I am on day 8 of 150 IU Menopur and 300 IU Gonal-F. And I started Cetrotide 2 days ago. I have only 3 mature follicles and 3-4 more that are much smaller. At monitoring this morning I was told we may want to consider cancelling the cycle.
I am 34 and this is my second IVF cycle. The first was 3 yrs ago and successful. I have a 2 1/2 yr old son
I am very worried I waited too long to try for #2. First time I used Lupron and Gonal-F and had no problems producing 15 follicles.
Does anyone have experience switching protocols? I am trying to understand what's next. Thanks for any insight!
You may get one or two more of the small follies to grow bigger but there is no guarantee. I too am a poor responder and have a low supply of eggs so around 3 eggs is the norm for me. I would not cancel because it only takes one egg to fertilize. Unless you are doing pgd which needs at least 5 or 6 eggs for testing, I would go ahead and do the retrieval but the ultimate decision is yours.
It sounds like you are on a antagonist protocol which means, no lupron. That is the best protocal for poor responders I am told. Do you go to acupunture? I am on my last cycle before we call it quits and we decided to try it. I have been going once a week for about a little over a month and I just went this morning for my 3 day bloods and I have 4 antrals on my right side and 5 antrals on my left! I have never had that many!
I am a poor responder also and I was usually stiming any where between 11-14 days. I got anywhere from 2-4 eggs retrieved so 3 was about normal for me. My clinic really didn't do this, but sometime a clinice won't proceed unless you have a certain amount of mature eggs. Is it possible they can continue for another day or 2 to see if some of the smaller ones catch up?
I would consider doing acupuncture. I didn't do it until #5, and then I got "pregnant"--although it was etopic. In my case, I really didn't get more eggs, but I do believe they were better quality and I believe that I stimmed for less time than originally.
I'm a poor responder too. With three maturing follicles, I would go ahead with the retrieval if I were you. Sounds like where we were three weeks ago. Had the same dilemma - one of the doctors at the clinic suggested we not go through with the retrieval but we chose to anyway. We also had 2-3 other follicles that weren't as mature. In the end, the 3 eggs from the 3 maturing follicles all fertilized. We are just waiting now for test results on them to see that they're okay (e.g., have the right number of chromosomes, etc.).
We are going ahead with the retrival tomorrow morning. RE encouraged us to move forward. He doesn't think i will respond to meds better later. So hoping those follicles contain strong healthy eggs. We require pgd also, so odds are not great. But as everyone says it only takes one.
With my successful cycle I stimed on Lupron and 225 of gonal. I was 31 then and 34 now. I am so disappointed my response to meds is so different now. With RE telling me that something has changed and another med protocol would not make a difference yesterday was hard.
Thanks for your encouragement.
Pattieh-best of luck with your chromosome testing.
BMG - Wow, we are really in the same boat. You are where we were three weeks ago - nurse telling me that it wouldn't have made a difference changing the protocol - I was already on the most aggressive one. In our trial last year, I had 11 eggs but only 7 were good enough and 3 fertilized. This time, I had 3 eggs. We're doing PGD also - found out that the extra testing is called microarray. Anyway, good luck to you! Yes, it only takes one!
Good for you going for the retrieval! Now if I can just get rid of some of this bloating to make myself feel better. : )
