Thursday, April 5, 2007

I'll have a decaf Follistim latte please...the regular kind might make me HYPER.

Good morning girls -

Thanks for the well wishes from Monday's post. Monitoring this morning went as usual: nothing much happening, still.

After the initial wanding confirmed my suspicion of continued inactivity, I asked Dr. G (who was doing the scans this AM instead of Dr. D, my usual doctor), a question: If they can perform a fabulous follicle reduction in the event I produce too many follicles, then why in the name of all that is holy can't we get this show on the road already?? Why can't we just blast my frick frackin' ovaries with hideous amounts of drugs to spur them into some kind of action?????? (OK, no, you're right, I didn't ask the question exactly like that, I was far more controlled and respectful, I assure you.)

Dr. G said that the reasons we can't do that are twofold: with higher doses of FSH, my ovaries are likely to become quite enlarged. The poor fallopian tubes then, end up stretching waaaay out to reach the monster-sized ovaries in order to perform their job as catchers and get ready to grab whatever's going to come out of them. Sometimes this creates a crappy situation for the F-tubes where they basically miss. Obviously, that would make it pretty difficult for the sperm, exquisitely deposited through well placed catheter though it may be, to reach the egg.

The other reason, he said, is that lucky ladies like me who have PCOS, and are receiving higher doses of drugs, are highly prone to ovarian hyperstimulation. Imagine, he said, that I were to produce 18 big ripe follicles. My body would be cranking out estrogen like crazy, and even if they went in and sucked out 15 of those follicles before trigger, it's unlikely my body would be tricked into immediately reducing the full court press of estrogen. Hence, I'd be suffering from ovarian hyperstimulation with no relief in sight, save canceling and popping BCPs till the cows came home.

He also added that in the above described scenario, even if it wasn't a dangerous enough level of hyperstimulation to warrant canceling the whole shabang (which - chances are it would be), that if I somehow, against the odds, became pregnant in that state - that I'd be (gesturing to indicate general humongous-ness) "...out to HERE and absolutely MISERABLE."

Siiiigggghhhhhhh....

SO, they'll call me this afternoon to tell me what to do as far as drugs are concerned. I suspect it will be another four days of Follistim and Menopur. I can't help wondering how long they'll continue this endless low-level stimulation, until they'll throw up their hands in defeat and declare me a non-responder? This can't go on indefinitely, of that I'm certain. It just doesn't seem healthy?

7 comments:

Ann said...

I agree--it doesn't seem healthy. Then again, what do I know? Isn't it so frustrating when you go to the RE looking for answers, and all you do is come away with more questions than you originally had?

Princess Barren said...

You sound just like I did when I was on day 20 of stimming...then I ended up producing 11 huge follicles and had the whole thing cancelled.
I don't know how you've done it for this long, I was pulling my hair out at the beginning of week 3. Kudos to you for showing such restraint, sista.

LIW (Lady In Waiting) said...

Ugh. That is really disappointing! Sounds like you need a spa day or at least force your husband to pamper you!

Sending hugs your way...

Baby Blues said...

I'm sorry it's dragging on this way. These polycyctic ovaries are so frustrating. I really hope they start getting their acts together.

Kellie with an "ie" said...

K, I'm feeling your frustration and am cheering on your ovaries from across the miles. Hang in there!

Jo said...

Hmmm.. is there another protocol you can try? I have major PCOS as well and enlarged ovaries are part of the package.

I did too many ui's to remember and never had to cancel or convert to ifv. The dr's were able to stim me steady and do a trigger 14-17 days after AF.

I am curious as to why they stim you that long? I think with IVF they want you to stim faster. I was told if I had to stim for more then 16 days, they may cancel as the follicles would become too old?

Of all 5 of my IVF's I only ended up with a minor case of OHSS... even after having 22 eggs retrieved. And yes, pregnancy will aggravate OHSS...
I know they can aspirate if needed.. and that you can drink gatorade/V8 to try to keep OHSS in check as well.

Just curious ....

ms. c said...

K-
I feel your frustration, sister. I'm sorry that the cycle seems never-ending.
Sending you lots of hugs and a promise to be back to see what the next step is. Hang in there...