Progesterone continuation after confirmed IVF pregnancy

After being on so many meds for the past seven weeks, I'm getting a little nervous about whether my body's going to be able to take over carrying a pregnancy naturally on its own. Is this a silly concern? How long should a woman continue progesterone injections once an IVF cycle results in a pregnancy? Is it best to slowly reduce the amount of the progesterone injected to better allow one's own body to adjust and take over? I will of course be asking my own RE about this if my beta hcg on June 2nd  is positive (I had a faint positive on hpt this morning), but would love a second opinion.

[Elaine Brown, MD]

Hi!
I hope that faint line is getting stronger!
Your concern is very common!  In fact, my RE told me that although it is completely fine to stop progesterone shots "cold turkey" once the pregnancy is established,
he recommends tapering off slowly too simply because so many women are concerned.
Usually progesterone is continued for about 12 weeks.
Once the placenta has formed ( begins by 7 weeks) it produces enough progesterone on its own.
One thing that might help you(?) Its not going to be up to your body to produce the progesterone--the baby's placenta will do that.
Another thing that can be somewhat reassuring is doing progesterone levels. ( this is a blood test)
I'll bet that our RE has this covered!  

Good luck!
DrB

[Kristyingeorgia]

Hey there.  They usually keep you on progestrone till your 12th week when the placenta takes over. My RE did cut down my dose for a couple of days before stopping progestrone completely.  Good luck and Congrats!!!

[seattleview]

Thanks, Kristy. That's a long time. I hope my RE cuts me back sooner than that because I think being on progesterone that long might make me even more nervous about my body's ability to manage on its own. The last thing I need is more nerves!

[waitingonourlittleone]

Is it normal to have to increase the amount of progesterone your taking after each blood draw, or should I be prepping myself for a BFN?

[Kristyingeorgia]

Have you had the transfer yet or a beta to confirm pregnancy? I remember I was on progestrone shots and supositories untill after transfer then I went down to one shot instead of two a day ending after week 12 of my pregnancy. Never prep your self for a BFN! Stay positive :-)

[seattleview]

I'm not sure.  After my BFP last week, I stayed on daily morning progesterone in oil injections of 1ml through Monday.  I started weekly hydroxyprogesterone injections of 1ml on Friday and was told those will continue every Friday through July 16th (shortly after I hit the ten week point).

[waitingonourlittleone]

thanks for answering girls :)  I was 14 days post transfer when I wrote that.....and then I got the phone call today - I imagine that it's ok for them to increase the dosage everytime you do blood work because that is what they did and I just got the BFP call!

[positivethoughts]

Congrats on your BFP!!!

[allgood427]

I'm sure it's different for each person, just depends on your progesterone levels, which is one of the things they are checking in your bloodwork.  Mine have always been really high, so after my first BFP beta, they switched me to daily inserts and then only doing the injection every other day instead of daily.  After I finish this vial, I don't have to do the shots anymore....just continue with the inserts until they tell me to stop that I guess.  She said if my levels drop for some reason, they will make me go back to the shots (yuck!).  Last time, I did stay on the injections a little longer, but they eventually switched me to inserts on that round too.

congrats on your BFP!

[waitingonourlittleone]

thanks, they currently have me on inserts three times a day and daily shots 1.5 ml -  I would like to get rid of them :)