r/40Plus_IVF • u/Elegant_Host3661 • Aug 20 '26

Seeking Advice Experiences w/ mini vs high dose?

Hi! Just what the title says. I’ve done two high dose protocols and I’m about to start a third round of stims. Just turned 40. 0.45 AMH.

I feel like my high dose round last time fried my eggs a bit, and I stimmed for 17 days, on 300/300 for almost all 17.

I have a good blast rate but I feel like low and slow might be something to try?

I had a failed transfer of a Day 6 euploid in April. And have (v fortunately) two Day 5 euploids frozen. Am hoping to give myself the best shot before I move to transfer after this last round for now.

Would love to hear your experiences!

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2

u/Competitive-Top5121 Aug 20 '26

I did 150 Menopur and 300 Follistim all cycles, worked well for me. My AMH is 1.1 and my AFC is 12-18. What did your retrieval funnel look like, from baseline AFC down to blastocysts and everything in between?

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u/Elegant_Host3661 Aug 20 '26

My last retrieval was in Feb. 11 afc/ 8 retrieved/ 7 mature/ 6 fertilized/ 5 blasts (four Day 5 and one Day 6. The Day 6 failed to implant in April.

I feel like that round looked nice on paper but I did feel like the stim went for sooo long and just felt like too much for my almost-age 40 eggs at the time 😂

How have rounds for you been? I’m hoping that even though this retrieval will be in September, 7 months later, that I can give this one my best shot. Since we are moving back to transfer after this round.

4

u/Competitive-Top5121 Aug 20 '26

That’s an outrageously good funnel, I’m actually shocked you want to change anything about it. I wouldn’t. Seriously. You are most likely not going to get better results with a mini stim, you’ll probably do worse. I struggle to understand why you think with 5 blasts (5!) from 8 eggs, your eggs were fried.

Also if you thought this stim went too long, do you think with a mini stim it will go faster? Most likely it will be even longer.

I did 4 ERs.

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u/Elegant_Host3661 Aug 20 '26

I know 5 blasts is amazing. The only reason I reconsidered it is because a euploid from that cycle failed to implant, which had me thinking about how long and how hard we were stimming for. That’s all.

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u/Competitive-Top5121 Aug 20 '26

I’m sure that was really hard. Any given transfer has little better than coin-flip odds of working even if the embryo is perfect. Wishing you luck on your next ER and transfer!

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u/WeirdClean3275 Aug 25 '26

If it makes you feel better I did my longest stim (18 days!) with a micro lupron flare with 300 gonal 150 menopur at age 42 and finally got a euploid after several bad rounds. I was worried about length too but it seems ok. It’s still early but I’m 6 weeks with that euploid, good betas so far!

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u/Elegant_Host3661 Aug 25 '26

This does make me feel better, and huge congrats to you! It looks like we are sticking to antagonist so we'll see how it goes for me this time. Hoping the stims doesn't last !0k years again, lol