I was several days past my 38th birthday when I was told I had "less than 1%" chance of conceiving with my own eggs. My day3 FSH had tested at 14.7 on the 10-pt scale. I was devastated, as the news was coming from a very reputable RE (in fact, the very RE whose studies are often cited by the group of REs who believe that a single elevated FSH means a woman will be VERY lucky to conceive w/ her own eggs. I've come to think of him as "Dr. 1%.")
My dh and I knew we would have to do IVF/ICSI due to extreme male factor (dh is a testicular cancer survivor and has fluctuating but generally very low counts--1-10 mill--poor motility and morphology).
After elevated FSH in fall 99, I began drinking 1-2 oz fresh wheatgrass juice/day. My FSH dropped, whether from this or not, and was not elevated any time after that point, at least during the months when I was tested (2 or 3 more times at Cornell.)
I also began practicing yoga and meditating and I found the high FSH board. Through Carol A's recommendation my dh and I went to Cornell University Medical Center in NYC. There we worked with Dr. Owen Davis and were successful on our second IVF/ICSi attempt.
Here are some details of our protocols and other information:
We did IVF/ICSI w/ assisted hatching in Jan/Feb of 00; long lupron protocol (.10 lupron starting cd22, then .05 lupron starting cd3 of next cycle; 3 amps GonalF, 3 amps Pergonal starting cd3, and tapering down to none the night of HCG shot, which was cd14); retrieved 11 eggs, of which 5 were mature; ICSI damaged one, the other 4 fertilized normally, and all 4 made it to day 3 transfer (they were 1 4-celled, 1 7, and 2 8s). Took medrol and tetracycline, nightly PIO; negative beta 2/23/00.
We did 2 unmed IUIs in March/April 00; both negative
I took a 5-month leave of absence from my job starting end of March, and took a 7-week class in mind/body techniques, including cognitive restructuring, meditation, yoga, and keeping a journal. This class is based on the work of Alice Domar, Ph.D. and the instructor had herself studied with Domar.
For IVF/ICSI/AH #2, again did long downregulation protocol w/ lupron but was on it much longer this time (it delayed AF by 6 days instead of the 2 w/ the first cycle); I developed a bizarre allergic reaction by cd4 of IVF cycle and was pulled off the lupron; then was on "stop lupron" protocol, where the same stims were administered but no lupron. Did daily urine monitoring once lead follicle reached 14mm to insure I wasn't having LH surge; didn't prematurely ovulate, thankfully, and took stims until retrieval (same amounts and types as IVF#1), also cd14; did tetracycline and medrol, started PIO. This cycle we also did endometrial co-culture, where uterine cells are biopsied prior to start of cycle (did the bx the same day I started lupron), frozen, then mixed w/ your own blood plasma right before retrieval to form base for culture medium. This time had 9 eggs retrieved, of which 7 were mature. All 7 fertilized w/ ICSI. On transfer day (day 3), 5 were looking good (1 6-celled, 2 8s, 1 9, and 1 10-celled) and due to my age and one failed IVF we decided to transfer them all. All seemed to have less fragmentation then the first cycle's embies. (The other two were not progressing well and would not survive.)
I received a positive beta on 11dp3dt of 323 (6/21/00). Second beta on 6/29/00 was 5933. Two ultrasounds (at 7w1d and 7w6d) confirmed twins. EDD (40 wks)
was 2/28/01; my healthy boy/girl twins were born at exactly 38 weeks gestation via planned c-section on Valentine's Day, 2001!
The other things I did differently the second cycle were:
--drank a lot of decaf black and green tea;
--ate lots of peanuts and peanut butter, eggs, fish, turkey, sunflower seeds, and took 400 IU of Vit E and 1000 mg of flaxseed oil in capsules/day;
--did accupuncture 2x/wk for about 8 weeks prior to retrieval; did last session the day before transfer (noticing changes in cm production and day of LH surge in that time);
--after retrieval drank LOTS of water;
--rested for 2 complete days following transfer (not complete bedrest, but not much more than getting up to use the bathroom);
--cut out most dairy products prior to retrieval (for last several weeks) and completely eliminated them after transfer;
--drank soy milk from time to time.
I hope this helps. Everyone's situation is different, but I pulled together this list of things to do to aid my fertility primarily from the hgh FSH board and from reading/research. Perhaps some/all of it helped!
I learned throughout this remarkable, difficult, and ultimately successful process that it's very important to find the best RE one can, one who has a proven record w/ women who've had elevated FSH, and most important, one who doesn't think that a single elevated FSH is the kiss of death. It made the world of difference to my dh and me to find that remarkable person. His belief in our potential helped make one of the most difficult experiences of my life more tolerable, particularly through the 3 negative betas I had before getting a positive.
I also think that the supplemental work I did w/ Alice Domar's techniques and the nutritional changes I made were very helpful. If nothing else, the mind/body techniques helped me keep my sanity (and even feel pretty good much of the time), and the nutritional changes helped me feel better physically. And I also believe strongly that the accupuncture I did was very largely responsible for the incredible uterine lining I was seen to have at retrieval (it was 12mm, as opposed to the 9 I had for IVF#1).
I hope this story helps others who're engaged in ttc.
With all of my very best wishes for your success,
Karen
Posted on Jan 2, 2003, 7:07 AM from IP address 67.83.71.187