No response from my ovaries. No response from my uterus. Lining below 4, follicles below 6.
Increase dosage, return on Saturday.
It's not looking good, ya'll. I'm on a much higher dosage than I was for my last 'no response' cycle, and still, nothing. Heck, with Quinn's cycle, I'd had half the FSH of this cycle, and still had a follicle at almost 10.
I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, since I ovulated so late my last two cycles. Apparently my ovaries are off. Glad to see my months of acupuncture and clean eating are working wonders. Amazing that I responded in December and February, but not now. Maybe that means there's hope for a better result in the future. Optimism springs eternal.
Showing posts with label doxyccyline. Show all posts
Showing posts with label doxyccyline. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 15, 2018
Sunday, February 4, 2018
Baseline
Had my baseline monitoring yesterday. The good news is that I was cleared to start meds. The less good news is that my AFC was only 4 or 5. There were 3 clear follicles on my left, and either 1 or two on my right ovary. So much for my hope of recruiting an extra follicle or two to bump up my estrogen.
I'm now on doxycycline, estrace, menopur, and follistim. First monitoring appointment is on Wednesday. Come on, body!
I'm now on doxycycline, estrace, menopur, and follistim. First monitoring appointment is on Wednesday. Come on, body!
Saturday, January 20, 2018
Exercise . . . in Frustration
I don't think I ever updated on my CD2 RE visit. Let's just say it was an exercise in frustration. For context, during my first two cycles, my RE's office told me to test at home 14 days after trigger, then come in for bloodwork if I got a positive. This cycle, a different nurse called with trigger information. She didn't say when to test or what to do with the progesterone and estrace if I got a negative. I don't recall ever being told that.
So, tests turned negative and I stopped the progesterone 14 days post trigger. One day later, I emailed the clinic to see if I should also stop estrace. The nurse (a different one), told me yes, and that I needed to schedule a regroup with Dr. B before cycling again. Given how poorly the cycle went, that made sense, but it irritated the hell out of me that they didn't bother to tell me until the day I expected my period.
I scheduled the appointment, and was able to get in two days later, which turned out to be CD2. Dr. B asked me why I was there, and I told her the nursing staff wouldn't let me cycle without speaking to her. She seemed surprised and noted it would probably be a short consult. Given the cost, knowing that the doctor didn't think the appointment was necessary left me even more irritated.
We discussed my dismal lining. At one point, Dr. B asked me how I'd been taking the Estrace, and I told her that I followed the directions written on the bottle - "Twice a day, orally" - for the first several days, then switched to vaginal because I had a feeling the bottle was wrong. She stated that the fact that I'd been on it orally probably explained my lining issue.
If I'd been more on my game, I'd have asked some very pointed questions about why the prescription was wrong, and what was CCRM going to do, given that she just told me that error was likely the cause of a wasted cycle. Shame on me, I wasn't on my game, so we didn't discuss that. Honestly, I was just so relieved that she thought we were fine to try again, I let everything else slide. In retrospect, I'm pissed about that. Prescriptions from that office are wrong so often - the pharmacy wouldn't fill my estrogen last time because the prescription said to take it three times a day, "BID". Turns out that BID stands for twice a day. Three times a day, twice a day doesn't work. Another careless mistake leading to even more frustration on my part.
There was some benefit to the appointment. We discussed what else we would do to try to improve my lining. Two things came up: first, given Dr. Haney's feedback on the cerclage, we're going to up my Follistim slightly.That potentially risks twins, but should help my lining, and with the cerclage, twins should be ok. The second thing was that I mentioned my positive CE biopsy, and that I'd been treated and had a negative biopsy since that time. Dr. B. said she'd like to put me on 10 days of doxy, starting day 1 of stims, for my next cycle. I know there's research linking CE and thin lining, so I'm ok with this.
So, a lot of frustration, but hopefully a slightly higher chance of success next cycle.
So, tests turned negative and I stopped the progesterone 14 days post trigger. One day later, I emailed the clinic to see if I should also stop estrace. The nurse (a different one), told me yes, and that I needed to schedule a regroup with Dr. B before cycling again. Given how poorly the cycle went, that made sense, but it irritated the hell out of me that they didn't bother to tell me until the day I expected my period.
I scheduled the appointment, and was able to get in two days later, which turned out to be CD2. Dr. B asked me why I was there, and I told her the nursing staff wouldn't let me cycle without speaking to her. She seemed surprised and noted it would probably be a short consult. Given the cost, knowing that the doctor didn't think the appointment was necessary left me even more irritated.
We discussed my dismal lining. At one point, Dr. B asked me how I'd been taking the Estrace, and I told her that I followed the directions written on the bottle - "Twice a day, orally" - for the first several days, then switched to vaginal because I had a feeling the bottle was wrong. She stated that the fact that I'd been on it orally probably explained my lining issue.
If I'd been more on my game, I'd have asked some very pointed questions about why the prescription was wrong, and what was CCRM going to do, given that she just told me that error was likely the cause of a wasted cycle. Shame on me, I wasn't on my game, so we didn't discuss that. Honestly, I was just so relieved that she thought we were fine to try again, I let everything else slide. In retrospect, I'm pissed about that. Prescriptions from that office are wrong so often - the pharmacy wouldn't fill my estrogen last time because the prescription said to take it three times a day, "BID". Turns out that BID stands for twice a day. Three times a day, twice a day doesn't work. Another careless mistake leading to even more frustration on my part.
There was some benefit to the appointment. We discussed what else we would do to try to improve my lining. Two things came up: first, given Dr. Haney's feedback on the cerclage, we're going to up my Follistim slightly.That potentially risks twins, but should help my lining, and with the cerclage, twins should be ok. The second thing was that I mentioned my positive CE biopsy, and that I'd been treated and had a negative biopsy since that time. Dr. B. said she'd like to put me on 10 days of doxy, starting day 1 of stims, for my next cycle. I know there's research linking CE and thin lining, so I'm ok with this.
So, a lot of frustration, but hopefully a slightly higher chance of success next cycle.
Thursday, October 19, 2017
Infectious Diseases Specialist Visit
With the crappy news of another operative hysteroscopy, I got distracted and never posted about our appointment with the Infectious Disease Specialist at the U. Overall, it was a good experience. The TL;DR version: the initial CE finding was probably due to retained POC. It's probably unnecessary, but I can do 14 days of doxy and repeat the biopsy.
Here's the long version: The doctor (who was very pregnant herself) was extremely thorough. She spent well over an hour with us and walking through my complete medical history, going back to childhood. She even sent a follow up note to me asking if I'd had blood clots in the past, because she'd spoken to a colleague who is a rheumatologist, to see if my history of juvenile arthritis (JRA) might be playing a role.
The downside of such a long conversation and discussing so much history is that the conversation was a bit meandering. It's hard to tell the red herrings (JRA, recurrent sinus infections, 12+ years of incurable infection in two of my toes) from the relevant (chronic endometritis, recurrent UTIs). She mentioned something that I thought was really interesting, if frightening: in a proportion of women with recurrent UTIs, there seems to be a chicken and egg issue, where the surface of the bladder is inflamed, and that inflammation makes it more prone to bacterial growth/infection. No one is sure which comes first: the inflammation, or the infection. It can be really hard to break the cycle. This could be what's happening with my uterus, but there's no clear treatment approach if so.
She thought the CE from the biopsy might simply be because of the amount of debris that was in my uterus - retained placenta. She wanted, partly for research, partly for me, to have me do another biopsy before starting antibiotics. Our initial discussion was that we would do the biopsy, and if the CE is gone, I wouldn't do any antibiotics. However, I realized that with the FemVue, I would have to take a few days of antibiotics. Once we discussed that, the doctor agreed that if we were going to be on 4 days of doxy, we might as well do the 14 days of doxy that would be the normal first line treatment for CE. So, the plan was: biopsy and Femvue on 10/4. 14 days of doxy starting on 10/14. Repeat biopsy when my next cycle starts.
Of course, we didn't account for the repeat hysteroscopy in the plan, but it doesn't really change anything. I finished my doxy yesterday morning, and I'm now booked for what I really hope will be my last biopsy on the 30th. The pathology from this last hysteroscopy came back with no evidence of CE (YIPPEE!), and also no retained placenta. It appeared there was just a bit of scar tissue.
Here's the long version: The doctor (who was very pregnant herself) was extremely thorough. She spent well over an hour with us and walking through my complete medical history, going back to childhood. She even sent a follow up note to me asking if I'd had blood clots in the past, because she'd spoken to a colleague who is a rheumatologist, to see if my history of juvenile arthritis (JRA) might be playing a role.
The downside of such a long conversation and discussing so much history is that the conversation was a bit meandering. It's hard to tell the red herrings (JRA, recurrent sinus infections, 12+ years of incurable infection in two of my toes) from the relevant (chronic endometritis, recurrent UTIs). She mentioned something that I thought was really interesting, if frightening: in a proportion of women with recurrent UTIs, there seems to be a chicken and egg issue, where the surface of the bladder is inflamed, and that inflammation makes it more prone to bacterial growth/infection. No one is sure which comes first: the inflammation, or the infection. It can be really hard to break the cycle. This could be what's happening with my uterus, but there's no clear treatment approach if so.
She thought the CE from the biopsy might simply be because of the amount of debris that was in my uterus - retained placenta. She wanted, partly for research, partly for me, to have me do another biopsy before starting antibiotics. Our initial discussion was that we would do the biopsy, and if the CE is gone, I wouldn't do any antibiotics. However, I realized that with the FemVue, I would have to take a few days of antibiotics. Once we discussed that, the doctor agreed that if we were going to be on 4 days of doxy, we might as well do the 14 days of doxy that would be the normal first line treatment for CE. So, the plan was: biopsy and Femvue on 10/4. 14 days of doxy starting on 10/14. Repeat biopsy when my next cycle starts.
Of course, we didn't account for the repeat hysteroscopy in the plan, but it doesn't really change anything. I finished my doxy yesterday morning, and I'm now booked for what I really hope will be my last biopsy on the 30th. The pathology from this last hysteroscopy came back with no evidence of CE (YIPPEE!), and also no retained placenta. It appeared there was just a bit of scar tissue.
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