fresh vs. frozen?

[Anonymous]

sorry, to bring this up, seems like a pretty tired topic, but i am facing my last ivf attempt at an out of state clinic. i call it my closure cycle. unlike my 3 prior failed IVFs and 1 failed FET, i am on totally different meds and the RE is recommending that after the egg retrieval, we freeze day 5 embryos, and then wait 2 months to let my body calm down from the drugs, then do a transfer. this clinic's lab has really high success rates with fresh and frozen. the RE here says that the clinic uses a high tech freezing process called vitrification, so she has seen really high embryo survival rates from the thawing process. i'm torn, part of me just wants to get this over with and then move on with my life and another part feels like i've invested so much money and time, shouldn't i just wait a little longer and do what the RE recommends.

is fresh always better than frozen? i'd like to hear what experiences others have had.

i should also add that I work at a large law firm and the partner i primarily work for started out being really understanding when i started the process, but now that we're coming up on 2 years of treatments and my constant requests for time off, he's starting to get annoyed so I'm feeling pressure from that also to just to do the fresh transfer.

[Anonymous]

I know that some REs believe that women who have experienced multiple implantation failures and haven't had a successful pregnancy may be better off with letting their bodies "rest" after retrieval, the idea being that the stims may make your uterus less welcoming for implantation and that taking a few months off will help.

Are you at CCRM? I know the Colorado board on IVFconnections had some threads on this last summer.

[Anonymous]

Are they going to do CGH testing while the embryos are frozen? If that's the case, that would probably be enough of a "bonus" for me to be convinced to wait the extra months. On the other hand, CGH is expensive... Whatever you decide, good luck!!! I'm also about to start my "closure"cycle (I'm calling it my "hail mary" cycle). So I know how all the decisions seem to have extra weight this time!

[Anonymous]

OP here, yes, I am at CCRM and I'm not getting the CGH testing done, I'm totally out of pocket and the CGH testing is another $5300. DH put his foot down on that one.

[Anonymous]

If it makes you feel better, I have a friend who paid for CGH and the results did not show a clear good/bad result for any of her embryos (I forget the technical term they use when they can't figure out an answer from the CGH results). Whatever you decide, you are at a great clinic so at least you know you are in good hands! -- PP 12:48

[Anonymous]

I'll be a vote FOR FET...

I am fully convinced, now, that it was a major reason for our success...finally...

And, to be honest, because I did have a certain amount of OHSS with each of my stims. I genuinely FELT much better, much less stressed, less hormonally challenged during my FET.

I did not have any PGD or CGH...

WLD

[Anonymous]

Fresh cycles are definitely more succesful. I think SG has a 20% chance of a successeful cycle from FET's. I had 2 fresh (out of 2 cycles) cycles that resulted in a singleton and twins. In between my cycles, I've had 3 FET's (all Grade AA blasts) and they've failed. When you freeze, you always do a tad of damage to the fresh embryo.

[Anonymous]

The fresh vs frozen debate when you're a patient at SG is totally different than at CCRM, which uses a better technique for freezing embryos. In some ways, frozen might be easier work-wise. You'd be out of the office for less time during the stims/retrieval because you wouldn't have to wait around for the transfer. And then when you went back for the transfer it would be a short trip (I think). Good luck

[Anonymous]

OP here, thanks ladies, i appreciate the input.