u/CapitalDog715

I'm 43 years old. I started IVF last year at 42. I have PCOS,. diagnosed when I was 13 years old.

My first ER yielded

18 eggs, 14 mature ( Fertilized), 8 Blast . All abnormal after PGT

My 2nd retrieval yielded

19 eggs, 12 mature( Fertilized ) , 9 Blasts. All abnormal after PGT..

I have also been suffering with some type of neuropathy for almost a year.. Possible long COVID or Small Fiber Neuropathy based on my symptoms . I haven't been diagnosed but my symptoms are unbearable. Flares of skin burning, pain,.needles, showers hurt. Clothes hurt sometimes .It's excruciating pain that takes me out for hours when they happen which is every week. Stress or desperation when having symptoms make symptoms worst. If I wasn't working from home and catching up with work when I feel good I probably would have been fired.

I'm having my 3rd egg retrieval stims start in a couple of weeks. IVF and this disease have me in constant cycle of anxiety.I can't work out because I need to use my healthy time to catch up with work. Working out has always been my anxiety medicine and lately It has been impossible to add it to my routine.

A month ago I added the following to prepare my body

Ovanad+

Fish Oil

Ovasitol

NAC

Magnesium

I was already taking CoQ10 and Prenatal

I also take a PEA supplement that is for inflammation and immune health that is supposed to help with my flares and reduce the amount of Gabapentin I take.

I'm seeing a neurologist next week and a rheumatologist the week after and hopefully I can start getting some answers.

I just don't know what to do with IVF. I was thinking about doing two egg retrievals back to back and freeze and test later to give the eggs more time, and my body, maybe that helps. I have until next year April until my current plan with partial IVF coverage expires to keep trying. After that, money is going to be hard.

My boyfriend is hopeful and he thinks that this time it will work, that all the supplements I added will help . That I should keep going as normal considering my results. I'm torn because I don't know if this other issue is not helping and I'm here wasting my time , money and hope.

For anyone who wants an update of possible FERS timelines. I day possible because things change regularly in the government.

I submitted my request for disbursement in November 2025. Apparently they didn't like that my signatures were not "WET". I had to get my ex husband's signature and he was in another state so he sent me the document scanned by email. They didn't like this but I didn't find out until February 2026 after I called 20 times to get an update. I actually also got a letter a week after I got my updated request answered over the phone. I re-submitted that same week in February. Just got it on 04/21/2026.. Here is the summary.

Submitted November 2025

Reviewed and corrections requested February 2026

Corrections made and resent February 2026

Disbursement completed 04/21/2026

Hope this helps anyone requesting theirs.

The more I read About my symptoms the more I think they are long COVID. It just baffles me that I had COVID twice , 2019 and 2020, and that last year 2025 was when these symptoms started.

I have had symptoms for almost a year now.

I initially thought it was allergies because it coincided with my move. I moved from the NorthEast to Texas, and I had mild allergies before. Once I started logging my symptoms., nothing.made sense. No pattern, no immediate triggers. I was living in the ER and urgent care for th first 5 months of these until I found the SFN forum and I started doing stuff at home. I haven't seen a specialist because as I am new here I had to establish care , and I have had the biggest challenges with that. So here I am 10 months into this waiting to see a neurologist at the end of the month and a rheumatologist maybe in 3 months. So in the meantime I need all holistic advice I can get.

My primary did prescribe Gabapentin which is not doing much. I am on 900 daily.

Feels like:

“Pins and needles”

“Burning under the skin”

“Stabbing/electric sensations”

The symptoms are patchy and migratory. They may start in my neck , it gets better and moves to my arm etc. it has been mostly only from my knees up.. nothing below knees.

Definitely the desperation of the pain without relief makes me extremely anxious which makes it worst so any medication that knocks me out, helps. But I work, luckily from home or I would have been fired already, I can't be sleeping all day and the catching up with work at night. Last night I had a flare in my arm and neck and the pain made me cry. It is like of someone had a lighter on my arm. Some days I just feel like I want to peel my skin off. It's happening more often than before and I don't know what to do in the meantime that helps me during intense flare without being knocked out or completely disable from doing anything.