IF Testing & Treatment w/o 3.7

optimistgardener

@acleverusername they checked my E2 levels after i'd been on my e valerate shots for a week, and before I'd come off lupron or started PIO. they wanted to see it above 250 (mine was 252, a squeaker) and told me if it had been any lower they would have upped my e valerate dosage. but i'm tempted to say if your lining is that good then your blood results don't matter.

bumblebee0210

*lurking*
@acleverusername They never checked my E2 as far as I know. I found the whole transfer process sort of shockingly low-key (but also I was not with TEW, and I did not have unexplained IF so maybe they figured my baseline would be fine). Just a lining check, and good to go. (BTW, great lining. That embryo is gonna be comfy.)

mambo5-2

My genetic testing got authorization, FINALLY

keikilove

@acleverusername My E2 always gets checked before transfer, but that’s probably because I’m a difficult case and we want to be able to pin down any tiny clue as to what might be impacting my success/lack thereof. My limited understanding is that E2 can be too high after retrieval, right, which is why so many people can’t do a fresh transfer. Doctors like to wait for hormones to settle down by waiting a cycle and doing a frozen transfer. But exactly how high is too high seems to still be a mystery in the ART world. Also, progesterone should be 20 or lower on transfer day, but no lower than 10 and no higher than 34. But I rarely hear about doctors closely monitoring this number before doing transfers. 

I believe you said you want to do a medicated transfer to leave nothing to chance. So you may not have to think about all of this so much. TEW is clearly a true expert in all of this. However, if you were ever considering a natural transfer you might find more info on ideal hormone levels interesting. I’ve recently read this research article and found it fascinating. Particularly about estrogen levels reaching their peak about 24-48 hours before ovulation, triggering an increase in LH, and then dropping significantly before ovulation due to the LH surge. 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK279054/

thankfullyamama

Had our fertility treatment consult today! Good news is DH’s sperm is phenomenal, and my labs and ultrasounds/ tube test came back Great. Bad news I’m still annovulatory (which I knew because I’ve never got a natural period!) the doctor said that my labs no longer support a PCOS diagnosis but I still have PCO which is a relief to hear! She said the PCOS was likely due to the 12 years of birth control I was on and lots of women have post pill PCOS which can last for a very long time 🤷🏻‍♀️

Plan is to finish this round of birth control and take clomid 50-100mg on CD 3-5 again and just do timed intercourse. Having to still jump through hoops as my cities pharmacies don’t stock clomid and so one has to order all the ingredients and mix it which will cost about $65, which is great, but my doc still has to fax the order and they don’t know if they will get everything there and done before I’ll need to take the med this cycle! or my other option is to drive 4 hours to my fertility clinic and 4 hours back next week and pick it up there for $150! 

They also offered a monitored cycle with an IUI but that would cost roughly $1500-2000 per cycle. So we are going to try a few rounds of just medicated unmonitored cycles and if we are unsuccessful after a few months we will look at moving forward with an IUI. 

This whole process has been so different from my experience with my local OB who retired. She did some bloodwork and an ultrasound and offered 6 medicated unmonitored cycles before she would look into more testing/ treatment options which I found was a very laid back approach in comparison to how stressful this fertility clinic has been so far! 

thankfullyamama

@gingermama29 hoping the trigger shot works! Have you had one before? Abs are they monitoring your cycle with blood work and ultrasound or? 
@mambo5-2 insurance can be so annoying to deal with but yay for finally getting authorized! 
@abjm0325 hope you are feeling better during this cycle! 

@acleverusername lmaooo when I first used a menstrual cup I had the same issue but it was because it was at the start of my cycle and I was in a public bathroom trying to dig it out! Thank god I had wet wipes with me and lots of hand sanitizer lol 

@fantasyflyte omg lol 😂 I’m a nurse so when I am using my LH strips and have to at work I would sneakily steak a little plastic cup from out stock room and whip my test strip out of my pocket and test in our staff bathroom all the time! One time I had the little cup in my scrub pocket too and my co worker asked if I forgot to give someone their meds I was like oh ummmm nope haha 

@keikilove I’m so sorry your last cycle was unsuccessful. It’s so hard to stay optimistic and you’re definitely not a downer this is what this thread is for! Support! 🤍 


@op@optimistgardener “hot cup of jizz red faces and frazzled” has me rolling!

gingermama29

@optimistgardener ugh I’m sorry you’re dealing with asinine insurance issues. I hope you’re not stuck on the phone for long right them. Dying at the hot jizz story. 

@tryingktogku I’m curious why with poly-cystic ovaries and an-O cycles, you’re not still considered having a PCOS diagnosis? I’m obviously not a doctor, but that doesn’t sound right to me. Putting it out there that my lab work has always been pretty much in the normal range for everything but my poly-cystic ovaries and highly irregular cycles are the criteria for my PCOS diagnosis. 

Also to answer your question, this is my first cycle with a trigger shot. They’ve been monitoring each of my medicated cycles with U/Ss since I started seeing a RE. 

thankfullyamama

@gingermama29 honestly I’m not 100% sure this clinic hasn’t been super fun to deal with they are very quick and dismissive of questions! I feel like with my PCO and my symptoms (irregular periods, insulin resistance, acne and unwanted hair growth) that I still fit the PCOS diagnostic criteria but i guess they just go off blood work. It doesn’t change my treatment plan so I was kind of just like whatever lol 

and fingers crossed that trigger is your golden ticket! We were also offered that option but was again much more expensive lol 

gingermama29

@tryingktogku yeah that sounds like textbook PCOS. That’s frustrating that they’re so dismissive of your questions. Is that the only fertility clinic in your area? Also have they tried metformin for you with the insulin resistance? Again, I’m not a doctor so take my words with a grain of salt. Just don’t be afraid to advocate for yourself and seek another doctor if you’re not happy or heard where you are.

thankfullyamama

@gingermama29 no this is the closest one and it is still 4 hours away 😵‍💫 she actually did offer metformin for me but it’s contraindicated for me so I’m taking “Womens sense PCOS” which is like a natural metformin! I’ll likely go on it if I start to get closer to pre diabetic tho! 

acleverusername

@tryingktogku I know all too well about fertility clinic access in Canada if you're not in a large metropolitan area like Toronto/Vancouver. Even Ottawa only has one fertility clinic. Wait list is 14 months last I heard.

Btw, even though mention of breastfeeding isn't a mention of LC directly, it's definitely an indirect mention of LC. Please be cautious of the words you use in this thread. It is _extremely_ painful for some of us like Keiki, Kiki, myself, Optimist who're considering giving up on having children, moving on to surrogacy, etc. Like... REALLY painful. 

thankfullyamama

@acleverusername sorry love. I get it as I was on the other side also! I am just finding it hard not to give the full picture of secondary infertility without having an indirect mention because it drastically impacts your fertility treatment! however I will be more careful moving forward! I really don’t want to make anyone in this group/thread feel any worse than IF already makes you feel ♥️ 

acleverusername

@tryingktogku I really appreciate your understanding (and being so nice about it! It's a Canadian thing). I do think there are folks in the TFAS thread that are in the same boat as you. We've certainly had quite a few come through. I don't know if this is a topic that gets discussed in TFAS since I don't look there, but might be worth putting out feelers. 

anniemarie887

@tryingktogku you are always welcome over on the TFAS thread! i've been popping in and out of the threads for the last 6 weeks bc of my loss, but c'mon over!

kiki047

tryingktogku said:

@acleverusername sorry love. I get it as I was on the other side also! I am just finding it hard not to give the full picture of secondary infertility without having an indirect mention because it drastically impacts your fertility treatment! however I will be more careful moving forward! I really don’t want to make anyone in this group/thread feel any worse than IF already makes you feel ♥️ 

@tryingktogku I just want to say that as one of two people who are STILL here from the last time you were here trying for your first, we've had dozens and dozens of women come through here who were successfully able to delicately and respectfully navigate secondary IF without rubbing it in our faces that they're TFAS (or third or fourth, etc). So while I can appreciate that it has its own special challenges, there are a vast majority of us who are still here trying for our first so please keep that in mind. Your comment about PMing you about what we've been up to since you were last here really rubbed me the wrong way because I never left. Or I did, twice, but I lost both those babies and came right back to TTGP. As I'm sure you remember, this is a very welcoming and supportive place but we have rules for a reason. We've had people in the past who came through here whining about not being able to get KU because their prolactin was too high because they refused to stop BFing, or the ones who couldn't/wouldn't stop bitching about the spacing between their second and third children being tOoOo LoOnG. There is a time and a place for that, and it is in the TFAS thread, please and thank you.

thankfullyamama

@kiki047 completely understandable and I do apologize for being insensitive! I take full responsibility for it. Moving foreword I will be cautious how I interact on this thread! This was/is such a valuable to have and be and I am sorry for causing any pain. I really am. 

I am sorry for your losses also, sincerely.