help- low estrogen and no follicles day 3 IVF

[Anonymous]

I'm nervous because I had no measureable follicles at my first US after my third evening of stimming, and a estrogen level of 50-60. I'm 35 and had 17 follicles during my baseline ultrasound, before any drugs, and 15 follicles after having been on Lupron 7 days. My estrogen was 48 during my Day 3 tests.

I'm peeved that this comes after having been told to extend my Lupron for an extra day and to not start stimming because apparently the OR was overbooked for my original ER date. Furthermore, although my nurse told me to take 20 units Lupron the next morning, when I called for clarification about something a different nurse said it was supposed to have been 5. I had already taken 20, but it turns out two doctors had written conflicting orders.

Should I be concerned that I'm not going to be the "great responder" they thought? I know that you have to roll with the punches but it's frustrating that this "punch" feels like it's been compounded by my clinic's administrative issues...

PS- I am now off Lupron completely. They've raised my Gonal-f from 225 to 300 and kept Menopur at 75.

[Anonymous]

That's a high dose of meds, I hope you get better results at the next ultrasound, FWIW I had the same issue with the Lupron. who's your RE?

[Anonymous]

Not sure what pp meant abt you being on a high dose of meds. High is when you are on 600ius of stims. And, in your case, they are upping the meds to get things moving. Coming off the lupron should help move things along, so I would wait and see what things look like at your next monitoring appt. I have had cycles where there is slow follicle growth to start and then things start moving along. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

that's not a high dose of meds at all. i've been on 450 of gonal-f/follistim and 150 of menopur.

lupron is probably oversupressing you. that's why they stopped it. hopefully, the follies will start growing now.

it's still early in the cycle. more worrying would be if there was slow growth day 8 or something like that. good luck.

[Anonymous]

Hope your cycle gets better. If it doesn't, they may cancel you. Sorry to be the voice of doom here, but my cycle was almost cancelled when I had a simialr response and I was totally blindsided by the suggestion to cancel. I just want to let the OP know that her RE may suggest that.

If you do get cancelled, they'll likely use a different protocol next time that will hopefully not supress you so much. Good luck, I hope your cycle turns around - there is a good chance that it will!

[Anonymous]

Thanks for all the input. They did another test and it's now 110 (after 5 nights of stimming)... so my meds are going up again.

The RE says not to worry but I am. Especially since I went into this with known tubal issues but -- at least I wonder-- possible hormonal issues as well. Sigh.