Day 18 of Stims

[herewego89]

Hey guys.... NHS round, and follicles are just being really slow at responding, im trying to be patient, and not going to lie i'm beginning to become more anxious (having nightmares). My left ovary is doing better, 1 at 16, 2 at 11, 1 at 10, 30 below 10. Right ovary, 1 at 11, 2 at 10, 20 below 10....

There's been mention of cancelling, but would mean starting from scratch and paying... which would be ok but funding would then proceed privately... We could do this if we look at finance options, so all hope isnt lost!

Do we hold out for longer on this first round of IVF? We started on low doses of Gonal F due to PCOS, and only on day 3 of Ganilrelex... Im confused at the process, I know every person has a different experience and people respond differently etc etc. Just feeling deflated, intrusive thoughts of feeling like a failure 😅

[herewego89]

Ive asked about blood tests.... As haven't had any since starting stims, and they have said they don't routinely do bloods? Which im confused about, as I keep seeing people talking about their bloods and hormones etc being checked?!

[Jumpppy in reply to herewego89]

They aren't testing your estrogen??? If not they really should be to know for certain that your follicles are growing/maturing eggs and not cysts (i.e. empty follicles). That will give you a better steer on whether to cancel or continue.

There are reasons why one might stim for a longer period of time, I had a bunch of cycles at 20+ days...my REs said it's in normal range as long as estrogen levels rise to match the follicle sizes they are seeing. I had 2 successful LBs from long stim cycles, so it doesn't necessarily impact you negatively.

You can't address this cycle, but my RE suggested my issue was likely my lupron (ovulation suppressant) was too high and it was overly suppressing my ovaries (putting them to sleep like a down-reg cycle and it was taking a lit to wake them up). Had I continued cycling he said they would reduce my lupron for future cycles. May be something like that happening to you?

Good Luck!!

[herewego89 in reply to Jumpppy]

Hey Jumpppy! No blood test since pre stims 🤷🏻‍♀️ I asked them a couple of times and it’s been shrugged off. Prior to this cycle they advised that I should become familiar and comfortable with having bloods taken, which i confirmed that it wasn’t an issue for me, hmmm think I’m going to ask again, just to be sure. You to doll!

[DianeArnold Partner Nurse Fertility Network UK]

Hi herewego. You need to do what is safe for you. Providing you don’t have egg collection you will still be eligible for another fresh round. if your body needs to settle and rest, then let it. You cycle will be adjusted to suit you better. Drink plenty of water and good luck. Diane

[Eloquentia]

Hi! I have PCOS too and my follicles were slightly slow to respond but we got there in the end and collected a decent number of mature eggs. All fingers crossed that yours do too! Based on the number of follicles, they will probably recommend a freeze all due to the risk of OHSS. Make sure you have a protein rich diet. I had 32 follicles and my clinic told me to drink protein shakes/ eat protein yoghurts to help mitigate the risk of OHSS. Very best of luck!

[herewego89 in reply to Eloquentia]

how long did you do stims for? I feel like it’s taking forever 😅 I use a high protein diet (as had bariatric surgery 2 years ago), I’ve got a high amount of follicles they just appear to be really lazy 🤦🏻‍♀️ I’m sure we’ll get there just nervous that I see people have trigger shots around day 10 to 14 and it seems I’m in it for the long haul LOL!

I’m sure I’m sleepy all the time but guessing that’s the hormones, work is ok but it’s definitely effecting how much I can do….

Thankyou Eloquentia ☺️

[Eloquentia]

11 days but I think I was on a higher dose than you, Pergoveris 300 iu and they had to delay the Cetrotide by a day to give the follicles more time to grow. There was doubt about the egg collection day until the last minute but the follicles just picked up their pace in the last couple of days. I hope it all goes really well

[Skittles11]

My situation is a bit different as I have the opposite problem to you in that I have low ovarian reserve. So I think that is important that comparison in this case may not be helpful. In my case I stimmed for 18 days on my first cycle and the follicles I did have (which was few) were taking a long time to wake up. I went for egg collection and it didn't go very well and I wish with hindsight that I had not gone for the collection as there were indications that it wouldn't be a success due to the slow growth. I would absolutely insist having your estrogen levels measured and if they indicate a lack of viable eggs I would think carefully about whether to go for egg collection. I thought if you cancel before egg collection you usually get another go through NHS but I may be wrong there. IVF is full of tough decision making and I wish you luck with this xx

[herewego89 in reply to Skittles11]

I spoke to the clinic on Friday and they said that if we cancel we would have to then pay for another round which would be £2,999. I’m confused as I thought if egg collection had to be stopped we would get another go at it but not sure where to look for details as it appears each “district” has different methods and it’s not structured the same way throughout the UK which is a shame and probably something negligent on their side as patients will be misinformed etc hmmmm. I’m back on Monday and will press for the hormone checks. Need to check my t&c docs to see if it informs about cancelled cycles in there…

Wishing you all the best x