Hi all,

I have been on down regulation nasal spray for the last 2 weeks. All last week I was having hot flushes and headaches but I have not had any side effects at all yesterday or today. In addition, today I have started getting symptoms of ovulation (usual aches and twinges plus a lot of ewcm). I don't get it. I thought the down reg would shut all this off. I would ring the clinic but I am out of hours at the moment. I am really scared that it is going to get delayed because of this (I am a teacher and my boss is rapidly losing patience with the amount of time I am having off for test/appts etc so was hoping to have first round before going back to school in September). Is it normal to get ewcm during down reg? Also, will I get a period during down reg? So confused by it all 

Hi,  How are you feeling now?  What drugs are you on?  I've never had the nasal spray so I am not sure what help I can be but I am sure everything is fine.  Reading my stuff on down reg meds you will feel the side effects of the drugs and they will improve once the ovaries respond to the stimulation medication.  So if thats right it means the drugs are working!! 

Thanks for your reply. I feel much better today. I started my bleed yesterday so I am guessing that I am on the right track after all. Feeling very nervous about this whole thing but trying to stay calm!!!! I am going to ring the clinic in an hour or so to inform them of the bleed and I expect that I will be starting to injections soon *gulp*. How are you getting on? Are you having IVF or different treatment?

Hello!!  Glad your feeling better, what did the clinic say?? 

I've had two lots of IVF and I am just starting my third, started taking the drugs today in fact. 

What drugs are you on/going on???

Good luck with the next round. I have my fingers crossed for you.

The clinic said that everything sounded fine and she was pleased that I am bleeding, although she did say that some women will bleed and others won't. She also told me to start reducing nasal spray on Thursday and start the Gonal F injections on Thursday evening...I am a bit nervous about injecting and whether or not it will hurt but also looking forward to moving ahead. 

How are you feeling about starting your 3rd? 3rd time lucky!!!!!!!!!!!! 

I found it easier to inject into the top side of my leg. You might get a little sting and a bruise but it's not too bad. I start injecting on Wednesday!! let me know how you get on.

Erm... one minute I am excited and then I get abit nervous about it all.  I'm just taking each day as it comes at the moment and trying to relax as much as I can. 

Yeah....I know that feeling. One minute I'm happy and confident and relaxed, and then the next, I'm nervous and pessimistic. I'm trying to stay calm but it is so difficult. Good luck with your injections. I'll let you know how I get on as well x

Hi Bibbybobby,  Hows everything going??

Hey....it is going really well thanks. The injections have been absolutely fine and I went for my first scan yesterday where everything seems to be developing nicely. Got to go back for another scan tomorrow and they are talking about potential egg collection next Monday/Tuesday. I feel quite uncomfortable at the moment as the follicles get bigger and I was doubled over with pain last night for about 30 minutes which was horrible. Spoke to the clinic today they said that it was normal to feel discomfort- I suffer with IBS and this can cause me pain at times so that coupled with the injections is making me feel pretty icky. Other than that, I am good and feeling positive at the moment. How are you getting along? 

Hello, I'm glad everything is going well. How did you scan go today?  Did you get your collection date?

I remember feeling really bloated and uncomfortable, I think the pains are your ovaries stretching from all the follicles.  Hopefully it won't be long until you feel better and then you'll be on the 2ww.  Are you excited or nervous?

I'm alright thanks, I'm just waiting for af which a few days late but apart from that I'm good. I know I've been a bit mood swingy which is mainly in the mornings but soon I'll be on pills which will balance me out!

Yes my 2nd scan showed that the folicles had grown a lot more and so they have booked me in for egg collection on Tuesday morning. I am kind of excited but also nervous about the egg collection. Also I started panicking last night and convinced myself that the first round is going to fail. I am so desperate to be pregnant now and the thought of it not working it scary. 

What pills are you taking? There is still so much that I don't know/understand with this whole IVF journey! 

hey ladies

. i'm having egg collection on wednesday this week. sooo excited

bit about my ivf journey: i took prostap injection on first day of period which was my down reg then had a pre stim scan 11 days  later, i wasn't quite ready so had another scan 3 days later,  then after that i started on daily injections (menopur) every evening for 11 days.... (on 11th day today) also had to have dalacin for past 3 evenings which is vaginal cream to get rid of any infections. had a scan on thurs just gone and today and i'm just about ready     i'll take my last menopur injection today (which by the way have made me majorly bloated. given me major headaches and i have the worst cramps i've ever had ever) and have the dalacin for 2 more nights. the clinic will ring me tomorrow to give me time to take hcg. i'm on gonasi ??? sick of all the travelling now tho. it takes me 3 hours drive to get there and 3 hours back. bit of a trek but to be fair i'd walk the world if it means i can have my baby.

we'll be a day apart then bibbybibby

i'm still confused by so much of it too. hopefully we can all share it all with each other

xx

Hey HannahBelle. I have to travel quite a distance too- not 3 hours either way which sounds awful, but still far enough (about an hour and a half each way). Like you, I would do anything to have a baby so the distance, whilst inconvenient, means nothing to me, and our clinic are fantastic too so can't complain.  My boss has been quite huffy about the time off so far, but I honestly don't care. When I told her I had to go for my injection training (9.30am appt) she said that I WOULD be back in work by 10:30am. No understanding at all. I just ignored her and made my way safely back to work without killing myself getting to work at 100 miles an hour. Got into work at 11:30 and she didn't say a word. Luckily this first round will be complete within the next month and as I'm a teacher I will complete it by the time I go back to work. I just hope that it works first time  (wishful thinking). I have to take my hcg in ten minutes and then it is full steam ahead for the egg collection. That is cool that we are a day apart. Are you having a general anaesthetic for it or just local? I opted for the local but now I wish I hadn't. I am worried that it is going to hurt, and I wasn't very happy to find out that I have to have a rectal pessary/anaesthetic to numb the area  lol x

hey bibby bibby,

guessing you'll be there now. i had my hcg at 10.30 last night so my slot is 9.30 am 2mw. feel so fat at min, completely bloated and solid. but hey ho after 2mw i'm sure i'll feel a bit better.

i'm having a local aneasthetic with intravenous sedation. i also have to take lorazepan before bed tonight and again at 7am. thats a tranquilizer so should calm me down alot really ok with all that. also my paper work says i can take ipod to play whilst having procedure done so downloaded some very chilled out background tunes to play. prob  won't need tho if i'm away with the fairies. looking forward to the chilled out feeling mind

my work has been pretty ok about it all. i've just used holidays. i've been off work since thurs last week with scans etc and not in til friday this week. then plan to take the week off after embryo transfer and they are ok with that. my hubby and i work together so he has continued working through it all apart from been off today and tommorrow obv but i've attended scans on my own so then work wouldn't moan about us both being off. However you do know you are entitled to taking time off for ivf. there is documents in place to support us. my MIL is an employment law officer so has the documents ready if i need them. work doesn't have to pay you but does have to let you be off. think my work is struggling tho (work in a restaurant and i'm one of the supervisors) fairly short staff at min and one of the other supervisors off on paternity but i'm just shutting up and getting on with it. my mangaer is being great and really supportive and telling me to not worry about them.

fingers crossed we only have to do this once tho. my hubby has just started being majorly positive. he was very neg for quite a while but all of a sudden he feels its gonna work which is an amazing feeling. eeeeek i'm just excited

anyways hope you recover well and speak thurs when i'm with it aggain

xxx

Well I had my egg collection today and it was absolutely fine...a lot less painful than I was expecting. I had a local anaethestic and even though I could feel everything that was going on, and it did get quite 'stabby' at times, it was a lot less painful than I thought. If I have to go through this again then I will definitely opt for local again. I was also watching what they were doing on the scan screen and it was fascinating looking at my ovaries as you could clearly see the follicles (plus a cyst!) and I watched as each follicle was drained. I was only in theatre for about 15 minutes. The good news is that they managed to harvest 11 eggs so hopefully that puts me into a good situation and I hope that the majority fertilise. I have to ring tomorrow to find out how many did fertilise and I am a bit worried about this but I am trying to stay calm and positive. Fingers crossed. Good luck with your egg collection. Let me know how you get on xxx

Hello,

Bibbybibby, I'm glad everything went well.  11 Eggs is a good number, I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you.  Let us know how it goes.

Hannahbelle1979, Good luck for tomorrow.

Hi TigerLilley, Well....9 of my eggs had fertilised when I rang yesterday and when I rang today they said that 8 of them were still developing. So I have my fingers crossed that they will continue developing well. I almost feel excited now (in amongst the ridiculous nerves, that is)!!! It is amazing how nervous you get waiting to find out how they are growing! The nurse has said that I will be having 5-day blastocyst transfer on Sunday as long as everything continues to develop well. So good news so far but still a long way to go! 

How are you anyway? Did you get af?

Hiya,  Thats good news then, I can understand why you are feeling nervous but it sounds like everything is doing all it should be and very well at that!!    So will you be off work for the 2 weeks?  If I don't speak to you before Good luck for Sunday, I wish you all the luck in the world! x

Yeah it finally happened today, only a week late!!! he he I've been given my transfer date, it's three weeks today on the 30th Aug.

hey ladies.

well had ec on wed and it was fine. i was completely off my head on drungs so can't really remember any of it. keep having flashbacks of parts but thats it. the got 8 eggs and 7 have fertilised which we're really happy about. didn't really have much pain, just bloated and a bit constipated after and a little bleed but thats all sorted now and i feel fine. i was completely exhausted for last few days. think today i'm just starting to feel normal again.

we were meant to go down for embryo transfer today however clinic rang at 8am to say that they weren't ready (would be day 3 today so going for 5-day blastocyst transfer like you bibby on monday) 4 of the embies are front runners and 3 aren't doing great but those extra 2 days could change that. and it wil also give the embryologist longer to decide which one is strongest.

glad your af has finally arrived tigerlilly. 30th aug will be here before you know it

how you feeling about transfer 2mw bibby. i'm mega nervous with the having to have full bladder,. i'm so rubbish at that. i have the weakest bladder in the world. i'll prob pee on them.

don't know about either of you but since starting this whole procedure, i've been getting really bad anxiety, never used to be like this at all. nervous tummy, holiday tummy etc, must go to loo about 7 times a day (sorry tmi) but just wondering if anyone else has been effected like that? would quite honestly like to be knocked out and wake up to be told it worked and i'm pregnant hahah

hope your both ok xxx

Thanks Tigerlily. Congrats on getting your transfer date. I bet you can't wait for the 30th to arrive now. Fortunately, I am not at work at the moment so I will definitely be relaxing for the next few weeks.

HannahBelle, Haha....me too. I wish I could wake up in 3 months time to be told that it worked and that I have passed the 12 week mark!!!! That would be perfect . Great news on 7 fertilising and having 4 that seem so strong. That stands you in really good stead ready for transfer on Monday. 

I feel a little nervous about transfer, not so much the actual process, although like you I have a really weak bladder (I'm constantly going to the toilet). I also really hate that feeling of needing to go particularly when someone is pushing around near my bladder! I guess I am more worried that when I go back tomorrow that something awful will have happened to the embryos since yesterday and that there will be nothing to transfer. I rang today to get transfer time for tomorrow and when I asked about the embryos they said that they didn't know how they were doing because they don't check on them on day 4. Not knowing how they are developing is nerve-wracking. All was good yesterday however and I still had 8 developing nicely so I hope tomorrow will be fine. Then starts the worrying about whether I'll get a BFP....then if I do, it will be worrying about mc!!! Then worrying about the birth...it seems like never ending worry. 

I had really bad anxiety just before I started the down reg drugs which manifested itself as a tight chest and breathlessness but for some reason I have been very calm and happy since egg collection. I'll be stressing for the next few weeks though worrying that every little twinge means something awful. 

Good luck for Monday xxx