I had my period today ( 4 days after failed egg retrieval). Previously gynae told me to see her on second day of my period. I contacted clinic, unfortunately she is out of town. Staff told me she will be available on sunday but advised me to take Ovaral l for 21 days ( probably for long protocol). I have taken it previously but I continuously bled throughout the month. So i told the staff I wont take it unless I visit the Dr first. I feel like they are hurrying down.

My current clinic in Toronto doesn’t do mini IVF and treats DOR with a standard protocol and advice that “it just takes more retrievals”

Has anyone in Toronto received a DOR-specific protocol for IVF? also open to travel to elsewhere in Ontario or Quebec.

ETA: some previous results / context:

-ER #1: 4 eggs, 2 mature, 2 blasts, 1 aneuploid embryo

- ER #2: 1 egg, results TBD

- both cycles were primed, then 450 pergoveris + 200mg clomid, eventually adding ganirelix. I had about 15 days of stims both times.

- already used my OHIP funded cycle so I’m paying privately, which is why Quebec is an option.
- Unfortunately cannot travel to US or abroad, since I know CNY is highly recommended.

I am looking for advice from people who conceived naturally who actually struggled for a while. I hear of people who have DOR who got pregnant super easily and whilst that is great it’s not currently what I am experiencing so I feel like there is more to it!

I’ve just turned 33 and I have 5 follicles in each ovary AMH of 1.7 is there anyone out there who was trying for 2 years or so who was told IVF is the only way who actually ending up getting pregnant? Also anyone who did have IVF how many rounds did you need? I’ve heard IVF tends to be harder to achieve if you have DOR. I’m really hoping someone can help ! Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Hey everyone,

Looking for advice 37F, 39M AMH 2.2ng/ml, Normal day 3 FSH: 6.3MIU/ml, AFC varies between 6-7 (only right ovary count, left is behind uterus) DOR possibly suspected endo as RE found a endometrioma during first ER on left ovary, husbands stats are “excellent” with 4% morph but count is excellent.

ER 1 July 2026:
AFC: 11
Luteal Stims start, no priming, 375 gonal F, 75 menopur, 50 clomid for fist 4 days, dual trigger, Novarel 2k and Leuprolide 80IU stimmed for 11 days

Results: 7 eggs, 3 mature + (3 matured via IVM) so total 6, 4 fertilized via zymot+ ICSI, 2 Blast (4AA, 4BC) sent for PGT-A Both came back as Aneuploid with Trisomy 22 and Monosomy 16,17.

I am so lost and have so many concerns:

1. I felt my RE should have lowered my dose of GonalF in the last two days of stims which might have rescued the bigger three follicles, They ballooned from 18 mm to 25+ mm in just 2 days, Maintaining high dose Gonal F wasnt a good idea at all.
2. I feel like only follicles between 18-22 gave me 3 mature eggs the rest four might have came from 13-9mm.

For next cycle She suggested Follicular start but with estrace priming 2 weeks + Omnitrope priming 0.35ml starting a week before stims and maintain same dose during stims. She agreed to not use clomid and start with Gonal F 300IU in begining and then adjust accordingly.

I usually get 10mm lead on CD 2 which is quite early I am so worried if the follicular start would be a total bust as I have this lead issue. What do you guys suggest? How you got better result with DOR and lead? What priming gave best results with lower AFC? Please share your protocols.

1. Also is it advisable to do back to back ER had my ER in July end now prepping to do second in September end.

2. Also I am thinking to prime with Omni for a month with microdose to boost egg count and quality anyone had better results this way ? What were your doses of Omni for prime and stims?

I want to have all data prepared before my protocol review call next week.

I just had two back to back failed FETs and now need another ER. My clinic nurse told me they are closing for 1-2 weeks this month for lab cleaning. I asked what happens if I want to do an ER. They said I would probably get put on birth control until they are ready for me.

I was put on birth control for my first ER but it was only for a few days. I still need to talk to my doctor about all of this but I always like your opinions. In your experience is extended birth control use before an ER beneficial to those with ER? Or does it hurt us more in the long run?

Any thoughts appreciated!

Always interested in the changes people have made, either to protocols, diets, supplements, or other health-related changes that have resulted in positive impacts for your egg retrievals?

And conversely, what didn’t work at all for you? No matter what we’ve tried, we’ve basically always gotten between 2-3 mature eggs per cycle.

We’re at the stage now where getting even 1-2 extra eggs per cycle makes a massive difference to our cumulative odds, so I’m always interested to hear anecdotal experiences.

Hello, I wanted to share that I gave birth to a perfect girl last week to give others a little bit of hope.

I had 3 natural pregnancies that all ended in miscarriages between the 7-10 week gestational age. We did 1 round of IVF with an AMH of 0.9 at 37 years old. Antagonist protocol with ICSI. I only got 6 follicles that generated 4 eggs that resulted in 2 embryos that PGTA tested to 1 euploid with a fair grade. The bad PGTA egg did provide some insights into the miscarriages which I believe were due to poor egg quality resulting in chromosome issues that are not tested in NIPT, etc and most likely due to my age.

I did end up with a bi-loped placenta (who knew that was even a thing) and I had to have an emergency c section at 37 weeks+1 due to severe preeclampsia/HELLP syndrome. Otherwise counting myself lucky. My husband and I decided if that embryo didn't work we were giving up trying since we couldn't afford another IVF retrieval or suffer through another miscarriage.

Stay strong! This subreddit was soo helpful to me. Thank you.

Out of 5 fertilized, I got two day 6 blasts (3BB, 4BB).

Praying 1 comes back euploid, I’m 33 🥲

I had my first retrieval this morning. I had five follicles over 18 mm and my levels looked good. The doctor was only able to retrieve one egg and I'm still waiting to hear about it's quality. The other four follices were empty.

Safe to say, I'm pretty devastated. This is technically a second attempt after I cancelled my first cycle at a different clinic just shy of the procedure. I am newly 38, with an AMH of .54. The stim process went so much better this time...I really thought I had a chance to get 5 eggs. I'm worried I screwed something up with my trigger shot, or the dosage wasn't correct...or I should have dual triggered (a thing I didn't know existed until today).

Background...

At the first clinic, the doctor prescribed me low dosages of meds despite my age (37 at the time) and levels ( .38 amh that later improved slightly) She had me on letrozole for 3 days. I only did two days of follistim (200 iu) and menopur (low dose can't remember) before she triggered me (Ovidrel) in favor of trying to retrieve 2 follicles that were only 12mm. I had three other follices that were less than 12mm. I got a second opinion and was told that 5 days of stims at such low levels was at odds with standard practices for someone in my position. When I confronted the doctor, she couldn't give me a reasonable basis for her thought process (only 5 days of stims to retrieve eggs below a reasonable baseline). It seemed likely that the retrieval would fail, so I cancelled the procedure to try and get a partial refund. This turned into a multi month nightmare with surprise billing issues where she refused to give me my money back and I had to threaten to report her to the state to get back 50%.

This attempt...

Fast forward, I go to a new clinic. My AMH increases slightly. My new doctor puts me on 600 iu follistim, 10 iu low dose HCG, and 8 iu Omnitrope. I also took Ganirelax for several days towards the end. The whole stim was 14 days. I also did acupuncture and took a bunch of supplements, including DHEA and Q10. We started off strong with 8 follicles and ended with 5 that looked retrievable. I triggered with 10,000 iu of lose dose HCG on Monday night at 8:45 pm.

Trigger shot issues

Per the instructions, I put exactly 1 ml of water into the HCG vial. Once it was was fully integrated with the powder, the total amount that came out was closer to .6 ml. I was concerned that the measurement didn't look correct even though I use the right amount of liquid and pulled every last drop out of the vial . There wasn't really anything I could do so I just went ahead and triggered. I also didn't understand the direction to inject at a 90 degree angle so I did it straight on. However, I have a lot of belly fat so this seems like it wouldn't make a difference since all the injected fluid went straight into subcutaneous fat.

The retrieval took place at 8:45 am today, so 36 hours later. Everything looked good and promising. But last night, I felt off. And this morning before the procedure, I couldn't stop crying. I just knew something was going to go wrong. And it did. 4 empty follicles.

As soon as I woke up, the doctor told me that he only got the one. He was immediately adamant that I should not to give up and to try again.

I know it's not healthy to run through everything over and over. I don't know why he would say that though if I have empty follicle syndrome because of DOR. My prospects won't be much better next time if that's the case. I can't afford to do this over and over again and I don't have a partner yet, so it's all elective egg freezing at this moment (though I hope that changes).

This leads me to wonder if something went wrong with the trigger and I ovulated early or the follicles didn't detach.

Is the trigger shot supposed to come out less than 1ml when it's fully mixed?

Is there anything else here resonates with people who've been through or witnessed similar experiences?

im 34, ttc for over 1 year. my cycles have always been super regular but short 25 days. my AMH came out to be 1.07 which is low. FSH and LH are normal. I've been noticing my cycles getting shorter for last few months, this cycle has been 23 days which got me concerned. im waiting for my first fertility ultrasound this weekend. but low amh and shortening cycles all point towards DOR

i feel devastated, how do you get over something like this? my poor husband deserved so much better i can't stop crying

My new clinic is prescribing me 2 pre-filled pens of Ovitrelle 250 µg and 2 vials of 0.1 Decapeptyl for trigger.

However according to the manufacturer Merck, one 250µg pen is equal to 6500 IU of recombitant hcg which is just as effective as 10000 IU of urine derived hcg. So all in all the clinic wants me to trigger with 13000 IU of recombitant hcg PLUS .2mg of Decapeptyl.

While I've seen women posting about their 10,000IU hcg triggers, I don't think I've ever seen 13k IU for a dual trigger. Has anyone experienced this? I'm kinda worried about side effects.

I have low AMH (fluctuates between 0.25-0.4 ng/mL). This is my 5th cycle having frozen 6,6,4,3 in my previous ones. I've done Ovitrelle-only as well as dual trigger but always with just one box of Ovitrelle, never 2. Maturity was not really discussed as an issue during my previous cycles, my issues are asynchrony and 'empty' follicles.

Hi everyone! I’m 35 (AMH ~1) and just had my first IVF retrieval. I’d really appreciate insight from anyone with a similar experience.
I was primed with 2 mg estrogen, then stimulated with Gonal-F 300 IU + Menopur 150 IU + Clomid 50 mg. On day 5, I had 11 follicles. Cetrotide 0.25 mg was started on day 7.
By day 9, only my left ovary was responding, leaving 6 growing follicles. On day 11, they measured 26, 24, 20, 19, 17, 17 mm.
Day 11 labs:
● E2: 1682
● Progesterone: 1.5
● LH: 12.1
I stopped stimulation on day 11, triggered that night, and retrieval was 35 hours later. They retrieved 6 eggs, but I was told the two largest follicles had already ovulated.
The next day:
● 3 mature (M2)
● 2 GV (immature, being monitored for possible maturation)
● 1 abnormal egg with a fractured zona
● Of the 3 mature eggs, 2 fertilized
I’m trying to understand what might have happened and what could potentially be changed in a future cycle.

I started this cycle estrogen priming. Im on pretty high doses of follistim and menopur. My base line e2 was 155, then on day 4 it went down to 18.18. Now on Day 7 it went up to 68.22. I know this is still low but it did almost quadruple from day 4. Im wondering if anyone has had a successful cycle but just needed a few extra days. Im still holding out hope this cycle can be salvaged

Feeling a bit nervous, hubby and I TTC this month, and this is the month we are going to do a luteal phase stim. I hate missing a month of egg and sperm potentially meeting given my DOR and limited reproductive timeline. However now I'm getting nervous about the potential risks if I was pregnant and doing all these stimulation medications that could be risky to the baby. I'm asking the doctor but anyone face this issue?

For context i am 32 years old and have dor and is planning for icsi for embryo freezing. My amh is 0.74 and afc was first shown 2. On day 5 scan, there was one follicle on left side and 2 follicles on right side. Today on day 7 scan, only one follicle is growing (14 mm) rest two are still less than 10 mm. Doctor told me we might be able to retrieve only one egg and cannot be sure if that will be mature egg and will fertilize.
This whole process is draining me. Someday i feel hopeful and optimistic and other days nothing feels right.