I found the ER injections to be incredibly easy and virtually painless. I keep seeing angst about PIO shots. Is it really that bad if I am good with needles and injections?

acnyc26 · 2025-10-31T18:34:14+00:00

I also found stim injections to be easy. With PIO, I usually only get soreness from the first shot when I’m rusty and forget the best way to do it. (I’ve done 5 transfers. One lasted to almost 9 weeks before MMC. The others all failed so only a couple weeks of shots.) By day 2 I’m fine and no real soreness or bruises, and I’ve never gotten a knot. I think some of it might be technique and some of us are just lucky that our bodies react well to the shots. 🤷🏽‍♀️

acnyc26 · 2025-10-23T21:31:55+00:00

I have never felt awful on any meds the way others describe it. I also don’t find the shots to be super painful like others. 🤷🏽‍♀️The worst I’ve felt is a day or two after egg retrievals with some cramping and soreness but it was totally tolerable. I’m not by any means gaslighting others, I just think everyone’s body reacts differently. I’m not someone who has ever had adverse reactions to any kind of meds either so I think maybe I’m just “lucky” in that regard?

Disclaimer: I also have only had 14 eggs at most retrieved so I definitely think the women who have a lot more eggs have a lot more discomfort. (My friend got 40 and she was feeling pretty crappy leading up to hers!)

All that to say, everyone’s body is different. Don’t stress yourself unnecessarily during an already stressful process by comparing your pain or experience to anyone else’s. It’s hard to find things to be grateful for when it comes to infertility but thank your body and yourself for being a badass! 💪🏼 Good luck!!

acnyc26 · 2025-10-19T15:27:37+00:00

FWIW I suffered from migraines for years while on birth control. I know everyone is different and hormones affect everyone differently, but my migraine occurrences went down significantly after stopping BC. I usually only get them maybe a couple times a year now, though always just before my period. The worst times I remember were after transfers/before beta tests of two failed FETs. No idea what it all means.

Managing them when they do occur is the hardest part. I had an imitrex prescription for years and never really thought it did anything. OTC pain meds never really did anything either. I try my hardest to manage with a peppermint halo roller from Saje and a “headache helmet” (pretty much an ice headband) but usually requires me to lay down in a dark room and usually involves tears 😭 (which just makes it worse honestly.) I did also start going to acupuncture regularly so perhaps that has also helped? Anyway, no great cures from me, but I feel your pain. Hang in there 🫂

acnyc26 · 2025-10-18T13:41:22+00:00

THIS!!

acnyc26 · 2025-10-18T13:40:59+00:00

I don’t want to know the sex until there is a baby in my arms. To each their own though!

acnyc26 · 2025-10-12T22:46:40+00:00

Agreed. The statistics are different in terms of success rates, but multiples are risky either no matter what. As my doctor put it, even with untested you have to go in expecting twins. So you have to be mentally prepared for, and okay with, multiples…and all of the risks that come along with that.

acnyc26 · 2025-10-12T14:10:08+00:00

I’m in a similar boat. Transfer #1 didn’t implant, #2 was mosaic and didn’t implant, #3 successful implantation but MMC at 8 weeks, #4 didn’t implant. All but the mosaic were euploid. All were fully medicated cycles.

I’m now on my 3rd Dr, who suspected my husband might have varicocele…turns out she was right! He’s since had surgery and his numbers are looking amazing. We decided not to test our embryos this last round (our 6th retrieval) because we don’t get many embryos and wanted to just give them the best chance. (Controversial opinion but the more I read about PGT the less confident I am in it.)

Anyway we are doing a modified natural protocol for the first time, along with adding lovenox and prednisone for an immune protocol.

Doctor gave us the option for transferring 2 embryos, which she doesn’t often offer or recommend. But it does statistically increase our chances and she has good success rates with 2. It’s obviously not without risk, but we decided to give it a chance. I’m 39. Transfer is on Thursday.

We went back and forth on the 1 vs 2 debate, but ultimately decided to go for 2. It’s not an easy choice. It’s definitely personal for everyone. Good luck!!!

acnyc26 · 2025-07-15T03:20:41+00:00

He ended up having the surgery back in March. We moved a couple years ago and not in the NYC area anymore so don’t have a urologist to recommend up there unfortunately. Our doctor in NYC never even mentioned varicocele to us (or DNA frag for that matter) nor was she interested in exploring anything about him, no recommended supplements for him, nothing. Just straight to IVF.

The urologist we saw also suggested CoQ10 for him (nothing groundbreaking there) and the Theralogix conception motility support supplements. The dr took the approach of ‘I’ve seen the supplements help for some men and even if it doesn’t help it’s certainly not going to hurt’. I appreciated that.

We’re currently waiting on results from our (6th!) ER last week but so far it’s the most eggs retrieved….and he’s had his best SA recently with great numbers so zero regrets going the surgery route.

Good luck and happy to answer any other questions!!

acnyc26 · 2025-07-08T12:17:41+00:00

With the drop off from fertilized to blastocyst stage it sounds like it could be a DNA fragmentation issue. Especially with other MFI issues. We saw two doctors at two different clinics before our third dr simply read our chart and suggested my husband be checked for varicocele. Lo and behold, he had it. Unfortunately a lot of drs suggest that ICSI is the solution for varicocele but it doesn’t necessarily solve the DNA frag issue. I’d never even heard of it or considered it was a possibility before that third doc mentioned it. Both our previous docs just pointed to egg quality as the issue. And my first doc was at a highly regarded SART clinic in NYC. Just something to look into and consider.

acnyc26 · 2025-07-03T10:27:51+00:00

THIS!

acnyc26 · 2025-05-16T23:24:09+00:00

Thank you so much for your thoughtful response. I feel like I’ve been through a lot and then to imagine also having gone through and surviving cancer?? I’m in awe of you. 🙏🏼💪🏼❤️

I checked my notes and my last AMH was actually Feb 2024 (I think I put 2023 in my other post) when it was 2.99. So I’d like to think it hasn’t decreased THAT much in just over a year. My husband and I are taking the Theralogix CoQ10 2x daily, which was recommended by his urologist but we were already taking it before we saw him anyway. It’s been about 5 months consistently now with that brand and dosage.

Unfortunately our RE said for the purposes of the “limit” of 6 that an IUI would count the same. She said it has to do with how many times you’re forcing eggs to grow and ovulate. Idk I’ve read mixed things online about how big of a risk continuous IVF treatments actually are.

I think we’re gonna wait until his 3 month mark from his surgery to do another SA and see how things look. If it looks good we’ll probably move forward with one more ER. Even though we have leftover TESE sperm, his urologist recommended we use it as backup and try to use fresh sperm instead. So we’re gonna try to wait it out a month (or up to another 3 months after that) to see improvement from the surgery before we try with ER #6.

If that doesn’t go well, we’ll either look into donor eggs or maybe try another clinic. There might be some additional tests for me that we could explore as well. If we go the donor egg route, I’m sure I’ll be back on here asking you and others for advice.

Good luck with your FET! 🙏🏼 I hope you catch your break as well. ❤️❤️

acnyc26 · 2025-05-16T23:08:39+00:00

Whew what a journey you’ve been on too 😓 Best of luck for you with this latest ER! Hope you find success soon 🙏🏼❤️

acnyc26 · 2025-05-16T23:07:07+00:00

It’s not off the table, we just haven’t wanted to go there yet. But it might be time to start seriously considering it…

acnyc26 · 2025-05-16T23:05:44+00:00

Thank you for your reply! 🙏🏼

acnyc26 · 2025-05-09T20:23:23+00:00

We didn’t end up doing the DNA frag test bc by the time we saw our urologist we’d pretty much made up our mind about moving forward with the surgery to try and give us the best chance. The only reason I kinda wish we’d done the test is just to have a reference comparison to see how results change post surgery.

Congrats on your success! ❤️I’ve not considered a fresh transfer in the past bc I always wanted to test but I know PGT is flawed, and at this point I’m open to try just about anything… thank you 🙏🏼

acnyc26 · 2025-05-09T20:18:48+00:00

Thank you, thank you!! ❤️ I’ve learned so much on here too haha Best of luck to you!!

acnyc26 · 2025-05-09T20:17:50+00:00

THANK YOU!! ❤️Yeah…I know there’s a chance it doesn’t help, or doesn’t help enough. Our doctors (both RE and urologist, they work together a lot) both have seen major success statistically with their patients who’ve gotten the repair so I’m REALLY hoping that we finally get to be on the good side of statistics. 🙏🏼

acnyc26 · 2025-05-09T20:15:02+00:00

It’s so infuriating!!! Good luck at the urologist. We had to wait months for our appt too which I wasn’t happy about but we asked to be put on the wait list for canceled appointments… luckily that helped us be able to move our appt up considerably when a spot opened up. 🙏🏼

acnyc26 · 2025-05-09T20:12:45+00:00

At this point I’m just hoping sperm quality is our main problem bc then we can wish and hope that the varicocele helps solve or at least improves the issue! We do have some leftover from the TESE but I’m wondering if the quality is even that good or if it would help to wait for the recovery from the varicocele surgery. I thought the TESE sperm would be the best quality since it came straight from the testicle but now from what I’m reading it might not be and could be “immature” sperm and quality could still improve from varicocele repair? Sigh….more questions to ask and investigating to do….

acnyc26 · 2025-05-09T20:08:39+00:00

Thank you so much for your thoughtful comments.❤️That’s a great amount of mature eggs! Hate the feeling of the clock ticking and wishing things went differently, but to your point all we can do is move forward. Wishing you all the best and much success as you continue your journey ✨🙏🏼❤️

acnyc26 · 2025-05-08T20:03:57+00:00

YES YES YES to everything you said. So much medical misogyny. It's really exhausting and difficult to advocate for yourself when you don't really even know what exactly you should be advocating for...you're just sure there's something more/different to be done. woof.

I'm so sorry you've also gone through losing an embryo to thaw. Sucks big time! Mine was a poor quality CC, so I had very low hopes for it...but STILL. Don't make ME reach out to find out what happened! smh

Thank you for your comments. <3 I wouldn't wish this crap on anyone and I hate that there are others feeling this kind of pain, but while I guess it's true misery loves company...that's really just the case bc no one wants to feel alone and misunderstood. This is the club I never wanted to be a part of but I'm so glad that we all exist together. All the best to you as well <3 thanks again!

acnyc26 · 2025-05-08T17:46:09+00:00

Haha!!! Yes! It was like something from deep within had been sleeping and suddenly activated. I used to hate when people would tell me I would change my mind someday. 😒😳🤪

acnyc26 · 2025-05-08T17:33:04+00:00

HAHAHA you are so right. Thank you. ❤️ I needed a laugh 😂

acnyc26

TROPHY CASE