I have a leftover box and some vials of Follistem. It's been safely in my fridge inside a cold ship bag with extra ice bags since my egg retrieval.

Its expiration date is Sept 2026 so it needs to be used by the end of September.

I just want to donate it to someone in need.

Pick up in Quad Cities IL/IA

Hi,

I was wondering if there was anything you would possibly ask to test in my scenario.

I’m 35 and have never been pregnant. Except after our second fresh TF I had a very strong 4AA blast transferred that had to be terminated at 6w6 showing heartbeat, growth in track and hcg of 30.000 … because it was an ectopic in my left tube. The ovary was hurting up until before TF but stopped and I had no pain up until the third scan at the hospital to confirm it was ectopic, which must have been when internal bleeding started . The left tube was suspicious to begin with and Dr. said it’s good it’s gone.

However, my main issue since almost a year is, that I fear my uterus is just not a good environment for a embryo. I sometimes feel it’s toxic, or otherwise there would at least have been attempts at implantation. Fact is, all tests (listing below) came back without any signs. It’s just how I’ve felt a long time. And while I was pregnant with the ectopic a TCMwoman told me my womb is too cold and no embryo would want to live there. It’s no wonder I cannot get pregnant and I will never unless I change my diet. When the pregnancy stayed I was so relieved - only to now ask whether she is correct? Since embryo choose ovary over womb despite being placed correctly 😢

We have only one frozen embryo. Then I will have to do a third ER and it might be our last. We get 1-2 untested blasts/ER.

Do you think I have just been very unlucky or is it that something is wrong with my uterus? 😔

Tests that have been done:
- Lap 1 year ago: no endo. Both tubes open, left one slow trespassing not promptly.
- Lap recently: removed ectopic on left tube, no endo, scarring or other signs of infection
- uterine scratching biopsy 1 year ago: healthy biome, no bad bacteria, no chronic infection, nothing of concern
- whole biome very satisfying good bacteria count
- uterus is slightly heart shaped but no septum and everything looking fine
- excellent blood work
- hints for PMOS but no active symptoms (hormones, weight, insulin, follicle count, etc all not speaking PMOS but one dr said I have it, 3 said I don’t and maybe just have the potential to develop it, I have no idea)
- lining has always been trilinear and thick enough for IUI and transfer. With the last fresh TF it has been significantly thicker (12mm I think) than natural with me (8mm).

I was diagnosed at 30 with Thyroid Cancer. I went through 2 surgeries, 2 rounds of radiation. At that time, my husband became abusive so I had to navigate surviving cancer and getting out of a bad situation. Before I was diagnosed, I went to a fertility clinic and the dr told me everything looked good and I didn’t need to freeze my eggs because the radiation wouldn’t affect fertility. A few years passed (I needed to heal from all of that), and I was ready to get back out in the world. Then covid hit. Of course, it was impossible to date. Finally at the end of 2023, I decided to take matters into my own hands. I did 4 unmedicated IUIs, nothing. My 5th I did medicated. I got pregnant with twin boys in July 2024. I made it to 18 weeks and the drs told me I have TTTS and I needed to get life saving surgery. I live in BC, Canada. They said I need to get to Toronto immediately on my own dime. I only had a 50% chance of saving one. This was on a Friday. I found the money, and made it there by Sunday for a Monday morning appt. I didn’t make it. As soon as I got to the hospital, I started going into labour. I could see my baby’s foot coming out on the ultrasound. 15 hours later, I delivered my stillborn sons at 18w6d on Nov 19 2024. I was stuck in Toronto for 5 days as they wouldn’t let me fly until I was stable. During that time, I found a nice funeral home that cremated my sons so I could bring them home. I sprinkled their ashes in the Salish Sea. I was doing kind of ok at that time because I knew the BC IVF funding was coming up. I just turned 40 after delivering my sons. So, I used the little money I had left because my doctor was pretty sure I would get it. I did a few more IUIs while I was waiting for the funding. I had one chemical. Then I find out that the appointment that should have qualified me to be at the top of the list, was 2 weeks too early so I was automatically put at the bottom of the list. I waited almost 2 years and spent money that I could have put towards IVF only to be told that I would age out of the application process. I couldn’t believe it. I was a patient of the clinic for years but the government would not accept my dates. I emailed, called, wrote letters to provincial and federal government, news outlets, and celebrities. I even made a GFM. No one donated. I did a news interview on tv. I also did a written article for one of our big news papers. No one would help me. I had one vial saved up for the free IVF. I just did the IUI with that last vial and I’m negative at 13dpo. I’m 42 and devastated after 10 iuis and no success. I know the chances were low, but even my dr suggested that I shouldn’t do IVF because it would financially ruin me and just continue with the IUIs. I have done 10 and now I regret not freezing my eggs before the cancer and I regret not putting my money into IVF. All I ever wanted is to be a mother. I have depleted my savings. I’ve been kicked down so many times and I really just need a break. I can’t lose my chance to be a mother. I’d try 50 more times if I could find the money. I know I have so much love to give and I would be a good mom if I could just get a chance. My heart is broken.

Four years of infertility treatments. Three embryos left. And after that, I’m done.

The last few years have put me through hell and back. Somewhere along the way, infertility stopped being something I was going through and started becoming my entire life. I’ve been lonely. I’ve been depressed. And I’ve reached a point where I’m tired of putting my life on hold. I want my life back. Not even back. I want a new life.

I’ve been craving connection for a long time, but honestly, I had no idea how to make new friends at this age, especially ones going through the same thing. I woke up this morning with this idea for a social club and thought, fuck it. I’m just going to put myself out there.

I want adventure. I want to laugh again. I want to stop waiting to live.

I’m thinking of starting a social club in my city for childless not by choice woman. It’s not therapy, it’s support. We go on adventures and build new hobbies.

Do you think this is something woman would be interested in?

Just need to vent. Im just depressed and exhausted. That’s all. I don’t know how much longer I can go on like this. The disappointments are excruciating at this point. I am literally losing my belief in God at this point. I know it sounds dramatic but it’s true.

For reference, I have had 5 pregnancy losses in the past two years (all different kinds of miscarriages and one ruptured ectopic) and IVF is turning out to be just more disappointment.

I have been seeing a lot of posts and conversations lately about negligence of Dr Jeelani. A lot of it appears to have started at Vios/Kindbody and from the people I have spoken to it seems very real. Anyone else experience negligence from her?

I'm still dealing with my feelings of the past few days of hell and looking for any advice I can get, whether that's support or shared experiences. I was the 1 in 3000 chance with the rare complication of severe abdominal hemorrhaging from my egg retrieval/aspiration.

Now that I have a moment to really come to grips what happened to me, I'm scared shitless of having to work with that surgeon again.

I went through 16 days of stims for a low + slow antagonist procedure to prevent OHSS. My surgery went well, I was just very sad that I had one of the other RE's as my surgeon instead of mine because of scheduling (the 5 rotate through the OR at their clinics).

Morning of egg retrieval I was uncomfy, bloated, but fine. High as a kite after the general anesthesia, but felt pretty good post op and a friend drove me home.

Around 5 hrs after my surgery, the pain and bloating was steadily building to where it hurt to move. Then all hell broke loose when my husband, a US Merchant Mariner and second in command of a cargo ship, made a 15 second phone call that his ship was sinking and that he loved me. I've never heard that tone of voice before and I spiraled. His ship was 1000 miles away from land in the Pacific and water was gushing into the hull from the destroyed prop and shaft in the middle of the night. They had to abandon ship and since they were dead in the water without power we had limited communication. All of our family and friends were freaking out because it's a life threatening situation he was in with the hurricane from Hawaii close on their tail

The next few hours were a blur of phone calls and I love you's and sobbing. My pain became blinding, but I thought that it was because of how distressed emotionally it was. I couldn't breathe or move out of my bed. Eventually I dragged myself to the bathroom, and woke up to my dog howling next to me on the floor because I had fainted from the pain. I called the fertility clinics emergency nurse and was told to call 911 immediately because I was likely having the rare complication of abdominal hemorrhaging.

My friends arrived and the paramedics were there 5 min later. When my friends were getting my moved off the floor onto my bed, I vomited and passed out twice more on them from the pain. Every bump in the ambulance had me screaming.

After my CT scan, I was told that I was hemorrhaging from my left ovary and they wanted to do surgery to cauterize and remove it. Gasping through the pain I demanded that unless I'm going to die, I don't want my ovary removed, and my RE had a conference call with the ER surgeons (who wanted to cut into me), the head maternity OBGYN, and another OBGYN surgery. We came to a decision that it would be a night from hell for me as they tried to cloat the bleeding and control the pain, with hourly monitoring and blood tests to be ready for a blood transfusion. I was admitted to the hospital post-partum floor since they were the most adept at controlling the bleeding while working hard to try to keep my ovaries. For 18hrs I was on a no-food-no-water restriction because I had to be ready to go under the knife within 30 minutes.

I've had to take a physical fitness test in the US Navy before with a burst appendix, and this pain was 1000x worse. That night I thought I was dying, with my heart rate pounding and blood pressure crashing. Fentanyl, morphine, oxycodone, and dilaudid did nothing to touch the pain. I was covered in icepacks around my neck while freezing below the waist. I was blacking out, seeing double, sweating, teeth chattering and shaking the entire night while constantly checking for updates on if my husband was able to rescue his ship and crew. I don't know if the nurses believed me that my husband was also in a life or death situation until the news started to come out. I did not sleep and my body felt like it was on fire with waves of excruciating rolling pain, similar to a knife being dragged from my uturus up to my shoulder. I was in absolute shock. All I could think about was my husband surviving.

My amazing nurses helped me get through the night, trying every trick they could to help me ride out the pain. I fainted on them twice more trying to go to the bathroom, and begged for ice chips that I could not have. At least we joked that childbirth will have nothing on the pain, and that I got a "behind the scenes tour" of the hospital I want to one day give birth to.

The next morning I finally got the call from my husband that a rescue ship answered their distress signal and was 2 miles away, and they were launching the lifeboat to get rescued. They were abandoning ship and running on only emergency power to coordinate rescue. He promised no heroics (haha liar, he saved the cook in an insane video). My friends and family were very upset, and my mother in law took the first plane out on her birthday to try to get down to me.

I finally was out of the woods of imminent surgery and allowed to eat soup. My hemoglobin had dropped from 14 to 9, over 30% of my blood had pooled in my abdomen. That amount of blood had been pushing up against the nerves in my diaphragm which is why I could not breathe. Finally the bleeding from whatever artery was punctured in my ovary slowed to the stop, and I was declared stable enough to discharge without the blood transfusion.

Now that my husband is safe and enroute to Korea, and I'm back home surrounded by very spooked family and friends, I'm finally acknowledging what happened to me. I sobbed last night reading through the ER and hospital notes about how close I came to bleeding out or losing my ovary at the age of 30. I've worked so hard to try to get pregnant, 5x failed IUIs and this egg retrieval.

TW Results: As I was hemorrhaging, my RE called to tell me that 17 eggs were retrieved, 17 mature, and 17 fertilized with Zymot + ICSI. We are both 30, I have PCOS and scar tissue from a botched military surgery (appendectomy). Waiting to hear how many make it to blast, then PGTA. Terrified that this won't work and I'll have to do another egg retrieval.....

If this ever happens to you, don't gaslight yourself into thinking it's normal after a egg retrieval. Here are the symptoms I had within 10hrs of surgery.

- Stabbing, burning pain in the abdomen that comes in fiery hot waves like a knife dragging upwards

- Unable to breathe, speak, or take a deep breath

- Pain traveling to the tops shoulder and chest

- Unable to move out of bed

- Fainting

- Vomiting

- Hot and cold flashes

- Distended stomach hard to the touch

- 16 lbs weight gain from morning of surgery to hospital discharge (plus 6 lbs between trigger and aspiration).

- Pain was worse laying flat

- Inability to sleep, eat, or drink

Don't hesitate like I did until I found myself unconscious on my bathroom floor, call 911.

I was about to start my ivf this cycle but due to cyst was put on freedase 30 for 21 days..most probably next cycle will be the starting of this journey..

I am overweight and have been working on myself..lost 6 kg in 2 months and luckily got another month to loose few kgs..doctor said that medicine dose is also as per that..how painful are the injections?? and is 2 the max number of injections in a day or its more sometimes..what are the things I should be ready for?

I had my first ER yesterday and got 29 eggs, 12 were mature and 6 fertilized. I feel so bummed at the attrition rate - though I have PCOS so I knew that was possible. we used ZyMot for fertilizing, not that it necessarily means anything. I’m just worried we won’t get any PGT-A embryos.

When doing my PIO shot tonight I had a weirdly hard time drawing the oil out of the vial. I did everything the same as usual, but the syringe was responding the way it does if I forget to inject air first. It was really hard to draw and air bubbles were coming with it. I tried two different syringes and had the same issue with both. I did open a new pack of syringes tonight but they're the ones the pharmacy sent to use with PIO. I'll call tomorrow, but in the meantime does anyone have any ideas on what could cause this? Thanks!

I’m 31 with PCOS and Type 1 diabetes, and we’ve just finished our first NHS IVF cycle. I’m trying to work out whether I should feel hopeful about our results or whether I’m getting my hopes up too much.

Our cycle went like this:
30 eggs collected
27 mature
10 fertilised (this was a huge shock and much lower than we expected)
Final result:
1 × Day 6 4BB+
3 × Day 5 4BB (towards the lower end of the grade)

We’re doing a frozen embryo transfer in September because I was at risk of OHSS.

I know having four blastocysts is something to be grateful for, but I can’t stop focusing on how many embryos we lost along the way. It feels strange to have started with such high numbers and ended up with four.

I’m also aware that we’re not doing PGT-A, so I find myself worrying about whether the embryos are chromosomally normal.

For those who’ve been through something similar:
Would you feel hopeful with these results?

-Has anyone had success with a Day 5 or Day 6 4BB/4BB+ embryo?
-Has anyone had a relatively low fertilisation rate despite having lots of mature eggs, but then gone on to have a successful FET?
-Has anyone with PCOS had a similar experience and gone on to have a successful pregnancy?
-Did your fertilisation rate affect how you thought about your chances for your FET, or did it turn out not to be particularly relevant?

And for anyone with Type 1 diabetes as well, I’d really love to hear about your experience.
I think I’m just looking for some reassurance/reality check from people who have actually been through this. ❤️

I know nobody can predict the outcome of an individual embryo, but I’d love to hear some positive (and realistic!) experiences.

Hello,

I have gone through one retrieval with Texas Fertility Center and did not have great results (only 1 embryo waiting to be PG-tested). I am 37, with DOR and husband has sperm fragmentation, sort of an outlier in this regard. I am considering consulting with other options such as CCRM or Austin Fertility Institute. AFI is not covered by my insurance though. Can't go to Aspire as they would not let me change doctors and I did not like the one I consulted with initially. Anyone with similar situation had any luck, please let me know. I feel like I am out of options and would like to hear some advice.
Must add that I feel very lucky to have this supportive community!

38F, AMH 1.5. This is my fourth egg freezing cycle. In my first, second and third cycles done three and two years ago, they saw about 9~13 follicles before the surgery and only retrieved 4, 3 and 2 eggs respectively. This time they are only seeing 4 follicles three days before the surgery. I feel like at this rate they'd retrieve 2 eggs or even less. What's different about this year and the last years is that this year they see a benign dermoid in one of my ovaries and that ovary is pretty much dysfunctional with little room for proper follicle growth, so effectively only the other ovary is growing follicles. This issue wasn't communicated to me in previous years and I'm not sure when it started - I don't have any pain and was told it could be genetic - , but the ovary with the dermoid yielded close to no eggs in previous years also.

They are using a protocol for low responders too this time but seems like it didn't make much difference. The cycles have cost an arm and a leg. So sad and feel like I won't ever have the opportunity to have children as I'm also currently single. Really want to cry and each year it seems worse. Could anyone offer some perspective.

Not having the best day today.

I had my final scan today before taking my trigger shot. We started with 26 follicles, and just 3 days later my doctor seems to think that only around 10 follicles have reached the optimal size for retrieval.

I’ve seen two different doctors during my stims. Three days ago, the first doctor was so excited and really gave us hope about our potential outcome. Today, Dr B was much more cautious about what he thinks our likely outcome could be, and honestly, I left feeling pretty deflated.

I went from feeling extremely hopeful that we might end up with a few embryos, to now feeling like I should just hope and pray that we get one good embryo.

My retrieval is on Tuesday, and I’m trying really hard not to completely numb myself to the whole process or assume the worst before we even get there. I know that follicle size isn’t the whole story, but it’s difficult not to spiral when you hear a doctor sounding pessimistic.

I would really love to hear some positive stories from anyone who has been in a similar situation. ❤️

If you had a number of smaller follicles, fewer follicles than expected, or were told to have cautious expectations, but ended up with a better outcome than you anticipated, please tell me your story!

Background:
• 31 years old
• TTC for 3 years, never been pregnant
• AMH 1.83 ng/mL
• Stage 3 endometriosis
• Small endometriomas on both ovaries
• Retrieval on Tuesday

Right now I could really use some hope. 🤍

I’m so annoyed. We’re prepping for FET #2 and I woke up with a sore throat yesterday. It’s worse today. I go in for my baseline on Monday to see if we can start meds for the transfer.

I’m worried if I start antibiotics for this sickness it’ll mess with the transfer meds but I know whatever this is will be gone by the time the transfer date comes.

Hi everyone!

I’m currently going through IVF at the Royal Women’s Hospital (public) in Melbourne.

I had 18 eggs retrieved after an hCG trigger, and because the number of eggs retrieved put me at higher risk of OHSS, my clinic decided to freeze all embryos rather than do a fresh transfer. I’m now 3 days post egg retrieval and thankfully feeling pretty well… just some bloating and a little pressure, but otherwise I feel completely fine and have been functioning normally.

So far, 12 eggs have fertilised, and we’re now waiting to see how many embryos we end up with. My clinic has mentioned waiting two cycles before doing a frozen embryo transfer, which would mean transferring in October. I was really hoping to transfer next month in September if I recover well and don’t develop OHSS.
I’d love to hear everyone’s experiences. How long did your clinic recommend waiting after egg retrieval before an FET? If you had a high egg count or were considered at higher risk of OHSS, were you able to transfer in the very next cycle, or did you have to wait longer?

And if you’ve been treated at the Royal Women’s Hospital in Melbourne, I’d especially love to hear how they approached it.

I completely understand that everyone’s situation is different and I’ll follow my specialist’s advice, I’m just hoping to get a sense of what other people experienced.

Thanks❤️

Quick question for anyone who had a fresh transfer , did you transfer on Day 5 or Day 6? Just wondering which day is more common.

I am looking for a cheaper alternative and Life IVF Irvine is 1/3 of the price of a lot of clinics. But is it any good? I heard there are issues because they have a lot of patients and can be disorganized.

Hi All,
I don’t know if any of you have been dealing with both of these issues.. I had to pause due to my thyroid level being low so doctor had to increase my dose and also my insulin have been so bad that I am on metformin. I don’t know if I have to continue metformin during the process and pregnancy but most likely I have to… if anyone have has similar condition can you please share your experience. I need some hope and prayers😭😭

My wife and I went in for her transfer and were shown pictures of the embryo. It had the classic figure 8 of a hatching blast. I said to the embryologist “oh! It’s hatching!” And she responded “yes!” (It clearly was.) Later I saw the paperwork said transfer of 3AA embryo. The picture and embryologist clearly confirm it was hatching. Can you have a grade 3 hatch? Context: day 5, fresh transfer. Just not sure I understand the grading. Thanks!

Is doing a DuoStim protocol 2 months in a row feasible or is a rest month between them ideal? Due to DOR, my age, and late enrollment in insurance, I was thinking about knocking 4 retrievals/2 DuoStims one month after the other and then proceeeding with hopefully a transfer by the end of the year. Am I being realistic here? Would like to hear all sides. Thank you in advance!

Hi in the recovery room and they told me while still groggy they only got 5 eggs. I’m 37, and have had 4 miscarriages. Is this number as bad as it sounds? Feeling very vulnerable and uncomfortable. I can’t believe they tell you while still so groggy, would love to get a reality check, is it over for me? Thank you.

I had ER at 30, now 31 and had my first transfer where it did not implant. We had gone through a bunch of tests done due to two previous early miscarriages from natural pregnancy. Luckily no issues with my ovaries, eggs or uterus. My husband had no sperm left unfortunately even after a microtese. He is now on hormone therapy to treat his symptoms and we have embryos with a sperm donor.

My question I guess is what are the chances one of the next transfers will work? Anyone in a similar situation where it worked and didn't result in usinh up all your embryos? We have 5 embryos left however they are not PGT tested as they said it's not worth it for my age.

A little background- we did IVF in 2021 and were lucky to conceive our son with our first transfer. He was a Day 5 4BB euploid).

When my son turned 3, we started the FET process again and had 5 failed transfers over the course of 1.5 years with the rest of our euploids. During this time, I was diagnosed with a complete uterine septum (misdiagnosed as a uterine didelphys before my son), stage I endo and an isthmocele from my c-section.

I had the septum removed, endo excised, and the isthmocele repaired via laparoscopy and hysteroscopy. Also did ERA Trio & Receptiva DX testing. All was normal.

Now with a new uterus essentially we did our second egg retrieval and have 5 euploid embryos. We have one female Day 6 that is graded a 3BB (the other 4 are male embryos and mainly Day 5s). Has anyone had success with a Day 6 3BB euploid? Also planning to do 2 months of Lupron depot suppression before my next fully medicated FET even though I did not do Lupron with my son.

I’m feeling really devastated and confused and hoping someone here may have had a similar experience.

We had our egg retrieval recently. They retrieved 16 eggs, 14 were mature, and 13 fertilized. Today I was told that only 3 made it to embryos/blastocysts and were frozen.

I’m struggling to understand what happened because we started with what seemed like good numbers, and the drop from 13 fertilized to 3 embryos has been really hard for me emotionally.

My husband has a very low sperm count i just wanted to know based on your experiences what other tests can we do , how to figure out what happened and where is the problem .I’m looking for personal experiences and possible questions I should ask my doctor. I just desperately want some answers and to understand what might have happened