I just wondered if anyone had experienced the same or had any insight into this. I’ve just had my first ivf cycle and had a day 5 blastocyst put back 5 days after egg collection.
Today is my official test date from clinic which is 12 days post transfer. But I started my period on Friday which would have been 9 days post transfer and tested at home to which the result was negative. I spoke to the clinic Friday who said to continue the cyclogest until today and test today and call them back. The result came back negative which I knew it would as I’ve had full flow period since Friday.
I was under the impression that for the majority of ladies, the cyclogest will hold your period off until you stop the medication? But in my case I’ve come on really around the exact day I would expect to,
Just wanted to see really if anyone has experienced the same or had any helpful info that could be a reason why this has happened.
I have a follow up appointment scheduled with the clinic at the end of the week so will be good to see what they say but just wanted to do some research beforehand if possible.
Thank you in advance x
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gemmad21
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Hi. It’s not usual to have a full flow period, so it’s looking a bit doubtful that you have been successful this time, I don’t know. Going to have to see what comes of your appointment. Thinking of you. Diane
Yes I know this round definitely hasn’t been successful as I’ve had a period and negative tests but was just wondering if anyone had experienced the same with having the period whilst on the cyclogest and anything I can read up on ahead of my appointment. Thanks for your reply x
Hi lovely I would ask about a Lubion injection aday aswell as the cyclogest i allways did the same had a bleed before test day my last round I added the Lubion injection and it stopped it and was all so my successful round xxx
ooh thank you so much that’s really helpful! I’ll look that up and mention it in my appointment. Is it a one off injection or something you took daily with the cyclogest? So glad to hear you had a successful cycle! X
hi hun you take it daily one injection aswell as the cyclogest when you go for your appointment just tell them your not making it to test day without a heavy bleed and would like to try sending loads of baby dust your way good luck lovely x
hi, yes I had the same. It’s so disappointing to know it hasn’t worked this way and not even make it to test day. I suspected it was low progesterone so asked for lubion injections next time. I had a double embryo transfer and whilst the result was still negative, I didn’t start bleeding until after test day
Aw thank you so much for your reply. It’s so sad when it happens this way isn’t it. And to have to carry on taking the medication when you know deep down it’s not worked as you have your period. I’m so sorry to hear your result was negative x
I've had a mix of experiences. Most of the time the cyclogest held off the period but a couple of times I came on my period before I came off it. Sorry to hear this time wasn't successful for you. Sending you luck and baby dust X
Sounds like your progesterone wasn't high enough to hold off your period. The clinic told me that they don't give as much progesterone for a fresh transfer, as your body will be producing a lot of your own progesterone anyway after egg collection.
During my fresh I was on 2 pessaries a day, for my first frozen transfer they put me on 3 pessaries a day. This was still unfortunately negative, so they're now also giving me lubion for my next one, might be worth asking for a higher dose? They'll probably suggest that anyway to be fair.
Sorry you're going through this too , do you have any frozen ones to use next time? X
Yes that’s what I was wondering - possibly low progesterone. It was my first ever cycle and fresh transfer so also 2 pessaries a day was what I was on. Sadly we did have anything suitable to freeze so will be a case of doing the whole thing again.
A few people have mentioned Lubion so I will definitely suggest it if the clinic don’t but I’m sure they will have some ideas to move forward anyway. Best of luck to you on your next one x
I also added in lubion after I had an early bleed in the TWW. However my consultant said that usually the reason for a bleed is that the embryo has not implanted. But that being said, she added the lubion injections in and my next transfer was a success so maybe it did make a difference. Worth asking your clinic 🍀🍀
Aw so pleased to hear that for you! Definitely will see what the clinic say regarding the lubion as lots of people are mentioning it. I was strange as 2-3 days after transfer I had cramps that I’d never experienced before not like period pain in my uterus area along with some sharp pings and I did wonder at the time if it was implantation cramps as it didn’t last more than a day or two and was so unusual. I dont think it was down to the pessaries as I had already been on them a week with no side effects but who knows! Thanks so much for your reply x
Hi Dancergem21, so sorry to hear this. I had this on my first round too, and while common it shouldn't really happen as the cyclogest/progesterone should hold your period off. It is gutting when it doesn't. You can get prescribed additional progesterone - when I added lubion into my medicated FETs on top of the cyclogest it held my period off every time - so that is something to discuss if you decide to do another round. Hope you have lots of support just now x
Thank you so much for your reply. Yes when I called the clinic yesterday the nurse said it’s not rare that this happens but it’s not overly common and it shouldn’t really happen. So I definitely wonder if a progesterone boost may help. Will see what the clinic say on Friday. I’m not even sure how I feel about doing another round yet to be fair! Thank you for your help x
I bled before OTD on my first transfer and was on 2 cyclogest a day. My clinic didn’t change anything for future transfers and it didn’t happen again. I’m now 15 weeks after transfer 7 with still only 2 cyclogest a day.
the pessaries weren’t enough for me either but since adding in lubion injection that’s solved it for me, the clinic were hesitant to add it in when I was nhs but the same clinic has no problem adding it when I’m self funding! You can’t have too much progesterone so I would ask about it for next cycle and I’m so sorry this one hasn’t worked 😢💜 xx
Thank you so much for your reply. We are also NHS and I did say to my husband I wonder if it will be an issue trying to get anything additional added in. So will see what they say. Thank you so much x
Hopefully nhs will cover lubion. Our clinic costs for lubion are aprox £120 a week 😵💫. Dr Tim Child on insta is really good to follow- his Q&A’s are great- he says recent studies show no difference between cyclogest & lubion (but huge cost diff). I’ve bled every cycle from day 5/6 post transfer regardless of progesterone levels. Good luck for the future xx
I’m sorry to hear about your outcome. I only know how gut wrenching it can be. It happened to me on my third transfer, which was fresh. I was on Lubion and Clexane and had my period around day 7 after transfer. The only thing my clinic said at the time was that the implantation was unnecessary….as if I didn’t know! I think I had pessaries 3x per day + injection afterwards on my fourth transfer, which was successful and I’m now 21 weeks.
Wishing you all the best and sending baby dust your way x
Aw I’m so glad to hear this for you! It’s a big difference isn’t it from 2 pessaries to then having 3 a day and an injection. But from all these replies that have gone on to be successful (coincidentally or not) it’s clear some people need that extra help and dosage. Thank you so much for your reply x
The exact happened to me on my first cycle too. Just had my transfer yesterday but no medication change to last time-2 pessaries a day. Hope it doesn’t happen this time 🤞🏼 now reading this and wondering if I should have had that changed xx
I’ve just emailed my clinic now. Hopefully they will get back to me about it. Thank you for bringing my attention to it. Just got to try and stay positive now and hope I’m not too late xxx
The clinic said it’s something that they don’t test? So I guess I have to wait and see if this round works. 🤞🏼 not sure why it’s not tested when everyone else is saying it was 🤔 maybe I’m too late saying it which is why they aren’t testing xx
@I had the exact same thing happen to me. For my second cycle which was frozen, I was thankfully prescribed lubion too as suggested by others here. So 2 x cyclogest a day and 1 lubion injection. I think the first time wasn't enough progesterone for me. The second cycle thankfully was successful for me. Do suggest more progesterone at your meeting. All the best for you.
Aww I’m so pleased to hear this for you! From all these replies that have gone on to be successful (coincidentally or not) it’s clear some people need that extra help and dosage. Thank you so much for your reply x
I had the exact same thing on our fresh transfer. My clinic were crap and I didn’t really know that we should have had a follow up appt after it failed so it didn’t get discussed, we ended up just booking straight in for a FET.
Luckily we were part of a trial on the FET that were checking progesterone levels prior to transfer and that showed that my levels were so low the day before planned transfer that we had to abandon that cycle! They added utrogestan as well as cyclogest for the rescheduled FET and my progesterone levels were perfect that time. Unfortunately still a BFP that cycle.
We’ve just moved clinics as now paying and going for another egg collection soon. I’m going to make sure to push for progesterone testing or request an alternative prgesterone. I don’t think that I absorb cyclogest very well at all.
I’m so sorry to hear your clinic were not great and didn’t offer a follow up appointment. I actually think more blood tests should be done throughout the process as it could be monitored so much more closely to know what’s going on in our bodies. But most clinics don’t seem to do this as a general rule. Wishing you all the best x
I do think that if someone has had known issues with progesterone levels they should be standard! For our rescheduled FET I had to fight to get a progesterone test to see if the increased progesterone had worked! They only agreed as they could see how stressed I was about it!
Thank you! Wishing you all the best for the next step in your journey x
I’m so sorry this has happened lovely. I know loads of people that this has happened to. This means that you need a lot more supplementary progesterone- you’ll probably need injections as well as the pessaries. That’s what I needed. The plus side is for the people I know that this happened to having more progesterone the next time made it work for them. 😊
Thank you so much for your message. From all these replies that have gone on to be successful (coincidentally or not) it’s clear some people need that extra help and dosage. Thank you so much for your reply x
Hi, I had that.I got my period a week after the transfer. It was lack of progesteron. Next time I also got injection on top of pessaries. However I found that so sad as that could have been avoided if progesteron levels would have been monitored.....
I totally relate to that feeling. Did your clinic say it was definitely down to lack of progesterone?
I do feel like from the transfer day things could be monitored so much more closely by checking bloods as lots of people seem to have had success from uping dosages from this point x
So it's not for 100% because they have not done any tests. On follow up appointment I was told lack of progesterone and will get lubion on top. I have to say that I've done I think 7 more transfers after that with lubion and never got period before testing so it worked. Even got pregnant twice but both pregnancies ended up with miscarriage. I don't understand why not all clinics test your progesterone prior to transfer. It costs pennies in comparison to the whole IVF costs. I think some failures could have been avoided but I recon we (woman who gets period before test day) are still minority.
Ask them on your follow up appointment if they can test progesterone this time. Let me know how it went 🙂 and good luck x
I started bleeding on day 11, because of low progesterone after my fresh transfer last year. I was on some sort of progesterone gel at the time.
For my frozen transfer they put me on 3 Cyclogest pessaries and then done the blood test on a transfer day to see how my progesterone levels are. Was very low. Nurse then told me to start taking 6 Cyclogest pessaries and then got another blood test two days after the transfer, still was on a low side. Then nurse added 1 lubion a day. Alll of this held off the bleeding, but the outcome was negative. Nurses couldn’t give an answer why this time didn’t work. So I’m waiting to start another journey from very begging again as I don’t have anymore frozies left. But this time they will put me straight away on 6 Cyclogest pessaries plus one lubion a day. Hopefully it will work.
Thank you so much for your reply. That’s great your clinic did a blood test on transfer day to check your levels. I think this is so important! Wishing you all the best with this next cycle and hopefully the lubion is the missing key x
This happened to me, I bled on day 8 on round 1&2 and was a full flow period.
I was on 2 cyclogest pessaries and also was under the impression they would hold off a bleed.
Interestingly I changed clinics and after transfer they checked my progesterone levels every other day and I ended up on 6 cyclogest until 20weeks and a prontogest injection every day until 12 weeks as the levels kept dropping. that round was successful for us so I think it’s def worth asking about progesterone levels!
Thank you so much for your reply. Wow that’s amazing the new clinic checked your progesterone levels so much! Which clinic was that? So happy to hear that worked for you x
I bled 3 times during the tww, I was on cyclogest then lubion and then figured out I needed Prontogest to stop my bleed within the tww. The last time I was on cyclogest and Prontogest and I had my progesterone tested in the day of transfer to make sure 👍 hope that helps xx
Thanks so much for your reply. I’ve not heard of prontogest so I will look that up also. Also a great idea to get tested on day of transfer I think too! X
Hi, I had spotting 3 days before OTD with my fresh transfer and period came the day before. This was on 2 cyclogest pessaries. Our next transfer was frozen, for which they put me on 3 pessaries and tested my progesterone which was fine - so just wanted to say you may not need Lubion, an increased dose of cyclogest might be sufficient. I was also on oestrogen the second time and the combination did hold off my period even though the transfer wasn’t successful. Also our clinic had said if we did need Lubion we would need to fund this ourselves as they said it wasn’t covered on the NHS, though I don’t know if this varies dependent on area.
Thank you so much for this info. I did think this may possibly be the case with nhs funding. So will see what they say at our appointment and what suggestions they have. Wishing you all the best x
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