treatment confusion - letrozole for pcos / or shall i stick with ivf?

hi all if you have been following my journey i have pcos 26 yo . I was due to start my second cycle of ivf in feb after my first loss at 22 weeks and then a failed transfer.

For a peace of mind i wanted to get my hycosy done . The dr told me everything was perfect my tubes were open . And my partners sperm was fine. He asked me why i went for ivf ? I guess i tried clomid twice and then it was just emotionally draining so we went with ivf . He told me we can try letrozole , with a trigger shot and it can be successful in achieving a pregnancy. I have just been struggling mentally due to grieving the loss of my baby and a failsd transfer .

I am in the middle of deciding wether to give letrozole a shot with pcos and maybebit will save me all stress from the ivf? . I am thinking to try 4-6 cycles on letrozole . To achieve a pregnancy considering i have been pregnant through ivf before so i know my body can do it . Also my tubes and everything are fine . Do you think i should give my body a chance on letrozole?

Has anyone had success on letrozole? With pcos and how many cycles did it take for you to achieve pregnancy? .

[Gemma-P]

Hi,

Firstly I’m so sorry for your loss 💗

I am 31 years old with PCOS and had a similar journey;

IVF round 1: collected 20 eggs, 3 mature but ended in total fertilisation failure. It was then suggested I tried letrozole with a trigger shot as “there was no reason we couldn’t get pregnant naturally”.

Letrozole: I went through 6 cycles of letrozole with no success.

IVF round 2: This time we tried IVF with ICSI and a double trigger shot. We collected 11 eggs, 9 fertilised, 6 made it to Blastocyst stage and I’m now 17 weeks pregnant with 5 embryos in the freezer.

I’m conflicted if I think the letrozole was a waste of time for me or not as looking back at our journey/ results our issue seems to have been from the sperm not being able to penetrate the egg (solved with ICSI)

Although Letrozole didn’t end in success for me I am grateful for the 6 months of alternative treatment in between my IVF cycles as i used that time to get fit, healthy and mentally prepared for the next round of IVF which I think played a big part in our success by getting my PCOS under control.

I don’t think I knew it at the time as each month was just more disappointment and stress of not knowing why it wasn’t working however, in hindsight I think I needed that 6 months between IVF cycles.

I can’t advise either way as our journeys will be different but that’s my journey in a nutshell so I hope you can take something from that to help you decide.

I wish you all the luck and success Xx

[Hidden in reply to Gemma-P]

Thankyou so much for this❤️

[imnotveryoriginal]

Sorry for your loss. I also have pcos and we tried to conceive for years and years without success. I went private and was prescribed letrozole and got pregnant the first month we used it. Sadly ended in an ectopic pregnancy but after that was all treated and resolved, I got pregnant again the second time using letrozole and we now have a happy healthy 10 month old daughter. I hope it works for you, I couldn't believe it tbh, how well it worked for us!

[Hidden in reply to imnotveryoriginal]

Hello ! I am really glad it worked for you❤️ this has given me hope i guess it is worth a try ! Where you un tracked? . We are having to track the cycles .

[imnotveryoriginal in reply to Hidden]

Hi, we tracked my cycles and then had to take the letrozole on certain days of the cycle.

[Hidden in reply to imnotveryoriginal]

That is great thankyou i have started provera yesterday to induce my period so hopefully when my period comes i can start the tablets on days 2-6 . Followed by a scan on day 9/10 and instructed when to take a trigger . I will be on 5mg . I did ovulate on clomid did two tries but the side effects were horrible. Hoping the side effects of letrozole are better

[imnotveryoriginal]

Wishing you the best of luck! I never got a trigger shot. I should also add that on my day 9/10 scan the first month I conceived, the sonographer said it didn't look as though I ovulated but I obviously did, which was odd. I also never experienced any negative side effects.

[Hidden in reply to imnotveryoriginal]

Oh i see what days did you take the letrozole do you remember?

[Yuki33]

Hi, hope you're doing OK? Came across this post and wanted to see how you're getting on.

Im in a similar situation. Now 33, fell pregnant when I was 31 and had an early miscarriage. Been trying everything since, had one round of clomid and 2 of letrozole with no success. Just had an hsg and tubes are open, husbands sperm is fine, diagnosed with pcos. Due to start ivf soon but like you said, if I can avoid the stress the ivf process I'd try anything. I've never been offered a trigger shot? Sorry for naivety but what is that and what is it supposed to do for you?

X