oh boy... possibly converting to IVF

Jzyla · October 2013

Bear with me: this is my first injejctable cycle and I am new to this.

I had my cycle day 10 monitoring after 8 days on 75 IU Gonal F. On Saturday, they were all like "Oh, you're kiiind of responding - we'll think about whether you need an increased dose". Today, they were like "Good Lord - look at those follicles!". I have 5 on the right - 9, 10, 11, 11, and 13. A few on the left, but they're teeny. My RE is worried I may over-respond - she seemed pretty confident I will. Their policy is if more than 3 mature past 17mm, they either cancel or go to IVF. I'm a bit panicked, since I wasn't ready to go to IVF until the new year, if 2 more IUIs were successful. However, I'm NOT willing to waste my time and money by cancelling, if they're willing to do IVF. So anyways, freak out aside, they kept me on the 75IU for tonight and I have to go back in tomorrow morning to see where things are at.

Anyone ever in this position? Did your follies 'slow down' or is it all rapid-growth from here? Advice? Regarding IVF, My TCM practitioner (Chinese Medicine) recommended that if we do it, I should consider asking for ICSI due to the possibility of auto-immune issues. After some research, I agree... but again, I'm no expert.

Comments & advice welcome. I know I need to do my own research and make my own decisions, but I appreciate your suggestions!

Soon-To-BeMrs.P · October 2013

Whoa! That's a great response albeit a bit of a handful according to your doc huh? Well I am glad you have a plan either way! FX for either scenerio... keep us updated!

Sigh202 · October 2013

I haven't been in your situation, but can say that IVF isn't that bad. The only real difference is that you take off 2 days instead of 1. For the retrieval, you're out only for a few minutes. The success rate is much higher and you may end up with frozen embryos for future cycles. If they're going to do IVF without the additional cost, it may be a good thing.

gsancho · October 2013

Hmm...it's odd how different REs are. I feel like I've been responding a bit too much, but the nurses and RE keep assuring me it's still looking good. I have 12 follies, but only 5 look like they are having a lot of progress in the last couple of days. The 5 leaders were between 14 and 12mm today and the others stayed around 8mm. It depends on the cut-off for your RE and how strict they are about it. I had asked mine before I did injects and he said 5 were his max, although normally he'll trigger as soon as 2 are at 18mm.

I've heard it's not often that all of your leading follies would reach 17/18mm at the same time, so you could still be good for an IUI.

They have me going in every day now too, so they can be sure they keep it under control. Good luck to you!!

Twinkie0612 · October 2013

Hmm... I guess my first concern is that you only have 5 decent sized follicles. While that's a lot for IUI, it's not a lot for IVF. I guess my opinion is biased since our first IVF we only got six eggs, five mature, and only 3 fertilized and were really poor quality. I guess with IVF I would want to shoot for more eggs. Most of the cost of IVF (at least at my clinic) is in the ER and it's the same price if yo have one or 20 eggs.

If you do decide to go the IVF route I would definitely do ICSI. I think for conventional IVF, fert rates average around 50%. I think with ICSI the average is more like 80%. Although ICSI doesn't guarantee good fert rates. We did ICSI with both IVFs and our fert rates were 60% and 71%.

katib77 · October 2013

With the biggest being just 13 and ony three total above ten it seems WAY too early to think of either cancelling or converting. I believe I had numbers like that for an injectable cycle and only two took the lead, but I'd have to look back in my blog for specifics.

katib77 · October 2013

Looked back, it was my Jan cycle where I had one at 13, two at 12 and several others at ten or below. Only those three above ten grew. The ones at ten or below stayed small.

princessisadora · October 2013

If you can financially do it, I say go for it.
I am an overstim story that converted to IVF. Plan was IUI #1 with 100mg clomid and ovidrel trigger. On my 2nd monitoring appointment I had 9 follies over 15. RE called and gave me options one was to cancel and two was IVF. Financially I couldn't afford IVF at the time so they offered me the option to participate in a cryoocyte trial. Basically they wanted me to freeze my eggs after ER and then thaw them at a later date and do IVF ICSI at the same cost of my clomid IUI cycle. On 9/15 we got 9 mature eggs. This Wednesday is the thaw so we will see how this story ends.

Jzyla · October 2013

Thanks everybody for your great insight! I was definitely panicking and needed to hear that it might not be as bad as I thought. This has all been so overwhelming. I'll post a new thread with an update...

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oh boy... possibly converting to IVF

Re: oh boy... possibly converting to IVF

Me 33, DH 37 -- TTC since Jan'12 -- Low AMH (0.78) & endo, SA w/ low motility
IUI's 1-3 = BFN, IVF converted to IUI 4/13 = BFN
IVF 1.2: 8R 6M 4F -- 2 blastocysts frozen, FET 8/15 = BFP!!
Beta #s = 445;1,098; 9,545 -- EDD 5/2 -- Team Pink!

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Want a personalized experience?

oh boy... possibly converting to IVF

Re: oh boy... possibly converting to IVF

Me 33, DH 37 -- TTC since Jan'12 -- Low AMH (0.78) & endo, SA w/ low motilityIUI's 1-3 = BFN, IVF converted to IUI 4/13 = BFNIVF 1.2: 8R 6M 4F -- 2 blastocysts frozen, FET 8/15 = BFP!!Beta #s = 445;1,098; 9,545 -- EDD 5/2 -- Team Pink!

Choose Another Board

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Me 33, DH 37 -- TTC since Jan'12 -- Low AMH (0.78) & endo, SA w/ low motility
IUI's 1-3 = BFN, IVF converted to IUI 4/13 = BFN
IVF 1.2: 8R 6M 4F -- 2 blastocysts frozen, FET 8/15 = BFP!!
Beta #s = 445;1,098; 9,545 -- EDD 5/2 -- Team Pink!