Low ovarian reserve- is it worth trying low stims?

[Skittles11]

Hi ladies

After a recent cancelled IVF cycle (poor response) we have some decisions to make.

We will be finding out more about donor egg options but something else I am wanting to know is about low stims for poor reserve.

I wondered if others with low reserve have tried a low stims cycle and how it compared to the high stims cycle?

I have had several cycles, always on high stims. Very mixed results.

Is low stims worth trying and why? Any recommendations of clinics specialising in this appreciated too (via private message)

Thanks so much xx

[Krystal_43]

Sorry to hear this round hasn’t been going well for you. I haven’t done low stims ivf myself, but there’s someone on this forum (ivfadream I think) who had problems with egg quality on high stims, went to the well known nationwide chain who specialise in low stims, did embryo banking and had twins. That chain of clinics has also started doing donor ivf in partnership with a Spanish clinic so they may have some suggestions for both routes going forward.

[Skittles11 in reply to Krystal_43]

Thank you for this, I think I know the nationwide clinic that you're talking about xx

[JudithSS]

Hi babe,

I had a much better round with lower stimms and on short protocol, I had 8 follicles, 5 eggs collected that made 2 embryos. I’m not pregnant but it was much better than my previous 2 rounds xx

[Skittles11 in reply to JudithSS]

Hey Judith. Thank you 🙂 can I ask what stims you were on- doses etc? Xx

[JudithSS in reply to Skittles11]

Clomid for 5 days and menopur 300 a day. Previous was 450 a day and one ovary didn’t respond xx

[Kimbob82]

Skittles you might have already tried this, but have you looked into taking Dhea?

[Skittles11 in reply to Kimbob82]

Hi, thanks for the suggestion. Yes I've been taking DHEA xx

[Olderwiser]

Ah sorry you are having a tough time. I’d done lots of rounds on 450-600 where my response got worse and worse until the last round was cancelled. My clinic politely suggested stopping and the only final thing they’d do was a natural low stims round. I was on something around 150/175… still didn’t respond that well but got a ‘ropey’ embryo which they put back in on day two and miraculously we have a baby as a result xx

[Skittles11 in reply to Olderwiser]

Thank you for this. I think my response is getting worse. I had a good cycle in February (good for me anyway, 2 blasts and one genetically normal). The two cycles since then have both been poor. Can I ask how many cycles you did before you tried the low stims? And what stims were you on? I don't think my body likes Gonal F or the similar drugs, it seems to prefer the more natural FSH drugs xx

[Sarascottxox]

Do you know what your AMH is? Mine was low for my age at 8.4 but I took DHEA for 5 months before EC and had a low stim cycle with 13 eggs collected, 9 mature and 5 fertilised and 4 making day 5 good quality blasts. I obviously don't know if it was the DHEA but I read so much about it and how it improves egg numbers and quality, I'm sure it helped!

[Skittles11 in reply to Sarascottxox]

My AMH has been tested twice but both were some time ago now. The first result I got was very low at 3.5, the second more recent result was 9.3. Not quite sure why this difference occurred. But I'm sure it must have lowered now. My antral follicle count has remained stable at 10 but I never seem to get many follicles actually respond to the meds. I have been taking DHEA but sometimes worry about this because I have been on it (off and on) for a prolonged period of time hoping for eventual success. Thank you so much for taking the time to reply x

[Elleri85]

I have low AMH (around 4 3 years ago and haven’t had it tested since) I’m now in 2WW of cycle 3 and each time I have asked for stims to be reduced and have had slightly better results for numbers collected and follicles grown (still crappy fertilisation but that’s another story).

Cycle 1 I was on 450 menopur only stimmed for 7 days and then had one massive follicle so they wanted me in for egg collection - 2 eggs. One transferred on day 3. Nothing to freeze

Cycle 2 started on 300 of menopur and then clinic upped it to 450 on day 5 had 6 follicles growing but I am adamant that the increase in stims over matured two of my follicles and I lost those eggs (they were 26-28mm on my last scan before egg collection.) Got 3 eggs, one fertilised. Day 3 transfer BFN

Cycle 3 I took DHEA, COQ10 etc for 3 months before hand and started on 300 menopur. Day 5 upped to 375 and stayed on that for another 7 days. grew 6 follicles, retrieved 4 eggs, one fertilised, transferred back on day 2 because of clinic opening times. 🤞🏼

Lower stims (still high but not highest) has definitely produced better numbers for me, not by much but I also felt better on lower stims as well.

hope that helps,

[Skittles11 in reply to Elleri85]

Hi, that's really helpful thank you. I definitely am considering the move to less stims to see if that has any impact. Can I ask what clinic you're at and whether you have found them amenable to low stims or did you have to "convince" them (if you could private message as I don't think we're allowed to discuss clinics on here)? I have already moved clinics once and mostly feeling positive about the clinic but I am not convinced they will support the idea of low stims because when I mentioned it in passing before they rejected it xx

[mandp82]

Hi, i’m a fan of low stims. My AMH was 2.9 and i did 2 rounds of high stims and only ever got 1 follicle. All my other rounds were low stims (100 of clomid and 75 of meriofert). My best round i got 6 eggs one of which is my son. Other rounds i was getting 2 eggs but it was def quality over quantity as they always made it to blast although only 1 made a baby. I have done 9 rounds in total so it is a lot but i do now have 2 amazing children. My second was conceived naturally after my 9th round. DM me if you want to know my clinics. Wishing you lots of luck x