Who's done stimming without BCPs before IVF?

SweetieShellieH · October 2014

I know my appointment with the RE is on Friday, but I'm feeling soo impatient! From the documents I read about how IVF works at my clinic, I get the impression that they have you call on day 1, and start stimming on day 2 after all your baseline B/W and scan. Seems like most of the ladies here take BCPs beforehand. I'm curious as to the experiences of those who have done cycles without BCPs or Lupron prior to the beginning of your IVF cycle. What meds did you take and what type of protocol was it?

Thanks

CML11 · October 2014

My REs office is adamant on the BCPs. Partly for the hormone suppression and other part is that they can essential choose my cycle start date when they are ready. I go month-to-month with insurance approval so each month we have to wait for the ok (even though I get an automatic 6 cycles).
Every time I bring up doing a natural cycle it seems I get talked out of it.
GL

tifga · October 2014

I did antagonist without BCP. My clinic doesn't do suppression because it is not necessary. I went on cd3 for baseline and started stims that night. I started on 4 vials of menopur a night and by the end I was on 7. I really hate to think what suppression would have done to me I was already slow growing in the beginning if I had been suppressed I don't think that would have helped.

In the end 18r 15m 14f 10 frozen for later.

Grateful&Thankful · October 2014

****PAIF

I did my last cycle w/o bcps. I was having an issue with a dominant follicle. We did a long lupron protocol and ditched the bcps & it helped a lot. I used high doses of gonal f (I'm a poor responder) & added in a small amount of menopur after 4 days of stims. GL to you with your upcoming cycle.

KM721 · October 2014

I am on #3, haven't used BCPs at all. I wonder if it has to do with the clinic's capacity? I go to a very large clinic, so they are not limited in when they can start people. My RE never brought it up as an option. I usually call Day 1 of a naturally occurring period, start stims day 19 or 21 of that cycle, call again on Day 1 and begin stims after that.

kristyn831 · October 2014

I don't think BCPs are necessary. My clinic does it so that they can better control how many patients are stimming at the same time. Over the summer when I was still doing IUI, there were a lot of women cycling and the wait for bw and u/s was a little long. It helps the RE have less patients and it saves us time in the waiting room.

Cindal · October 2014

For our mini-ivf we did not do BCP's. I was on letrozole for 3 days then menopur(4 days) and ganerilex(3days) with hcg trigger shot at about day 11

obizyanka · October 2014

I did not use BCP my body can not tolerate it, it makes me super sick. Anyway my current RE doesn't use them which was great for me. It seems other offices use BCP so they can lump women together in groups for the convenience of the dr. I had a consult w an office like that and dropped them real quick. They were all abt $. My current office (while actually more expensive than the other) treats you as a person and not as a dollar sign.

emmuffy · October 2014

I did not use bcp for my antagonist cycle (I was on estrace /androgel priming instead). I may use bcp for my second try. I got a second opinion from a doctor who told me that bcp can help make sure the follicles grow evenly (avoid dominant follicle problem)

Sha259 · October 2014

Another who did a long lupron/ no BCP IVF cycle. My RE feels that I might have been slightly oversuppressed when they had me on the BCPs for IVF#1, which was eventually cancelled.

bears1011 · October 2014

I did antagonist without bcp. I called on cd 1, went in for baseline on cd 3 and started stimming on cd 4. Was on bravelle and menopur for 11 days I believe, with ganirelix added in on the 6th day of stimming.

tumbleweed123 · October 2014

I'm currently doing a no BCP antagonist cycle. My RE doesn't do BCP cycles. I called on CD1, went in for ultrasound and e2 on CD2, started stims that night. I am taking Gonal-f (and follistim, bravelle), Menoupr and Ganarelix with a lupron trigger.

Rangiroa · October 2014

My RE first planned on BCPs, but after my AFC he came up with a different protocol: Estrace and testosterone priming, and a microflare. It's my first cycle so I can't weigh in on how effective it is. My clinic is a big one, so using BCPs doesn't have anything to do with syncing patients for them.

fjamil1 · October 2014

I did a no BCP antogonist cycel for IVF #1. I called on CD1 and had Base at CD 3 and started Stims on Day 4 with Bravelle, Menopur, Genarelix, and generic HCG trigger. This cycle I am doing BCP with Gonal-f, and/or follistim, menopur, Ganarelix with ovidril trigger.

tptbabe · October 2014

I did estrogen priming for our last cycle (no BCP) and at our WTF, we discussed a long Lupron protocol without BCP as well. I don't think it's all that uncommon? For our last cycle, I called in on CD1, and since I have pretty predictable ovulation and LP, she had me come in on CD22 to check to make sure I ovulated and didn't have any huge cysts before starting Estrace. Then I called in on my next CD1 to set up monitoring to start stims.