[Cecilie]

Dear All

I'm in the middle of my first IVF attempt. Had EC last Wednesday 3rd August, resulting in 30 eggs. Not surprisingly, from the number of eggs removed, I had ovarian hyperstimulation and the ET scheduled for Friday 5th was cancelled as it was considered too risky. Luckily 10 embryos were good enough quality to freeze.    I am now back on the Buserilin  waiting for a period so that I can start again, but hopefully using frozen embryos this time.

Has anyone else had a similar experience? I'd love to hear any views or feelings about hyperstimulation and/or using frozen embryos.

 

[Witters]

Hi there!

Firstly, best of luck for your transfer!

Secondly, I'm in a similar situation as you.  I did my first IVF cycle in June.  I had my 25 eggs collected on the Monday, the Wednesday I was admitted into hospital and the Thursday I was in ICU!  All very scary stuff.  Thankfully I am recovered now and have 3 embies to transfer at some point.

I must say, I am now very scared of doing another IVF cycle, but am happy to do a frozen transfer cycle.  I plan to start my de-regging cycle once AF decides to show her face.  As the transfer will not be stimming, there should be no risk of repeated OHSS. How do you feel about it?  Are you nervous?  Silly question!

 

[Cecilie]

Hi Witters

Thank you for replying! Your hyperstim sounds dreadful, you poor thing. I wasn't nearly as bad, but did have vomiting and extreme bloating. My belly button stuck right out and went purple!! A week on and I'm feeling 100% better, but I'm slightly worrried about long term damage, esp to kidneys. (They're still quite tender now). Do you know anything about this?


And yes, I am nervous about hyperstimulating again, although I too presume that can't happen on a frozen embryo cycle. Having said that,  I don't know anything about the drugs used for frozen cycles other than that they are designed to thicken endometrium and not to produce follicles. I would do another fresh cycle, but hope that history of OHS would mean lower stim doses.

I have PCOS which predisposes to OHSS - do you have the same problem? How did you feel before EC? I loved it till then - felt great and even looked forward to all injectcions...

Very good luck with your cycle - I hope you can start de-regging soon. It's all the waiting that's the killer, isn't it?

 

[Witters]

Hi again Cecille,

Yes, I did have severe OHSS, so had a central line in with 6 drips hanging off me all the time and then I had about 4 litres of fluid drained off me.  Within a 3 day period, my belly expanded by 23cm!  I couldn't even sit up in bed, I had to lay flat in the end.  I wasn't told of any long term damage, but I guess you never know.  They did monitor me regularly, I was having blood tests every two hours at one point, I think that was when they were worried about kidney and liver function.  If you are only a week on from your OHSS, then you will feel very tender still.  Keep drinking plenty of fluids and rest well.  Your ovaries will still be enlarged.  Mine were 12cm each, which are massive!  I'm sure yours wouldn't have been far off, so feeling uncomfortable is only to be expected.

I also have PCOS, although they did take that into account and I was put on a low dose, hense why I'm concerned about doing another IVF cycle.  I felt OK before collection.  The stims did make me feel lots of ovary activity though and I started to feel very bloated.  After collection, I felt fine, right up until 2 days later, at which point I felt awful.  I felt sick, I was sick, I couldn't eat or drink, I felt very uncomfortable and could only get relief if I laid down.  In the end, I also couldn't pee.  The injections suprisingly didn't bother me,  I kind of missed the routine once I stopped!

So, are you back on the Buserelin now?  Didn't they want you to start the de-reg next cycle once things had settled down a bit?  I've taken a complete cycle off and then will see what my day 4 scan says.  My scan this week showed a 3cm cyst, so that has to disappear before I can start the next stage.

Best of luck!  I hope the FET is successful to us both!

 

[Cecilie]

Hi Witters
I can totally understand why you're nervous - what an ordeal. Clinic was aware of my PCOS too, and like you I was put on a low dose of the stim drug, but obviously not low enough...

Yes am on buserilin, but not as part of a new cycle, just to bring my hormone levels down and get my ovaries back to normal. Then I go for a scan once my period starts, stop the buserilin, wait till day 21 then start buserelin again, this time for the purposes of down reging. Hope that makes sense?

Thanks for your posts today and for the support - I feel a whole lot better than I did this morning, when I was a bit of a hormonal car crash!

Cecilie x

 

[Witters]

Hi Cecilie,

Just wondering how you are getting on?  I'm still playing the waiting game

 

[Cecilie]

Hello Witters

How very spooky - I thought about you as soon as I woke up this morning and was wondering how you were getting on...

I'm in the same boat as you - waiting. It drives me mad!!  I'm waiting for AF. Scan last cycle showed a cyst on both ovaries so had to wait another cycle. Day 31 now, hopefully AF will arrive soon then another scan to check cysts have gone then buserilin injections from day 21.

How come you're still waiting? It's been ages since your EC. Did you start taking Metformin?

Love and Babydust
Cecilie x