Hard case vs. easy “vanilla” case?

[Anonymous]

I’m relatively new to IVF. What makes someone a “hard” case versus an easy or vanilla one?

[Anonymous]

From our preliminary workup, we thought we’d be an easy case. Age and numbers were good. It wasn’t until trying and failing multiple times until we realized I responded poorly to medications and needed a crazy amount. In turn, we suspect this led to quality issues and multiple miscarriages down the road. Unfortunately, sometimes with IVF you’re forced to take a trial-and-error approach. After 4 retrievals and 9 transfers, we ended up finding success. Someone on one of these forums once told me that IVF is akin to gambling. The more hands you play, the more chance you have at finding the winning one. There are so many variables involved in wining that it’s impossible to control them all or know which one of them will work best. Good luck to you. As hard as it can be, it does work!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:From our preliminary workup, we thought we’d be an easy case. Age and numbers were good. It wasn’t until trying and failing multiple times until we realized I responded poorly to medications and needed a crazy amount. In turn, we suspect this led to quality issues and multiple miscarriages down the road. Unfortunately, sometimes with IVF you’re forced to take a trial-and-error approach. After 4 retrievals and 9 transfers, we ended up finding success. Someone on one of these forums once told me that IVF is akin to gambling. The more hands you play, the more chance you have at finding the winning one. There are so many variables involved in wining that it’s impossible to control them all or know which one of them will work best. Good luck to you. As hard as it can be, it does work!

Bingo. This PP nailed it. Except one of our doctors compared it to archery and having a bunch of arrows. Maybe the first one lands on the bullseye the first time - but it might also take two, three, four, five, or more arrows. Or maybe you'll use all your arrows and never hit the bullseye.

There are hidden factors at play for folks that a lot of REs also discount, mainly immune issues. So many don't believe in them, yet so many have gotten pregnant only with the help of a reproductive immunologist.

My advice is to hope for the best but prepare for a long ride, and maybe you'll be pleasantly surprised. And just take it one day at a time. IVF has its own rhythm - some times fly by, others crawl by.

[Anonymous]

You just never know TBH. You can be an good candidate on paper without any results coming to fruition. Or you could have a 1% chance for success and wind up with a baby on the first go.

We were considered easy but had unexplained infertility — young, healthy, lots of follicles and eggs, perfect looking sperm; regular periods and clockwork ovulation with normal phases; open tubes; no polyps or cysts; no blood disorders; no autoimmune issues etc. Took five cycles to get a baby. A friend was a hard case — in their mid-40s, overweight, he smoked, low sperm count, she didn’t ovulate normally, had PCOS and a blood factor disorder, one blocked tube, and they had a baby from their first IUI. Just never know!

[Anonymous]

Nothing is "easy vanilla," once you need to take the IVF route. I think you can typically tell if it's likely to be hard if you are old with low AMH numbers. However, you can never tell if it's going to be easy. Good luck, OP!

[Anonymous]

I got pregnant right away at 35 and had a super easy pregnancy and delivery. Started TTC #2 when my child was 10 months old. I thought getting pregnant again would be "easy." Boy was I wrong.

We did IUIs and then IVFs and no luck. Tried every month for 5 years. My numbers when I started were all great except for a low-ish AMH. I was diagnosed as "unexplained secondary infertility."

Unfortunately nothing worked over 5 years and we are one and done, not by choice. I never got pregnant even one time in the 5 years of trying. This is after getting pregnant on the first try at 35. Then at 37 my infertility was just long gone. I still have no explanations.

[Anonymous]

My RE told me that we'd have good chances to get pregnant via IVF when our infertility was caused by my PCOS, and IVF did work for us (1 retrieval, 2 pregnancies/live births from 3 transfers). However, I know one other PCOSer for whom IVF has not yet been successful. You never know.

[Anonymous]

All IVF is hard, but things like inheritable genetic disorders, low response, etc., make everything even more complicated. Sperm can look good and a woman can respond well, but if they have to toss embryos because of inherited genetic disorders, for example, it's even harder.