Follies too small

Hi

I am hoping that you lovely ladies can give me a bit of reassurance.

We are in our first IVF cycle.We have had 3 failed attempts at IUI and are hoping that ICSI will work for us. As far as we know I have no fertility problems - we are a same sex couple so thats why we need a little help to conceive our bundle of joy.

Anyway I have been on synarel for 22 days and puregon injectons for 9 days. We had our first scan today and we only have 8 follies measuring between 5-7 mm so we have a long way to go to get to the minium size of 18mm. Our specialist has increased the dosgae of puregon from 150 to 200 iu and we have to go back for another scan on Monday, and possibly Wednesday

Our specialist and nurse has told us that it is not uncommon on the first cycle to have to play a 'try and see' game with the dosgae to get to the right level for my body.

Has anyone else had a similar kind of experience, which ended in a positive outcome?

I know it is silly, and that it is way too early to get really worried, but now I am starting to think that maybe there is some underlying problem that they just haven't found yet.

I suppose I am just frustrated that my body is not doing what I want it to do - and again I know many of you have had much bigger worries than this, and i know i have to stay positive.

Anyway thanks for listening

Belin

Hi belin...
I don't really have any advice, sorry, just thought i'd say hi :) I do know that for most people (even though we aren't doing ICSI, just had our 2nd IUI) it is a lot of playing with the doses to get everything happeing smoothly. Hope somone can help you out better than I can. Good luck!

Hey Belin,

I have done 3 cycles of IVF, the first cycle i was on 150iu Gonal F (same thing as puregon) and i only made two follicles, so we cancelled that cycle. The next cycle i was on 300iu of Gonal F and i got 8 follicles, but only two fertilised and only made it to 4 cell and 5 cells by day 3, so we transferred both and hoped for the best, BFN.

The next cycle we used my partners eggs and she got 8 follies on 150iu Gonal F but she had already started ovulating when they went to egg pick up and they only managed to get 3 eggs, all of which didnt fertilise normally (most likely too immature)... Next year when our waiting period on our private health is over, i am going to do IVF again, this time with ICSI, hoping to get a better fertilisation rate, and to help my eggies along....

I really recommend that you let your dr and yourselves consider this cycle an experimental cycle to see how your body reacts to the meds. If all else fails, you can cancel this cycle and your doctor will have a much better idea for next cycle. In saying that, you will be surprised at how fast your follicles will grow, next monday may be a bit of a shock for you, they might be slow growing as well... the synarel should keep you from ovulating and you just keep up the injections until they get to the right size... My doctor said that slow growers seem to do better than fast growers in his experience!! Good Luck!!

Hi

Just wanted to say thanks for your encouragement - this afternoon I am feeling a bit better - have had a nice long lunch in the sun with my mum, which is always nice and have spoken to our nurse again, and both she and our specialist are not concerned and have both said we just need to be patient, and we need to try and not worry yet.
So here is hoping that monday will bring the news we want - lots of big fat follies!
Have a great weekend and will kepp you posted with what happens.
Thanks again

Hi Belin

Just wanted to quickly say that i have heard a lot of stories about low/small follicle numbers and then when they up the dose of medication its just the kick your bosy needs to get busy growing and making more follies. Dont despair just yet and remember no matter how stressed you get there is nothing you can do so just relax and let your body do its thing!

Shan :)

Hi Belin - it's definitely normal.
1st cycle i got 5 follies on 150-200, then 20-odd on 200-300, so big difference. Anyway, 8 at the first scan is ok really, they might just take a bit more time to grow.
good luck - hope you guys get your BFP soon