ivf stims dosage - your experience

[Elsidee11]

hi all, hope you’re all doing ok. ❤️

I saw a different consultant following my 2 x failed rounds where all eggs were bad quality.

he was surprised that given my amh and number of follicles I was on 375ovaleap and he thinks this could be the reason for my poor response. I always responded so quickly, ready for collection after only 8 days of drugs.

had anyone gone to a lower dosage and had a better response with higher quality eggs? My AMH is 12. Xxx

[HedgehogMad]

Hi lovely, from what I've heard, lower stims often lead to fewer and better quality eggs. It may be you were on too high stims so could be a good shout to try it. I'm a different situation but both times had low stims and had a very good egg maturity and fertilisation rate xx

[Elsidee11 in reply to HedgehogMad]

thank you so much lovely, hope you’re ok. Maybe that’s what I need to try before going for a laparoscopy 🥹 husband has dna frag this week, so will see where we’re at after that. Thank you xx

[HedgehogMad in reply to Elsidee11]

It might also be worth trying a different stim medication - I was on low dose fyremadel 150iu and had a good maturity rate by day 10 (day 8 seems too quick)

[Elsidee11 in reply to HedgehogMad]

ok that’s good to know thank you, I did my trigger day 9! X

[Kittykat198]

I was prescribed overleap in my first round and got lots of follicles and disappointing eggs. Was prescribed menopur in later rounds and did better in terms of quality and numbers so worth asking if another medication might suit you better. Apparently menopur is better for quality over quantity.

[Elsidee11 in reply to Kittykat198]

thank you kittykat, I am glad it worked better for you x

[MyPatronusIsACorgi]

I can’t confirm whether a lower dose helps with egg quality but I have been on both Menopur and Ovaleap (all I remember was Menopur was a lower dose than Ovaleap) and both rounds yielded similar number eggs. I’m going through PGD IVF and my first round on Menopur left me with 2 clear embryos which both failed and my second round on Ovaleap 375 dose left me with 1 clear egg and that one also failed on Feb this year. I turned 30 in Jan and my AMH last year was 13. For my final round the consultant is still keeping me on Ovaleap at a dose of 375 as it is the highest they’ll go but I was advised to take DHEA and CoEnzyme Q10 for 3 months prior to see if that could help with increasing egg quality and quantity x

[Elsidee11 in reply to MyPatronusIsACorgi]

thank you so much. Interesting you have a similar AMH and have same dosage of Ovaleap. I had over 20 follicles second round, 13 eggs, all bad quality. I only stimmed 8 days so responded really quickly. The second consultant I saw said that’s too fast and usually people with a lower reserve are on 375.

Do you mind me asking where you bought your DHEA from? I’ve been told to take it but not sure where to buy. They’ve told me 600mg Q10 and 75mg DHEA. Also, are you taking Q10 as ubinquol?

Also, do you mind me asking what PGD ivf is? Thank you so much. Xx

[MyPatronusIsACorgi in reply to Elsidee11]

Oh wow that is a short time stimming! I was on Ovaleap for 14 days before EC.

I’ll DM you about where I got the supplements

And PGD IVF is a specialist ivf where they test the embryos for genetic conditions that are usually hereditary. In our case we are testing our embryos for Huntington’s disease which has a 50/50 chance to affect the embryo xx

[TopGuntastic]

Hi Elsidee11,

I don’t have experience re a change of Ovaleap but can share my experience which might be helpful.

My AMH was 9.1 and I was put on 300 Ovaleap and took it for 13 days prior to my trigger.

At collection they got 8 eggs, with 5 mature and 2 fertilised. The 8 eggs collected was several more than what my last scan suggested (I’d been preparing myself for 3 collected).

My EC fell on a Friday and if they did Saturday/Sunday EC (which they don’t) they might have left me another day (so 14 days stim). That might have helped increase the number mature (so something I’ll discuss with my consultant at my review).

Interestingly, the original protocol they thought they’d have me on was only 225 Ovaleap but they decided to increase it to 300 last minute. I think this was when the consultant saw I hadn't many pluses/follicles on baseline scan (maybe 8), combined with lower AMH.

Sharing as based on my own AMH and experience, I think your 375 Ovaleap seems high and only 8 days stims low. I remember the nurse reassuring me when I thought I was responding slowly that it was giving the follicles a chance to grow and a better chance of them being mature. It sounds like this consultant will take care of you and help optimise your next cycle 🤞💕

Just editing this to add I did take CoEnzyme ubinquol 400mg for about 6-8 weeks before. I didn’t take DHEA as read you need to test levels of testosterone beforehand and during to ensure right levels etc. If you don’t I read it can apparently do more harm than good. xx

[Elsidee11 in reply to TopGuntastic]

I didn’t thank you for this response ❤️ but I took note and it gave me some hope. Thank you xx