IVF and follicle size help

[megstoo]

I went for monitoring this morning and my follicle sizes ranged from the smallest at 10.6 to the largest at 18 but the majority were between 11.2-15 (12 follicles counted). They're guessing I'll be ready for retrieval on Friday or Saturday. Doesn't that seem a little early? I monitored on Friday and majority were between 10-12.  When I talked with the nurse just now they think I'm responding very well for being my first IVF cycle and being above 35 ys old.  I keep comparing to my IUI when they didn't even have me trigger until follicle was 22-24mm.  Is it me or does this seem a bit early?  (today is day 7 of stims).  

[pooh8402]

Nah not necessarily. This is a good thing. It's normal to trigger for IVF when the majority of the follicles are about 18-22 mm.

You want to trigger a bit early for IVF because you want the eggs to mature, but NOT actually ovulate. With IUI, you want to have already ovulated or be just about to.

[msmerymac]

They aim for closer to 18-20 with IVF. They'll let the largest one go and aim to get the majority of what you have within the mature range.

[barney96]

I only stimmed for 10 days. I was expecting 14 days so I was a little surprised it was only 10. Stock up on food and pain meds now for this weekend. Good luck!

[Jalapeñomel]

Mine are the same size and my retrieval is Friday.

[megstoo]

Jan 21, 2019 14:15:59 GMT -5 barney96 said:

I only stimmed for 10 days. I was expecting 14 days so I was a little surprised it was only 10. Stock up on food and pain meds now for this weekend. Good luck!

Thanks, that was going to be my next question about pain etc.  I only have IUI to compare this to which was a piece of cake compared to this.  They only measured the 12 largest follicles total but at baseline I had 54, on Friday I had 50 and today I still had 45.  The rest were between 8-10mm.  

[barney96]

I can only really speak of my experience, and maybe I'm a baby myself. I've never had surgery for anything so I had zero clue what I was in for, and can't really compare to anything. I used Tylenol extra strength, and it worked just fine for me. I was prescribed oxycodone but didn't take it since I throw up on Vicodin and thought that was the last thing I wanted to deal with.

I had egg retrieval last Thursday, started taking pills on Friday when I realized the anesthesia wore off and wasn't prepared, I went to work like a dummy with no pain pills, and it was a bad idea.

Day of egg retrieval I didn't feel any pain at all, so I thought I wouldn't have any issues. 24 hours later wasn't when it wore off- more like 30 hours. Maybe I should have known that? I was looking for 24 hour pain.

Anyway, every time I moved my stomach hurt. I was really bloated (still am). Laughing, sneezing, hiccups hurt. I'd suggest avoiding these as much as possible- so no Netflix comedies while you're home.

I found salty foods comforting- saltines, ensure protein and soup along with water is what I lived on for three days- I feel like all the exercise before starting went down the drain in no time. I didn't have ohss or anywhere near 20 eggs taken, so not sure why this was better, but I just knew my normal diet wasn't gonna cut it.

Took 2 pills every 6 hours starting around 11 on Friday until Sunday morning. Not sure I needed to continue that first done on Sunday- I took it because I wasn't sure if i only felt crummy because the pills dulled the real pain or not, I've read that people get constipated, but I had no issue. I didn't think it was particularly fun going to the bathroom, but others say it's worse to be constipated. I use a fiber additive to water to keep me regular, so I didn't need to do anything. You might need something, so prepare.

I can't do laundry, clean (so sad about it- sarcasm) so make sure anything that needs to be done can be by your hubby or is done ahead of time. Hubby did everything for me, so he's certainly a keeper

I'm doing a fresh transfer tomorrow, which I know is different from you, like I said, still bloated, but it doesn't hurt to switch sides laying in bed or on the couch, and I can sit up. Oh, I couldn't stand all of the way either, and read (after that started) that it's pretty common. I could stand fully yesterday.

Sorry for the novel.

[Jalapeñomel]

Jan 21, 2019 15:34:55 GMT -5 barney96 said:

I can only really speak of my experience, and maybe I'm a baby myself. I've never had surgery for anything so I had zero clue what I was in for, and can't really compare to anything. I used Tylenol extra strength, and it worked just fine for me. I was prescribed oxycodone but didn't take it since I throw up on Vicodin and thought that was the last thing I wanted to deal with.

I had egg retrieval last Thursday, started taking pills on Friday when I realized the anesthesia wore off and wasn't prepared, I went to work like a dummy with no pain pills, and it was a bad idea.

Day of egg retrieval I didn't feel any pain at all, so I thought I wouldn't have any issues. 24 hours later wasn't when it wore off- more like 30 hours. Maybe I should have known that? I was looking for 24 hour pain.

Anyway, every time I moved my stomach hurt. I was really bloated (still am). Laughing, sneezing, hiccups hurt. I'd suggest avoiding these as much as possible- so no Netflix comedies while you're home.

I found salty foods comforting- saltines, ensure protein and soup along with water is what I lived on for three days- I feel like all the exercise before starting went down the drain in no time. I didn't have ohss or anywhere near 20 eggs taken, so not sure why this was better, but I just knew my normal diet wasn't gonna cut it.

Took 2 pills every 6 hours starting around 11 on Friday until Sunday morning. Not sure I needed to continue that first done on Sunday- I took it because I wasn't sure if i only felt crummy because the pills dulled the real pain or not, I've read that people get constipated, but I had no issue. I didn't think it was particularly fun going to the bathroom, but others say it's worse to be constipated. I use a fiber additive to water to keep me regular, so I didn't need to do anything. You might need something, so prepare.

I can't do laundry, clean (so sad about it- sarcasm) so make sure anything that needs to be done can be by your hubby or is done ahead of time. Hubby did everything for me, so he's certainly a keeper

I'm doing a fresh transfer tomorrow, which I know is different from you, like I said, still bloated, but it doesn't hurt to switch sides laying in bed or on the couch, and I can sit up. Oh, I couldn't stand all of the way either, and read (after that started) that it's pretty common. I could stand fully yesterday.

Sorry for the novel.

Wow, this is intense!

I had very minimal cramping, nothing some Tylenol couldn’t fixed. Doc didn’t even offer any meds. I felt fine later that day. But they only retrieved 7 eggs.

[pooh8402]

Ditto barney96. That was my experience with 2 of my 3 previous retrievals (had 24 and 25 eggs retrieved, respectively). Lots of pain and swelling/bloating. I could barely move after the anesthesia wore off. Take it easy!


You really need a high protein, high salt diet. I mean, really high salt. No free water. I stocked up on liter size powerade zero (no sugar allowed for me either) and added salt to them. Canned stuff, like soups, beans, veggies. Lunch meat. Canned meats. I took shots of soy sauce like 3 times a day with my last retrieval and I was able to avoid OHSS.

[shauni27]

My experience was closer to Jalapeñomel. I was sleepy from the anesthesia but other than that felt fine. I took full advantage of the doctors telling me to rest and relax all day and made my husband do everything But I honestly felt like I could have returned to work that afternoon. But again, I had like 6 eggs removed and that was it. I imagine if you had a lot more removed it might be more painful.

[icedcoffee]

My experience for my first retrieval was similar to barney96 and pooh8402. It was awful. I did much of what they suggested above and took the percocets I was prescribed as needed. We did a fresh transfer and it was rough for several weeks (although I did feel about 80% better by day 5).

My second retrieval they purposely aimed to get fewer eggs because of this and it worked. I only took percocet for 24 hours and by 48 hours out I felt totally fine. We also did a FET for this cycle so I was able to fully recover and it seriously made the first 2 months after transfer so much easier.

Both times I took Colace until I had 3 days in a row of good poops. Worth it!

[fairfax]

Jan 21, 2019 17:19:39 GMT -5 pooh8402 said:

Ditto barney96. That was my experience with 2 of my 3 previous retrievals (had 24 and 25 eggs retrieved, respectively). Lots of pain and swelling/bloating. I could barely move after the anesthesia wore off. Take it easy!


You really need a high protein, high salt diet. I mean, really high salt. No free water. I stocked up on liter size powerade zero (no sugar allowed for me either) and added salt to them. Canned stuff, like soups, beans, veggies. Lunch meat. Canned meats. I took shots of soy sauce like 3 times a day with my last retrieval and I was able to avoid OHSS.

I can’t speak to pain - I only had 5-8 eggs each time and very minimal pain. But, this advice is spot on with the high protein/high salt diet. My last retrieval I got OHSS (fairly mild) and salt/protein made such a difference in how I felt. I drank Gatorade, had deli chicken strips and pre-packaged ramen. Literally turned things around in 48 hours. I was so grateful for the recommendations here!

[barney96]

I had 7 mature eggs taken, 6 fertilized, 3 made it to bioclast or whatever it's called. Two were transferred today. Beta on 2/1.

[Jalapeñomel]

what did you end up with?