Not enough eggs for IVF retrieval?
2 Replies
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I failed my first IVF attempt last month and started my second. While I know there may be many reasons (or by pure chance) for the failure, it bothered me that I had only 5 eggs retrieved. At age 35, shouldn't I be expecting more? How can I increase my chance of having more eggs this time? I'll go in for a consultation with my specialist in 4 days and would appreciate any experience or perspectives you may be willing to share.
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Hi Cindy, Everyone is sooo very different in how they respond and it is true you can respond differently in different cycles. What is your FSH level? Your protocol is mainly the thing they can change to try to make you respond differently. Being a poor responder in the past myself and then going on to respond again in a future cycle I can tell you what I think was the issue for me. Alot of doctors will tell you it doesn't matter but the length of time on birth control prior to starting stimulation meds is what made the difference for me. I've been through 3 cycles and the one that was cancelled I was on birth control for over 6 weeks prior to stims and we think that caused my ovaries to be oversupressed. In the 2 cycles where I responded well I was only on birth control for 3-4 weeks prior to stimulating. In all cycles I have been on the microdose lupron flare protocol. I wish you luck - please let me know what your doctor tells you. I know how scary it is to respond poorly and wonder if you will ever produce enough eggs.
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Thanks so much for sharing your own experience! I'm onto my second IVF cycle and again I had only five eggs retreived. However, this time four were turned into healthy looking embryos and therefore implanted. I am hopeful this time. In fact, I'm thinking if I should do a home test tomorrow because the pregnancy test instructions says that it can be used 7 days prior to the date my period is expected to begin and tomorrow is exactly the day.
Back to the number of eggs discussion, my doctor told me that my uterus could be older than my age (35) or it could just be me. After all, everyone responds to the medication differently.
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