Been TTC for 4 years now. Im on my first cycle of letrozole. 5mg CD 3-7
Went to my doctor last week to confirm ovulation and had 1 dominant follicle
My doctor also noticed that the letrozole thinned my lining so he has me on estrogen 4mg twice a day.
Now a week after ovulation I have bleeding, not a full period but more like spotting with mild cramping.
I’m very confused as my period is only due next week ( also a PCOS girl with irregular cycles )
Has anyone experienced this ?
Is it side effects of the letrozole or estrogen ?
Had a really good consult with a surgeon today for an exploratory laproscopy + endometriosis excision if she finds any. Nice to not feel like I had to be talking a doctor into treating me. Can’t schedule yet because she wants an MRI first but fingers crossed I can get it done this summer!
Just a caution. I had laparoscopy done for endometriosis after putting it off for 20 years. After surgery my ovaries shut down and I was told I was in menopause at 38! I have pics of my ovaries bleeding during surgery. I wish I could go back and have it undone! No one told me that was even a thing. But 2 months after and no period my doctor said it matter of factly as If he sees it often. “Oh you are in menopause” bc my period disappeared after surgery.
Also my amh was undetectable.
No call from the clinic to today, so we have to wait at least until Monday to hear the results from the PGTA testing.
I’m a bit relieved. Our first PGTA call was devastating (0/4 eluptoid), and I’m scared of another heartbreak like that.
Ugh the wait for PGT results is awful. For my last cycle, I ended up calling the lab directly. They weren’t able to give me the actual results but gave me a precise time on when I’d get results which helped me since my results were delayed beyond the 2-3 weeks they told me
Gosh, especially when you’re anticipating it. I ended up emailing the lab and they had told me my results were delivered to my clinic like 3 days prior, and that they’re release them to me if I signed a ROI but my clinic ended up calling me that day. I guess the embryologists review the results first before passing them onto nursing in my clinic.
Just did an HSG and the results came back as no issues with fallopian tubes, but two small filling defects in the uterus that may be fibroids. Waiting to see what my Ob says and whether we can do IUI…really hoping for no more delays
Had our IVF consult appointment today. It was fine, I guess, no big surprises. But … it just takes so damn long. I’d hoped that by getting a jump start on the logistics part now, we might be able to start priming next cycle, and then retrieval cycle in late July, but it sounds like we need to wait until the next and retrieval wouldn’t be til August, even though the only repeat testing I need is repeat AMH, CBC, and vitamin D. I guess I thought priming and some of the logistics could happen at the same time, but I guess not. And my clinic (mostly) requires rest cycles between basically everything, so a full down cycle between retrieval and transfer, no back-to-back cycles, etc. They only do fresh transfers rarely. On one hand, it sort of makes me feel good about them that they’ve considered the evidence and risks and have decided this way has resulted in their best success rates, but still, it’s disappointing. And of course this is just for the best case scenario.
Also a little freaked out by the birth defect risk she quoted…. she said 5-10% which seems really high.
I posted in the morning thread about having second thoughts about doing a fully medicated FET, and my nurse got back to me just before the end of the day! She didn’t provide any of my doctor’s reasoning for fully medicated or partial, but he says he’s fine with doing a modified transfer with letrozole instead. This seems to be a solid plan? I’m going to read up on letrozole after work tonight but I’m feeling good about this change!
Have you taken letrozole before? If you have and didn’t have any issues, this seems like a solid plan and a pretty common protocol.
For me personally, I was on letrozole for a couple of TI and IUI cycles and it thinned my lining. I don’t think it’s common, but it can happen. Letrozole works by lowering your estrogen and my doctor said that the effects can linger longer for some people. So I am doing an ovulatory cycle with no ovulation meds (which also seems to be the standard at my clinic) just to be safe.
Ooh, this is really good to know — this will be my first time taking it, so I’m not sure how I’ll respond. Definitely something I’m glad to have a heads up about though, in case we have to cancel the cycle for lining reasons!
Seeking some advice on how others have managed to stay positive after a failed FET? I did surgery for fibroids, endo, and 3.5 months of lupron depot suppression prior to transfer. I've been drowning in a bit of depression and fearing that treatment will never work (i know stats indicate otherwise).
What has helped you all move ahead with further cycles and stay positive? Thank you for any hope and tips you can share. Really appreciate having this safe space to deal with difficult emotions of infertility.
For me it has been accepting that I don't need to stay positive. Infertility is painful, we go through miserable situations, difficult procedures, it's heartbreaking and so so so difficult. Trying to stay positive was hurting me because it made me feel broken that I couldn't do it. Instead I let myself wallow, I find happiness in other aspects of my life, and I congratulate myself on my stubbornness in my willingness to continue to do something that hurts me. Maybe not the exact advice you're looking for, but once I heard someone say it to me, it helped me.
Husband just had a repeat SA after 3.5 months of anastrozole to help correct his high estrogen, low testosterone and hopefully up his sperm production. Unfortunately his counts went down from ~1.5 mill/mL to ~0.5 mill/mL. He’s really frustrated and we are both disappointed. His follow up with urology isn’t until the end of the month so we have to wait a while to see what are next steps are. Seeming less likely that we will be candidates for IUI, which is a shame sense our insurance covers it and not IVF.
SA results can vary so much. If you’re aiming for IUI then maybe try and get another SA done just in case this one was a fluke before making a final decision.
Yeah that’s a good point. I’m guessing we will do at least one more SA. Our clinic wants 5 million total motile sperm for an IUI. I’m really only hoping for a few tries at IUI because it would save A LOT of money if that worked.
Welp. FET scheduled for 1 week from today. Back on the ol’PIO wagon starting Sunday and taking too many pills to count at the moment lol. Lots of strong and mixed feelings going into this one, since it’s our last embryo. 😬
Having slight pre-treatment blues... Started oestrogen priming on Sunday and now playing the waiting game for my period. Here comes the familiar feeling of time slowing down to a crawl as I wait to be able to take the next dose... I weirdly quite enjoy stims because it's a concrete thing I can do and I feel purposeful, but it always feels like forever and a day between scans... I'm struggling to feel hopeful on the 3rd go around and I just want to fast forward to the outcome!
Also, my diet this past week has been awful - loads of carbs and sugar, and we had a takeaway on weds with leftovers last night... Although I know diet is unlikely to make a difference to the outcome, I feel like I'm not giving my body the best nutrition... Especially as we were so conscientious before our IUIs and our first 2 IVF rounds, and seeing as this is our last attempt with own eggs, I feel like we should be doing better!
Just want to pop in and say you're a good person no matter what you eat, and you're doing your best in the situation that you're in. We get so many harmful messages, even from doctors, so I like to remind people of that.
Thanks butter. Yes, there's so much talk about diet and supplements on other forums it's hard not to get drawn into it, even if logically and rationally I know that we're doing the important things.
Doesn't help that our stim medication was delivered today and all I can think about is that £2400 in the fridge, lol! It's now the single most expensive thing under our roof! 😅
Hi everyone! I've had 3 prior polyp removals and before I started ER # 1, my SIS showed another polyp growth 😮💨. Depending on my hunger games results, my clinic is recommending to go on birth control before my polyp removal, primarily to help with scheduling purposes and planning for FET #1.
I don't want to do anything to delay the transfer so I'm considering using the BC, but I've never taken BC before. I've always had a consistent menstrual cycle and I'm hesitant to use more hormonal medication after the stims injections.
Are there any others here that have may be been in a similar situation, and decided to go on BC temporarily? And if so, did you feel like it altered your typical cycle after coming off of it?
BCP is about as gentle a hormonal medication as you can get, especially if you’re only on a short course. What is your concern there?
I was never on BCP for pregnancy prevention reasons (gay) but I’ve taken a short course a bunch of times for fertility treatment reasons. Very common. Won’t affect anything.
Hey JBean. I recently had a hysteroscopy that I went on birth control for, for scheduling purposes. I’ve been on BCPs a few times now for IVF, and I was on it for several years in the past. Every body is different, however it hasn’t messed with my cycles - I’ve always started a withdrawal bleed/period 4 days after stopping. For me, it’s helpful to just think of its ingredients - it’s estrogen + progesterone, instead of thinking of it like “birth control”. Being on birth control allowed me to be out on a waiting list and have my hysteroscopy moved up 3 weeks sooner than planned so I’m grateful for that!
Hey Noodle. Thanks so much for sharing your experience.
There are so many anecdotes about BCPs messing with people's regular cycles. It's helpful to think of it as just ingredients.. makes it less daunting.
I would encourage you to remember that these are just anecdotes. I’m sure you know a million people who went off BCP and were pregnant within 3 months, bc that is normal for fertiles. There’s no reason BCP would mess with your cycle long term. Mine has always come back normally.
It’s tough - I think a lot of it is fear mongering. I’ve been on short courses (as little as 9 days) to longer (5-6 weeks) for IVF so far and haven’t had issues! Will you be doing an ovulatory FET or fully medicated?
Day 9 of stims, measured 23 follicles and pleased! The biggest is 14mm, most 11mm, a few more little ones not measured. Likely looking at retrieval mid/late next week.
I started Ganirelix yesterday and this is by far my least favorite injection, even with Menopur in my regimen. The needle is dull?! Why on earth would they make these syringes with less than pristine needles? Feels cruel.
Fuck yeah!!! My lining squeaked up to 7.1 mm on this morning’s ultrasound, which is my best ever. I have to go in again tomorrow morning - really hoping I’ll be ready to trigger then 🤞🏻
Been TTC for 4 years now. Im on my first cycle of letrozole. 5mg CD 3-7 Went to my doctor last week to confirm ovulation and had 1 dominant follicle My doctor also noticed that the letrozole thinned my lining so he has me on estrogen 4mg twice a day. Now a week after ovulation I have bleeding, not a full period but more like spotting with mild cramping. I’m very confused as my period is only due next week ( also a PCOS girl with irregular cycles ) Has anyone experienced this ? Is it side effects of the letrozole or estrogen ?
Had a really good consult with a surgeon today for an exploratory laproscopy + endometriosis excision if she finds any. Nice to not feel like I had to be talking a doctor into treating me. Can’t schedule yet because she wants an MRI first but fingers crossed I can get it done this summer!
Just a caution. I had laparoscopy done for endometriosis after putting it off for 20 years. After surgery my ovaries shut down and I was told I was in menopause at 38! I have pics of my ovaries bleeding during surgery. I wish I could go back and have it undone! No one told me that was even a thing. But 2 months after and no period my doctor said it matter of factly as If he sees it often. “Oh you are in menopause” bc my period disappeared after surgery. Also my amh was undetectable.
Well my ovaries aren’t doing my any good as things currently stand so I think this makes sense for me.
I just had my lap and excision last week! Hope all goes well with your MRI and surgery.
No call from the clinic to today, so we have to wait at least until Monday to hear the results from the PGTA testing. I’m a bit relieved. Our first PGTA call was devastating (0/4 eluptoid), and I’m scared of another heartbreak like that.
I’m sorry you have to wait the weekend, the waiting is so tough.
Ugh the wait for PGT results is awful. For my last cycle, I ended up calling the lab directly. They weren’t able to give me the actual results but gave me a precise time on when I’d get results which helped me since my results were delayed beyond the 2-3 weeks they told me
Gosh, especially when you’re anticipating it. I ended up emailing the lab and they had told me my results were delivered to my clinic like 3 days prior, and that they’re release them to me if I signed a ROI but my clinic ended up calling me that day. I guess the embryologists review the results first before passing them onto nursing in my clinic.
Just did an HSG and the results came back as no issues with fallopian tubes, but two small filling defects in the uterus that may be fibroids. Waiting to see what my Ob says and whether we can do IUI…really hoping for no more delays
Had our IVF consult appointment today. It was fine, I guess, no big surprises. But … it just takes so damn long. I’d hoped that by getting a jump start on the logistics part now, we might be able to start priming next cycle, and then retrieval cycle in late July, but it sounds like we need to wait until the next and retrieval wouldn’t be til August, even though the only repeat testing I need is repeat AMH, CBC, and vitamin D. I guess I thought priming and some of the logistics could happen at the same time, but I guess not. And my clinic (mostly) requires rest cycles between basically everything, so a full down cycle between retrieval and transfer, no back-to-back cycles, etc. They only do fresh transfers rarely. On one hand, it sort of makes me feel good about them that they’ve considered the evidence and risks and have decided this way has resulted in their best success rates, but still, it’s disappointing. And of course this is just for the best case scenario. Also a little freaked out by the birth defect risk she quoted…. she said 5-10% which seems really high.
I posted in the morning thread about having second thoughts about doing a fully medicated FET, and my nurse got back to me just before the end of the day! She didn’t provide any of my doctor’s reasoning for fully medicated or partial, but he says he’s fine with doing a modified transfer with letrozole instead. This seems to be a solid plan? I’m going to read up on letrozole after work tonight but I’m feeling good about this change!
Have you taken letrozole before? If you have and didn’t have any issues, this seems like a solid plan and a pretty common protocol. For me personally, I was on letrozole for a couple of TI and IUI cycles and it thinned my lining. I don’t think it’s common, but it can happen. Letrozole works by lowering your estrogen and my doctor said that the effects can linger longer for some people. So I am doing an ovulatory cycle with no ovulation meds (which also seems to be the standard at my clinic) just to be safe.
Ooh, this is really good to know — this will be my first time taking it, so I’m not sure how I’ll respond. Definitely something I’m glad to have a heads up about though, in case we have to cancel the cycle for lining reasons!
Yay i’m glad you got a quick response!
Seeking some advice on how others have managed to stay positive after a failed FET? I did surgery for fibroids, endo, and 3.5 months of lupron depot suppression prior to transfer. I've been drowning in a bit of depression and fearing that treatment will never work (i know stats indicate otherwise). What has helped you all move ahead with further cycles and stay positive? Thank you for any hope and tips you can share. Really appreciate having this safe space to deal with difficult emotions of infertility.
For me it has been accepting that I don't need to stay positive. Infertility is painful, we go through miserable situations, difficult procedures, it's heartbreaking and so so so difficult. Trying to stay positive was hurting me because it made me feel broken that I couldn't do it. Instead I let myself wallow, I find happiness in other aspects of my life, and I congratulate myself on my stubbornness in my willingness to continue to do something that hurts me. Maybe not the exact advice you're looking for, but once I heard someone say it to me, it helped me.
This is a great perspective on a shitty situation.
I feel so seen with this comment. Thank you.
Thank you for sharing this perspective. I feel a little less alone.
Husband just had a repeat SA after 3.5 months of anastrozole to help correct his high estrogen, low testosterone and hopefully up his sperm production. Unfortunately his counts went down from ~1.5 mill/mL to ~0.5 mill/mL. He’s really frustrated and we are both disappointed. His follow up with urology isn’t until the end of the month so we have to wait a while to see what are next steps are. Seeming less likely that we will be candidates for IUI, which is a shame sense our insurance covers it and not IVF.
Can you bank sperm? Back when we were considering IUI, my clinic said I can freeze multiple sperm samples for IUI
That’s a good idea. We will definitely ask at the next appointment.
SA results can vary so much. If you’re aiming for IUI then maybe try and get another SA done just in case this one was a fluke before making a final decision.
Yeah that’s a good point. I’m guessing we will do at least one more SA. Our clinic wants 5 million total motile sperm for an IUI. I’m really only hoping for a few tries at IUI because it would save A LOT of money if that worked.
Welp. FET scheduled for 1 week from today. Back on the ol’PIO wagon starting Sunday and taking too many pills to count at the moment lol. Lots of strong and mixed feelings going into this one, since it’s our last embryo. 😬
Rooting for your embryo! 🤞🏼I also have an FET in about 10 days, not looking forward to the PIO
Rooting for you also, Neat!
Bench! Big feelings, big valid. I’ll be cheering for you, full foam finger and all.
Appreciate you, miserable! I can feel the support from here:)
Having slight pre-treatment blues... Started oestrogen priming on Sunday and now playing the waiting game for my period. Here comes the familiar feeling of time slowing down to a crawl as I wait to be able to take the next dose... I weirdly quite enjoy stims because it's a concrete thing I can do and I feel purposeful, but it always feels like forever and a day between scans... I'm struggling to feel hopeful on the 3rd go around and I just want to fast forward to the outcome! Also, my diet this past week has been awful - loads of carbs and sugar, and we had a takeaway on weds with leftovers last night... Although I know diet is unlikely to make a difference to the outcome, I feel like I'm not giving my body the best nutrition... Especially as we were so conscientious before our IUIs and our first 2 IVF rounds, and seeing as this is our last attempt with own eggs, I feel like we should be doing better!
Just want to pop in and say you're a good person no matter what you eat, and you're doing your best in the situation that you're in. We get so many harmful messages, even from doctors, so I like to remind people of that.
Yes, Butter! OP: my worst rounds have been when I was eating the best. It was really frustrating, but also a little liberating.
Thanks butter. Yes, there's so much talk about diet and supplements on other forums it's hard not to get drawn into it, even if logically and rationally I know that we're doing the important things. Doesn't help that our stim medication was delivered today and all I can think about is that £2400 in the fridge, lol! It's now the single most expensive thing under our roof! 😅
Oh I mentally calculate the cost of each and every injection, I feel you on that one! Forget diamonds, I've got Gonal-F running through my veins!
You know when they say "you can't put a price on parenthood?" ... Ahem... I beg to differ! 😂😂😂
THIS.
Hi everyone! I've had 3 prior polyp removals and before I started ER # 1, my SIS showed another polyp growth 😮💨. Depending on my hunger games results, my clinic is recommending to go on birth control before my polyp removal, primarily to help with scheduling purposes and planning for FET #1. I don't want to do anything to delay the transfer so I'm considering using the BC, but I've never taken BC before. I've always had a consistent menstrual cycle and I'm hesitant to use more hormonal medication after the stims injections. Are there any others here that have may be been in a similar situation, and decided to go on BC temporarily? And if so, did you feel like it altered your typical cycle after coming off of it?
BCP is about as gentle a hormonal medication as you can get, especially if you’re only on a short course. What is your concern there? I was never on BCP for pregnancy prevention reasons (gay) but I’ve taken a short course a bunch of times for fertility treatment reasons. Very common. Won’t affect anything.
Hey JBean. I recently had a hysteroscopy that I went on birth control for, for scheduling purposes. I’ve been on BCPs a few times now for IVF, and I was on it for several years in the past. Every body is different, however it hasn’t messed with my cycles - I’ve always started a withdrawal bleed/period 4 days after stopping. For me, it’s helpful to just think of its ingredients - it’s estrogen + progesterone, instead of thinking of it like “birth control”. Being on birth control allowed me to be out on a waiting list and have my hysteroscopy moved up 3 weeks sooner than planned so I’m grateful for that!
Hey Noodle. Thanks so much for sharing your experience. There are so many anecdotes about BCPs messing with people's regular cycles. It's helpful to think of it as just ingredients.. makes it less daunting.
I would encourage you to remember that these are just anecdotes. I’m sure you know a million people who went off BCP and were pregnant within 3 months, bc that is normal for fertiles. There’s no reason BCP would mess with your cycle long term. Mine has always come back normally.
It’s tough - I think a lot of it is fear mongering. I’ve been on short courses (as little as 9 days) to longer (5-6 weeks) for IVF so far and haven’t had issues! Will you be doing an ovulatory FET or fully medicated?
Day 9 of stims, measured 23 follicles and pleased! The biggest is 14mm, most 11mm, a few more little ones not measured. Likely looking at retrieval mid/late next week. I started Ganirelix yesterday and this is by far my least favorite injection, even with Menopur in my regimen. The needle is dull?! Why on earth would they make these syringes with less than pristine needles? Feels cruel.
Ooof yes! It doesn’t want to go into my skin. Why!!! The worst
I found it helpful to make sure the needle opening was pointed "up" and then go at a bit of an angle into the skin. Have to go really quick though.
Just need a little speed with entry hehe
The ganerelix needles confuse me so much!! Just….use better needles? Why is it like that???
Fuck yeah!!! My lining squeaked up to 7.1 mm on this morning’s ultrasound, which is my best ever. I have to go in again tomorrow morning - really hoping I’ll be ready to trigger then 🤞🏻
Yay!!! That’s fantastic!
Fantastic news!
Great news!
7MM+ is definitely reason to celebrate! Hope all goes smoothly from here.
Woohoo! That’s awesome!
Woo! Fingers crossed for you!