Microdose Flare Protocol

iloveflipflops

Anyone on here had success with this protocol?

Roeni

What drugs are involved?  I have tried googling this since I have seen you post it a few times.  I had never heard of microdose flare...I took bravelle/menopur for my fresh cycle.  Good luck!

PhillyJ33

I think a lot people do but I did not. They think it was too aggressive as I was in the max amount of stims or close to it. I responded too quickly. You might want to post this on the PAIF board if you aren't getting many success stories in here.
Best of luck and I hope it's successful for you!

nawlinsgrl

***SIGGY/TICKER WARNING***

I had great success with this protocol.  I think it may be better suited to someone who is older or has concerns about their egg quantity.  I did IVF twice, two different protocols, and was very lucky that they both worked.

I was 38.5 and did straight antagonist the first time: BCPs, Follistim, Menopur, Ganirelix, and trigger shot.  My quality and quantity weren't as high as my second cycle, which was the MDLF (microdose lupron flare), but it was enough to get the job done (see siggy for specifics).

I was about 39.75 when we did the MDLF protocol, and the results were much better.  I had more and better quality eggs, and even had 4 frosties, which didn't happen the first time.  For this cycle, I did BCPs, took the small dose of lupron twice daily, I believe starting a day or two before my other meds, took Follistim and Menopur, and triggered with HCG.  Again, see siggy to compare the results of the two cycles.

Everyone responds differently to different protocols, but if your RE is suggesting it, I'd consider giving it a shot. 

lindab1974

hi Nawlinsgrl,

I know this is an old post, but I'm about to start MDLF protocol and I was wondering how much follistim and menopur you used for your successful cycle?  

I'm doing a total of 450, but my RE said I could do either 300 follistim and 150 menopur OR 225 of each. I am worried about using too much menopur, so I'd thought I'd see how much you used.

TIA!!!

lindab1974

Hi Fizzachaudhary,

Keep me posted! My baseline scan showed an AFC of 7. 

Good luck!

zeynsom

In my first (and failed) IVF cycle I did microdose lupron flare. I was on BCP first, then 20 units of microdose lupron (x2/day-- am, pm) and 300 follistim (x2/day, am, pm). I had 10 follicles (5L 5R) in my baseline check. I responded quite slowly and over time 5 follicles on the right disappeared. But all my five follicles on the left grew. At the end they were able to retrieve all. 4 of them fertilized, 3 are transferred on day 3 (we did day 3 because of the low numbers not because of the quality), and the fourth one made it to the 6-day freeze. Overall, I had quite high quality eggs (although none of them stuck). 4 out of 5 is a great number. And, given my hormonal levels, the doctor was not expecting more eggs at the end and was pleasantly surprised with the quality. 

I have a new RE now for my second cycle but both my old RE and the new RE agree that I should do microdose flare again. This time however they are not putting me on BCP. They thought that it suppressed me too much. Instead we are doing estrogen priming followed by microdose lupron. And this time we are also going to do 225 follistim (x2/day) and 75 menupur (x2/day).

Good luck!

nawlinsgrl

For anyone who is interested, here is my MDLF cycle calendar.  ETA: Sorry for the size, I copied it from MS Word and it made it much bigger on here, not sure how to fix, but hopefully the info is more important than the formatting.

Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
				1 BCP	2 BCP	3        BCP
4   BCP Antibiotic PM	5   BCP Antibiotic AM & PM   Sonohystogram 8:30	6   BCP Antibiotic AM & PM   Election Day	7   BCP	8   BCP	9   BCP	10   BCP
11   BCP	12   BCP	13   BCP	14   US/Labs 7:30am	15   LUPRON 0.2cc AM LUPRON 0.2cc PM	16   LUPRON 0.2cc AM LUPRON 0.2cc PM	17   LUPRON AM & PM   225  FOLLISTIM  PM   3  vials MENOPUR PM
18     LUPRON AM & PM   225  FOLLISTIM  PM   3  MENOPUR PM	19  B/W Only: 7:30     LUPRON AM & PM   225  FOLLISTIM  PM   3  MENOPUR PM	20     LUPRON AM & PM   225  FOLLISTIM  PM   3  MENOPUR PM	21     LUPRON AM & PM   225  FOLLISTIM  PM   3  MENOPUR PM	22   Thanksgiving Day       LUPRON AM & PM   225  FOLLISTIM  PM   3  MENOPUR PM	23     LUPRON AM & PM   150  FOLLISTIM  PM   3  MENOPUR PM	24     LUPRON AM & PM   150  FOLLISTIM  PM   3  MENOPUR PM
25     LUPRON AM & PM   75  FOLLISTIM  PM   3  MENOPUR PM	26     LUPRON AM & PM   75  FOLLISTIM  PM   3  MENOPUR PM	27     LUPRON AM & PM   3  MENOPUR PM	28     LUPRON AM   10,000 HCG PM	29	30   EGG RETRIEVAL

zeynsom

So sorry @fizzachaudhary What is the plan? Do they allow you to continue to ER? We have a very similar profile. Please keep in touch.

lindab1974

hi Zeynsom- Have you started your cycle/stims yet?  I'm doing the MDLF and skipped the BCP, but no estrogen priming. I'll go in tomorrow (Friday) for my first scan. My baseline showed 7 follicles so I'm hoping they will all still be there!

@Fizzachaudhary-Did you cancel or are you continuing? I've done 7 IVF cycles and I never show any growth at my first scan (usually after 4 full nights of stims).

lindab1974

@nawlinsgirl-did your RE start to decrease your follistim b/c your follicles were growing so quickly? or so your eggs wouldn't "fry"?  In all my cycles, the last few days my RE always increased my stims (a lot), wondering if that may have caused quality issues.

lindab1974

@fizzachaudhary- that's great news! When is your next scan? In 2 days? 

zeynsom

@lindab1974 I am not starting until early July. I am going to take a vacation first and then start estrogen priming on the 17th day of my cycle (around June 20-21) and then hopefully we'll start the cycle early July. Good luck to to everybody!

lindab1974

@fizzachaudhary-good luck! you are freezing all of these?  Are you doing CCS testing again?