CD3: Bring on the Gonal-F
It's a typical cycle, although not the same one I did last cycle. 5 days of femara, added in Gonal-F, ending with ganirelex...and a trigger. Tonight's the first night of Gonal-F - I'm doing 450iu this time whereas last cycle (which was dismal) we did 600iu. There's a axiom that "less is more" when it comes to IVF. Hitting your ovaries with big guns of gonadotropins can, and often does, shut them down. So we're back to 450iu, which is what I did with my first IVF back 4 or 5 years ago. (God, it's been that long?)
I was doing a bit of reading last night about when to start lovenox. It's not a huge deal if you start it earlier than you should, but starting it later means that you might form micro clots in your endometrium that can cause failure of the embryo to implant or thrive. I was also reading that lovenox, taken early, can help calm the immune system for folks like me whose immune systems run amuk with elevated APAs. So rather than wait til my stim day 2 (which would be Monday night), I started mine last night (Saturday). A few days earlier can't hurt, and might actually help.
So I finally buckled down and ordered my meds today, due to arrive on Tuesday. I've got plenty of back up drugs to get me til then...actually enough for the entire first week, but one can really never have enough Gonal-F is my thinking.
One thing that is sorta worrying me about this cycle is my lining. I started to bleed, quite a bit, about a week before my last BCP. So the day after my last BCP I let the clinic know that my period had started. I went in the next day for my baseline. This was Friday, two days ago. But despite having bled for a week solid, my lining was still at 11mm. THICK as all hell. Some women would slice off their little pinky for an 11mm lining. But that night the doc started me on my Femara. Since Friday, I haven't bled much more so that lining is probably still up in there. I'm starting stims tonight, first shots in half an hour. So once we start the Gonal-F, my lining isn't going anywhere. I'm worried about putting embryos into a lining that's been hanging around for a good month and a half (I was on BCPs since late December for this cycle).
Anyone know if I should be concerned about this lining situation? The doctor didn't seem concerned and I'm not seeing him again until next Friday. I'm going to fire off an email to him to ask...but if you guys have any ideas, please pipe in.
Peace out.
I was doing a bit of reading last night about when to start lovenox. It's not a huge deal if you start it earlier than you should, but starting it later means that you might form micro clots in your endometrium that can cause failure of the embryo to implant or thrive. I was also reading that lovenox, taken early, can help calm the immune system for folks like me whose immune systems run amuk with elevated APAs. So rather than wait til my stim day 2 (which would be Monday night), I started mine last night (Saturday). A few days earlier can't hurt, and might actually help.
So I finally buckled down and ordered my meds today, due to arrive on Tuesday. I've got plenty of back up drugs to get me til then...actually enough for the entire first week, but one can really never have enough Gonal-F is my thinking.
One thing that is sorta worrying me about this cycle is my lining. I started to bleed, quite a bit, about a week before my last BCP. So the day after my last BCP I let the clinic know that my period had started. I went in the next day for my baseline. This was Friday, two days ago. But despite having bled for a week solid, my lining was still at 11mm. THICK as all hell. Some women would slice off their little pinky for an 11mm lining. But that night the doc started me on my Femara. Since Friday, I haven't bled much more so that lining is probably still up in there. I'm starting stims tonight, first shots in half an hour. So once we start the Gonal-F, my lining isn't going anywhere. I'm worried about putting embryos into a lining that's been hanging around for a good month and a half (I was on BCPs since late December for this cycle).
Anyone know if I should be concerned about this lining situation? The doctor didn't seem concerned and I'm not seeing him again until next Friday. I'm going to fire off an email to him to ask...but if you guys have any ideas, please pipe in.
Peace out.
Labels: IVF6
posted by linda at 4:25 PM
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Comments on "CD3: Bring on the Gonal-F"
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amanda said ... (11:17 AM) :
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Linda said ... (12:57 PM) :
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amanda said ... (11:50 AM) :
post a commentI'm absolutely no help on the lining situation given the fact that I'm usually in the opposite position, hoping that it actually gets thick enough. I hope it ends up being ok, though.
Thanks for the thoughts on when to start Lovenox. I'll be on it again this cycle for my homozygous MTHFR stuff, and I'm trying to decide when to start it.
My RE says after ER. I did that with fresh cycle #3 (the first with Lovenox) and I think it was too late (ended up with a chemical on that one). I started early in my successful subsequent FET cycle, and I really think that made a big difference. So, now I'm trying to decide about this fresh cycle. I was thinking the day of stims, but now I'm thinking maybe a day or two before.
Do you stop your Lovenox a day or two before ER because of bleeding risks? I think I'll probably do that and then start it back up after retrieval.
Ah, isn't self medicating fun?
Good luck with this cycle!
Amanda,
I think earlier is better with lovenox for sure for a number of reasons - my reproductive immunologist says that waiting until after transfer is too late because the endometrium has already formed and without lovenox, it may have formed poorly.
Yes, I stop before ER and start again the next day. I think I wind up taking two days off of lovenox in all, which always makes me a bit worried to stop taking it. I think that the fish oil also helps with clotting so I do continue to take a LOT of that throughout the cycle.
Yep, self medicating is the way to go. I've been contemplating just creating my own cycle (I like lupron cycles, actually - I respond better). If I can get my hands on some lupron I might just do the cycle my way once my CD3 U/S and bloodwork are done.
How would they know what protocol I am on my mere blood tests? All they test for after you start stims is estrogen (E2)...and I'm sure it would be fine. :-)
Thanks for the thoughts on the Lovenox, Linda. That's helpful. Bring on the sting!
Too funny on creating your own cycle. We know our bodies best, right?
I ended up finding the protocol that works for me by asking to try X and then Y regardless of what the RE usually does. Microdose Lupron with an all FSH stim seems to do the trick better than anything, and I wouldn't have gotten there without saying that's what I wanted.
I think once you get to a certain point with this IVF stuff, you just have to push beyond the "standard" protocol.