I forgot to ask this on my last post…

[PrincessGurn1984]

Oh I forgot to add, on my last egg collection they collected all my eggs from my right hand side and zero from my left! This time all the follicles that have developed are on my left and zero on my right! Why does that happen? I would have thought them developing from both sides would be the better outcome x

[Lucyann13]

I would like to know this too, when I had my cycle I had loads grow on the left and only 3 follicles on the right. The nurse didn’t seem to know why.

[PrincessGurn1984 in reply to Lucyann13]

I’ve got my EC on Monday I will ask then and let you know what the consultant says. I’ve got tons of questions and there is never enough time for them to answer them all or I think of them after I leave! Did you affect your cycle or did it go on to be successful? I’m worried it will have a detrimental impact if this happens in subsequent cycles. Which hopefully I won’t need but now seems likely after this x

[Lucyann13 in reply to PrincessGurn1984]

Unfortunately despite having a 5 day blastocyst transferred it wasn’t successful this time (7 eggs retrieved, 5 mature and all fertilised) but I don’t think that was down to the lack of stimulation on one side.

[PrincessGurn1984 in reply to Lucyann13]

5 fertilising is a good result, it’s such a numbers game isn’t IVF, the only thing that gives me hope is the more we keep trying and when it fails it bring us closer to it finally working hopefully x

[Orangeflowers]

Hello, I'm also interested in knowing the answer to this. However I do suspect it is just the random way the body can work. I don't think stims can be targeted to either side, it's just that naturally there is variation in the number of follicles each side, each month. I have found a bit of variation. I've also read that things change as we get older. At younger ages the ovaries take turns each cycle to produce a egg, however as we get older, one ovary will do a big run of producing before switching. I'm fascinated to know how it all works, I think there's still quite a bit we don't necessarily know.. Good luck xx

[PrincessGurn1984 in reply to Orangeflowers]

Thanks yes I really like understanding why something happens too, like I’ve got tiny follicles on my right side but they have had zero response to the stims, it makes no sense to me why that would happen it’s like they are immune to the medication on that side this cycle. Very odd. I will definitely ask on Monday. I’ve just done my trigger shot so now hoping for the best 🤞🏼🥚

[JoyfulStar]

It sounds like your ovaries are responding the same way a natural cycle works. It happened to me once. I also had cycles where my right ovary seemed to produce more.

Anyhoo I found this article you may find useful

centerforhumanreprod.com/bl...

All the best with the egg collection and transfer

[PrincessGurn1984]

Thank you this is so helpful! Did you find it had any impact on your cycle success? X

[JoyfulStar in reply to PrincessGurn1984]

Overall no. As you are aware the success rate for IVF is quite low so I did 4 egg retrievals and 2 transfers. Total eggs retrieved ranged from 6 to 15. My AMH was 9.

My second transfer resulted in my now 3 month old daughter.

Hope your EC goes smoothly

[PrincessGurn1984 in reply to JoyfulStar]

Congratulations! Did you do your egg retrievals back to back then transfer the best embryos from the total amount collected? X

[JoyfulStar in reply to PrincessGurn1984]

Thank you. My first cycle was a normal cycle i.e egg retrieval then transfer but had to do a frozen ET because of lockdown. One embryo made it to day 5 but failed to implant.

Then I did a 3 cycle package banking embryos because I was 43 at the time but agreed with my consultation to try a fresh transfer after the third egg retrieval. So my daughter was from eggs retrieved from the third cycle only.

[PrincessGurn1984 in reply to JoyfulStar]

Wow that’s amazing and what an incredible result. I’ve just got home, 4 eggs from only 4 follicles, were collected and the clinic have literally just called to say only 3 were mature ☹️ not the result we were hoping for but nothing we can do about it now. I think we will get lucky even if just 1 makes it to blast but I’ve got a feeling none will. I just can’t believe how different this cycle has been to our last. It is worrying because it feels like my egg reserve or whatever has caused it to plummet this time around (im 37,38 in July! I asked what could we do differently on another cycle as let’s face it that’s looking likely and he said nothing really as I’m already on the highest dose possible which is 450. Based on my AMH he said he would have thought I’d get a better response so it’s very frustrating (12.8). What I’m also finding annoying is I literally took loads of extra vitamins and increased Co-q10 dose and it’s made zero difference. Before my last egg collection I even had the odd glass of wine right up til my period began to starting STIMS, this time around I did none of that haven’t even touched booze since December. All of that should have had a positive effect but it hasn’t.

I don’t get it 😭

[SlowAndLethal in reply to PrincessGurn1984]

I share your frustration of being on the highest dose any things not working. I’ve spoken to some women who were responding poor to stims and they said they tried moderate doses and sometimes it worked better for them, but clinicians don’t seem to support this. I’m changing meds and protocol for my next round to see if that makes a difference but I’ll be still on 450 IU

[JoyfulStar in reply to PrincessGurn1984]

Thank you so much for your kind words. 💕 I totally get how frustrating and confusing it is. I was once told- that is the rogue nature of IVF and from experience I believe it. I once had 6 eggs collected, 4 mature and 2 blastocysts. The following round same protocol, I had 13 eggs collected, 9 mature and no blastocysts. When I heard I had 13 eggs, I was elated and it was such a shock to hear none made it to day 5.

If I were you, I would still be hopeful while preparing for the worst. Someone else said it is quality over quantity so you still have a chance.

During my final round, I pushed for a day 3 transfer as I was so scared that my embryos would not make it to day 5. I wanted to leave it all up to God and nature.

Anyway really hoping you get good news 🙏🏾

[PrincessGurn1984 in reply to JoyfulStar]

Thank you for understanding my frustration, it’s a really hard journey and you’re right in thinking as I feel the same that if you get more eggs you assume more blasts but I understand that isn’t necessarily the case and it really is quality over quantity. Isn’t it bizarre though that they can use the exact same protocol on cycles and you can end up with different results, it’s baffling! That’s a good shout re 3 day embryo, I might look into that a bit more for the next cycle. Thank you x