# Natural Cycle IVF



## topcat1234

Hi everyone,

so i have had 4 stim IVFs and all failed. On 1st IVF, i got 6 eggs but only 3 fertilized. On 2nd IVF, doctor couldn't collect any eggs (empty) and was perplexed what happened. As soon as he realised there was no eggs, he ordered blood work to find out if my trigger shot was administered properly. Everything was good. BUT, through that blood work, he found out that my progesterone was elevated when shouldn't be (so it seems my eggs got released prematurely hence no eggs). On 3rd IVF, he decided to use another stimm drug hoping that it will not cause progesterone to go up prematurely. 2 days before the egg retrieval, the progesterone looked normal, but a day before the egg retrieval, all of sudden it went up. Doctor advised me to not go ahead with egg retrieval, but I decided to go ahead. He managed to get 4 eggs out, and 2 got fertilized, however, they were poor quality. On 4th IVF, he again used different stimm meds to try to suppress the premature elevation of progesterone, but the same result. This time, he decided to freeze the 2 eggs he got and transfer in the following cycle, as raised progesterone level prevents eggs from implanting. That said, he was also skeptical as it seems raised progesterone has deteriorated my egg quality, hence i only got 3 eggs fertilised out of 6 in the first cycle, and following eggs were never that good quality. To maker matters worse, my lining was never that think (7-8cm) due to stimm drugs.

As a last resort, doctor suggested that I do natural cycle IVF. He was quite certain that stimm drugs are somehow not gelling with me, and causing the progesterone to elevate early. 

I am now on 5th attempt with IVF, this time with natural cycle. No stimm drugs whatsoever, only drug i've taken is trigger shot to time the egg retrieval perfectly. Doctor got me take the trigger shot when my naturally selected egg reached 20mm and my lining was looking good at 9.4mm. On the day of retrieval, doctor took my blood to make sure my progesterone level was normal (and it was) and successfully collected the egg. On the day of transfer, i was happy to find out my egg was the grade 1 (the best grade) and the lining was looking good at 10.6mm.

i'm now about 10 days away from testing for pregnancy. For me, this was such a relaxed experience compared to stimm protocol, where you have your mood swings, headaches, cramps, let alone the apprehensive feeling you get on worrying over how many eggs you could grow, how is the lining coming along, is all the blood work looking good, etc. because you pretty much know you will be certain to produce one egg and you will know it'll ovulate sooner or later and doctor just need to monitor and let it all happen naturally. Now I know the success rate may not be as good as stimm protocol, but for me, who wasn't producing too many eggs anyhow, this seems to be a good option. 

At least, even this cycle doesn't work, i know this is the way forward for me, and i'll just keep trying until i hit that one egg. Another good thing is, you don't have to take any months off in between like stimm protocol.


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## doorbell

The natural IVF sounds interesting. I wish you lots of luck in your TWW and hope you get a positive result at the end of it.:flower:


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## Blythe

please let us know your results...i have been eying up natural cycle IVF for some time :) i have everything crossed for you....you have certainly been through the mill and deserve something special too happen :hugs:


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## Charliegirl27

Wow, all sounds positive this time round. I never knew that about the progesterone. Sounds quite unusual. I'll be following to see your good news! Good luck :)


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## Briss

Good luck! I also very interested in natural cycle IVF It seems to be the way forward for over 35


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## LynQ

Hi topcat1234, I'm also doing a natural ivf cycle after 3 failed IVFs. 
May I ask what your levels were when you triggered?

I was doing ok up until today when my e2 only climbed 20 from 178. My Lh is also very high at 44. I have POF so I have had lh surges without ovulating before. Very worried as I'm not sure if I'll make it to ER again.


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## topcat1234

Hi Lynq,

im not entirely sure of E2 or LH level this cycle, as doctor has not tested that at all. i guess those blood levels were ok in my previous stimm IVF cycles so he prob. decided no need to test....

why do you think your cycle is not doing well?


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## topcat1234

and also, why wouldn't your doctor give you ovulation suppression if you may ovulate too quick??


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## LynQ

Thanks topcat for your reply. My cycle got cancelled yesterday. I was told that the egg was probably of bad quality as it was immature when I had the lh surge. The follicle measured 11.5mm yesterday. I'm on the boarder of permature menopause and i've read its very common to have high lh and fsh when you are menopausal. All of my cycles I have monitored have had 2 lh surges. The first usually happens around cd12-cd13 so i think its my body trying to ovulate normally but can't as my ovaries don't have the eggs to produce. I can't take ovulation suppression because in the past I would produce cyst.
I really truely believed that natural ivf would result in a better outcome for me due to my circumstance. We are thinking of trying again when I think it will be a good month or we might do the laprascopy for fix my tube and ovary. It will depend what the doctor thinks is better.
Good luck with your cycle I really believe it will work for some.


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## topcat1234

so sorry to hear that Lynq. I would look on the bright side though. I know you might be menopausal, but you can never know when it actually stops. I remember my mum's friend was told by the doctor that she was menopausal fairly young, but she didnt' actually have the menopause until 12 years later.. i guess you really never know, even with the doctor as everyone is fairly different.. have you also thought about going for donor egg one day? i don't like to think about it, but it might be something we may have to come to terms with if all else fails. It's not the end of the world is how i feel!


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## LynQ

topcat1234 said:


> so sorry to hear that Lynq. I would look on the bright side though. I know you might be menopausal, but you can never know when it actually stops. I remember my mum's friend was told by the doctor that she was menopausal fairly young, but she didnt' actually have the menopause until 12 years later.. i guess you really never know, even with the doctor as everyone is fairly different.. have you also thought about going for donor egg one day? i don't like to think about it, but it might be something we may have to come to terms with if all else fails. It's not the end of the world is how i feel!

Yes I've been told that by several doctors including my current one but it will still be difficult for me to concieve as i have a blocked tube due to an adhesion on my left ovary hence we are contemplating the laprascopy but I'm terrified as I've never had surgery before. 

Yes a agree I don't like to think about the donor option. I keep thinking to myself that I'm 30 there must be some good eggs still left in there. I do have a donor though, my sister. Her and her husband are ok with donating me a few eggs. I really don't want to get to that point though, having been through the ivf process 3 times myself I'd never wish for anyone to go through it.

How is your cycle going? when will you be testing?


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## topcat1234

Happy to report back that my blood pregnancy test came back positive today. So surprised that my natural cycle IVF worked out on the first go.... My doctor concluded that not everyone needs stimulation or responds well to stimulation and natural is the best way. I'm a huge fan of natural cycle IVF now.


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## Blythe

Wonderful news :) congratulations and a h&h 9 months to you :flower:


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## Briss

great news!! thanks fo sharing, i am hopeful again


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## Luma

topcat1234 said:


> Happy to report back that my blood pregnancy test came back positive today. So surprised that my natural cycle IVF worked out on the first go.... My doctor concluded that not everyone needs stimulation or responds well to stimulation and natural is the best way. I'm a huge fan of natural cycle IVF now.

Congrats! You have given me hope!

Baby dust and sticky vibes!


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## Briss

I recently went to CREATE clinic for an open day and after a short discussion with the FS it became clear that we cant lose any more time TTC naturally. Also with high FSH/low AMH we can only hope for a natural cycle IVF as traditional IVF (with stimulating drags) is unlikely to work for me. I am due for a scan and an initial appointment later this week. Hopefully I will be starting my natural cycle IVF next month and will keep you posted on my progress.


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## Briss

LynQ, how are you? have you had any further natural IVF cycles?

I posted my IVF updates here https://babyandbump.momtastic.com/a...ural-ivf-cycle-october-update-first-page.html


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## vermeil

oooh congratulations topcat and Briss! Really happy for you! :hugs:

I have to say though... I personally don`t think natural ivf is a good solution for us older ladies, unless other methods have failed. I think it`s a perfect protocol for younger ladies who produce good quality eggs every cycle. The point of the stimulation is to produce more eggs, increasing the odds of a good egg in there and weeding out the bad ones. I have read a lot on the topic and I *personally* would not go straight to natural ivf at our age. Statistically they just don`t work as well, unless like topcat the stimulation meds are messing something else up.

I got lucky on my first IVF cycle - at 41 I responded very well to the meds (too well in fact, was borderline ohss). I had 22 ovules, 9 fertilized, 6 matured. We transferred two - chemical at 7 weeks, probably due to the ohss. On the FET that followed 3 months later we transferred two more - bfp again and I'm 30 weeks along :thumbup:


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## Blythe

vermeil said:


> oooh congratulations topcat and Briss! Really happy for you! :hugs:
> 
> I have to say though... I personally don`t think natural ivf is a good solution for us older ladies, unless other methods have failed. I think it`s a perfect protocol for younger ladies who produce good quality eggs every cycle. The point of the stimulation is to produce more eggs, increasing the odds of a good egg in there and weeding out the bad ones. I have read a lot on the topic and I *personally* would not go straight to natural ivf at our age. Statistically they just don`t work as well, unless like topcat the stimulation meds are messing something else up.
> 
> I got lucky on my first IVF cycle - at 41 I responded very well to the meds (too well in fact, was borderline ohss). I had 22 ovules, 9 fertilized, 6 matured. We transferred two - chemical at 7 weeks, probably due to the ohss. On the FET that followed 3 months later we transferred two more - bfp again and I'm 30 weeks along :thumbup:


Vermeil. It's worth Reading the updates before handing out congratulations. :(

I disagree. natural IVF is a great choice for older ladies. It all depends on your afc. Yes you only have one/two eggs to play with but if you have a low afc then you run the risk of only getting that anyway and having a body full of drugs. It is wonderful that your IVF worked ((I am the same age and these stories make me smile What was your afc ahead of IVF?


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## Briss

vermeil, thanks. unfortunately my first natural cycle IVF is ending in chemical but on a positive side this is closer to pregnancy than we ever were.

I agree with Blythe, I was thinking long and hard about IVF it took me about 2 years to come to terms with this and chose what I think would work best and also more importantly what is going to be less damaging to my health. I am very happy about your pregnancy and wishing you all the best. I just think ohss presents terrible risks to women and generally aggressive stimulation of ovaries is very damaging. I am not surprised that you got pregnant in an natural cycle though because your body recovered from all the stimulation. As we have low sperm count issue, my main concern is to preserve my health and I think natural IVF caters for that. 

I can see women going through weeks of injections develop lots of follicles half of which are empty, most of eggs are not mature enough to even fertilise, and after going through this so many women do not even get to egg transfer stage. In a natural cycle you do get only one egg and it's very scary but you know it's a naturally selected the best possible egg you have this cycle. Also natural IVf does not seem to be disruptive to your cycle as it works with it not against it.

I still have not decided what we are doing next. At the moment I just want to see what my next cycle will look like.


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## vermeil

Briss said:


> vermeil, thanks. unfortunately my first natural cycle IVF is ending in chemical but on a positive side this is closer to pregnancy than we ever were.
> 
> I agree with Blythe, I was thinking long and hard about IVF it took me about 2 years to come to terms with this and chose what I think would work best and also more importantly what is going to be less damaging to my health. I am very happy about your pregnancy and wishing you all the best. I just think ohss presents terrible risks to women and generally aggressive stimulation of ovaries is very damaging. I am not surprised that you got pregnant in an natural cycle though because your body recovered from all the stimulation. As we have low sperm count issue, my main concern is to preserve my health and I think natural IVF caters for that.
> 
> I can see women going through weeks of injections develop lots of follicles half of which are empty, most of eggs are not mature enough to even fertilise, and after going through this so many women do not even get to egg transfer stage. In a natural cycle you do get only one egg and it's very scary but you know it's a naturally selected the best possible egg you have this cycle. Also natural IVf does not seem to be disruptive to your cycle as it works with it not against it.
> 
> I still have not decided what we are doing next. At the moment I just want to see what my next cycle will look like.

Briss I saw your update tonight... Really sorry to hear that *gentle hug* i was still hoping for good news because many women get spotting after a bfp and everything turns out ok :( you are strong to be able to see some positive in the situation :hugs: 

I agree that the body being full of hormones has a negative impact; in fact i've read that with the advances in vitrification for freezing, some clinics actually have higher success rates with FETs than with fresh cycles. Some are even moving towards freezing all embryos after an EC and only transfering 3 months later.

Thinking of you tonight


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## vermeil

Brythe from memory my afc was 21 i believe. You seem to have researched extensively, that's'great! I really believe in doing your own research and being proactive.


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## Briss

vermeil, thank you! I also heard about higher success rates with FETs than with fresh cycles in stimulated IVFs. afc of 21 is a fantastic result!! I had 9 and the cycle when we had IVf it was just 6 so stimulation is unlike to help really I just do not have that many eggs. although the one I had seemed to be of good quality, mature etc


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## dovkav123

topcat, congrats to your natural cycle IVF success. which day did you transfer your emby?
vermeil, Happy rest of your pregnancy.

This cycle is my 3rd natural IVF atempt.
1st one -didn't find an egg. HCG shot was administered too early.
2nd-8A embryo didn't stick. via ICSI
3rd- 4A was transfered. via IVF

I beleave natural IVF is the only way to go. It takes longer, because we transferring one at a time.
I agree with Briss, that the best naturally selected egg is a the healthiest and strongest, a dominant one to retrieve.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2582079/

After each failed IVF I read this over again and it gives me hope. One day we'll succeed.

This youtube video helps me not to give up!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HMtwmUV5Uk


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## dovkav123

I got my positive

14 dpo Clear blue digital

Tearful, speechless, shocked, blessed......


2 years and 5 months TTC

First BFP ever!

First beta 521

Never say never. It will happen on the right time, in the right place


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## terripeachy

Congratulations!!!


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