Too many hormones

I have had a week of scans, blood tests and drug taking! After my scan on Tuesday I was called back in the following day. It turned out my oestrogen level was twice what it should be and the clinic were concerned. Also I had 2 large follicles already.

So Wednesday I had the pleasure of 2 sonographers to look at my ovaries. They remeasured the follicles and found they weren't quite as large as first thought as it turns out I had a couple of follicles hiding in the large one. But they were still quite big for how far into the treatment I was. I had more blood taken and my oestrogen levels were still high so I was told to reduce my level of the injected drug I take and to go back Friday.

I had another scan today and my follicles are still growing well - I have 17 one side and 13 the other and am scheduled to have my eggs collected on Monday. HOWEVER, my oestrogen level is still very high so I have to start on some different drugs tomorrow to try and keep my levels under control. I have been warned that I may have to have our embryos frozen this time if my levels don't normalise as if my oestrogen levels continue to rise I'm at risk of getting very poorly. Obviously I'll be disappointed if we can't do the transfer this month, but my health is the priority.

Injections and appointments

Last Thursday I began my injections of Gonal F. Gonal F is a synthetic sex hormone which stimulates the follicles. The hormone used to be collected from nun's wee, but these days it's made in a a lab!

The Gonal F is the drug I take to make the follicles on my ovaries grow. I take it every day at the same time and I have to inject it. The Gonal F is provided in a pen...

I then have to attach a needle to the top. These are disposable, so a new needle is put on every day.

Then voila! The injection is ready to be administered!

There is a dial you turn to set the correct dose - the clinic advises me of the correct dose I should take - and then I choose my injection site. I choose to do mine in my tummy, because for me, it is the easiest place and causes least discomfort. I have to stab the injection into the area I choose and then push down the plunger and hold for 10 seconds to make sure all of the dose has been administered. There is also a handy counter on the pen which tells me if they whole dose has gone in.

After the injection, I always feel a little bit woozy for a couple of minutes, but I think that's more a surge of adrenalin than anything else!

This morning I had to go back to the clinic to have my follicles measured and to make sure the Gonal F was doing it's job correctly. Yesterday I had started to become 'aware' of my ovaries! A strange sensation which is hard to explain, but it's an uncomfortable sensation, almost like bloating, but not quite. Sometimes you experience it around ovulation, but this is more amplified. Anyway, at my scan, my follicles were measured and I already have 2 at 16mm and 21mm. This is quite unusual after just 5 doses and the nurse said she expected them to be around 10-12mm. I have quite a few at this stage also, but she said that we may have to 'let these two go' as they have got big too quickly.

I had more bloods taken and was told they would call me in the afternoon to make my next appointment and advise if I should reduce my dosage of Gonal F. I hadn't heard anything by 5 to 5 so I decided to call, but couldn't get through. As I hadn't heard, I just thought that meant to carry on as normal and they would let me know when they next wanted to see me. However, when I got home, I had a message left on my answerphone asking me to go back in tomorrow morning. Nothing more said about dosage, so I have continued with this evenings dose as usual. I'm a little bit concerned they want me to go back straight away, as usually it would be every couple of days at this point. I'm trying not to worry too much though and will just wait and see what they say in the morning!

Wish me luck! x

Follicles!

I am still feeling dizzy, but a little less dizzy than before. The headaches are still there though with the little popping lights and so very tired. I'd love to just sleep for a couple of days. Unfortunately I had to have an extra early start this morning, so sleep will have to wait a bit longer.

My early start was because today I had my 'baseline' scan at the clinic. This scan is to look at a couple of things - the thickness of the lining of my womb and to count the follicles forming on my ovaries. The scan showed that the lining of my womb is thin (as it should be) and measuring less than 5mm. It's always a weird experience seeing your insides, so I just nodded and agreed sagely as if I could see exactly what the nurse saw on the scan. 'Oh right, yes, that weird blobby shape is my uterus, ok. And the bit in the middle is the lining, yes of course!'

We then looked at my ovaries. More grey blobs on the screen. But the black blobs on the grey blobs are the follicles forming.
A bit of science for you, in case you don't know, or had forgotten. During a normal cycle, a woman will produce so many follicles, each containing an immature egg. Usually only one of these follicles will mature into an egg and will be released as part of the natural cycle waiting for a little sperm to come along and fertilise it. With IVF, each of these follicles is encouraged to grow in order for multiple eggs to be collected for the fertilisation process. 
In the past, I've had approximately 8 follicles on each ovary forming. This is not a bad number, in fact it's a pretty decent number and gives a good chance of getting a decent number of eggs (I seem to remember 14 being collected one time). This time I have 12 follicles on one ovary and 14 on the other! If these all mature, it gives us a better chance of getting a good embryo for implantation. So let's take a minute to cheer my ovaries!

However, the danger is something called Ovarian Hyper Stimulation Syndrome (OHSS). If the level of drugs isn't measured correctly, the ovaries will over produce and it can lead to some pretty nasty side effects.

I start my injections on Thursday and will be monitored closely after that to make sure I am on the right dosage.

A rough ride

So sorry I've not posted an update recently, but the truth is this last week I've felt bloody awful! The previous times I've had IVF I've not really been troubled by the down regulation part of the cycle, but this time seems to be different.

It really started last weekend. On the Saturday afternoon I started to feel very sick, but this quickly passed. However on the Sunday I woke with some terrible period pains and the arrival of my 'Aunt Irma' (one for you IT crowd fans). This is to be expected when down regging, but these were some of the worst pains I've had in a while and I do tend to suffer quite a lot with my periods. I spent most of the day laid out and not moving. I was looking forward to the next day as we were taking our nieces out and wanted to make sure I was ok.

Monday I felt a lot better until late on the afternoon when I started to get a headache. Nothing seemed to shift it, but it was bearable. Tuesday it all went downhill!

I woke up with a throbbing headache, not unlike a migraine, but my whole head hurt rather than the tight band feeling you get with a migraine, which seems to focus on one side of the head or the other. I felt sick, I was shaking and my heart was racing. I put myself back to bed in the hope I would feel better later in the day. I didn't really.

The next day the headache was gone, replaced with a feeling of severe dizziness as if the room was going round and round. Not unlike being drunk I suppose! We have a home blood pressure monitor so I took mine. 112/51! This probably explained the dizziness then. I thought another day of rest and plenty of fluids should sort me out. Wrong! The feeling continued into the next day. At this point I thought I'd ring the clinic where we are having treatment to see what they thought. 'Oh it's probably dehydration, as you've not had a reaction previously, but best to get checked out by your GP' so off I toddle to my doctor. Blood pressure this time 103/60. 'We will send you for bloodtests. You could be anaemic.' So now I'm awaiting results of said bloodtests. Anaemia could make sense as I've been feeling incredibly tired. Walking up the stairs is a chore, but it seems too coincidental to me. We shall see what the tests say!

In the meantime, I'm due my first scan at the clinic on Tuesday to see if the down regging has worked (I'm guessing yes) and if I start the injections. Right now I'm laying in bed desperately hoping the room will stop swimming soon!