LTTTC #1 - Support Group *Please share your story

[pbl_ge]

Hi Nessaw!

 

[Ella_Hopeful]

Welcome Nessaw!

Sorry about AF flou

I think I'm ovulating around now, not sure though... I had a 14mm follicle on Thursday... but I don't know if the miscarriage will stop it from growing properly or not. I can't use an OPK either because I still have residual HCG from the miscarriage so it won't be accurate. Hmmm...

 

[flou]

Hi neesaw!

GL Ella with this cycle!

 

[pbl_ge]

Hi Ladies!

I'm completely bored with my stupid cycle, so I'm hoping some of you have more exciting things going on! What's up with everyone? Update from the IUI/IVF ladies?

Hope everyone is doing well.

 

[pipilotta]

I'm sorry pbl_ge, hoping you dont have to wait much longer.

I'm 15dpo today, and my temps are still high. This is a bit unusual. My lp is between 15 and 16 days, af is due tomorrow, but i'm trying to be cautiously optimistic. The fairly high and consistent temp is not normal for me, usually it gradually drops.
I will test thursday if af stays away, please keep your fingers crossed for me!

How is everyone else?

 

[flou]

I'm sorry pbl_ge, hoping you dont have to wait much longer.

I'm 15dpo today, and my temps are still high. This is a bit unusual. My lp is between 15 and 16 days, af is due tomorrow, but i'm trying to be cautiously optimistic. The fairly high and consistent temp is not normal for me, usually it gradually drops.
I will test thursday if af stays away, please keep your fingers crossed for me!

How is everyone else?

That sounds good. Ive got my fxd for you!

 

[pbl_ge]

That's pretty exciting, Pipi! Fingers are def crossed!

 

[Ella_Hopeful]

pipi I'm amazed you have the self-control not to test!

I'm also bored over here. Not sure if I ovulated or not yet... anyway we're meant to be NTNP this month so yeah, I shouldn't be thinking about it

 

[nessaw]

Pipi that looks gd.

thanks for the welcome ladies.

pebs sorry this cycle is a bore. Hope things get moving soon.

ella I am meant to be ntnp thismonth too but know where I am ish. Not entirely how many dpo I am. Max could be 8. Fingers crossed.

 

[pipilotta]

Thanks Ladies, this is definately a good place to be, be it bfn or bfp.
Apart from consistent high temps I don't have any other signs.

 

[DBZ34]

pipi - Keeping my fingers crossed for you, pipi!! I hope your temps stay up and that this is your cycle!!

nessaw- Welcome, nessaw!!

Pebble - Sorry you cycle is becoming such a long one. But the next cycle is going to be so much more exciting...well, after the downregging, I suppose. I can't wait to hear about it all. And thanks for pointing me in the direction of your questions, they were a big help in kick starting my list.


AFM- 7DPO, no symptoms other than gas, being sensitive to smells and a headache that comes and goes. But, these are normal, so I'm not reading anything into them. My blood sugar has been a little funky today, but who knows why that is. I'm taking it easy this TWW. No real symptom spotting, no worrying about what my 5DPO temp dip might mean, since it happened the same time last month. I'm just waiting for my next fertility appointment (on Wednesday morning) to see what the next steps might be. I'm really hoping I can beg a round or two of Clomid out of my doc, but I guess we'll see....

But if I can't, I've been looking into fertility acupuncture as another option. They say the rates of success over three months are about the same as Clomid... I wonder if that's actually true. The place closest to me has like 6 beds in a room and you lay there and wait your turn. Is that normal? There's a place a bit further away, which sounds like a better option. It's more expensive, but it might be worth it for the privacy and the personal touch. I'm still on the fence about it.

 

[Ella_Hopeful]

DBZ - I had acupuncture for 3 months while I was taking clomid. The clomid didn't seem to do much for me, I was ovulating the same as usual. I stopped the acupuncture because I couldn't afford it anymore, and lo and behold the next month I reacted really well to the clomid. I had 3 follicles (that was the month of the bfp that ended in a twin miscarriage). I'm not sure if the acupuncture helped or hindered things, or if it was all just a coincidence.

 

[pbl_ge]

FWIW, the research on acupuncture for fertility is pretty equivocal--it may help, but there are other studies showing it made no difference.

The evidence that it helps during assisted conception is a bit stronger, although a brand new meta-analysis suggested the effects were very small. My doc said he believed acupuncture was effective for increasing IVF success %.

I'm starting acupuncture on Sat to go along with the IVF.

 

[dovkav123]

Hello everyone!

Pipi, fingers crossed for your BFP this month! We need one really bad!!!

pgl, your chart shows that your body may gearing up for a big O! Also you have firtile signs. Waiting game is over! We'll see some good results in a few days.
Happy school year for you!

DBZ, I urge you to test 10DPO or so. You have lots of preg symptoms.
Last month you maybe had a chemical preg.- light positive test. It is important to record all those important details and tell to your RE.

Ella, Your body is soooo ready to coceive, 14mm follicle. I am happy for you!

Acupuncture does increase chances to conceive during IVF treatment. Lots of studies are done. My RE office has bussiness cards of local therapists.

About me.
I got to know how my body would feel during pregnancy. I have to report some reaction to hormone shots. HCG shot - I got acne on my chin and progesteron- I feel dizzy and I nausea every day.


My Dh was curious what I was writing in this thread. He was happy to read my posts. What about your DHs?

 

[DBZ34]

DBZ - I had acupuncture for 3 months while I was taking clomid. The clomid didn't seem to do much for me, I was ovulating the same as usual. I stopped the acupuncture because I couldn't afford it anymore, and lo and behold the next month I reacted really well to the clomid. I had 3 follicles (that was the month of the bfp that ended in a twin miscarriage). I'm not sure if the acupuncture helped or hindered things, or if it was all just a coincidence.

Thanks for the response, Ella!

I'm so sorry for your losses. But I'm glad to read that your body is getting back on track.

That's so interesting that you responded better to the Clomid without the acupuncture. Maybe it should be an either or thing. If I can finagle some Clomid, maybe I shouldn't bother with the acupuncture.

FWIW, the research on acupuncture for fertility is pretty equivocal--it may help, but there are other studies showing it made no difference.

The evidence that it helps during assisted conception is a bit stronger, although a brand new meta-analysis suggested the effects were very small. My doc said he believed acupuncture was effective for increasing IVF success %.

I'm starting acupuncture on Sat to go along with the IVF.

I read that too, that acupuncture is better for IVF and can increase the chances of success. It's interesting to hear that the difference might be minimal...

There's so much less put there about acupuncture for general fertility, and there isn't much to prove that it's worth it, but a couple of friends who were struggling swear by it. They're pretty persuasive, which is why I started looking into it in the first place.

I'm not sure where the place I looked into got the stats about it being as effective as Clomid, but then again, I haven't looked into the Clomid success rates either. Yet another thing to do before tomorrow. Though, the rates of success for Clomid in unexplained women aren't high enough for the NHS (NICE) to recommend it as a treatment anymore, so maybe they are comparable. Though I think it's the risk of multiples that really put the NHS off of it.

Though, I'm not unexplained IF just yet. Tomorrow I'll find out if there's something up or not. Maybe there'll be something to fix to help me get pg.

Hello everyone!

DBZ, I urge you to test 10DPO or so. You have lots of preg symptoms.
Last month you maybe had a chemical preg.- light positive test. It is important to record all those important details and tell to your RE.

Acupuncture does increase chances to conceive during IVF treatment. Lots of studies are done. My RE office has bussiness cards of local therapists.

About me.
I got to know how my body would feel during pregnancy. I have to report some reaction to hormone shots. HCG shot - I got acne on my chin and progesteron- I feel dizzy and I nausea every day.


My Dh was curious what I was writing in this thread. He was happy to read my posts. What about your DHs?

Thanks for the reminder, I will definitely mention the possible chemical to him tomorrow at my appointment.

I would love to have this be my month. I'm trying not to be too pessimistic about it, but I am keeping everything to myself this month. I'm not getting DH's hopes up if i don't have to. I usually don't test early, but I might if I don't feel AF knocking at my door.


Those are some nice symptoms you have, too bad they're from the HCG and progesterone. Here's hoping they stay around because you're pg!

And my DH gets a little bit jealous when I spend too much time on here in the evenings after he gets home from work. I like to tell him different things I hear about on here and then he goes "I think you need a hobby." But he has admitted to being glad I can dump all my thoughts on TTC here because that saves him from having to listen to me talk about it all the time. lol.

 

[pbl_ge]

DBZ, those really do sound like promising symptoms, so I'm excited for you to ! Today's your appt, right? Hope it goes well!

Dovkav, so sorry this cycle has been a disappointment. I don't think you're 100% out of the game, but the chances do seem less than if you have done the natural IVF. Are you planning on trying that again if this doesn't work?

Pipi, tomorrow is test day, yes? [-o< Your chart really looks amazing!

I hope this thread is about to have a slew of bfps!

What's everyone else up to?

 

[Serenyx]

Acupuncture does increase chances to conceive during IVF treatment. Lots of studies are done. My RE office has bussiness cards of local therapists.

So does ours - I have left it a bit late for this cycle (it all happened rather rapidly!) but it is certainly something I will consider for future

 

[Serenyx]

What's everyone else up to?

I have just come off the phone with the nurse and they have given me some slightly better news now

I went in this morning for my first progress scan and the words out of the scanners mouth as soon as she saw my ovaries were 'oh my gosh they are PCO aren't they' - it didn't exactly fill me with confidence as I knew I had a good chance of over responding to the stimms

So I have over responded but my blood work has just come back and my oestradiol levels are ok so we can go ahead with ER (10.2 K). I am concerned about the quality of the eggs since they have all grown incredibly fast but I can't do anything about that now. They have brought my ER forward to this Friday! (initially it was planned for Monday but due to me over responding we need to collect asap).

I have 9 follicles on my left ovary ranging from 8 - 15 and 18 follicles on my right ovary ranging from 10 - 23.

Even though we are now going ahead with ER (this morning they told me there was a chance we would have to cancel ER) I still might not make it to ET. It all depends on how my body reacts and whether or not I get OHSS. They did warn me that when they get people with over 25 follicles they do sometimes cancel the cycle after ER and freeze any viable embryos to use in a later frozen cycle.

I have to drink 3 litres a day and take some new drugs which have been associated with causing pathological gambling in order to try and prevent OHSS

 

[pbl_ge]

Forgot that I wanted to add the link for the meta-analysis on acupuncture:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23814102

This abstract is very difficult to understand. My read is that they found that the studies with significant effects of acupuncture tended to be smaller, with lower than typical rates of pregnancy in the control group.

I also found this short note to the editors of Fertility and Sterility, which I appreciated:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0015028213027490
In case you can't see the text, I'm pasting it here:
To the Editor:

We read with interest the recent article, “Acupuncture—help, harm, or placebo?” by Meldrum et al. (1). We have one observation and one area of concern regarding the authors’ conclusions. The observation is focused on the dismissal of the efficacy of any impact of acupuncture on pregnancy rates as a placebo effect. First of all, the placebo effect is not to be taken lightly, and in fact may well be responsible for the efficacy of antidepressant medications, which seem to positively impact the psychological well-being of millions of Americans (2). Second, many of the randomized controlled trials on acupuncture do show a statistically significant impact on pregnancy rates. It is quite possible that acupuncture may only be effective with specific patient populations, analogous to assisted hatching (3). Finally, authors may influence the conclusions of any meta-analysis by shifting the criteria to include/exclude certain studies.

[snip, snip]

We do agree with the authors that the research on acupuncture does not lead to clear recommendations for our patients. However, it is one of the few alternative treatments that does have data to support its efficacy with some patients. In addition, it seems, at least at the current time, according to the research available to us, that we should be far more inclined to recommend acupuncture than a commercial Web site.

That seemed to be the approach my doc was taking. I read the article this is referencing, and one of the things they mention is that acupuncture should probably be relaxing to be effective. I think that's probably right, and some people likely won't think it's relaxing. Perhaps that explains the heterogeneity in findings?

 

[pbl_ge]

What's everyone else up to?

I have just come off the phone with the nurse and they have given me some slightly better news now

I went in this morning for my first progress scan and the words out of the scanners mouth as soon as she saw my ovaries were 'oh my gosh they are PCO aren't they' - it didn't exactly fill me with confidence as I knew I had a good chance of over responding to the stimms

So I have over responded but my blood work has just come back and my oestradiol levels are ok so we can go ahead with ER (10.2 K). I am concerned about the quality of the eggs since they have all grown incredibly fast but I can't do anything about that now. They have brought my ER forward to this Friday! (initially it was planned for Monday but due to me over responding we need to collect asap).

I have 9 follicles on my left ovary ranging from 8 - 15 and 18 follicles on my right ovary ranging from 10 - 23.

Even though we are now going ahead with ER (this morning they told me there was a chance we would have to cancel ER) I still might not make it to ET. It all depends on how my body reacts and whether or not I get OHSS. They did warn me that when they get people with over 25 follicles they do sometimes cancel the cycle after ER and freeze any viable embryos to use in a later frozen cycle.

I have to drink 3 litres a day and take some new drugs which have been associated with causing pathological gambling in order to try and prevent OHSS

That sounds very stressful! I hope that things calm down for your next step. It's good to know that freezing is a possibility. Some women even choose that, as they think their bodies will be more relaxed after a rest following stims. So it sounds like you're going to gets lots of good eggs, which is wonderful! Just rest, drink your fluids, and think lots of positive thoughts.