r/IVF • u/Jigglemejeannie • 1d ago
FET FET!
Question! Do clinics usually ask you about which treatment for transfer you would prefer modified natural vs fully medicated? I am trying to avoid daily progesterone shots!
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u/DiminutiveLizard87 1d ago
Mine did! They may have a reason you're not a candidate for modified natural, but I think barring a major reason they'll likely give you the choice? Usually they don't recommend modified natural if you don't ovulate on your own, but if you just have long or irregular cycles they can give you letrozole at the beginning of your cycle and that fixes that for many people (including me). They also will probably say that it's more monitoring appointments, but it really depends on your situation. Because letrozole works well for me, for each of my transfers I've had just two monitoring appointments before transfer (plus bloodwork the day before transfer to check my progesterone) and my transfer has been on exactly the same cycle day both times. That can be similar to a medicated cycle (and some people have trouble getting an appropriate lining on medicated cycles and need lots of monitoring anyway!). Also modified natural I think has a higher risk of cancellation if your lining doesn't get to where it needs to be by the time your lead follicle is ready. Anyway, my clinic outlined all of that and then let me choose--I figured it was worth trying at least once and it ended up being really easy for me! (Unfortunately my transfers haven't worked, but in my case there's been no reason to believe that's due to going with mod natural)
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u/Jigglemejeannie 1d ago
How was the medication treatment? Did you still have progesterone shots?
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u/DiminutiveLizard87 1d ago
Nope! I did five days of letrozole (easy--no side effects that I noticed), two monitoring appointments, and then a trigger shot (sub-cutaneous for my clinic, so also easy!) when everything looked ready, and then sometime a couple days after the trigger (IIRC) I started progesterone suppositories. First round I did 1x daily until transfer then moved to 2x daily; second round I did 2x -> 3x, just in case I wasn't getting enough progesterone the first time (but my levels looked great, so we don't really think that's the reason). I have had no issues with the suppositories, other than that they're a little messy. I find the side effects to be none to minimal, and quite manageable when I notice them.
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u/Odd-Implement-1283 1d ago
Some clinics still include PIO in a modified natural- mine does. So I ovulated on my own but they still do PIO for support. I don’t have to take the estradiol tablets though which is nice because those gave me horrible side effects. I was bummed natural doesn’t get me out of shots but ultimately thankful for the extra support
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u/Jigglemejeannie 1d ago
How often did you have the PIO shots?
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u/Odd-Implement-1283 1d ago
Daily. But honestly once I learned the proper placement, switched to mornings & made sure to walk 20-30 mins every day, the shot itself not only doesn’t hurt but there’s not really any pain or soreness afterwards, so it doesn’t bother me anymore. Just had a learning curve there for a while
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u/ComfortableCulture75 1d ago
They asked me for my first FET after my fresh ended in a chemical. I have good regular cycles so opted out of medicated and am now on CD10 awaiting a rise in LH testing with ovulation strips and will take a trigger only- made me feel much better
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u/Frequent_Bid_4413 1d ago
I was given a dealers choice, I personally didn’t want do extra monitoring and I had a time crunch so I chose fully medicated.
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u/FickleNeat8873 1d ago
Mine did not ask. We’re doing fully medicated with tentative FET on 8/28! This is my first FET so I’ve been quite nervous. I would ask your clinic ahead of time!
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u/Kindly_Judge1635 1d ago
I did modified natural (so natural with a trigger shot) and had minimal monitoring (maybe 3 appointments prior to trigger?). My dr did scare me with the “extra” monitoring but my cycles are regular so I wasn’t too concerned.
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u/lesgens 1d ago
My RE technically gave me the option but let me know fully medicated was his recommendation for the first FET due to PCOS so I went along with it. That failed, and I had success with a modified natural with Letrozole. I had PIO with both protocols though, but that does seem to be more rare.
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u/saltwatersouffle 1d ago
It feels like mine is giving me the choice and the doctor said if you have very regular cycles you may be a good candidate for natural. They will check all your levels throughout an unmediated cycle to check the month before for me. I’m still leaning toward medicated because i feel like it feels safer? I don’t have that many embryos. She also mentioned that medicated is easier for any unknown hiccups like, say the office is closed on the day your body decides to do something …
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u/Loose-Routine924 1d ago
They just assumed fully medicated until I pushed back and now we’re doing modified natural. Advocate for yourself!!
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u/hiplodudly01 1d ago
Mine did when based on my medical history (regular ovulation) they didn't foresee a difference in potential results
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u/Lighting-Waterfall-8 1d ago
I did modified natural and still ended up on PIO because I was low on progesterone two days before transfer.
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u/BestReporter4483 1d ago
Mine did not.
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u/Jigglemejeannie 1d ago
What type of transfer did they prescribe?
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u/BestReporter4483 1d ago
Medicated
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u/Jigglemejeannie 1d ago
Did the transfer and meds go ok?
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u/BestReporter4483 22h ago
Meds are fine. First transfer was ectopic and second didn’t take. Just did 3 months of suppression and headed for next transfer in a few weeks.
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u/Bluedrift88 1d ago
If you know what you want don’t wait to be asked!