Normal number of follicles for IVF stim?

[Anonymous]

I am in the middle of my first (and likely only) IVF stim cycle right now. I am mini-freaking out b/c on day 7 we have only 3 follicles growing (they saw 4 on my first monitoring u/s, but it has been 3 ever since). Is this normal? To me it seems low, but I have no clue. The clinic is proceeding so far without any changes to my protocol (250 iu follistim and 150 menopur with cetrotide in the am the last 3 days). In reading through the archives on this forum, it seems low (people are posting they retrieve in the low 20s or mid-teens), but it's unclear if their stats are comparable to mine. I'm DOR, age 39. Don't have my other stats handy at the moment. Thanks for any encouragement/reality check.

[Anonymous]

I had only 4 grow. and I have bad DOR. So doesn't seem too off for me, we're called low responders for a reason.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I had only 4 grow. and I have bad DOR. So doesn't seem too off for me, we're called low responders for a reason.

How does the number of follicles that you had grow compare to your andral follicle count? Were they similar numbers?

[Anonymous]

OP here, I had 8 antral follicles, but only 3 growing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here, I had 8 antral follicles, but only 3 growing.

More may pop up and you may just end up stimming longer. If they saw 8 at baseline I think you might get a few more when all is said and done.

[Anonymous]

I was not diagnosed DOR but was 39 for my two rounds. First round I had only 3 showing up for the first week, and then by day 8 or 9 had 6. They retrieved 6 and 4 were mature. Second cycle I had 13 and 10 were mature, they all showed up from the start. I was on 300 menopur and 300 gonal f and didnt start cetrotide till day 9. I am no doctor, but what seems strange to me is the starting of cetrotide on day 4. I thought it was used to keep follicles from taking lead and overmaturing,
It is quite possible that you will have more pop up, but I would ask the dr to give you some realistic expectations now.

[Anonymous]

OP here, thank you so much for these details, it'so very helpful to get some context from other folks' experiences.

[Anonymous]

I had 5 follicles growing, and then only 3 eggs were retrieved. Only one egg fertilized and unfortunately that egg did not implant.

[Anonymous]

Did you start the cycle with birth control pills? It may have over-surpressed you. My first IVF had only 3 follicles growing and 1 egg was retrieved. That egg turned into a poor quality embryo that did not take. My second IVF was an estrogen priming protocol. Five eggs were retrieved; one because a viable pregnancy.
If you have only one shot, I would cancel your IVF (you can turn it into an IUI) and start over with another protocol.

[Anonymous]

Have you talked to your doctor about estrogen priming protocol? I was suspected but not diagnosed DOR, did a round of EPP and they harvested 13. Was not expecting that. I did acupuncture and all the supplements, no idea if that helped.

[Anonymous]

Hi OP, I’m curious to know how your cycle went. Wishing you the best...

[Anonymous]

Has your RE talked about cancelling the cycle? I thought my RE said they usually switch the cycle to an IUI if there are only three follicles by retrieval time. Good luck - it just takes one egg.

[Anonymous]

Hi, OP here, unfortunately I don't have good news. They ended up retrieving 3 follicles, of which 2 fertilized via ICSI (the other was immature), they did a 3 day post retrieval fresh transfer, but got a negative beta/pregnancy results three days ago. The weird thing is that I got a really strange period with lots of passed tissue and quite a bit of pain, which is quite unusual for me. I am going to ask my RE once I go in to see her for follow-up. For the record and in case it is helpful to others, I pulled my stats, here they are: age 39, DOR, FSH: 13.5, LH: 4.3, AMH: 0.8, estradiol: 57.

[Anonymous]

OP again, I asked about canceling the cycle but they said they did not expect many more follicles than that (DOR) so they did not recommend it.

[Anonymous]

OP why are you considered DOR? Your stats seem pretty good, especially the AMH which is not much lower than 1.0 which I thought was considered normal at that age.