Antagonist vs long protocol - any advice please?

[Prettypenny1]

Hi everyone 💖 I was wondering if anyone could please help, my partner are on to our final round of NHS funded ICSI and have been given a choice of two protocols and I just have no idea which to go for.

Option 1: wait for period then start menopur then antagonist (I’ve never really heard of this way)

Option 2: down reg for 3 weeks with buserelin, stims with menopur 225.

Our first two cycles were option 2 but I stimulated with ovaleap 225 and the outcomes were:

Cycle 1: 18 eggs, 12 mature, 6 fertilised and 2 blasts which were 2 x BFN.

Cycle 2: 19 eggs, 7 mature, 6 fertilised but abnormally so told there was an issue with egg quality.

I did stimulate for 3 days less on my 2nd cycle and my AMH is 28.6. My consultant said if she was me she would go for option 2 but didn’t really say why and I’m just so worried about getting it wrong for our last cycle.

If anyone has advice / pros / cons of either, I’d be so grateful - thank you xxx

[Brie889]

hey, I have had 2 rounds of IVF, my first round was antagonist, I only got 6 eggs, 2 mature and 1 blast. My second round we did long protocol with ICSI 15 eggs, 9 mature and 3 blasts. So long was definitely better for us. We went with what we were advised for our second round and it did get better results.

Have you been taking supplements for your egg quality? Xx

[Prettypenny1 in reply to Brie889]

Hi lovely - thanks so much for your reply. I’m glad your second round got better results for you. I have just been taking pregnacare, omega 3 and ubiquinol before the 2nd cycle, I was arguably much healthier before my 2nd cycle but my eggs retrieved were way worse. She told me to look in to inositol and asked if I had been diagnosed with PCOS which I haven’t but was a bit vague when I asked if she thought I had it. Did you take anything to help with egg quality? Xx

[konyaga in reply to Prettypenny1]

Studies show that myo-inositol helps with egg quality for women with PCOS. More info on the It Starts With The Egg book by Rebecca Fett. Depending on your age, the numbers of eggs retrieved and AMH might be indicative of PCOS but do check with your IVF provider!

[Prettypenny1 in reply to konyaga]

Thank you - I’m gonna ring the clinic today and ask for a bit more clarification as I’m really unsure if I should be taking it or not xx

[Fab208]

Hi! We've done both, and the long was definitely better for me, but I think it varies from person to person. Our first round was long, with Buserelin & Ovaleap: we got 10 eggs, 6 mature, but only 1 low quality blasto which didn't take. Swapped to the antagonist cycle, and only got 4 eggs, none of which fertilised. We've just done round 3 & choose to go back to the long, but used Prostap for the down regging which seemed to help with more even follicle growth - we got 7 eggs, 5 mature, 3 fertilised (with assisted egg activation) and all 3 made it to blastos! We're now in the TWW with a Grade A, and have a Grade A & Grade C in the freezer which we never thought would happen for us! I'd recommend following your clinics advice, and just trying every add-on treatment they offer for your final cycle - it's always worth a shot and definitely made a difference for us! Good luck!

[Prettypenny1 in reply to Fab208]

Hey, ahh that’s amazing news about your third cycle - hope you’re managing to keep sane in the 2ww, everything crossed for you!! I think you’re right about following the clinics advice, I’ve not heard of assisted egg activation, I’ll ask about it. Thank you 😀xx