Experiences on Follistim?

[colby714]

I'm just starting my first round of follistim (75iu for days 3-7, ultrasound/blood on day 8). I'm nervous about side effects and ovarian response (too many/too few follicles). Did anyone have side effects? What cycle day did you trigger? Is this dose low? I'm new at this, so any advice would be appreciated!

[jmcavoy]

I was on Follistim for IVF and injected units of 200 - 325. I didn't have any lingering side effects. Just some minor burning and itchiness after the injection. One tip I have is to ice your abdomen before the injection so you don't feel the needle going in but the "juice" still burns a little bit. I also got some minor bruises from it.

Kendra04 - The average number of days stimming is around 8-10 days so you are right on track. I took Follistim, Menopur and Ganirelix. My least favorite shot is Menopur, there's just so much you have to inject! I was able to retrieve 13 eggs and 10 fertilized, 6 made it to blast stage. You should join the Mar/Apr IVF group, there's lot of women going through the same thing.

Sending super sticky baby dust to all!

[Kendra04]

I am currently on 300 units of Follistim, 150 Menapur, 5 Lupron. Thought those doses seemed a little high....First Round of IVF. Day 4 u/s showed 10 follicles between 12-15mm.  4 more days for ER seems a long way away. My ovaries ache a little too.

Anyone out there have a comparison?? THANKS!!

[colby714]

Thank you both so much! I'm excited to get started, and it's good to know about other people's experiences. Glad to hear you both got pregnant!

[Tanker Chic]

I took it for 3 cycles and took the same dosage (75iu)..  My response to it was slow and steady which is good.. sometimes we want things to happen quickly, but we didn't want to have too many follies, so slow and steady worked good for us.  

The only side effects I had was some bloating that would cause a little discomfort in my lower abdomen area.  That usually only lasted a day or so.  I'm currenlty pg from a follistim cycle.  

good luck

[bny807]

Hello! i have done many cycles on follistim, and they work great! ( we just also have a problem with staying pregnant!) my first round i did was 75 iu's i think they like to start low just to see how your body responds that way you won't hyperstimulate.. i usually triggered early - like cd11 or cd12! when on a natural cyles its more like cd17 -19! we got pregnant 3 times using follistim, so it works great! a lot of other women on here have gotten preg using it too! i really didn't have many side effects,, just bloating really.. i had mild OHSS a couple of times, but we had increased my doses.. I had good response (with only one working ovary) i got anywhere from 3 - 6 follies with 100iu's GOOD LUCK! keep us updated!