HGH ??

Faith722

This morning my acupuncturist was telling me that the RE she works with (not mine) has started adding HGH to his IVF protocol and the majority of these women got pregnant this past cycle.  She wants me to talk to my RE about it.

So what do you know about HGH?  What's it's purpose? 

Does anyone have a link to a research article or something I can use to discuss this intelligently with my RE?

Oh, and if you've used it, please tell me about your experience with it!

TIA

labbylover03

No experience with HGH, but wanted to wish you the best of luck with your cycle!! When do you start??? I've been anxiously waiting!

dancinaggie

Sorry, I don't have any info either, but am curious to see some responses.  My RE has also suggested we add HGH into my protocol for IVF #2.  I feel pretty open to anything, if it means we can hopefully get a different result!

njohnson1972

I am doing HGH with my cycle right now.  It is supposed to improve egg quality.  My insurance wouldn't cover it, so it cost me $1,600 OOP.

I won't know for a few more weeks whether it helped me or not.  If only it could help me make more eggs!

Here is one article on using HGH with IVF.

naybird

I used HGH with my last cycle, which has been sucessful.  My RE likes to use it on women who are considered AMA or ladies who have had  failed cycles.

It's a shot I took every other day starting with stims. It's Human Growth Hormone and it's suspose to help with egg quality.

I will be honest, it burns!!! Worse than menopure!!  It's also expensive. I don't know what actually contributed to my sucessful cycle, but it's worth it to ask your RE about it.

Good luck!!!

njohnson1972

naybird:

I used HGH with my last cycle, which has been sucessful.  My RE likes to use it on women who are considered AMA or ladies who have had  failed cycles.

It's a shot I took every other day starting with stims. It's Human Growth Hormone and it's suspose to help with egg quality.

I will be honest, it burns!!! Worse than menopure!!  It's also expensive. I don't know what actually contributed to my sucessful cycle, but it's worth it to ask your RE about it.

Good luck!!!

Mine doesn't burn at all.  It is actually one of my easiest shots.  I am taking Saizen, 4IU every night.  Which HGH did you take?

naybird

njohnson1972:

naybird:

I used HGH with my last cycle, which has been sucessful.  My RE likes to use it on women who are considered AMA or ladies who have had  failed cycles.

It's a shot I took every other day starting with stims. It's Human Growth Hormone and it's suspose to help with egg quality.

I will be honest, it burns!!! Worse than menopure!!  It's also expensive. I don't know what actually contributed to my sucessful cycle, but it's worth it to ask your RE about it.

Good luck!!!

Mine doesn't burn at all.  It is actually one of my easiest shots.  I am taking Saizen, 4IU every night.  Which HGH did you take?

 

I took Omnitrope.  The injection site would turn bright red!!! 

Faith722

Aww, thanks!  We're planning for next month unless something else comes up.  Honestly, I'm a little scared to cycle this time so we've been putting it off a little.  Knowing it's the last one adds a lot more pressure.

I can't believe you're almost out of the 1st tri!!!!  I'm so happy for you!

ETA:  Sorry. Meant to quote labbylover here.

Faith722

njohnson -- Thanks for the link!   That's just what I was looking for.  And, wow, an extra $1600 is steep.  But what's a little more at this point, right?

naybird --  Thanks for sharing your experience!  It's hard to believe you're so far along already!  I'm so glad it worked for you!

STL34

I used this for all three of my IVF cycles.  It is supposed to help with egg quality.  I usually had good quality embryos but I didn't get anything to stick until IVF #3 (with extra immune treatment).  That being said, I wasn't willing to try a cycle without it because I was afraid my egg quality would go down.  I never had more than 4 mature eggs in a cycle.

I didn't have any reaction to it.  Except that I would get bleeding at the injection site (keep the gauze handy).  The bleeding would stop after a bit.  Even though I am DOR, I would have a few eggs that would respond quickly.  So, I never stimmed for very long.  Consequently, I only used three vials per cycle.  Those three vials usually cost me around $750 to $900.  I got a discount if I ordered all three vials at the same time.

One of the girls formerly on TTTC used it for the first time for IVF #3.  She always responded well but was told she had bad eggs and consequently poor embryos.  Her embryos weren't initially looking perfect for IVF #3.  But, it did result in her twin little girls.  I know it isn't for everyone and there is controversy about whether HGH is beneficial.  But, in my opinion, it may be worth a shot!

Faith722

STL34:

I used this for all three of my IVF cycles.  It is supposed to help with egg quality.  I usually had good quality embryos but I didn't get anything to stick until IVF #3 (with extra immune treatment).  That being said, I wasn't willing to try a cycle without it because I was afraid my egg quality would go down.  I never had more than 4 mature eggs in a cycle.

I didn't have any reaction to it.  Except that I would get bleeding at the injection site (keep the gauze handy).  The bleeding would stop after a bit.  Even though I am DOR, I would have a few eggs that would respond quickly.  So, I never stimmed for very long.  Consequently, I only used three vials per cycle.  Those three vials usually cost me around $750 to $900.  I got a discount if I ordered all three vials at the same time.

One of the girls formerly on TTTC used it for the first time for IVF #3.  She always responded well but was told she had bad eggs and consequently poor embryos.  Her embryos weren't initially looking perfect for IVF #3.  But, it did result in her twin little girls.  I know it isn't for everyone and there is controversy about whether HGH is beneficial.  But, in my opinion, it may be worth a shot!

Thank you so much for your response!  I'm so glad to see you're so far along, too! 

It's definitely something to discuss with my RE.  My gut says he'll say it's not proven yet, but we'll see.

njohnson1972

Just to let you know, my friend, who is also a patient and cycling, and I are the first patients my RE has used HGH for.  We are also AMA and have done numerous cycles (this is her 7th, my 5th).

I love that my RE is open to new ideas and research.  I also think he feels it is worth pulling out the big guns in our cases.  My RE is also pretty conservative, so I was happy that he is willing to do this for me.

I do stim for a long time. So my amount of HGH needed is probably on the high end of the spectrum.  My meds OOP typically run $6,000 - $7,000 per cycle not including the HGH.  And because HGH isn't an IF medication yet, my insurance wouldn't cover it.  And it is highly regulated.

Faith722

njohnson1972:

Just to let you know, my friend, who is also a patient and cycling, and I are the first patients my RE has used HGH for.  We are also AMA and have done numerous cycles (this is her 7th, my 5th).

I love that my RE is open to new ideas and research.  I also think he feels it is worth pulling out the big guns in our cases.  My RE is also pretty conservative, so I was happy that he is willing to do this for me.

I do stim for a long time. So my amount of HGH needed is probably on the high end of the spectrum.  My meds OOP typically run $6,000 - $7,000 per cycle not including the HGH.  And because HGH isn't an IF medication yet, my insurance wouldn't cover it.  And it is highly regulated.

Thanks for the info.  My RE is pretty conservative, too.  They don't jump on board with new things until they feel it's actually going to help. And I like that, but this is likely our last try and that's why I'm why I want to look at all of our options.  I'm still 4 months away from being AMA and I haven't been diagnosed with DOR, but there's that little voice saying I should have responded better in my other cycles.  Maybe it's just the overachiever in me, but if something can help then this is the time for it!