No blasts on day 5/6
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Anonymous
Were these with the same clinic? Same protocol? I transferred four; three were with SG and none took. Transferred to GW and got a positive beta. However it was a CP but I hadn't gotten a positive before so I think the change in protocol helped. I'm doing another cycle now where we are hoping for more quality eggs vs quantity. I'll know in April whether or not it worked. Good luck. |
Anonymous
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OP here. Switched clinics to SGF, Dr. O'Brien.
This cycle I'm doing 20 units of microdose Lupron (Question: WHy 20? I hear of people doing 50....should I be pushing for a higher dose?), then started with 150 of Follistim/Gonal-F and 225 of Menopur. After day 4 went up to 225 of Follistim and still 225 of Menopur with twice a day microdose Lupron. Today was day 8 and there are 4 follicles at 13mm, 2 at 11mm, 2 day 10mm, and 2 at 9mm for a total of 10 measurable follicles and a ton of very small ones. Anyone have a similar cycle and success? Anyone think I should be on more Lupron? I have three tries this year. This is #1. Not wasting any time. |
Anonymous
| OP, if I were you I would consider doing a three-day transfer. Many patients' embryos simply can't survive for 5-6 days in a lab environment. I know it is not the "gold standard" to transfer earlier but it's how we got our baby. |
Anonymous
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Egg #-wise, you seem to be doing well this cycle, so best of luck!
I had issues getting blasts, too, but I'm over 40, so a little different. I've done 7 cycles total, and 3 (cycles 3-5) at SG. I'm wrapping up cycle 7 soon. Cycles 1 and 2 had no blasts and few eggs. SG did get me more eggs (all with estrogen priming on max doses of stims), but still not great quality. In one cycle we did a fresh day 5 transfer of a morula, 1 cycle was a FET of a day 6 blast, and another cycle a fresh day 4 transfer of 2 still good looking embryos. Each cycle at SG I got between 10 and 14 eggs. I did really like SG and save a bobble here or there, they are incredibly easy to work with. I went back to the RE I was initially with and did a natural cycle and then a mini-stim (at my request based on a consult with Cornell). NC egg wasn't mature. The mini-stim cycle has been a totally different ballgame. I got 3 good blasts out of 9 eggs. The clinic I'm at now only does frozen transfers b/c studies show that stim meds are bad for implantation. The changes it'll work are still low for me, given my age, but it's still a drastic improvement, particularly give that the stims were less than 1/3 of what they were in prior stim cycles. I do take supplements, but have been since right after my first cycle which was over a year ago, so there really wasn't anything else different between at least the last 2 cycles I did at SG. Everyone is different, so I'm not really advocating a mini-stim, but more that you ask questions (perhaps get second opinions - consults are usually about $650) and advocate for changes when a particular route isn't working. |
Anonymous
| have you asked your doctor about growth hormone? My first cycle I had 14 fertilized embryos which turned into 4 blasts (1 was normal) and my doctor felt that these numbers indicated an embryo progression issue and that I should have had closer to 50% turn to blast (I'm 30). My second cycle was the same protocol but added growth hormone in addition to supplements like DHEA and CoQ10 and I had 14 fertilized embryos and 10 turned to blast (only 3 were normal) so much higher progression rate, though similar PGS results. Still waiting on my first FET, so don't have the whole picture yet. |
Anonymous
Testing isn't without debate. We opt not to test and let nature take its course. I would handle a pregnancy with a complication as I would without IVF and that is with the guidance of support of medical specialists. |
Anonymous
| OP here. I’ve done a cycle w growth hormones and it gave us the worst results-least amount of eggs and no blasts. I got the call from the nurse today and found out that my progesterone today (at a 4) is too high to do a transfer this cycle. That’s never happened. Of course the optimist in me is thinking cool something different is happening so maybe the eggs will be different and better. But, I’m really frustrated. We hadn’t planned on doing PGS so now what am I going to do? Freeze all the eggs and do PGS later? Anyway that’s a sidenote. Has anyone had this progesterone issue? |
Anonymous
Answer: with great difficulty. Nothing was making it to blast over 6 cycles so I transferred 5 untested day 3 embryos. One took but ended up as a miscarriage in week 11, based on subsequent testing due to a trisomy. |
Anonymous
You could even freeze them on day 1 or 2 and do an FET. We did this for our second child. |
Anonymous
And there are studies that suggest that: 1. Testing isn't always accurate and 2. Testing can adversely affect the mitochondria of the embryo https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5011996/ |
Anonymous
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Anonymous
| We are going to see how many make it to blast and decide if we should just freeze them or do PGS first. We were hoping to just do a three day transfer for all the good looking three day embryos. But now we can’t transfer. Fingers crossed .....again.....that something makes it to day 5. Dear God, I just need one. |
Anonymous
| I had a cycle where I couldn’t transfer bc progesterone was too high. The chance of implantation goes way down. Some clinics won’t do fresh transfers bc studies show that the frozen transfers are significantly more successful. It’s annoying to have to wait, but maybe it’ll turn out to be better. |
Anonymous
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I’ve done 3 cycles and in all 3 my progesterone was too high to do a fresh transfer. Honestly I prefer to wait and do a FET anyway so that my lining can be optimal.
I’ve also never been able to get many embryos to blast so I’m doing FETs with untested day 3 embryos. My first attempt ended in miscarriage and that’s terribly hard but I’ve accepted that this is the only way I even have a chance. |
Anonymous
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Did the retrieval:
12 eggs retrieved 8 mature 5 fertilized All 5 made t to day 2 1-5 cells 2-3 cells 3-2 cells 4- 2cells 5 2 cells On day 2, they like to see at least 2 cells but preferably 3-4 cells. Thoughts? |