Nervous.... Follistim and ganirelix? Any success stories?

[Bearcat1]

I am starting my 2nd IVF and would like to know anyone has had any success with Follistim and Ganirelix to give me some hope...everyone out there seems to be be doing Lupron and I am not.....

[kris71]

Unfortunately, every women's body is different and is affected by these meds differently as well. Ganirelix was fine for me not for nshapland. This whole ivf stimming meds is all a learning process for ourselves and for our docs. I'm not sure why your doc wouldn't also put you on another med as well as follistim but i can tell you from my own experience that i don't respond well to follistim on its own. We found this out during an IUI cycle where my dr put me on follistim on it's own. I had a lot of eggs but none were getting bigger than a 6 or 7. My dr added menopur and it helped the eggs along but it was late in the cycle so i only got 2 eggs that were big enough for that IUI cycle. I got more eggs when i used clomid! My dr explained to me that basically Follistim is basically a synthetic  FSH and although most women respond fine to the synthetic stuff, my body doesn't. Menopur is actually natural FSH derived from nun's urine (weird, i know) but using that natural FSH is what my body needs. Maybe your body is fine with the synthetic follistim and doesn't need the other stuff.  Since this is your 2nd ivf - what was your first protocol and how many eggs did you get etc? When are you starting your IVF?

[nshapland]

I am currently on a ganirelix cycle. Everything was going great (good number of follicles, estrogen high) until I started the ganirelix. At that point my estrogen plummeted. The dr called me and said to up my dose of menopur (I was on gonal f--same as follistim--and menopur). He said not to worry, that this happens sometimes and doesn't seem to affect embryo quality. The next day my estrogen had gone up but not enough. So he upped my gonad-f dosage.
Today I found out that my estrogen is fine and the follicles look great--but since my estrogen fell mid-way, there is a 20% chance the embyos won't fertilize or will be poor quality.
If I were you I would ask about the possibility of ganirelix reducing your estrogen level (according to the dr and the nurse, this is not unusual) and ask if you should up your dose of follistim preemptively. I wish I had done more research before

[Bearcat1]

It is actually my second. I am not Using Menopur and it seems weird to me since everyone else seems to be adding that into the mix....I am a bit concerned as to why that is not part of my mix....anyone have any thoughts why it would not be in my mix. Obviously a bit overwhelmed!

[kris71]

i did follistim, menopur and ganirelix too. I had 12 eggs retrieved - 6 made it to blast. Unfortunately, I had a miscarriage but in terms of getting eggs and ones that made it to blast, - it was a success. I am gearing up for my 2nd fresh IVF and I am seeing a new RE and he said he would do the same protocol. My previous RE said lupron is an older IVF method.

I'm assuming this is your first IVF?