Post # 31
Member
763 posts
Busy bee
Feeling frustrated. I want to start a second round of IVF, which my Dr agrees with. He’s so “busy” that the soonest I could get in to see him is almost two weeks after my embryos stopped growing. In the meantime, I started my period and the nurse put me back on BCP. I told the nurse that I’m concerned about doing another round with the same priming protocol (BCP) and not doing anything new to address the fact that I had a very poor response to the first round (7 eggs retrieved, 5 mature, 2 embryos that stopped growing). I told the nurse I wanted to speak with my doctor before just taking BCP again. She told me just “taking one pill on Sunday won’t hurt and that the Dr will call first thing in the morning.” So I get a call this morning, hoping it’s the Dr but it’s just the coordinator assuring me that they are really tailoring this second round to my needs and that they are going to give me a higher dose of stims this time but that they need to start me on BCP to control the cycle. I get the control part but I’ve been reading studies and anecdotal stories about how poor responders to stims (with possible DOR) respond much better to priming protocols other than just BCP. Such as estrogen priming or Lupron Flare. I really cannot afford to waste another $15K on a round that isn’t tailored to my needs.
Post # 32
Member
348 posts
Helper bee
goldenbrown : Can you get a second opinion? Or wait until you see the doctor before you start BCP?
I agree, thats so much money to spend on a second cycle if they’re going to do the exact same thing that didn’t work in the first cycle.
Post # 33
Member
968 posts
Busy bee
goldenbrown : Repeat IVFer here chiming in with my experience. I don’t blame you at all for wanting something to change after your failed cycle – and I don’t think increased stims with the same protocol would be enough for me. We did a typical antagonist cycle for my first round with BCP priming. It was an epic failure. 1 egg retrieved and a chemical pregnancy. My RE through that the BCP might have been the problem so we tried estrogen priming with the same antagonist protocol (but with higher amounts of stims). Another failure – 2 eggs retrieved and a miscarriage at 6 weeks. For Cycle 3 we went back to BCP priming but changed my protocol to a microdose lupron flare. Huge difference! 26 eggs retrieved and 4 frozen embryos.
Sometimes our bodies just don’t like one protocol over another and unfortantely, IVF can be a VERY expensive experiment until they find the right combination. But I would be tempted to push back if they simply want to do the same protocol with more meds.
Post # 34
Member
2232 posts
Buzzing bee
Are there any other clinics near you that you could try if your doctor is resistent to trying something different? Maybe your doctor knows best, and I’m sure they do want you to succeed but it might be worth at least consulting somewhere else to see if they suggest a different protocol that you trust more.
Post # 35
Member
763 posts
Busy bee
heartandstars : I’m taking the BCP as I’m reading that that is necessary start for Lupron Flare. I live in NYC so getting a second opinion is definitely possible but it takes weeks to be seen at a new clinic. It took me a month just to get into this one.
mkat37 : Thank you for validating my thoughts! I just couldn’t believe when the coordinator said we’d do the exact same protocol with higher doses. The only difference is they are cutting out the cetrotide. I’m concerned because it feels like they are doing a “step by step” conservative process instead of reading the writing on the wall (that I’m a poor responder and possibly have DOR) and being aggressive.
Scarlett11 : I can try but it takes forever to get into any clinics here because it’s NYC. I honestly would feel more comfortable if they’d just let me talk to the doctor instead of playing this game of telephone.
Post # 36
Member
763 posts
Busy bee
Squeaky wheel gets the grease!
Just got off the phone with the Dr. He said that the protocol is different this time – it’s Microdose Lupron Flare. Why this wasn’t explained to me before, I have no idea. The coordinator literally said “it’s basically the same but higher and no cetrotide” how was I to know that it’s really Microdose Lupron Flare. Also, the coordinator put my start date down for August 4th (because she thought I was going out of town until then???) so now they are “working to get me into the July start date but it’s full right now”. Very annoying. The Dr. seemed confused as to why my start date was August 4th. But they are making best faith efforts to get me into July start date. The coordinator said “don’t worry I’ll get you in” so you know that means I’ll be following up with her every other day. This is not the first time she’s messed up dates– almost happened on my last round too. SO glad I persisted otherwise who knows what would have happened.
Post # 37
Member
763 posts
Busy bee
mkat37 : Hey my RE is putting me on microdose lupron flare for the next IVF round. We are priming with BCP again and will have to prime for over 30 days since I can’t get in for July. I know you said you got 26 eggs and 4 embryos. How many fertilized? Do you feel like the egg quality was good with that protocol?
Post # 38
Member
968 posts
Busy bee
goldenbrown : So, out of our 26 eggs, only 6 fertilized. BUT, we didn’t do ICSI. We had 100% fertilization on our previous rounds and on the day of retrieval my eggs and my husband’s sperm looked great so we didn’t think ICSI was necessary. We tried to do rescue ICSI the next day on the remaining 20 eggs and 18 more fertilized. Unfortunately, they arrested just before making it to blastocyst. Had we done ICSI right away, we probably would have had a much higher fertilzation rate and maybe ended up with more embryos. If we have to do another round, we will try ICSI right away.
Don’t let my results scare you. My ovaries are VERY resistant to meds so I was on a very high amount of stims for a very long time. I had to stim with 450 Gonal-F and 150 Menopur for 18 days before we made it to retrieval. So it’s possible that the amount of stims I had to take compromised my eggs a bit. The 4 embryos that survived look fantastic so hopefully that means they are the best of the bunch!
Are you taking any supplements for egg quality? It’s disappointing that you couldn’t get into the July cycle but maybe the extra time on some supplements will help you grow the best eggs possible!
Post # 39
Member
763 posts
Busy bee
mkat37 : I would pray to get that many eggs! Yes, I’m taking a bunch of supplements: coq10, R-alpha lipoic acid, vitex, D3, resvertrol, DHEA, and prenatals.
We have to do ICSI because of my husband’s sperm (0% morph and ok motility) though even with ICSI for us only 2 out of 5 eggs fertilized those arrested on Day 3 as well.
Post # 40
Member
548 posts
Busy bee
- Wedding: October 2015 - Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel
goldenbrown : Hey! How are you doing? Did you get in on a July start date? Is this round going better than the last?
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