Posted by Ellen K. on July 28, 19100 at 09:12:51:
The good news is that I produce lots of eggs... the bad news is that not many are mature. This wouldn't be so bad if we didn't lose 70+% of our embryos after PGD:
IVF#1 - 21 eggs retrieved (only 7 days of stims), 10 fertilized (w/ICSI), 8 biopsied, only 1 embryo remaining after PGD, no pregnancy
IVF#2 - (high responder protocol - 4 weeks of bcps overlapped with one week of Lupron) - 20 eggs retrieved (only 7 days of stims again), 8 fertilized (w/ICSI), 6 biopsied, again only 1 embryo remaining after PGD, no pregnancy
Stim protocol each cycle was 2amps Gonal F + 2amps Repronex + 10IU Lupron each day. In each cycle, my e2 after 3 days of stims was very high, so (1) Gonal F was discontinued and (2) I only stimmed for 7 days (peak e2 was >3000). So essentially I triggered before the smaller eggs could fully develop.
I'd like to know:
1) Are there are any other more aggressive high responder protocols available? (I can't help believing that if I could produce a few more mature eggs, we'd have more embryos after PGD)
2) I'm only 25, and our fertility problems are due to male factor -- since I respond so quickly to the stims at this age, any speculation on what a few years of waiting would do? Maybe my ovaries won't be so hyperactive at age 30???
Thanks for your feedback!