Ask Our Doctors – Archive
Our Medical Directors are outstanding physicians that you will find to be very personable and compassionate, who take care to ensure that you have the most cutting-edge fertility treatments at your disposal. This is your outlet to ask your questions to the doctors.
Hi Dr. Sher,
On October 7 I transfered a PGS normal day 6 6bb embryo. Betas have been:
9dp6dt 14
11dp6dt 40
13dp6dt 100
18dp6dt 589
21dp6dt 1184
At 21 days they did an US which showed a gestational sac and a yolk sac. When can I feel more relaxed like I’m out of the woods of low betas? Next ultrasound is this Friday 11/5. Nervous!!! My betas were low with my first pregnancy, but started at 70 not 14. Maybe it’s just my body??
Thank you!
The US should be definitive on Friday!
Good luck!
Geoff Sher
Hi Dr Sher, further to my question about ERA … does hydroxochloroquine, prednisone, intralipid or dexamethasone need to be replicated and taken during the ERA cycle? Or is it only needed in the FET.
What is dexamethasone or hydroxochloroquine used for in the FET? If taking prednisone, do you still also need dexamethasone or does it do the same thing?
I do not prescribe HCQ in IVF, unless the woman is on it for another indication. You would not need both prednisone and dexamethasone. Only one or the other for the transfer.
Geoff Sher.
I am thinking of freezing my eggs if possible. I am 39 – healthy my OBGYN says all my hormone levels are normal and no indication I am in peri menopause.
Respectfully, at 39y, the chance that you would be freezing “competent eggs” is not great. The reason is that after your mid-30’s the percentage of euploid eggs reduces such that at 39y, only about 1:4 or 1: 5 will be “competent”> It is much better to freeze PGS-tested embryos.
Good luck!
Geogg Sher
Hi Dr. Sher,
I recently had a failed medicated FET with a very good quality day 6 euploid blastocyst. I had implantation as I got a couple of days of faint positive home pregnancy tests, so it seems likely I had a biochemical pregnancy. I’ve provided my stats and details of my last IVF & FET cycles below. Is there anything about my IVF/FET treatment protocols or results that you think could be improved upon with future IVF/FET cycles? Could the fertilisation rate have been better and is there a way we might be able to improve the number of euploid embryos?
I’m 35 and my partner is 36 years old, and neither of us have any known major fertility issues, although my partner had a slightly low sperm count (13 million sperm per ml) when this was last checked. We’re having IVF to avoid passing on a genetic condition I’m a carrier for.
MY STATS
AMH: 2.1 ng/ml (last checked in August 2020)
AFC: 18
3D SIS scan in February this year showed normal uterine cavity and function.
I have also had the following checked and all were confirmed to be within in normal range: thyroid function, vitamin D and full blood count.
I’ve also gotten pregnant naturally in March 2020, but ended that pregnancy (dilation & evacuation surgical termination at 19 weeks) because after pre-natal testing we found out that the baby was affected with the genetic condition we do not want to pass on.
IVF CYCLE IN APRIL 2021 (short antagonist protocol)
I took a combination of 75IU Meriofert and 150IU Fostimon for a total of 10 days. For the last couple of days of stimulation, the dosage of Meriofert was increased to 150IU, and on day 10 I only took 75IU of Meriofert and 75IU of Fostimon. From days 5 to day 10 of stimulation I took Cetrotide for downregulation. I used a dual trigger of 2000IU Gonasi and 1ml Seprecur. My consultant told me that I had a good response to these medications.
For this IVF cycle I had an AFC of 22, 18 eggs were collected, 14 of these eggs were mature, 9 eggs were fertilised with ICSI and 5 of these became day 6 blastocysts. Of these 5 blastocysts, 1 was confirmed to be euploid, 1 was a low level mosaic and 3 were aneuploid.
MEDICATED FET CYCLE IN JULY 2021
For this I took Cetrotide for 7 days for downregulation and Progynova for 12 days. My lining reached 8.1mm. I then took a combination of Crinone gel (x2 daily), Utrogestan (x3 daily), Lentogest (1 injection daily) and Inhixa (1 injection daily) for a full 5 days. The transfer was on day 6 of me being on progesterone. My progesterone levels were checked on the day of transfer and as my levels were a little low (9.4 ng/ml) I was given Cyclogest 400mg (x3 daily), which increased my progesterone to over 30 ng/ml. This ended in a biochemical pregnancy.
Hello, I had a 5-day frozen double embryo transfer and am very worried about my beta values so far, I was wondering if I could have your opinion? My clinic does not test HCG at all and so I had to do these myself.
11 days past transfer: 62
13 days past transfer: 95
15 days past transfer: 259
Each test was 48 hours apart. My values seem very low, and had a bad start (the doubling time between the first two was 76 hours!). But seems to have got better (doubling between second two is 33 hours). I will do another test 48 hours from last. Should I be optimistic or pessimistic in your opinion? It seems low and erratic…
Hi lara,
Only time will tell. Ultimately , only an US atb 6-7 weeks will give a clear and definitive answer.
Sorry!
Geoff Sher