IF testing & treament w/o 12/5/22

anniemarie887 · December 2022

This is a place for those of us who have already started TTC, but have started infertility testing and/or treatments. You can express your thoughts, feelings, and frustrations on infertility. TTC can be a long journey naturally, then add in the difficulties associated with infertility, and it becomes a whole new ballgame. The road to infertility can be lonely, frustrating, and complicated, so let's make this a place where we can vent, ask questions, and support one another. Feel free to resurrect this thread at any point in the week if you have something to say. Treat this as an ongoing conversation.

Diagnosis (if you've been):

Status (TI/ICI/IUI/IVF/FET/benched):

What are you doing this cycle? (Testing? Treatment?):

How are things going?:

Any questions?:

GTKY: What are you looking forward to this holiday season?

gingermama29 · December 2022

Diagnosis (if you've been): PCOS, RPL, prothrombin gene

Status (TI/ICI/IUI/IVF/FET/benched): IUI

What are you doing this cycle? (Testing? Treatment?): Gonal-F, ovidrel, Endometrin, IUI

How are things going?: Had another monitoring appointment yesterday and everything looks great! I triggered last night at 10 and my IUI is tomorrow morning at 10. I’m happy that timing worked out perfectly with my conference this weekend and I was able to do everything I wanted to. I’m excited for a break from the clinic after tomorrow. I know some of you drive much further than an hour to yours and I give you all the kudos. I also got to catch up with my cooperating teacher from student teaching who is also a friend. She went through IF when I was her student teacher and it was really nice to talk candidly about this journey and our shared experiences.

Any questions?: natm

GTKY: What are you looking forward to this holiday season? A break from school and time with family. Hopefully a BFP. That would be an excellent Christmas present!

mambo5-2 · December 2022

Diagnosis (if you've been): RPL, MFI, Possible Funky Blood

Status (TI/ICI/IUI/IVF/FET/benched):Benched

What are you doing this cycle? (Testing? Treatment?): H's surgery is next Monday. I need him to not get sick!

How are things going?: It's going

Any questions?:Nope

GTKY: What are you looking forward to this holiday season? Napping? Spending time with family, we've had a rough year with lots of funerals so I'm glad we can get together outside of those instances.

mambo5-2 · December 2022

@gingermama29 Yay for good timing!!!!

anniemarie887 · December 2022

Diagnosis (if you've been): uncooperative uterus/RPL

Status (TI/ICI/IUI/IVF/FET/benched): TWW

What are you doing this cycle? (Testing? Treatment?): impatiently waiting now

How are things going?: well, i am still temping... which it dawned on me is going to be skewed by the vaginal progesterone isn't it?!

Any questions?: see above

GTKY: What are you looking forward to this holiday season? with the way the holiday falls taking advantage of some extra time off.

@mambo5-2 i hope your husband stays healthy!!!
@gingermama29 wooohooo for IUI!!

gingermama29 · December 2022

@mambo5-2 welcome back friend! FX that YH stays healthy!

@anniemarie887 not sure about the skewed temperature but it would definitely make sense that it might be. FX for good news at the end of TWW!

gingermama29 · December 2022

IUI is done! Now we play the waiting game.

mambo5-2 · December 2022

@gingermama29 my fingers, toes, eye balls, legs and all of the things are crossed for you!!!

optimistgardener · December 2022

@gingermama29 remind me how many follicles you had this round?

@mambo5-2 good luck to YH! stay healthy!

@anniemarie887 absolutely, any kind of progesterone will mess with your temp. so you can give that up for your LP

Diagnosis (if you've been): geriatric ovary and such

Status (TI/ICI/IUI/IVF/FET/benched): waiting for FET

What are you doing this cycle? (Testing? Treatment?): hysteroscopy next week

How are things going?: well, i just got my FET calendar and it threw me for a loop. For starters, the whole thing is moved up for a transfer date in mid-January, when the conversation I'd had with the nurse last month put my transfer date in Feb. Also, I am annoyed because they've set it up so all my clinic visits are on Thursday. the main nurse knows that I prefer to put as many visits on Friday as possible, because I teach all the other days. Anyway, I called and left them a message about it because honestly I don't think i can miss classes two weeks in a row consecutively in my first and second weeks of term.
I'm also, and this is I know only quasi-relevant to the IF thread but whatevs, feeling some anxiety about the implications of potentially getting KU in the context of this new relationship thing i've got going on all the sudden. I know what my priorities need to be, and i also know that, who knows, everything could all work out just great. but it's a real curveball to be like 1.5 months into a relationship and also to be like fyi theres a statistical 50% chance i'm gonna be pregnant with a sperm donor baby in a month and a half.

Any questions?: not unless anyone has any good relationship advice

GTKY: What are you looking forward to this holiday season? Time with my mom and a bit of a break from my hectic teaching schedule!

bearmomma1 · December 2022

@gingermama29 yayay! Good luck friend! Did your H feel less pressure doing it this way? Did he have to produce his sample at the clinic or was he able to do it at home and drive it there?
@mambo5-2 lol napping is on my to-do list as well!
@anniemarie887 I think it does mess with the temping. Your temp spikes with the rise of progesterone and lowers with the fall of it? I haven’t temped in a while mostly because I’ve been using it for so long (but also because it drove me crazy)

Diagnosis (if you've been): retired ovaries, LPD

Status (TI/ICI/IUI/IVF/FET/benched): TI while we wait for IVF with donor egg in then new year.

What are you doing this cycle? (Testing? Treatment?): nothing fancy, just the regular HIO with progesterone after O.

How are things going?: Fine. I was starting to get nervous when my OPK lines were almost non-existent at CD 14/15. But alas, my body is still doing something. Got my peak yesterday on CD 17. Even though I know our chances of conceiving naturally are at almost 0%, while we’re in this limbo of waiting it’s nice to see my ovaries are still trying to produce something.

Any questions?: nope

GTKY: What are you looking forward to this holiday season?
Hoping we all stay healthy to be able to enjoy and celebrate with each other. My company shuts down between Xmas and ny’s so I’m SO looking forward to the extended time off.

mambo5-2 · December 2022

@optimistgardener relationship advice, honesty is the best policy. Do they know about the IVF stuff? But yes I would be annoyed with the Thursday appointments when you have specifically requested Fridays.

@bearmomma1 HIO and have a good time. Ovaries are so annoying sometimes.

gingermama29 · December 2022

@optimistgardener I had two 21mm follicles. Ugh about the appointments. I hope they can change them. Agreed with mambo about honesty. Hopefully things will work out.

@bearmomma1 thank you friend! Yes he had to produce there because of our hour long drive. I think this was less pressure on him. His count and motility were fantastic so that was good to know. Glad your ovaries got their act together. Still crossing everything for you!

@mambo5-2 thank you friend!

optimistgardener · December 2022

thanks @gingermama29 and @mambo5-2. i agree that honesty is important. he's known all about the ivf stuff since the beginning. we've been friends for a while and i used to keep him up to date on the blow-by-blow of all my cycles. i think the challenge for me is like, the relationship itself is so young that it feels just, too much to be tossing reproduction into the mix and like, if he sticks around what might his role be, etc. i am also very cognizant of an age difference between us. by some stroke of incomprehensible luck on my part, he is nearly a decade younger than me (normally i date in the other direction). part of me is just like, hey [insert name here], have you noticed there are also a lot of women your age out there who aren't, like, four years into an expensive tussle with their uncooperative geriatric ovaries?
when i have asked him how he feels about it he sorta shrugs and is like, i guess we'll just have to see how things go. which is a totally legit and sane attitude to have. maybe the best attitude to have. but i'm struggling to reflect that sanity back, mostly because i think the whole thing kinda tugs at my self-perception and self-valuation as a woman on the cusp of 40, and i gotta just figure out how to get over that because i'm not going to get younger.

optimistgardener · December 2022

@gingermama29 sorry i never replied to your excellent follicle # and measurements! fingers crossed for you!

@bearmomma1 i know it seems like your chances are next to nil, but if you're ovulating there's a chance. i will keep crossing all the things for you, as well.

lil update from my side, the scheduling nurse got ahold of me and said she'll figure out how to fit me in on fridays and will get back to me with a more workable calendar!

anniemarie887 · December 2022

@gingermama29 crossing all the fingers and toes for you!!! what great #s!
@optimistgardener thought my brain remembered that right, ugh. oh well. is it friday yet? i'm so glad the clinic is getting you moved around to work with your schedule better. as for the dating situation... i think you nailed it on the head about your own self perception of things. if he knows you've been going down this road, he knows! and he is good to be there for you. *tw LC* i worked with someone who was in your situation, doing it solo and had a son, and then rekindled with like a high school flame - they got married, and went on to have a bio child of their own *end TW*
@bearmomma1 i agree with optimist, if you're ovulating there is a chance! rooting for you! i know my other clues to look for ovulation, so i guess i can stop temping now?!

bearmomma1 · December 2022

@anniemarie887 I would! And enjoy one less thing to stress over 🙂
@optimistgardener horray for the helpful nurse!

@gingermama29 wow, 2 big follies! Fingers crossed!

We only got to DTD one time, yesterday morning, and I’m pretty sure I O’d yesterday afternoon. Oh well, we’ve also DTD every day, every other day, multiple times a day leading up to O. Lol doesn’t seem to make a difference. 🙃

mambo5-2 · December 2022

@optimistgardener I am very much an "attempt" to play life by ear person. Going with the flow in relationships especially at the beginning is great. And sometimes younger guys can be great 😃

optimistgardener · December 2022

how do people feel about acupuncture/have you tried it? spoilering for a mid-length complaint/query

i've decided to give it a go in preparation for my FET - it was one of the few things the clinic nurse suggested other than the usual prep stuff. i'm kinda neither here nor there on whether it could be useful--there does seem to be some clinical data suggesting the numbers are better for those who do acupuncture with their FET, but other studies show no impact. my insurance covers it though, so what the hell, i guess? but my problem is i am not sure i can quit being judgy for long enough to enjoy it/benefit from it. the office i had my first acupuncture appointment at goes all in on the woo-woo, wooden flute meditation music stuff and the crystals on the tables. the acupuncturist wanted me to add in some "herbs" and "tinctures" to the treatment regimen. when i asked what kinds of herbs and what was in the tinctures, she could get no more specific than "chinese herbs." i'm like, ok but what kinds of plants are these herbs you speak of. and she just generically said they are plants that are beneficial and will support my fertility journey. so i said no on the herbs because i'm not consuming anything i can't get a little more specific information about. and then the acupuncture process itself? i can't seem to relax. it basically feels like nothing at all, which i gather is perfectly normal, but then i am just Bored. Out. Of. My. Skull for an hour and annoyed by the flute music while they leave me alone with the needles in me. i found myself lying there thinking about how if i'm going to take an hour out of my day once a week to lie on a table in the dark, i'd much rather be getting a massage. so maybe i should explore that route instead? also the acupuncturist accidentally left a needle in me which i discovered when the blanket caught it as i was getting off the table, and then i found another needle on the carpet on the floor? maybe it's just that i should try a different clinic?

anniemarie887 · December 2022

@optimistgardener i've been doing acupuncture for 6 years, i love it. i won't lie i totally giggled at your woowoo comments b/c where you went sounds extra. where i go she plays like "spa" music. i do think silence would be... weird? boring? honestly... a lot of the time i fall asleep. it's quite a nice 40ish min nap. i have some other thoughts re acupuncture and birth/LC - all positive - but if you want to know more i guess send me a PM, i want to be considerate on the comments on here.

i will add, i've seen two diff practitioners over 6 years and both have extensive fertility experience, so i would just want to make sure your person is well versed in that area.

maggiemadeit · December 2022

*lurking so I can talk acupuncture*

In a box because it’s long.

I can share my experience. For full transparency I don’t have an “acupuncture helped me get pregnant with a miracle baby” story, and I am not taking fertility treatment, but I have seen positive changes to my cycle and mental health. I had treatment for about a year when I was in graduate school, and now I am doing it again with a new provider in a different location.
In my experience, what you describe is exactly what acupuncture is. It’s just needles and flute music all the way through. I doubt it would be different with a different provider. I personally get a deep calm during that hour, and I feel almost high the rest of the day. My two cents, if you are not likely to get to that level of calm doing acupuncture, go for the massage! I personally think the benefits come more from doing something relaxing for yourself on a weekly basis than from the needles themselves (I’m very sure my acupuncture doc would disagree!). I would wager a guess that the benefits of relaxing human touch for an hour of massage would be similar, or even better if that is what makes you feel calm and relaxed.
Side story: this week I agreed to try the herbs for the first time and I almost LOL’d as she was describing the ingredients to me, which included “gelatin from a rare elk tusk”. This better get me KU 😂

optimistgardener · December 2022

thank you @anniemarie887 and @maggiemadeit! both of your comments on acupuncture are really helpful. I think i agree with both of you that there's real potential there for it to be useful, and i don't know whether its possible usefulness is a reflection purely of relaxation and human touch (neither of which should ever be dismissed), or whether there is a value that actually emerges from the specific knowledge of the healing tradition that allopathic medicine does not adequately understand. it's just that for either of those things, it seems like it would probably be important for me to get my thoughts aligned a little better in order to shelve my skepticism long enough so that I'm not a cynical jerk inside my head all the way through my treatment sessions.

anniemarie887 · December 2022

@optimistgardener i will say i went into kind of like meh, like this might be a placebo type thing. i started it for stress and some muscle pain. my "a-ha" moment was when she burned moxibustion at my toes and i felt nothing, she went and jammed some needs in like my elbow and arm... came back with the moxi and i could feel the heat. i was like dude, i don't get how this works per se... but *something* is working.

maybe try a different place? does your RE have anyone they recommend?

optimistgardener · December 2022

@anniemarie887 sadly my clinic is 3 hours away so they're not very good with local recommendations, unfortunately. i'll try to shop around for other offices myself but part of why i went with this clinic is that it had openings. at this point all the sudden i find myself crammed for time!

I just got my revised calendar and holy crap, transfer date is the 20th of Jan, and I start injections (assuming the hysteroscopy comes back clear and my bloodwork etc is ok) start next friday.

anniemarie887 · December 2022

@optimistgardener gah sorry i forgot about that tidbit with your clinic. but omg, yay! so soon!!1

bearmomma1 · December 2022

@optimistgardener holy crap is right! So so soon!
@optimistgardener when I went they only kept me with needles in for 30 mins. Maybe you can ask for an express treatment? Lol I’m like @anniemarie887 and would usually fall asleep laying there. Felt like the one time a week I could really unplug and relax

mamanbebe · December 2022

@optimistgardener *lurking* I would, if possible, recommend finding someone who specializes is fertility acupuncture. Sometimes they are just acupuncturists, or they could be doctors or traditional Chinese medicine or naturopathy. I have found with general acupuncturists, they are just going off of the basic knowledge about points that would focus energies towards the uterus or they may ask someone else, which seems more in line with positive outcomes from human touch and relaxation. For someone who specializes, they often work in tandem with IVF clinics for people experiencing IF, and can prescribe a much more purposeful treatment, including acupuncture and herbs. Acupuncture and TCM is highly effective, but it is quite different from how western medicine treats the human body. This is unrelated to fertility, but my 13 year old dog was diagnosed with CLL two years ago, and she is treated with acupuncture and TCM herbs. When I slack on acupuncture appointments, her WBC counts climb rapidly towards the point of needing chemotherapy. When I take her every two weeks, she is nearly asymptomatic. I asked oncology about efficacy of TCM vs western, they said both are equally effective, but when combined, they have a better outcome. I hope this helps a little with your thought process, and I hope you find a place that is more comfortable to work with. There are so many different kinds of people practicing, I would imagine there are a few around who you would better click with.

optimistgardener · December 2022

thanks for the thoughts @mamanbebe! i will see what i can do about finding another office with a vibe i find more compatible.

@bearmomma1 and @anniemarie887 it's a bit scary because it's kinda the do-or-die moment for this long-ass fertility "journey" i've been on. if this one or the next one takes, then good. if it doesn't, i need to figure out how to be ok with that.

bearmomma1 · December 2022

I just realized I’m 4 DPO and haven’t had any spotting. Last 2 cycles I started spotting at 2 DPO. Hopefully this is some kind of good sign. 🤷🏼‍♀️ I guess I’ll start progesterone if and when I do start spotting.

acleverusername · December 2022

*lurking*

@optimistgardener will quote my hero here (TEW) who says: do acupuncture if it helps you relax; don't do it just because you feel like you should when it actually makes you more anxious, or if you're afraid of needles. I'd say take your money to a massage therapist. Also, for the love of God, please don't do Chinese medicine herbs during your transfer prep (I know you won't but I wanted to extra emphasize for posterity). Those herbs are POWERFUL AF and they will wreak havoc with your hormones.

@maggiemadeit last year, my Chinese sister-in-law was visiting and she took my H to Chinatown and he bought deer horn. Lol. I was very excited to share here about it, and to see if it was going to get my KU'ed. Good luck with your rare elk tusk!

optimistgardener · December 2022

thanks, @acleverusername!

editing to say i just booked a massage. haven't cancelled my acupuncture appointments because why not (and i can't find any other acupuncture clinics near me with openings in the next few weeks), but regardless of how this transfer goes, i'm gonna take this opportunity to relax a little bit.

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