Dec/Jan 08 Cycle Buddies

[laglenik]

haJUST WANTED TO WISH HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL MY CYCLE BUDDIES...

[colesmom]

Happy New Year!

[washingtonda]

Does anyone know whether you can use the cost of IVF expenses on your taxes. we paid 22000 for IVF with ICSI and would love to be able to recoupe some of that back.

Also the cost of meds. Thanks.

[schel67]

Washingtonda,
You can claim anything over 2.5% of your AGI (adjusted gross Income). Add up ALL (not just IVF) your medical expenses for the year.

So what time and where did you end up giving your shot

[Neffi211]

Schel- I just spoke to an account yesterday and they said 7.5%???? Where did you get your numbers?? My mom wrote off medical last year and it was 7.5% also?? Just wondering since I'll get more money if your number is right????

[Mrs. G]

Hello everyone! Happy New year!!!!

I wanted to first and foremost thank you all for all your replies and support. I really appreciate it!

DH and I are considering talking to the dr about doing a cycle without medication. Has anyone done this or heard of this before? We are both convinced that we really thought one of them stuck but all this medication might not be working properly with my body or allowing it to do what it needs. I'm not sure what their thoughts will be with that but I have heard of one instance where someone did a natural cycle and got a bfp with FET.

HelloKitty ~ CONGRATULATIONS!!! I'm so happy for you! You have to be on cloud 9! What a great gift! Good luck and can't wait to share in all your happiness!

[washingtonda]

Thanks for the gouge on taxes we will need that.

Schel - I ended up taking my shot at 8:30 because after dinner, my headache was so bad that we cancelled out on the movies and were home in time.

I had taken all of my meds with me to administer in the car so I was ready if need be.

[washingtonda]

MLB -- Much baby dust to you tomorrow!!!! Don't make us wait too long for the results.

[blondzella]

It is so wonderful to read the different experiences of everyone. It is like we all have this huge support group at our finger tips!!!

I find it very interesting that everyone has different protocols. For 2 weeks before my stims started, I was "snorting" Suprefact 5x a day. Now I only do it 3x a day. It appears that most people are doing lupron. Not sure if anyone else is doing this but I am taking baby Aspirin (ASA) every day and my DH and I are on a 7 day cycle of antibiotics (clean our systems out).

The first two days of injecting myself have been ok but not really fun! Last night we were at a friends house and we had to lock ourselves in the bathroom as soon as we walked in the door. Several people knocked wondering what was going on. I havent felt anything really different except got a headache...sounds like that may be normal. I go for b/w tomorrow and they may adjust my Gonal.

What is the best place to inject, the tummy or thighs??

I love hearing about the good news stories, I am so very happy for you all. Also to hear how dedicated everyone is and how you just dont give up if it doesnt work. I think you all deserve a big gold star......and a baby or two!!

I think it is very important for everyone to pray to heavenly father, he answers prayers and provides comfort when we need it most. He LOVES you and knows what you are going through. Your prayers will be answered, it may not be when you expect it, but they will be answered.

Have a wonderful New Years Day and as someone else said, may 2008 bring lots and lots of new life into the world!! xo

[blondzella]

It is so wonderful to read the different experiences of everyone. It is like we all have this huge support group at our finger tips!!!

I find it very interesting that everyone has different protocols. For 2 weeks before my stims started, I was "snorting" Suprefact 5x a day. Now I only do it 3x a day. It appears that most people are doing lupron. Not sure if anyone else is doing this but I am taking baby Aspirin (ASA) every day and my DH and I are on a 7 day cycle of antibiotics (clean our systems out).

The first two days of injecting myself have been ok but not really fun! Last night we were at a friends house and we had to lock ourselves in the bathroom as soon as we walked in the door. Several people knocked wondering what was going on. I havent felt anything really different except got a headache...sounds like that may be normal. I go for b/w tomorrow and they may adjust my Gonal.

What is the best place to inject, the tummy or thighs??

I love hearing about the good news stories, I am so very happy for you all. Also to hear how dedicated everyone is and how you just dont give up if it doesnt work. I think you all deserve a big gold star......and a baby or two!!

I think it is very important for everyone to pray to heavenly father, he answers prayers and provides comfort when we need it most. He LOVES you and knows what you are going through. Your prayers will be answered, it may not be when you expect it, but they will be answered.

Have a wonderful New Years Day and as someone else said, may 2008 bring lots and lots of new life into the world!! xo

[schel67]

Mrs G.
I have never heard of doing FET without any meds. The only meds I took for an FET is the estrogen and progestrone. The estrogen is important with building adequate uterine lining and the implantation phase of the embryo and the progestrone actually decreases the risk of miscarriage. Progesterone is the hormone that maintains the pregnancy until the placenta is developed (at around 11 weeks). If the progesterone level is low, the pregnancy may not survive. Besides those meds I took and still take a baby asprin daily, a calcium supplement, pregnancy plus omega 3, and a prenatal vitamin. If you want to do an FET cycle without estrogen and progestrone you can talk to your RE about it, and he might actually agree to do it since your the pt and your the one paying for it, but I bet if you ask him/her if they advise it they will not advise it. The meds are taken to support the pregnancy. Do you take a baby asprin daily. If so, you actually should keep taking it even when waiting for next FET. I know this whole process is hard and you just want the solution to get that BFP .

Neffi,
Hubby said he got the 2.5% number off the top of his head. You can get the correct % at IRS.gov.

As for me, I puked my guts out before I went to bed last night......Happy New Year to me LOL

[washingtonda]

What is the normal number of days to stim before ER.

My clinic said 10-11 days but they don't seem to tell you much. 10 days for me would be this Friday and 11 would be Saturady and they haven't mentioned ER yet. I think they plan to start measuring my follicles tomorrow.

Any answers would be helpful. Thanks.

[Mrs. G]

Mrs G.
I have never heard of doing FET without any meds. The only meds I took for an FET is the estrogen and progestrone. The estrogen is important with building adequate uterine lining and the implantation phase of the embryo and the progestrone actually decreases the risk of miscarriage. Progesterone is the hormone that maintains the pregnancy until the placenta is developed (at around 11 weeks). If the progesterone level is low, the pregnancy may not survive. Besides those meds I took and still take a baby asprin daily, a calcium supplement, pregnancy plus omega 3, and a prenatal vitamin. If you want to do an FET cycle without estrogen and progestrone you can talk to your RE about it, and he might actually agree to do it since your the pt and your the one paying for it, but I bet if you ask him/her if they advise it they will not advise it. The meds are taken to support the pregnancy. Do you take a baby asprin daily. If so, you actually should keep taking it even when waiting for next FET. I know this whole process is hard and you just want the solution to get that BFP .

Neffi,
Hubby said he got the 2.5% number off the top of his head. You can get the correct % at IRS.gov.

As for me, I puked my guts out before I went to bed last night......Happy New Year to me LOL

What about without the Lupron? Im fine with taking the estrogen and progesterone because I'm sure they help but the Dr had me doing lupron with my last FET and I was thinking more along the lines of natural in that aspect but wasn't sure. Let my body ovulate and take care of things and then do the insem? I'm not sure, I'm hoping to talk to them tomorrow and see what all my options are. Thanks for the reply!!!

[tali]

WashingtonDA - I think most people stim for about 10 days, but it depends how your follies are growing. My RE's protocol is that they need at least 4 follies to be at 18 mm in order to go ahead with ER. What day are you on now?

Blondzella - I am on a no lupron protocol. I am supposed to take Antagon after they have a few follies that measure 14mm. I have never heard of Superfact. What is it supposed to do.

As for me. I go in tomorrow for another u/s. hoping and praying that the results will be better. My E2 was only 67 after stimming for 5 days and my lining was really thin and nothing to measure. Please pray for me!!!

Hope everyone had a happy new year. My in laws are gone, we had a nice time, but glad to have my house back

xoxo

[washingtonda]

Tali -- I am on day 7 right now. I go back to the docs in the am so we shoukd know more than. I was told that they would start to measure the follicles tomorrow.

Right now I'm being told that I have 8 follies on my right side and 7 on my left. They never gave us any measurements.

My estrogen levels did rise from 47 to 144 after 5 days of stimming. I was low and they stopped my Lupron and increased my meds which seem to put things back on track.

My nurse said that they also like to see at least 4 measuring 18-22mm. I will post results when I get my call in the am.

Good luck to all whi are stimming, waiting, testing or just plain old lurking.

Please pray with me that I'll get my ER this weekend.