Poor Response on Day 7 of Stimms. Help Please?

[Eire19]

Hi everyone.

I have been trying to conceive for 1.5 years. I am 40 years old. I had all my blood tests done earlier this year and eveything was normal. In July, we had them redone as we decided to go down the IVF route, and I had an FSH of 14. Only 6 follicles showed by with the AFC. My RE told me that my ovaries were older than my age. I was ovulating each month on day 9 which he said was far too early for the egg to mature. I have started ivf and I am on highest does of menopur they will give me (5 amps) and today at my day 8 scan, I had only two follicles. One was 14 mm and one was 10 mm. The nurses face said it all even before she told me. I have been taking royal jelly, spirulina, and wheatgrass for a couple months and have been doing regular accupuncture for months. I've stayed off coffee (which I was addicted to) and all alcohol for the last year.

At the moment, the thought that keeps going around in my head is that the change of getting pregnant is all over for me. Anyway, they haven't cancelled me yet. I have another scan in two days and she agreed that it is most likely they will cancel me then. If there are two sufficiently large they will continue. But I'd be all for that because at this stage of my life with my history I'm throwing it all at it. I am on the long protocol with bcp. They said that they could try me on short protocol for one last try next time. It isn't possible for me to go to another clinic either.

My question is this? What is the best thing I can do between now and the next scan? I have accupuncture this evening. I have been fairly stressed as it has been very hard to get time off work and I have been worrying about that. Should I do more accupuncture tomorrow? Could the worrying about work have affected me?

I guess I'm just really dissapointed. But this is life and I'm proud of myself for trying everything I can.

Thanks for your help.

[nwquiz]

AM sorry to hear what you are going trough but you should try and relax. they say stress affect outcomes in ivf based on studies. so instead of acupuncture why dont you go for yoga of do some yoga yourself at home. its very relaxing a nd i wish you all the best.

[riogirl71]

I know it would not work now and I do hope you still get a BFP, it only takes one good one!

If for some reason you need to do it again, I strongly recommend DHEA. I have been on it and have had a much better cycle so far.

Best of luck!

[karenvancouverisland]

hi....i love that last line of your post "proud of yourself for trying everything you can'... awesome.. at the end of the day- we need to look in the mirror and feel good about our choices.. especially the choices we make during thehard times..

anyways, from what i know (and have obsessively researched) you have diminished ovarian reserve DOR, also called high FSH.. my FSH on day 10 was 11.2 when last tested....and my clinic won't even cycle you if you're above 12... so DHEA is the answer for this- even though many think it's controversial.. but when you are desperate (which i am) and time is ticking.... many turn to DHEA.

check out website for NY center for human reproduction... they are big supporters of DHEA and used to have tons of info on their site.

best of luck to you

[karenvancouverisland]

ps. i did get pg before from a cycle i only produced 2 follies ...they recommended cancelling but i couldn't stomach to idea..so despite the price tag, went to retrieval and got pg. sadly i m/c 'd at 12 weeks but this was unrelated to my fertility issues and just a regular m/c.. so miracles do happen.

it was actually that experience that gave me hope to continue further, and now i have a son <3

[annashope]

I was in a similar position and was on a massive dose of menopur (4 vials twice a day) and even though I have not found too much supporting info I believe what really helped me was I drank soy milk (I never used to) but when I was told that we only had a couple of follies after almost a week of stimming I started drinking lots of soy milk and somehow things turned around. We only ended up having 4 follies but they were excellent follies. Not sure of this helps but it is worth a try

[lt81]

As people say it only takes 1 good embryo to get you pregnant so stay positive.

If it doesn't work out for you definitely look into what drugs regime might optimise things for you.

I also have DOR and have found a lot of conflicting information on the best cycle for it. I had an unsuccessful cycle in September on a short antagonist regime (3x menopur and 1 x cetrotide). But just came across an excellent blog called www.ivfauthority.com which talks about individualisation of cycles particularly where the patient has DOR. The author of the blog has some pretty strong views about the short antagonist protocol not being suitable for patients with DOR due to high levels of testosterone affecting the viability of the embryos (he specifically refers to high dose Menopur being a bad idea). I've not had a chance to look into this further to see if his views are supported but worth looking into before you try the short-antagonist protocol (my experience definitely back up his views though as my embryos were very slow to divide and didn't implant).

[Eire19]

Thanks so much for all your replies. My cycle cancelled today. At least I knew it was coming and was well prepared. It has been converted to IUI. They say I can try one last cycle and will do that over the next few months. While I'm waiting I am going to check out all of your suggestions. I must check out DHEA futher. I heard of it but I never read up much on it. Must look into the short protocol so that I have the information for my review. I'm also happy that I made the decision to tell them that I'm doing IVF during my next cycle. That should reduce so much stress. I'll be back on my herbs shortly, keeping up the accupuncture, and I am feeling surprisingly positive. I guess after the inital shock, panic, and saddness I feel there is still hope and still more that I can do.

[riogirl71]

I am so sorry hun, if you would like more info please pm me. My #1 IVF 3 years ago I had 7 eggs, this time after DHEA and CO q10 and tweaks in protocol and acupuncture, I got 14 eggs. Unfortunately only 5 mature enough but that is a huge difference in my response to meds...
good luck with your IUI!