Seeking advice from women who have gone through more than 5 IVFs
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Anonymous
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I am a poor responder and have gone through 5 IVFs at 2 local area clinics over the last year and a half. I've done several different protocols - long lupron, flare, EPP, etc. With max dose of stims, I seem to get about 4-6 eggs retrieved, and about 2-3 that fertilize. All have been transferred around day 2 or 3. My husband's semen analysis results all came back ok. So it seems to be a poor responder/DOR issue with me.
I actually have pretty good insurance coverage for IVF, so all I have to pay is the copay for my meds and the office visits. Really lucky in that respect, I know. But given all the IVF failures, I am obviously losing hope of conceiving a child using my own eggs. Problem is that as soon as we go donor egg or adoption, we have to pay the whole thing. Luckily we can afford it, but it's still obviously a big hit to our finances. I guess what I'm asking is what went through your mind as you were deciding to do more rounds of IVF with your own eggs, rather than switch course and do donor egg or adoption? How do you know when you're ready to give up on conceiving with your own eggs? I have a hard time figuring out whether I still have it in me to go through more rounds -- I've been going back and forth a lot. The last round was particularly hard and devastating, but I have taken a little bit of a break and feel a little bit more refreshed which makes me think that maybe I can do more. Of course, I might feel differently when I'm actually going through the cycle. Any advice you can give would be much appreciated. |
Anonymous
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Before moving on to DE I would do a consult at DF re: natural cycle IVF. Might work better for you as a poor responder (sounds like they were just blasting your ovaries). And a consult with CRMI (Cornell) and/or CCRM. And then decide on next steps.
Maybe take a little break while you are waiting on consults. Do something self-indulgent (travel, etc). Good luck, OP! |
Anonymous
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If you are in the DC area, the clinics here are good, but there are some truelly world-class clinics in other parts of the country.
After five failures here, I have sought second opinoins at SIRM and Cornell, and am going to do one at CCRM. I will say from my first two consults, the questions they ask are far more detailed than anything I've experienced at a clinic here. Also, the doctors now have five cycles worth of a track record to peruse, and they have suggested ways they would tweak the protorcols -very much more customized than any doctor down here was going to do for a sixth and final IVF. I do not know if round 6 will work. It will be my last one. But I at least want to know that I have gone to the people who are considered the best in the business. Also, given some of the testing places like CCRM and SIRM will do, even if it fails, I will have more definitive answers. That way I can be at peace with the way things are. |
Anonymous
| I agree you may want to try NCIVF. Aldo, Dr. Check in NJ has a lot of experience helping women with DOR. |
Anonymous
| I wouldn't bother with Dr Check, given you have decent insurance coverage and are getting a decent response. I agree that you should meet with Cornell, CCRM and SIRM, if those are covered by insurance. Natural cycle at Dominion might be worth considering too. |
Anonymous
| This is all great advice. I'd also consider the possibility that you could have an implantation problem before moving on to the next step. With most RE's, the default assumption is that IVF failures (particularly with older women) are all about egg quality but sometimes that isn't the case. Some couples have more than just one factor contributing to their fertility issues. I had both crappy eggs AND implantation problems. Had I continued on to DE without having the implantation issues diagnosed, we would have wasted an enormous amount of money. |
Anonymous
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OP here. I didn't mention that I already had a consult with CCRM. Doesn't seem like they are able to offer me something much different. Based on what Schoolcraft said, what they can offer me is a much better lab. But in terms of mix of meds, there's not much different that he would do. Also, insurance wouldn't cover anything once we go out of area. Otherwise I would seriously consider going to Cornell.
Also, we only have funds to do 1 or 2 out-of-town cycles of IVF paid for by ourselves, or donor egg (as we'd likely have to go through a donor agency to get someone of my ethnicity). So while it would be nice to have the knowledge that even the best of the best couldn't do anything to help me conceive with my own eggs before doing donor egg, if we spend the money on CCRM or Cornell we wouldn't have enough left over to be able to do donor eggs. The NCIVF is a good thought, though. Is Dominion the only one in the area that does it? I think Shady Grove doesn't, and GW has started offering it as an option. |
Anonymous
I found Cornell's protocols to be more similar to ones I've done at CFA and SG. SIRM seemed to have a greater variety of tweaked protocols (same drugs, but they do very different things with them than what any of my DC REs suggested). I would suggest a consult with SIRM NY (Tortoriello) or SIRM NJ (Peters). |
Anonymous
| How old are you? That could make a big difference in whether it makes sense to keep trying IVF. |
Anonymous
| How old are you? That is a critical bit of information. If you are 40 and under, given that IVF is mostly covered for you, I'd keep trying. Even with the low number of eggs (4-6), I would think you still have a good chance of success. If you are over 40, you might want to move on to DE. But I would do a shared risk program (like SG's) so you know you'll either have success or get your $$ back (though you'd have to make sure they have someone of your ethnicity in their donor bank). |
Anonymous
| OP here. I am "relatively young" as the IVF clinics would say. I am 36. Started trying when I was 33, and I just turned 35 when I started the IVF process. All my hormone levels look fine. My FSH is between 7-8, but my AFC is about 6. I've done the testing to see if there could be implantation problems and that showed nothing. I haven't done testing for immune issues, but I gather that the field is rather divided on that. My doctors tell me that based on my records and multiple tries, chance of success for IVF with my own eggs is about 10% and that's if we get to transfer (on one cycle I didn't make it to transfer). |
Anonymous
Have you tested for Beta-3 Integrin? |
Anonymous
| I have to say I was very reluctant to continue with natural cycle IVF, but it was the only cycle that finally worked for us. We did 4 stim IVF's and several IUI's, but it was the second nat cycle IVF that got us our DS. If you have the emotional and financial resources to keep trying I think it's worth it. |
Anonymous
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Call SIRM. I seriously think they are the best. They will give you a free consult that will look at ALL your records and then give you an honest answer. You are still young and I bet you have some good eggs left. Hang in there. I was successful on my fifth at SIRM (well , first with SIRM, the other four were local. )
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Anonymous
Which doctor/location did you go to? What did they do differently for you than local clinics? |