Slow Start

niffie

I went in for my first monitoring appointment for IVF #1 today.  I am on long lupron protocol and had stimmed with Follistim 300iu for 4 days.  There were only a few measurable follies on the right side, and only one on the left.  They were all very tiny though.  I think the biggest one was 6mm.  RE said not to worry, that my ovaries were just having a slow time waking up from the lupron. 

Later in the afternoon, his nurse called to tell me that my estrogen came back pretty low... I was flustered and didn't remember to ask her how low... and said that  he wanted me to increase to 450iu follistim and come back friday. 

I was feeling so calm about this whole IVF thing and now I'm starting to feel uneasy.  Anybody else have a slow start they want to tell me about?

sunflowermama42212

I had a slow start but the RE said with ivf 1 they don't want to over stimulate you so it's a wait and see game once my meds were turned up for a few days my follicles bloomed! My ER was a whole week later than what was planned but it still turned out ok....GL and try not to worry

htn1763

I had to stim for 14 days because I was going so slowly! 

krdesi

I haven't had experience with this, as I am only on day 5 of my Lupron, but I wouldn't worry. Your doctor has you covered and I don't think it is totally abnormal! Hard not to stress though, I know!

megs3084

I started slow on long lupron this time too. I'm hoping I'm good to trigger tomorrow. Its the longest I've stimmed out of our 3 ivfs. They increased my follistim dose on day 5s monitoring to 200 Iu, other than that my doses of menopur and lupron stayed the same. I'll know more tomorrow! Good luck!

KRoseToes

That was our attempt with IVF number two. Very slow response by day 3. My estrogen had actually decreased. They upped my dosage of stims to the max. On day 5 my estrogen had increased, but not by very much. They decided to cancel the cycle, instead of pumping more meds and money into this cycle that was not going well. My doctor was great and is putting the money I paid for IVF #2 towards a complete cycle for us. We do have to buy more meds, but the clinic is doing a lot to try to find us some donated meds to help defray the costs. If there's not a significant improvement, you may want to ask about their cancellation process and what they can do to help you start fresh (with a different protocol now that you know lupron may have suppressed you too much.)

LeggyJeggy

niffie:

I went in for my first monitoring appointment for IVF #1 today.  I am on long lupron protocol and had stimmed with Follistim 300iu for 4 days.  There were only a few measurable follies on the right side, and only one on the left.  They were all very tiny though.  I think the biggest one was 6mm.  RE said not to worry, that my ovaries were just having a slow time waking up from the lupron. 

Later in the afternoon, his nurse called to tell me that my estrogen came back pretty low... I was flustered and didn't remember to ask her how low... and said that  he wanted me to increase to 450iu follistim and come back friday. 

I was feeling so calm about this whole IVF thing and now I'm starting to feel uneasy.  Anybody else have a slow start they want to tell me about?

 

I don't know how I missed this earlier! I had just posted about this yesterday AM as well.  I'm a poor responder.  After 4 days for both cycles, my E2 was only 55-60.  I definitely know what you mean when you say too flustered to ask for the level. Just ask on Friday when you speak with them again.  I've done 6 days of stims this cycle and when I went on Monday after 4 days, my E2 was 55 and they told me I have no follies.  Last cycle I had a few at that point and they were between 8-9mm.  I'm sorry you're going through this.  It really changes your attitude about the cycle.  Try to stay positive, you have something there which is good, but you probably will just stim longer.  Good luck!  Feel free to PM me.  I hope those ovaries start to wake up soon!