What do you do if you're a poor responder?
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Anonymous
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My body doesn't respond very well to stims. Even with high stims, I might get 2-4 follicles at most. Does that mean that any sort of intervention is pointless then? Even with good insurance coverage, I'm wondering if I'm an idiot to keep trying.
I assume that IVF and IUI is predicated on the ability of your body to produce multiple follicles... so if you don't respond to medicine, is there even a point? |
Anonymous
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I have never done IVF, but I have diminished ovarian reserve (0.4 AMH). My RE anticipated getting 4-5 eggs from an IVF cycle with low stims. She basically said there's no point in high stims for me since I won't respond, but she still recommended IVF as an option.
We ended starting with IUIs and getting pregnant on the second one. I had two or three follicles on a combination of Femara and Gonal-F. With IUI you don't want more than three follicles I think (my RE was aiming for two). I know that IUIs don't work for everyone, and I was very lucky, but certainly with IUI if you can get just two follicles it's worth a shot. And the hormonal supports they give you could help too if you have a thin lining/short luteal phase. |
Anonymous
| Might depend on age and you're exact levels. I know someone under 40 who really can't do stims b/c FSH levels are already so high. Docs wouldn't allow it as an option, but it sounds like IVF may still be an option for you. If you're under 40 and everything else is good, and docs can get a few eggs per cycle, it's not necessarily a waste. If you're over 40 and you're looking at poor quality on top of very low #s, then you may want to think about whether any alternatives are right for you (DE, etc.), even if you do decide to try. Good luck! |
Anonymous
| The problem could very well be high stims - some women don't respond well and it actually has the opposite effect. My wife was one of those people - she had success through mini IVF and low stim traditional IVF. High doses of menopur can fry your eggs. |
Anonymous
| I was a low responder as well. Only got three embryos the second IVF try - 5 on the first. It took. I was at GW and they had a different protocol for those like me. Hang in there. My good news is I got pregnant twice naturally after that so there is always hope. |
Anonymous
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I am/was in a similar situation. DOR (AMH .4). I was told that IVF wouldn't be much more successful than IUI and since I had limited insurance coverage I opted to try IUIs. None took (8 cycles). I did do one cycle with higher stimming which resulted in one follicle so I was glad I didn't spend the $$ for a full IVF cycle since it didn't look like it would result in much, if any more, success than IUI cycles. I'm moving on to DE at some point (taking a break for now and will do it when it lines up with my life a bit better).
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Anonymous
Wow! Congratulations!! Does that mean you have 3 kids now? |
Anonymous
Oof. 8 IUIs? I'm so sorry to hear it didn't work. Did your doctor recommend that many cycles? |
Anonymous
| it sucks |
Anonymous
This was me too. It’s like my body was totally overloaded. I dropped to a mini stim and got three great quality eggs, two fertilized and had a singleton. |
Anonymous
| Natural cycle UVF if you ovulate on your own. |
Anonymous
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I did many IUI cycles, and generally got about the same number of eggs, regardless of stim level. I was over forty, though, and wasnt successful.
In your situation,i would look into low stim or natural cycle IVF. |
Anonymous
what did you end up doing instead? |
Anonymous
| srsly i only have 2 follicles after tons of menopur and follistim |
Anonymous
| If you haven't tried a minimal stim approach, you really should. My problem was high stims. I went from 4-12 crappy eggs on high, high stims to up to 25 moderately less crappy but ultimately successful eggs on low stims. The clomid really did wonders. |