OCT / NOV / DEC 2008 Buddies

[to_have_fun08]

foreverlove - That is a a great picture of having a little one growing in my belly by Christmas.

I have always associated December with my Mom because her b-day is the Dec 6th. So if all goes right I should be having my Beta test right around that time so hopefully, my Mom can pull some strings from above and let me have a BFP in her month.

Some fertile people just don't get it. They think Ok you can't get PG on your own so just go and adopt. Like adoption is easy and cheap. Plus, they don't realize that a lot of us want to have a baby that is part of ourselves and our partner. Those people just drive me nuts.

Chris

[babyhope1]

I have a question, since this is my first cycle, I see that some of you have had canceled cycles, why would they do that? Are the bloodtests/hormones not where they should be? Is it the number of follicles? Any information is helpful.

~Babyhope1

[to_have_fun08]

babyhope1 -- I have had 2 canceled cycles. The first cycle I had a dominate follicle that took over. After 5 days of stims my dominate follicle was like 19mm and then I only had a couple other follies. They tried to keep me going to see if other follies would pop up but they didn't and then the RE was worried that I would ovulate on my own so they canceled my cycle and we turned it into and IUI. Then on my second cycle, my RE lowered my dose of Lupron since the previous cycle was a bust and possibly was oversuppressed my ovaries. This time they couldn't suppress me enough, my E2 levels were too high to start stims. I had a growing follie even before starting stims. I think I am a pain for my RE because me e2 level is always high. At the beginning of both the cycles that I got to stim, my e2 levels were 81 which is right at the cut off range of e2 being too high and canceling a cycle.

I think a lot of people get canceled if they don't produce enough follies. Most Re's have a limit of follies that you have to have before retrival. Some I have heard is 3 follies, my RE is 4 follies. I guess the RE's believe it isn't worth ER if there isn't enough follies because there is no guarantee that there will be a mature egg in each follie.

Hope this helps a little. It is often stated that the 1st cycle is pretty much a chemistry expirement. The RE's do not know how your body will react to stims so it is kind of a guessing game. Everyone is differnt and responds in different ways.

Chris

[Kas101]

Hey everyone,

Well i have been trying to find an RE and its more difficult than i thought...
There are 3 i want to find out more about and i thought if i had consult with each of them i would have a good choice - see what the facility is like, see what kind of protocol they recommended for me etc, but i am down to one now!!! Another RE i wanted to see has no appointments till mid Oct for a consult and another one had low success rates, so i think unless i really dont like this RE i will give him a try. I have an appointment on Wednesday and its the RE that advocated DHEA so i am hopeful.

I phoned up my old RE and asked for some basic details. As i was an IVF virgin last time around i asked no questions at all and was like a rabbit in the headlights, but not this time!!! I have a question for you as i dont know levels, and To have fun - you mentioned estradiol levels in your previous post....

Ok so my RE diagnosed 'poor ovarian reserve' due to my levels. I never asked what they were before as if it was a bad number i thought i'm better off not knowing, but when i asked, the nurse looked it up and said my estradiol was 41 and FSH 6.9. Now i may be wrong, but they dont seem too bad to me???? I only know from other girls on the boards discussing their nummbers and i was surprised as i thought a high FSH indicated diminished reserve, but 6.9 i think is respectable.... Would love to hear your comments as i may well be wrong on this???

Obviously this is not my only issue as i have no tubes anymore, but one less problem would be great news!!!!! It seems that last year on the IF rollercoaster it was just bad news and bad luck one after the other so i could do with a break. I feel it's my turn now!!!!

[sol1009]

Hello Everyone,

I am 31 years old. TTC for 4 years. I will be starting my first IVF cycle sometime in November after my AF. I have an appointment with my doctor on Oct 28th to talk about what we will be doing, etc. I am excited and nervous. This is a one shot deal for my DH and I, for right now. Insurance does not cover our fertility treatments so we have decided to try IVF this one time and hope for the best!! I have had two IUIs with clomid and ovidrel shot and also had surgery for endometriosis in March of this year. My DH had varicocele repair two years ago. I also started accupuncture treatments last week. I heard it was a great way to relieve stress.

I am happy I found this board and look forward to talking with everyone.

[to_have_fun08]

sol1009- Welcome to the board. Hopefully your stay here will be short and sweet. Glad you are getting yourself set with acupuncture. I also thought about doing this but don't know if I want to spend the money. Plus, I haven't been able to find a fertility AP in my area.

Kas- Your E2 levels and FsH levels sound fine to me. I know most people that have poor ovarian reserve have a high FSH level. Though I do think I have heard somewhere that you could still have a good FSH and good e2 levels but and still have poor reserve. You might want to ask Ghost, I think I saw that on one of his posts. How many follies did you have last time? Also how much stimulating drugs were you on. Usually for poor reserve, most gals are on the highest dosage of medication and only produce a few follies.
I can relate on the it is time for a break. I feel the same way, I have been through 3 cycles in the past 6 month and though I didn't finish 2 of them I think it is time for a break and some good luck. This will be our time, it has to be or else I think I will lose it.

Chris

[keesha2008]

Hi All!

I am new to this board and was excited to see this subject. I am starting my first IVF cycle after my AF at the end of October and because I don't really understand the process will probably have ET middle of November. I am nervous and excited. I am trying my best not to think about it everyday but it is hard to do. My DH have decided that we can only do this once because insurance does not cover it. Bummer!

Quick note about myself...I am 32 yo and my DH is 28. I have a DS that is 13 years old. My DS was conceived with no problems...but then I was 18. My DH and I have been trying for 2 years. I have always had lots of pain during our intimate time and finally found an OB/GYN that cared enough not to tell me that I had a cyst w/out investigating. I had a laparascopy that found that I had endometriosis that caused damage to my tubes and also caused one of my tubes to stick to my left ovary. I was told the only way I can have children is if I remove my tubes and have IVF. So I have removed my tubes in 7/08 and am ready to move on.

Very happy to find you guys and I cannot wait to hear all of your stories!

Keesha

[karenvancouverisland]

hi ladies! i'd like to join in...i see familiar names on here and i'm excited

i was going to cycle late august, then became late sept. now it is late oct as i've decided to go on DHEA before my next try. this will be my 3rd IVF. i have high FSH and have responded very poorly to treatments; although i did get PG after my last cycle with only 2 embies..unfortunately miscarried. but i'm not done fighting yet!!

i love to connect with women through threads like this and hope to build some connections here. i'll have to go back and read the posts so far (too tired right now ) and send personals later.

wishing everyone lots of babydust. karen

[to_have_fun08]

Karen - Welcome to the board. I know you must be going crazy to begin your next cycle. DHEA sounds like a good thing so hopefully this will help you produce a couple more eggs so you will have a good chance at getting PG again. I have now heard of several success stories with DHEA.

keesha2008 - Welcome, looks like you have been through a lot in the last couple of months with getting your tubes removed. There are a lot of ladies on this board that have endo and have had their tubes removed so you definatly won't feel like the only one. Let us know if you have any questions. If we can't answer them then you can post to Ghost who is very very knowledgable about IVF. Good luck and look forward to cycling with you.

Hope everyone else has a good weekend. We are doing a BBQ/Bon Fire tonight so I have to go and have a lot of fun cleaning my house.



Chris

[Kas101]

Hey everyone

SO i am just waiting for my appointment with the RE on Wednesday. I'm also thinking about having an appointment with SIRM in Peoria. If anyone has any experience with them, please let me know - its about 2 1/2 hours away so its not ideally located, but i see they have good results. I know SIRM is well respected but i think thats their main centers, this one in Illinois i'm not sure..... Maybe i would just be paying extra and travelling to this center on the reputation of their main clinic - i'm not sure as quite often its the lab and RE skill that counts.....

Karen vancouver Hey im also on DHEA but self prescribed. I bought the stuff at GNC and im taking 25mg a day. In the next day or so i will bump it up to 50mg then 75mg later in the week. I'm 36, poor responder and although my FSH is 6.9 diagnosed with diminished ovarian reserve, so i cant hurt and can only help as far as i have read. How much are you taking and when did you start?

Does anyone know about a CD or DVD that you listen to throughout the different stages of IVF? I saw someone saying great things about it before my last cycle and now i cant find the post... It was some kind of PMA self hypnosis disc that gets you in the right zone (e.g grow follies grow during stimming!!!! etc) At is point i am going all out on the PMA. Last time i had so many disappointments it trashed my PMA and by the time i had ET i had pretty much given up. Need to stay focused and positive this time

[NY4thtry]

this looks like the irght bard for me. My last failed cycle was in August and after much agonizing i decided to change drs and will be cycling the Dr Sher of the Sher clinic. I too decided to start DHEA as one of the Drs i interviewed was Dr Gliecher. I am already on BCPs and start stims sometime in early october but my ER will be sometime after the 27th October. I get all the detaisl of the protocol next week when i meet with the nurse) .

It is unlcear at this time if i will transfer after the ER or do staggered IVF so they can perform CGH on my eggs to see which ones are good.

In the meantime i start with Dr Toth tomorrow to go through his antibacterial therapy to rid my body of anthing that cold be preventing us from concieving. It is 10 days of intrauterine lavages and IV antibiotics. Add that to acupuncture and Mayan Uterine massage and getting pg is a full time job.

[karenvancouverisland]

hi all. wow- NY4th- that is a full time job! i admire your perseverance and determination. i'm also trying to approach this so that i don't feel any regrets afterwards, like- 'maybe i should have followed thru and done that also'

and kas- i started DHEA also against my RE"s directions. i asked him about it a few days after i started (which was aug 30) and he sounded very offended cause HE didn't prescribe it. anyways, i started on 75mgxday right off. from all my research, take 50mg in am, then 25 in evening/night. and sorry- i don't know the cd's you're asking about

i'm soooo glad i'm on DHEA- i don't know if it's giving me a false sense of hope, or if it's just making it like 'i'm doing everything possible' to become a better responder. i had transitional anxiety and insomnia the first week, now no side effects.

chris- thanks for the sweet welcome . i need to learn how to add those cute creatures on my posts. i'm so sorry your last cycle didn't work out...it's very frustrating andi often feel like time is passing me by while i wait to be PG (and only getting older , whihc i'm very sad about).hopefully we can all celebrate together soon.

hi babyhope, keesha, sol and foreverlove. looking forward to getting to know everyone

have a wonderful day! karen

[babyhope1]

Hello!!! I don't know if you remember me from that "other" forum regarding infertility but it is great to see a familiar friend on this new specilaized IVF forum. We connected about 5 months ago because I had asked you about IVF...needless to say here I am attempting it now after a rollercoaster, miscarriage of twins and lots of waiting and bad news. Anyway, I am trying to stay hopeful, my IVF cycle runs from September to November. (Sept 18th to Nov 4thish) Glad you found us! Welcome!

[to_have_fun08]

Gosh sounds like we have a lot of people here doing DHEA. Maybe we can be the

NY4thtry - Welcome to the board. Sounds like you have been really busy since your last BFN. I have seen several of your posts and think it is great that you are taking control of your IVF quest and doing whatever it takes to get that BFP. If you don't mind me asking, what is CGH?

Karen - Finding smileys and litte pictures is keeping me from going batty till my next cycle. i am on another board and keep on finding new things to add to my signature. It isn't as fun here because they only give us 255 characters for our signature. I figure I will just change mine now and then. Hopefully I won't drive you all crazy with them but that is kind of my way to keep up PMA.

KAS - I haven't heard anyting about SIRM. That would be a tough decision determining if you should cycle with someone close or drive the distance to SIRM. Have you looked up the stats on both offices? Good luck with your appointment on Wednesday. I haven't heard of any CD's or DVD's for IVF.

Babyhope, Foreverlove, Gina, sol1009 - hope you all are doing well and had a good weekend.

[babyhope1]

Hello ladies, I have been on various forums and understand a great deal of lingo. However, you have several new ones...besides the one that was just asked about CGH...what about DHEA? What is that? Herbs?