the future xxx
Is this a short protocol? Or a long one - long she’d have been injecting down reg medication/nasal spray for a few weeks before the start of the cycle? I had a dominant follicle on 2 cycles but the first scan was day 6 on one cycle and day 8 on another. I think it would probably have been identified at day 2/3 if I’d be scanned then (saving a lot of cost in meds).
Yeah - it wasn't the long version. We had exactly that protocol of a day 6 scan in our first cycle and I suspect we had the same problem. Hearing your story, I'm glad that we were able to find out what we found in this cycle and only used up one lot of meds. I'm sorry that you have been through the ordeal twice. Did the doctor talk to you about going on the pill in the previous month to try and regulate this? I ask because that is what the doctor has suggested to us.
We switched to a long protocol for our 3rd cycle. Invoked a daily injection to ‘shut down’ the ovaries in effect. That cycle worked and we didn’t have a dominant follicle. The pill will probably do similar I’d have thought, hopefully someone else who has tried this will comment with more advice for you
This has happened to me 3 times. I had two fresh cycles. The first one it took 3 months to start. The first two months on day 3/4 scan before stimulation I had already a dominant follicle and high estrogen. So they cancelled the cycle twice. Then they decided to put me on the pill which did the trick. The cycle failed with nothing to freeze. So going for 2nd round I was confident that I would start with the pill. But the consultant decided to ignore what happened in the first cycle and guess what? Baseline scan on day 3 another follicle growing already cycled cancelled. Again they gave me the pill and I was able to start next month. Similarly my clinic never discussed anything with me why, how, what...nothing despite me asking and pushing for an explanation. by googling I came to the conclusion that it is my age. My AMH was okish my FSH normal and I respond to the drugs well enough. The quality of eggs is probably crap. Have you bee told that it is an age thing?
I am very angry at the clinic and the continual waste of time. They don't have much appreciation for individualised treatments. They have set protocols and you have to fit in them.
That sounds like terrible treatment!!! I’d be angry as well as it wastes your precious time!! For a consultant to ignore something that’s worked before is just damn right ignorance!!
I must admit my clinic has either a long or short protocol that’s it, but saying that it is catered for you along the way as your monitored like a hawk
Yes they are the same either long or short. After the cycles started I didn't have any issues. It is just the constant time wasting by things that are not even part of the process, by bad communication and doctors not listening! Thank you
Very good advice, and I'm not afraid of asking the direct questions. The problem is that often you are not at all aware of what the right questions are in this business, and only find out the importance of asking those questions after the event.
I echo what Running79 says: the treatment by your clinic sounds atrocious. I have been surprised by the differing level of patient care, and frankly customer care at some of these clinics. It really is important - we are buying something very expensive here and on top of that we are going through a lot of emotional highs and lows. The least they should do is keep you informed of their decisions and give some clear reasons.
What I don’t understand is - if there is a chance of this happening - however rare - to older patients - why not just put people on the pill as a standard procedure before you begin treatment? For all the drugs that we expect women undergoing treatment to put into their bodies it seems like this is just an obvious precautionary step. Is there a concern with mixing medications? Is this why doctors may be reticent to do this?
Yes we have been told it is an age thing. The quality of the eggs deteriorates and these occurrences are more common. However, the nurse did say that it doesn’t necessarily mean that this would happen every time. I just don’t know but I suspect it has happened the two times that we have tried.
I really hope you get better care in the future Persial. It sounds as though you have been through such a lot already.
Thank you jdiraus. I will have to use the same clinic for the next steps as I have stored embryos there. If it does not work I will move to another clinic. More likely abroad. May ask how old is your wife please? Thank you again and good luck next month!
I can't help with the over developed follicle but your comment about "as-expensive-as-liquid-diamonds Gonal-f" made me smile! I'm in a similar position to your wife - 38 with low AMH, on my first cycle. We had budgeted around £800 -£900 for drugs, I nearly fainted when I found out it was £1700!
Lol speaking of stim prices....I would have loved to see 1,700 for mine. Without IVF insurance (which is extremely rare here in the US) my meds came to $ 17,000!!!
Lol I wish! Meds 17k and one cycle cost me $30,000. Let's just say I only did one here and went overseas after that. I actually did have IVF insurance initially before having my 1st daughter but I found out I was already pregnant the day of starting my stims. For the 2nd baby, I was no longer with my previous job, so IVF coverage was gone and it was a reality check for sure.
I'm sure you did this too but we did a bit of shopping around rather than just going through our clinic - it saved us about £500 which we were very grateful to have found out!
Really wish you well for your journey. It's not an easy path but it is great to have the support of this forum. Good luck
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