Failed IVF attempt Ques.

[poetgirl]

So I am dealing with IF (2 yrs and my older sister is as well).
My sister has just had her 2nd failed IVF attempt. I say attempt because she never had any ETs. Basically, the first time they went to u/s after all the stims and she had nothing. They thought it was a strange reaction to the Lupron. The second time they used no Lupron and she only had one follicle and they did an IUI. She thinks the bcp she's taking before the stims is screwing her up. She was on them for years and it gave her all kinds of trouble. Her docs don't quite know about that and they are giving her the Clomid challenge test and want to do a Clomid IVF which I'd never heard of before. So I guess my ques. is, in all the reading I've done, I've never seen anyone who O'd normally on their own produce no eggs on the stims (she both Os on her own and did on 4 inject. cycle, also is 38 and 9.8 FSH). Does anyone know about this happening? Or about Clomid IVF? Any insight would be invaluable. TIA!

[crazyrunningmama]

Sorry no clue. Just wanted to say good luck to you both.

[Julia'sMom]

I've never heard of this either. I know they did bw and and u/s prior to starting the stims to make sure I was properly suppressed by the bcp's. If nothing else, perhaps try and new RE or at least get a 2nd opinion.

[ChelseaW]

I have a friend who recently got pg through a Clomid IVF cycle. It can be a good option for those who ovulate on their own. If I were her I'd go ahead w/the challenge test and see what happens.

[poetgirl]

Thanks Everyone for responding! To update, I just spoke with her and they're going to do the CCT and if she passes give her clomid AND inject. and no more bc pills ever. Unreal to see such complications unfold for her.

[Seedlings]

Glad to hear they have a plan for your sister

[biomama]

clomid IVF is the same as mini IVF, I think.

poor thing, it sounds like she is going through a lot. I hope it works out for her!

[poetgirl]

Thanks again. Luckily, she passed her CCT so onto Clomid ivf she is.
:

[kristinc]

It sounds like your sister may have a pretty complicated case. What are her hormone levels? FSH? E2? AFC? Age?

I have a complicated case as well so i am trying to learn everything i can about infertility. I highly recommend sending her and yourself to haveababy.com. It is the website for SIRM (Sher Inst. for Reprod Med) who deal with the most complicated of cases. You can post questions there about your situation and suualy 2-3 of the RE's will give you their opinion about what you should do. They also offer free phone consults.

I had a horribly failed IVF w/ ICSI cycle in May with pretty poor response where the RE told me donor eggs were my only option. After SIRM looked at my records they said that my med protocol & dosages were horrible for my hormone levels aka the RE didin't know how to deal with the complicated cases. So long story short i am planning to try again with my own eggs this fall with SIRM and am hoping for a better result this time around.

[poetgirl]

Originally Posted by kristinc

It sounds like your sister may have a pretty complicated case. What are her hormone levels? FSH? E2? AFC? Age?

I have a complicated case as well so i am trying to learn everything i can about infertility. I highly recommend sending her and yourself to haveababy.com. It is the website for SIRM (Sher Inst. for Reprod Med) who deal with the most complicated of cases. You can post questions there about your situation and suualy 2-3 of the RE's will give you their opinion about what you should do. They also offer free phone consults.

I had a horribly failed IVF w/ ICSI cycle in May with pretty poor response where the RE told me donor eggs were my only option. After SIRM looked at my records they said that my med protocol & dosages were horrible for my hormone levels aka the RE didin't know how to deal with the complicated cases. So long story short i am planning to try again with my own eggs this fall with SIRM and am hoping for a better result this time around.

Thank you Kristin for the great advice. I'll def. check out the SIRM site and pass it on to my sister. My sister is 38 with an FSH of 9.8 I think. Not sure about AFC or E2 off the top of my head. (I'm 34 with a 6.3 FSH so we're not quite in the same place but I haven't responded well to clomid at all.)

I'm so sorry you found that your highly expensive med protocol and dosage were not appropriate for you. That must have been terrible to hear. I am glad you are in better hands. I'll be thinking of you.

[poetgirl]

To update, my dear sister just went through her 3rd ivf, an extremely aggressive protocol. They were hopeful, she had done really well on the CCT. She only had 2 eggs though and they even went in to retrieve them, but they were empty follicles, no eggs inside. The attending RE said she was in ovarian failure. We're so confused because her FSH is around 10, her estrogen normal, she ovulates monthly and she did fine on the CCT. Regardless, I am doing ivf as my next step now.

She may be more willing to consult SIRM now Kristin, I know I will.

Anyone else know of someone who didn''t respond to stims at all???

[EmmaJane]

All I can say -- and I'm coming off my 6th IVF, 4th protocol, 2nd BFP -- is that if she hasn't gotten a second opinion, if all her work has been through one clinic, then she needs to try going somewhere else, and preferably someplace that handles a lot of hard cases.

It's still as much an art as a science. Different clinics run different diagnostic testing, use honestly different protocols, and run their labs differently.

SIRM is one big place -- they have a bunch of offices in different cities. Probably the most prominent clinics nationally are CCRM in Colorado and the Center for Reproductive Medicine and Infertility (a.k.a. Cornell, based at the Cornell medical school) in New York. All three have many patients who come to them after repeated failure elsewhere.

There's a poor responders board over at IVF Connections, with many women posting who have been through cycles similar to your sister's. I wish her good luck -- it sounds like a very difficult situation.

[LisaG]

poetgirl - so sorry to hear about your sister's challenges. Ugh. I would strongly recommend that she contact CCRM and schedule a phone consult with one of the docs. Depending on your state the charge can range from $0 to I think $75. You complete extensive medical history forms and send in copies of all your lab work and are able to pick one of the doc's brains and get a sense of what, if anything, he/she would do differently. Dr. Schoolcraft was my doc and I highly recommend him, but I've heard great things about all the docs there (Dr. Surrey did my ER and ET and he was very good also). Schoolcraft might have a longer wait time to schedule with than the other docs. Even if she isn't interested in traveling for IVF it could be very helpful to get input from someone else to see if she's on track or not.

[poetgirl]

THANK YOU Emma Jane and Lisa G!!!