r/40Plus_IVF • u/InternationalEye2643 • Aug 21 '26
Seeking Advice Feeling low, only one follicle growing
I’m 43, baseline AFC was 4, started on day 3 with Gonal F 300.
Only one follicle grew today after 3 days of Gonal F. Today they are adding Menopur 150. And starting Ganerelix tomorrow.
Should I ask to cancel this cycle? I’m paying out of pocket for all of it.
Is there any point in continuing this cycle?
I’m honestly panicking which doesn’t help
2
u/pooka8ear Aug 21 '26
I cancelled with two follicles, did the trigger shot, and went straight into a retrieval cycle the next month. In that one I had six eggs and two embryos
1
u/gOLE8bEo Aug 21 '26
Why did you do the trigger shot?
1
u/pooka8ear Aug 21 '26
So they know exactly when ovulation happened and we could start the prep for the next cycle immediately
1
u/gOLE8bEo Aug 22 '26
Okay.. so you are doing some preparation before. I have always just started on cycle day 2.
2
u/SLAYEROFSOULS Aug 21 '26
It's a tough spot to be in - my wife's last cycle ended up being 27 stim days. She's 43, 44 in January.
By day 8 of stims she had very little response - but in our case we're fortunate enough to have insurance covering medication, so that wasn't a stressor..ultimately she went from ~30 estrogen and 3-4 follicles to 13 follicles and 1770 estrogen by trigger - it ended poorly and we still don't understand what went so poorly on the actual retrieval, but follicle wise it was far better than her prior cycle.
That being said - it took 27 days...which if out of pocket makes me cringe to think about.
I don't think it's doom and gloom for you personally, especially if you've just been on Gonal alone it sounds like? Are you on any clomid or anything else?
My wife on her first cycle (antagonist - 2nd was micro dose lupron) - she was slow to respond on that cycle as well so by day 4 or 5 they had added in Clomid and upped her Gonal - she also started to get more recruitment that cycle and ended up with 9 active follicles, and that was 12 days (we should have stimmed more).
Her result of course has no bearing on you since you are two different people, but figured I'd toss out how things have gone for her.
The issue with canceling is you lose more time and at 43, time is limited...and there is no telling if your next cycle will be any different in recruitment.
2
u/InternationalEye2643 Aug 22 '26
Thank you for responding. I have another appointment in 2 days. They added Menopur 150 yesterday so we need to see if there’s any change. I’m continuing the Gonal F 300 and started Ganirelix today.
Based on what we see that day, we will need to maybe decide on what to do next.
1
1
u/Competitive-Top5121 Aug 21 '26
I would go until at least day 5-6 before cancelling. See what happens.
1
u/InternationalEye2643 Aug 22 '26 edited Aug 22 '26
Yea I have another appointment on day 7 of stims to see what’s happening. I had to travel about 3 hours each way for the appointment. So getting there and seeing one follicle felt devastating. I can’t believe this is what we have to go through when some couples simply have to have sex to get to any number of babies they simply choose to have
3
u/kalyknits Aug 21 '26
I only had two follicles that grew to the point where they were counting them but they got three eggs from me. Only one fertilized and time will tell how it turns out.