IF Testing & Treatment w/o 3.21

abjm0325

This is a place for those of us who have already started TTC, but have started infertility testing and/or treatments. You can express your thoughts, feelings, and frustrations on infertility. TTC can be a long journey naturally, then add in the difficulties associated with infertility, and it becomes a whole new ballgame. The road to infertility can be lonely, frustrating, and complicated, so let's make this a place where we can vent, ask questions, and support one another. Feel free to resurrect this thread at any point in the week if you have something to say. Treat this as an ongoing conversation.

Diagnosis (if you've been): 

Status (WTO/TWW/TTA): 

What are you doing this cycle? (Testing? Treatment?): 

How are things going?: 

Any questions?: 

GTKY: What are you most looking forward to this spring/summer?

kiki047

Diagnosis (if you've been): PCOS, RPL/RIF, mild MFI

Status (WTO/TWW/TTA): This is complicated. None of the above? lol. I'm winding down a mock medicated FET cycle except I need to buy myself 2 more weeks to get over the hump of several major upcoming events so I'm staying on the estradiol for another week, then starting a 5 day course of Provera to induce a period... which means I will not ovulate this cycle. 

What are you doing this cycle? (Testing? Treatment?): See above for the current cycle, but I'm doing all of that in preparation for my 4th IVF cycle, targeting a mid-April retrieval. 

How are things going?: I posted an update in last week's thread in response to Clever but the gist of it is that what I thought was just some light spotting after my surprise endometrial biopsy last week turned into heavier brown spotting that made me feel like I was having some breakthrough bleeding despite being on estrace 3x/day so I stuck an estrogen patch on last night and it seems to have stopped, which also crushes my hopes of maybe not needing quite so much estradiol supplementation for future transfer cycles. Looking forward to getting past these two really stressful events happening over the next 2 weekends and then getting back into the IVF groove. 

Any questions?: NATM

GTKY: What are you most looking forward to this spring/summer? Getting my garden going again. I don't think it's just an IF thing but the deeper I get into this (4 years and counting!), the more rewarding it feels to be able to grow something and revel in the satisfaction of knowing that I nurtured those little plants from seeds through to harvest, especially in absence of a child to love. The symbolism of it all is not lost on me. 

abjm0325

@kiki047 I'm sorry for the stress with the breakthrough bleeding, but glad the estrogen seems to have put your body back on track. I always have a small garden, but staying motivated to keep it up all the way through the summer can be challenging for me. It doesn't help that my in-laws are amazing gardeners and supply us with all the fruits and vegetables anyway, thus removing some of my motivation. 

Diagnosis (if you've been): Unknown, but age and RPL are involved

Status (WTO/TWW/TTA): O is today! I always feel awkward on that day as I'm unsure of my category. 

What are you doing this cycle? (Testing? Treatment?): Letrozole and progesterone (along with the usual stuff), otherwise waiting to meet with the RE in early May. 

How are things going?: I am having a way more intense O than usual (longer positive OPKs, cramping, back pain). Might make sense to be due to the letrozole or maybe my body is just messing with me. I find myself slightly too hopeful for this cycle, but DH knocked me down a little yesterday by being unwilling to DTD. Timing is still okay, but c'mon dude. 

Any questions?: Anyone else attest to changes in O experience due to letrozole? Doesn't really matter either way, just makes me curious. 

GTKY: What are you most looking forward to this spring/summer? I have June and July off work and I am so excited for the break. I have been unhappy at my job and unable to find something else right now, so this feels like a much needed chance to recharge. 

mambo5-2

Diagnosis (if you've been): RPL, MFI post vasectomy, apparently I have funky blood

Status (WTO/TWW/TTA): Testing cycle

What are you doing this cycle? (Testing? Treatment?): Testing.... CALL ME ABOUT MY BLOOD. Then IVF

How are things going?: I want the rest of my blood results to come back and I am going to be very mad if it was the stuff in the very first vial run that is the problem and I have to wait for the 10th vial to come back to talk about it.  I'm being grumpy and impatient. 

Any questions?: Anyone Protein C and S deficient?  I don't know what is happening. 

GTKY: What are you most looking forward to this spring/summer? Just being outside.  I love to walk and be outside.  We may do a garden this year.  My grandfather recently passed and he was huge into gardening and I think it would be nice to honor him with a little veggie garden. 

kiki047

@abjm0325 my MIL flatters me by making me feel like I'm this amazing gardener but I know for a fact that she's also very experienced and often has a better harvest than me lol. I don't know what she does to her tomatoes but they go totally bonkers (in a good way). // I also found letrozole really gave my ovulation some "oomph". That's what it's intended to do, to strengthen ovulation. 

My ovaries:

@mambo5-2 If it's the karyotyping you're waiting on, sorry to say but that usually takes some time. Ours took 6 weeks. I suppose you can ask your doctor if they're willing to discuss the results without waiting for karyotyping but a lot of them are so busy they want to do it all at once. 

acleverusername

@kiki047 I read your updated re: EMMA test and your suspicions re: BV and I think you're definitely onto something. When I asked on R e d d i t about about EMMA results, the questions I got was: "did you take antibiotics recently"? (For me, it's a 'no'; the last time I took something was before my first ER last May.) Anyways, I just purchased some pH strips on Amazon and my probiotic is on its way to me (Vagibiom is what TEW recommended). It'll be cool to do this throughout my menstrual cycle to see how it changes over time. Good luck with all your treatment coordination! I hope your body cooperates! 

@abjm0325 I can confirm that Letrazole does affect my ovulation. Specifically, I don't usually get O pain but when I do medicated cycles, and I don't use a trigger shot, I'm doubled over in pain. 

@mambo5-2 I haven't seen anyone come through with your issues, but there's definitely some research you can do on your own. I personally found Facebook groups a useful source of information. I saw this one mentioned in the Reproductive Immunology group. Also agree that karyotyping tests can take a couple of weeks. Do you have an appointment booked yet? Or will that get booked once all of the test results are in? 

Diagnosis (if you've been): 4G/4G PAI-1 genotype, Anti-HY immunity, HLA antibodies, AMA, Hashimoto's, stubborn sperm. 

Status (WTO/TWW/TTA): WTO

What are you doing this cycle? (Testing? Treatment?): super-ovulation cycle + timed intercourse while we wait for all of the biopsy results to come in. Taking a shitload of Letrazole (4 pills) plus Gonal-F starting tonight. 

How are things going?: Things are good! I'm pretty excited about this cycle tbh. I'm hoping that the biopsy "scratch" will be helpful with implantation. Also hoping that Prednisone will have built up enough to chill out my immune system a bit. Finally, hoping that both BA & crinone gel will help with implantation. MH is calling this our "last attempt at a freebie" and I'm calling it our final "Hail Mary" attempt at a baby, pre-FET in May. 

I also want to throw out a huge thanks to @kiki047 for "talking me off the ledge" last week (privately) as I was squarely and solidly in the "paralysis by analysis" phase of the TTC journey, going down a rabbit hole with the RI stuff, without actually knowing for sure that I need to. She helped me get comfortable with the idea that it _may_ take more than 1 transfer to get there, and that I _may_ need to do another retrieval. But that without going through a transfer, I cannot learn the things I need to learn to optimize future treatment. I think I summarized that pretty well, but TL;DR... if this Hail Mary cycle isn't successful, we're proceeding with a FET in early May. As a result, I've postponed appointment I've previously had scheduled with Dr. Jubiz until end of May, and I have also disabled notifications for all of my RI FB groups to help me get comfortable with that plan. Also booked an appointment with my fertility therapist to just dive into it and find some coping mechanisms. 

Any questions?: Not really, no

GTKY: What are you most looking forward to this spring/summer? This is gonna sound like a no brainer, but I'm really looking forward to getting & being pregnant this summer. I know this is "duh... aren't we all?" but it's like my whole life is focused on this one thing. I really don't have any other plans. 

abjm0325

@kiki047 and @acleverusername That totally makes sense about the letrozole. I don't know why it didn't occur to me that O would feel different, but TTC is nothing if not a constant learning experience. 

@mambo5-2 I'm sorry you're having to wait for the results and follow up appointment. Maybe you could message the clinic to ask if there is anything you should do differently this cycle based on the results that have already come in? 

@acleverusername I'm excited you're feeling positive about this cycle! I hope the Hail Mary works and the FET is unnecessary, but great to have a plan (mental and literal) in place as a backup. 

acleverusername

Update: following my sad "what are you looking forward to in spring/summer", MH and I made some plans last night! Woooo! We decided to book a bunch of camping reservations. We're just a 45 min drive from Big Sir, and last year, we spotted a really nice campground there. So, we went ahead and booked it for a couple of nights. We're gonna try going with our dog, to see how she does. And then, about 2 years ago, I "invested" in Bubble Hotels, so yesterday I ended up reserving a stay at Joshua Tree at the end of June, also combined with 3 nights of camping beforehand. So yeah... @abjm0325 thanks for asking that questions and giving me a swift kick in the butt (also MH was looking to do something low-cost, so this worked out pretty well.) 

mambo5-2

@acleverusername I joined that group and found lots of information on Protein C and S deficiency

acleverusername

@mambo5-2 that's awesome to hear! Share here any highlights so that information can live on for the next person.  

anniemarie887

@kiki047 i'm sorry that you have so much going on in the next two weeks, it certainly is frustrating when life likes to pile everything up on us like that. tell me more about your garden, vegetables and fruits? or flowers?
@abjm0325 that's great you get june and july off, sadly i feel like the sentiment of being unhappy with work is really common. i know a lot of ppl who have made changes, or are in the process of sorting out where they see themselves. do you have any ideas?
@mambo5-2 i am so sorry with how frustrating your bloodwork is, have you tried calling and pestering your way into getting some answers? 
@acleverusername i have all of my fingers and toes crossed for your hail mary


afm, buckle up... b/c i'm driving the woe is me wagon

Diagnosis (if you've been): uncooperative uterus/RPL ... aka TBD

Status (WTO/TWW/TTA): purgatory, will elaborate below

What are you doing this cycle? (Testing? Treatment?): **TW positive test/MC in spoiler***

so i've been a little quiet in these parts, on 3/12 i got a faint positive. i decided to do one last opk and a preg test bc my cycle had been just so weird and had a week of peak opks. i was shocked to see a faint positive. messaged my OBGYN that day, she responded sunday and ordered labs. my HCG on 3/14 was 127 which is great, but my progesterone was 1.7 which is very bad. got put on 200mg of endometrin suppositories, baby aspirin, and told to do labs again in a week, which was yesterday. labs came back this morning HCG of 82. so another miscarriage. i was just numb when i saw it in the portal at 1am when i woke up for the 2nd time. i think talking to my OB the reality set in, def more emotional, she without me asking was like it's absolutely time to see a RE. her comment re Shady Grove is that they are a baby factory and great re IVF, but she doesn't think the right fit for me and RPL. she has referred me to a RE who works as a one woman show, someone she said she has sent many patients and friends to and would send a family member there. i called already, soonest appointment is 5/16. they don't have a lot of cancels, but i can call weekly to see about getting in sooner. 

How are things going?: not good, i feel broken and like a failure. 

Any questions?: i have lab slips from Shady Grove that i'm wondering if we should just plow forward with getting taken care of and then switch to this other RE? is that a huge faux pas? the thought of sitting and doing nothing for the next 8 weeks feels crushing.

GTKY: What are you most looking forward to this spring/summer? nothing right now, truthfully it feels pretty bleak.

acleverusername

@anniemarie887 first of all, this is not a "woe is me wagon"; whatever it is you're driving, you absolutely deserve to do it. Girl... I am so so so sorry. I just don't have words. Sending you the biggest bear hug there ever was. I encourage you to sit with your feelings. Also, have you considered seeing a fertility therapist? They're godsend if you can find one. Thanks to the pandemic, many do telehealth appointments, so it might be worth looking into it. 

Now, for blood work: is it going to cost you anything? If yes, I'd say hold off. If no, then go for it. The new RE might want to re-run blood tests, and as long as you don't mind having your blood drawn, it might give you some answers in the meanwhile so that you can adequately prepare for your visit in May. My 2 cents, of course. Others might have different opinions, but that's how I'd proceed. Glad your OB was up-front about Shady Grove being a baby factory. They are definitely that, which works for the "no brainer IF" case, but definitely isn't a good "I need someone who looks at my areas of concern" specialist. 

Is there anything else I can do? 

abjm0325

@anniemarie887 I am so sorry. My heart breaks that you are going through that again. Sending you so many hugs. I second what @acleverusername said about the bloodwork as the RE I am seeing in May said not to bother sending over any previous bloodwork as they want to re-run it anyway. So if it's free, sure, otherwise personally I'd wait. 

kiki047

@acleverusername I'm glad you're feeling good about your plan, and FWIW, I do think it's a solid one! I'm hoping more than anything that your Hail Mary might just do the trick, and if not, it was certainly worth a try and you won't feel like you wasted a cycle. I think we all have TTC PTSD whereby wasted cycles are about as painful as a BFN. Also, your glamping bubble hotel thing sounds amazing! I'll be in LA for like 48 hours in early July (driving in from Vegas and flying out of LAX) and definitely looked into the bubble hotel in Joshua Tree NP. We had plans to meet up with friends and other commitments in LA though so the timing wasn't going to work out but you'll have to let me know how it is so I can consider it for future trips! 

@anniemarie887 oh friend, my heart is breaking for you reading your update. I am so very sorry. Your OB sounds like a truly wonderful doctor and person, and I'm glad she advocated for you to find an RE that would be a better fit. I agree with Clever that if the costs are covered or are very minimal and you're willing to possibly have to re-do them down the road, I would look at it as a general consultation knowing you're going to get a second/better opinion once you're able to get in with your preferred RE in 8 weeks. Sending you some great big hugs. 

Garden talk in spoiler so I don't take up so much room on this page because I can talk about my garden all day long lol - 

I almost exclusively grow veggies, and some edible flowers/companion plants like marigolds that look nice but I can't take any credit for because I just buy them from a nursery and plant them all over. 

My veggies and herbs I mostly start from seed save for a few plants I grab as an impulse buy if I'm at a nursery or garden centre. I have half a dozen big cedar raised beds that MH made for me, plus three big planters on wheels that he built, two deck boxes, and a few little pockets of garden that I'm slowly reclaiming from the jungle of misc. plants the previous owners put in.

Last year I did: 

- 9 kinds of tomatoes, mixed between cherry, cocktail and beefsteak sizes (it's excessive, I know, I definitely don't need that many this year)
- 5-6 kinds of assorted bell peppers and hot peppers (jalepeno, anaheim, yellow and green bell peppers, something called a chocolate brownie pepper that is really just a bell pepper but brown except it cross-pollinated with everything near it so almost all my peppers were vaguely green/brown but tasted wonderful, and I'm sure I'm forgetting some others) 
- 2 kinds of cucumbers
- 3 kinds of radishes - my favourite thing to grow in the spring
- Japanese turnips called Tokyo Cross
- watermelon and chioggia beets
- kale - dunno why I grew this, I ate 0% of it
- 4 kinds of lettuces - I'll pick 1-2 kinds next time, I didn't really use it
- arugula - again, never ate it, even though I like arugula. There was never even enough for a salad so I didn't bother lol
- green onion
- 2 kinds of bush beans, both a green bean and a yellow wax bean. Another fave, they're SO prolific and way better than storebought
- snow peas in the spring, and I pull these out to make room for the beans

My eggplant didn't grow, and what I thought might've been the only eggplant sprout that survived but it turned out to be another cucumber lol. 

Herbs - basil x2, rosemary, thyme, oregano, shiso (Japanese basil), chives, and parsley

I had a few strawberry plants a few years ago but I can never get to them before the animals do so I gave up. I haven't planted any other fruits for the same reason, I think the animals would get to them/make a mess. I lose a few tomatoes every year to the squirrels but honestly I have so many it never mattered. 

acleverusername

@kiki047 I'll do a detailed review of the Bubble Hotel once we visit! I'm pretty excited. And YES to PTSD. I mentioned it today's WTO that I had quite the revelation during yesterday's Mayan Abdominal Massage and it has to do with that. I'll post about it on the Mental Health thread. 

AFM, tomorrow is my monitoring ultrasound. I managed to find a place that will do it closer to home, since driving to TEW is like 1h45-2hr esp in morning traffic. This way I only have to drive 1hr and change. 

For posterity, in case anything is ever in the same boat, I omitted to mention that my TSH behaves really erratically when my estrogen rises. I have Hashimoto's so I've known for a while that my TSH will need to be closely monitored once I get KUed. However, I randomly asked TEW to test my TSH during my mock cycle, and... when my E2 was 642, it jumped to 4.91! Whereas it's usually around 1.5-1.7. And then I remembered that the same thing happened to me during *TW* my CP cycles *end TW*; I had my thyroid checked the week it happened, and it had shot up to 3.36. Anyways, I posted about it on R e d d i t IF community last night since I have an appointment with my endocrinologist coming up next week and I want to know what to ask for and sounds like I may need to up my Synthroid dose _now_ and that most endocrinologists are OK with patients being on the hyperthyroid end of things during TTC. So, we'll see what the doctor says. TEW asked me for my endocrinologist contact info when those results came back, and didn't see too worried, saying that it's a pretty easy thing to fix. 

anniemarie887

@acleverusername @abjm0325 @kiki047first - thank you all. so the RE my OBGYN prefers asked for prior medical records. i just sent a msg to my nurse at Shady Grove to find out if i can even do any of this stuff coming right off a CP or if i would have to wait a cycle... b/c if i have to wait a cycle... i mean 5/16 isn't far off then, ugh. so we shall see, so many damn variables. it would cost a small amount oop, and i don't mind needles. so if the preferred RE wants to repeat no biggie IMO.
@kiki047 ok your garden sounds amazing, we have 2 raised beds and i am 100000% a cheater who buys sprouted plants from the local garden center and just kind of wings it every year. and yes, as someone who grows tomatoes 9 plants is a lot! did you can anything? we usually make and freeze sauce, i haven't tried my hand at canning. also the same re fruit - the bastard squirrels always eat anything remotely fruit like. i've caught the squirrels many times with an apple sized tomato in their mouth just running down our fence line. jerks. 

mambo5-2

My REs nurse was very funny when I called. She's like yup you have funny blood and in the very important call asap file when everything comes back, just waiting one a couple more things. Hurry it up chromosomes. 

kiki047

@acleverusername I’ve heard similar things about TSH in my clinic’s FB group, so you’re not the only one. Glad you’re on top of things, as usual. 

@anniemarie887 FX you don’t have to wait a whole cycle but then again, depending on what they’re testing, if they want CD3 baseline tests done then I assume that has to be done on your next cycle anyway? That would be annoying. 

I’ll be honest, I only grow from seed these days because I like browsing online for super novelty breeds for no other reason than I enjoy the experiment of seeing what I’ll get. I haven’t tried my hand at canning yet, we just give tons and tons of it away to grateful family and friends. 

acleverusername

So, my lining today was 4.86mm and while I still have a few more days of stimming left, anyone know if I can use E2 patches to help with lining building? I still have some leftover from my mock transfer. 

optimistgardener

sorry i've been so awol all week, guys. lemme try to catch up now.

@abjm0325 sorry the timing wasn't as optimal as it could have been. did your husband have an explanation for his reticence? what the heck. also i know folks have already answered your letrozole/ovulation Q but looking down the tracks, just a heads up that in my experience my 2WW phase was also very much more amped up than a natural cycle. apparently letrozole can make for a more "progesterone-fueled" luteal phase. mine were longer than usual and i had all the symptoms.

@mambo5-2 i love the idea of a little garden in memory of your grandfather.

@acleverusername awesome that you've got some cool plans now for the summer break! sorry i don't have any answer re: your estrace patches but i'd maybe try to talk you down from going too off-script. it's my impression that the lining grows fast once it starts to do its thing. hopefully you'll be all caught up in time for O day.

@anniemarie887 ugh my heart just sank reading through your update this week. i'm so so sorry.

@kiki047 i am 1000% here for your gardening updates. I may have been absent from the board most of this week but i have been reading your gardening stuff with delight. i love that you're a start-from-seed kind of gardener--me too! and yeah, i'm a sucker for the seed catalogs. your description of last year's garden sounds wonderful! spoilering some specific comments.

what kinds of radishes do you grow? i've got some in this year that i'm looking forward to, but i'm really bad at remembering to do staggered planting so i usually just get like 1 huge crop of radishes and that's it. i'm a dummy.
arugula: i always just plant a little field of the the stuff, like pick a couple square feet and just sprinkle arugula seeds everywhere. it comes up like a weed and i get lots that way. honestly, i have arugula all over the place both in my veg garden and in the lawn, cropping up in what should be decorative beds, etc. the stuff is unstoppable.
I swear pepper cross-pollination happens so easily. all my peppers cross-pollinated a couple of years ago with one of my hot varieties, and so all the peppers turned out spicy last year. fortunately i don't mind that, but we decided to purchase commercial seeds this year to avoid any further surprises.

AFM:

Diagnosis (if you've been): old, 1 ovary

Status (WTO/TWW/TTA): technically wto (cd2)

What are you doing this cycle? (Testing? Treatment?): i'll be talking to my RE next week for my long awaited WTF appt., and then figuring out where things are headed moving forward.

How are things going?: I'll say it's been kind of a strange one over here these past few weeks. I'm still moving forward with a plan (for now) to reattempt retrieval(s) in a May cycle, but since my failed Feb transfer I've been feeling, I don't exactly know how to put it but very emotionally distant from the whole process. I had to shut down my feelings about the CP when it was happening because I needed to be fully attentive to my job interview process and maybe that is part of it, but I also feel like maybe I'm just having an increasingly difficult time imagining myself actually achieving a viable pregnancy, as much as I want that.
My post-CP cycle was also a really wild one, which hasn't added to my feelings of confidence in my own body. Ovulation was super delayed and extra painful, and then basically my entire (also somewhat delayed) LP was likewise weird and my abdomen just felt inflamed and sore the whole time. Now that my period has finally arrived, maybe I'll recalibrate a bit.
In the midst of all this weirdness though, a small victory in being open about this stuff: I have a couple of new friends/colleagues from my university that I have been socializing with on the regular for the past few months. I've not been sharing my TTC struggles with them for all the obvious reasons but also because I have not been able to afford the possibility of this news getting out and affecting my hiring process, and also because my friends are a couple of dudes who are a both a few years younger than I am, and, well, it seemed awk. Anyway, I decided I needed to tell them what I'm doing because for starters I'm going to have to stop drinking again any minute now and I am all out of plausible excuses on that front, but also it just generally seems like good practice in honesty and perhaps a useful lesson for them in the kinds of pressures that professional women in their late 30s experience. The long and short of it is that telling them felt exceedingly awkward as I was blundering my way through it, but they absorbed the news with nothing but interest, sympathy, and way more optimism and enthusiasm for success in my upcoming cycle than I can possibly muster for myself at the present. I'm glad I shared.

Any questions?: nada

GTKY: What are you most looking forward to this spring/summer? Honestly I am very much in need of a respite from the breakneck speed of the academic calendar, and am also hoping for some space to start working on my own writing a bit. I've got a contracted piece that is ostensibly due in the late summer and I really need to get cracking on that. I'm also (waves at kiki) really looking forward to tomato season.

acleverusername

@optimistgardener I am overjoyed that you were able to let your colleagues in on your journey, and that it was received with such curiosity and support! I know personally just how beautiful that feeling is... hopefully that's one less stressor as you contemplate what's next. One thing that one of my friends did for me this summer, when I was visiting home / catching her up on stuff, is say something to the effect of "I know it's hard for you to be hopeful, so I will be hopeful for you; you can delegate being hopeful to me." It's truly relieving to do that. I recommend you try that with your friends and maybe even with your colleagues. Sending you hugs!

kiki047

@optimistgardener I must say, considering your username and all, the garden talk has been somewhat lacking, probably because winter felt like it lasted 2894578 years, but I'm so happy to have that to look forward to again. Maybe I'll move some of it over to Randoms so we're not clogging up the IF board, and because I think gardening is a fairly universal thing and isn't just for us IF folx. // I am SO stoked that your WTF appt with your RE is finally here. And your story about how you confided in your colleagues about your journey was so heartwarming, I am so beyond happy that it was a positive and uplifting experience. That gives me hope for attempting to push myself to share more about this upcoming part of our journey too. I told my therapist that maybe because we feel like we're going into this with intention and not out of desperation, perhaps I'll feel more open to talking about it? But of course that's easy for me to say with such ease and aplomb when I'm talking to my therapist, who is my most trusted confidant and supporter. 

@acleverusername remind me, are you using a trigger with your Gonal-F and letrozole or no? I personally wouldn't muck around with estrogen patches while you're on stims, there is such a thing as too much estrogen and a stim cycle is very different from a FET cycle so you typically wouldn't pair the two. Plus, too much estrogen can cause you to not ovulate, which is the point in a TI cycle but isn't necessary in a FET cycle. 

//

I've been weaning myself off prednisone for the last 3 weeks and am finally completely off of it now, but the last few days I've developed this insane rash/hives on my face and cheeks. I assumed it was some kind of allergic reaction to my mask because I've had to wear it all day the last few days but I've never had any kind of reaction to them before and it's not a new brand or type or anything. I'm now wondering if it's some kind of immune reaction or something like that. It's worse at night because that's when I get home and take my mask off, and seems to calm down overnight if I take a benadryl before bed but it's puzzling. Of course I'm just speculating but the timing is suspicious. I was dx about 15 years ago with "overactive histamines" because I get hives randomly for no reason, like if I touch something then scratch my face I'll get a welt there. I've had a few allergy tests done and reacted to almost everything so my Dr just gave me an Rx for a strong antihistamine and said to take it as needed. I haven't needed it in a while but since I'm having this random flare up of hives it's making me wonder if maybe an antihistamine protocol would do anything for a FET. I'll ask my RE and see what he says about it, I know he's fine with us taking Benadryl if we need it but I highly highly doubt he'd be on board with the protocol. 

anniemarie887

@kiki047 yea when i talked to the nurse yesterday i *think* she said i don't need to wait? which i was kind of surprised about, i am going to be annoying and call again for clarity. i think if i can do it all now, i will. if i have to wait a full cycle i will just wait for the new RE.

@kiki047 and @optimistgardener we have also had peppers cross pollinate, which wasn't terrible. i am totally down for more gardening talk, we have a polar vortex coming next week, but hopefully after that i can actually start to refresh the window box/planters and think about the raised beds. MH was really sweet and cleaned everything out last weekend for me. kind of like your arugula we have cherry tomatoes all over the places thanks to birds and squirrels dropping them, we just wait for them to pop up and then rehome them to the bed.

@acleverusername no advice, just rooting for your uterus over here! and i love the concept of what your friend said, that's really touching and thoughtful. 

@optimistgardener thank you, and i think i can relate to how you are feeling. it's almost a numbness. not sure if you feel like this, but i can talk about everything that has happened in the last few months like i'm rattling off a grocery list. i'm sure my therapist will have many thoughts on this when we meet next week. that being said, i am so glad to hear you opened up to your coworkers and that gives me an almost feeling of joy in the fact that once would've been labeled like taboo and "women's stuff" and no more by men was so openly accepted. like we are actually making strides in normalizing talking about fertility and struggles that ensue.

@kiki047 i'm really sorry about the rash, is it itchy? i hope not, because that just adds another annoying layer on top of it. 

afm, i FINALLY got back to my acupuncturist today after three months. and whew, was it well needed. she has loads of IF experience (personally did IUIs and IVF) and works with lots of women. i was really pleased to hear she's had patients working with the RE my OBGYN recommended and only had good things to say. i am going to go back in 2 weeks, a little more frequently for a bit to try and work on my stress/anxiety/sleep. and then we'll sort out what she can do to support what the RE wants to do in May. 

kiki047

@anniemarie887 that's great about going back to your acupuncturist. I need find a new one, I was previously working with my naturopath who also did acupuncture but near the end I wasn't feeling like we were really jiving anymore so I think I'll move on from there. // The rash isn't really itchy, but I feel flushed and it is a little prickly/tingly feeling, so I'm always aware of it. Dr Google is making me think it's rosacea, which I've never had before but if it's something that is brought on by stress, that is definitely in abundance over here these days. Ugh. As if it wasn't bad enough that my cold sores are triggered by stress, now this? 

acleverusername

@kiki047 well, not sure if you caught it before it got removed, but today's Peggy post was just what you needed! Lol. (Joking of course.) 

@optimistgardener @kiki047 forgot to mention, I've decided to trust TEW. I still have a gut instinct of going off script, given how distrustful I'm of my previous providers. It takes me a few minutes to remember that I actually COMPLETELY trust TEW. Anyways, I did ask her and she said my lining is still thin because my follicles are still growing, and adding a patch would curtail that growth. So yeah, I'm on Gonal-F for another 3 days, and back for monitoring on Monday. I have to say, my body used to respond crazy quick to these types of cycles, and that's evened out now... I think that's a good sign! 

@anniemarie887 @optimistgardener @kiki047 I think we need to resurrect the Monthly Gardening, Cooking, Baking, Crafting thread. 

acleverusername

I just went ahead and did it. 

optimistgardener

@kiki047 yeah, i know i've been kinda not living up to my game on the optimist gardening front! Some of it has been me trying not to drown under the tsunami of my first-year teaching obligations. But, now that we're putting seeds in the ground, I'll probably be featuring more gardening content. As for sharing about IF stuff with friends/family/colleagues, I wonder if in some ways my being single makes it easier to share my journey than if, like you all, I were partnered. For one thing, whatever I share or don't share is just on me; I don't have anyone else's feelings or sensitivities to think about. But also, although I clearly clearly, very absolutely have very real problems getting/staying pregnant no matter what, for the people I tell there's only one obvious problem, and that is my lack of partner. So the attention tends to fall on that aspect of it, like "I need fertility help because I am a single woman" not "I need fertility help because my ovary is crapping out and god only knows what else i happening or not in there." I guess maybe what I'm saying is I can see how the stakes might feel higher for you guys, and considering what a hurdle it is for me to share my story with new people I wouldn't kick yourselves for having a hard time finding ways to talk about it.

Also kiki: as for that itchy/reactive face thing, I got nothing but I would like to express my solidarity as a fellow hyper-active histamine response type. Things as simple as going on a run when the weather is a few degrees colder outside will cause me to develop hysterically itchy full-body hives, and I too get the "I touched my neck 3 minutes ago and so now my skin is angry" thing. My mom has it even worse, and will sometimes (seemingly randomly) develop a full-blown histamine response to food she's eaten, which can be a little scary.

@anniemarie887 i, too, am overjoyed to discover that there was apparently some kind of a revolution in the generations that came up immediately after ours, making boys and young men in their teens, 20s, and even those arriving at the start of their 30s far more cognizant of and sympathetic about social issues not just as "women's stuff."

@acleverusername thanks for starting the general thread! i'll admit i'm feeling a little overwhelmed about participation of late, but i'll try to crawl out of my hole and share something there soon.