r/DOR

Hi ladies - thanks in advance for any advice as I am spiraling while trying to prepare questions for my RE. Really appreciate everyone's insights from their own journeys.

I already searched the subreddit for older posts on the topic of empty follicles, and most comments mention that dual trigger helped resolve the issue. However, I did use a dual trigger (10,000 hcg and 80 iu lupron) and I injected exactly at the time instructed. The clinic took my bloodwork the next morning and did not flag any concerns, so I just assumed that meant the triggers were absorbed as expected.

Another common reason cited in other posts is early ovulation, however I asked the doctor who did my retrieval and the doctor said they did not see any evidence of that. Unfortunately I wasn't prepared to ask additional questions because I was completely thrown off. My retrieval was ~35 hours after trigger shot, and I had taken 3 ganirelix the day of the trigger shot. Protocol leading up to trigger was estrogen priming, clomid, then follistim and menopur.

The morning of my trigger shot, I had 4 follicles in the 17-21mm range, which gave me some optimism because I'm 34 with AMH 0.3 and the doctors all told me during monitoring that I was responding well. I don't have the exact estrogen number for that morning but two days prior it was over 1,100 so my clinic said everything was on track.

So with all that, I headed into my retrieval this morning with the 4 follicles in mind. When I woke up after the procedure, I was informed they only retrieved 2. Of course I am still grateful to have retrieved anything, but I am genuinely baffled at what could have happened.

I feel like we did everything by the book? What am I missing here?

Thank you again for any and all feedback.

Have any of you had success?

TW I had my first LC at 33 in 2024--first try.

Fast forward this year (35 yr old) I have had issues and therefore testing and found out I have extreme DOR. 0.015 AMH 2 AFC.

We have been trying for almost a year now and my period is very short. 22 days. 3 days bleed. Ovulation actually was confirmed with a CL (corpus luteum) at my baseline AFC. But my endometrium was only 6mm. (So, very thin for implantation)

I wanna know what my extreme DOR ladies have done.

We are about to have our follow up and I think then we will talk about options. She said this doesn't put us out of the game but I'm assuming it'll take at least 3 rounds to get one egg that could be possibly transferred. (If lucky).

Note-: uninterested in donor eggs.

I just did my first egg retrieval -- 4 eggs, 1 made it to blast, and we're waiting on PGT-A results. I'm 39, turning 40 in two months, AMH 0.84. I know the euploid rate for my age bracket, so I'll need some luck with this single embryo.

I'm doing another cycle next month. The original plan was back-to-back retrievals, but my baseline scan showed a couple of residual cysts plus a lower follicle count, so my clinic recommended sitting out a cycle before starting again. Is that a normal call?

Also, I'm doing estrogen priming as well as a microdose lupron + omnitrope protocol this second round. How was your experience and did it yield better results? Just hoping for some good news and more chances at getting an euploid embryo. Thanks for sharing your stories in advance.

Any recommended specialists or resources in the central or western NY area? I’ve been at CNY for years but feel like theyve given up on me and administratively they are a nightmare. (Amh 1.0, age 37, mild MFI). Also will consider commuting to NYC if there’s something truly to gain

After running out of insurance coverage with 2 IVF cycles, I’m considering going overseas. I did have success without IVF, ironically, but they ended in MMCs. Obviously cost is a major factor, but it seems like the medical technology and labs are better there too.

I’ve crunched the numbers and treatment overseas gets increasingly attractive assuming I need multiple cycles (DOR and AMA, amirite?). This is factoring in cost of living, existing financial commitments at home and treatment costs. Doesn’t include plane tickets as I am already making an annual trip to visit family. I work remotely and would likely be able to shift my working hours a little, so it wouldn’t be as demanding. It’d be a ~3 month stint to do however many cycles I can in that time.

Is there anything I’m overlooking - emotionally, mentally, physically, financially? I’m trying to keep my outlook on this as an exciting adventure, living my life in a new country, without obsessing over infertility and RPL…despite the whole purpose of the trip. Otherwise I think I’d just be angry at the world.

Also…does anyone else just feel like they’re playing with Monopoly money at this point? Over the course of the last year, my thinking has become, “OK, sure I guess. What’s another $5k?”

After 2 cycles of IVF we are having our first FET tomorrow with our only embryo. Our embryo is a day 6 4CB which is apparently a poorer quality embryo. It is also untested as my clinic here in Australia doesn't do PGT-A testing. I would love to hear some success stories with lower graded embryos, or even just some good vibes/juju for the transfer tomorrow. Thanks in advance! ☺️

For anyone who wants to know the details, I am 36 with DOR and my partner is 34 with MFI (low count, motility and morphology).

- 1st cycle: 6 retreived/ 5 mature/ 5 fertilized/ 0 embryos as all arrested on day 3.

- 2nd cycle: 5 retreived/ 4 mature/ 2 fertilized/ 1 embryo frozen on day 6 (4CB).

- I am doing a natural cycle frozen embryo transfer and have been told my lining is great.

I'm so sad and angry. Two weeks ago my cycle was cancelled because I had only one follicle growing. My dr told me to trigger anyway so that we could start a new cycle two weeks later. My husband and I had timed intercourse. Yesterday I did a pregnancy test at 9 dpo, just in case. It was very faintly positive. My doctor ordered bloodwork and the HCG was 5.54 with a way too low progesterone, 4.32 ng/ml. My doctor said this pregnancy had no chance and I'll get my period soon. She hadn't prescribed progesterone because she hadn't expected it to be a good egg. Well, it was, and now I feel guilty for killing my little embryo by not taking progesterone.

I already have perimenopausal symptoms and I don't know how much chances I have left. This egg/embryo was so precious. I can't believe I wasted it :(.

Hi! I'm considering a duostim (regular ivf cycle, then a few days after retrieval, start stimming again in the luteal phase for another retrieval 10-20 days later)

Please let me know what your experiences are with this. I have heard a lot of mixed things. I'd love to know:

Age, AMH, AFC, # retrieved each time, medication protocol, and how it went for you. Do you recommend it?

I did three egg retrievals last fall/winter, retrieved 2-5 eggs each time, only one made it to blast but it was aneuploid. Husband had variocelectomy and we waited 4 months for healing and then some delay for other things (unrelated surgery). His DNA frag shows about 24% which RE says is workable. My AMH was .41 to begin and recent bloodwork showed a drop to .27. I am 37 with no children.

I went in for my first monitoring appt after estrogen priming (2mg twice daily) for about 7-10 days. There was only one observable follicle and I immediately started crying. I try to manage my expectations, but it’s so hard. It’s also hard to accept that a “good” AFC for me would be 3-4. And it will continue to decline… I felt so defeated. I’m going back in a few days to see if any more follicles crop up. I know part of this could be my response to priming as my one cycle with priming before was the worst one. But every delay and set back HURTS 😓

I tried to emotionally prepare for the return to IVF but still it felt like someone had swung a bat to my knees and knocked me down. And this was just the first monitoring appt!! Right now I’m feeling like how in the world am I going to go through this again? How do we do this??

Hey everyone! I’m a fellow DORer and after being turned away from one clinic at 32 to having cancelled cycles due to quick ovulation, I finally made it to retrieval and got 1 egg last week! I know it’s not much but I’m so proud of my body!

I’m currently 34 and I’m egg freezing because I’m still single and I want to wait for a partner first. (I’m not open to the donor route at this time). I still get cycles (though irregularly) but my doctor still won’t call me POI since I’m still cycling. I occasionally have high FSH but generally hovers around 9. My doctor said if I was willing to get pregnant now, IUI would be a good option, but my goal is freezing for now, knowing my early menopause risk.

I understand that 1 egg isn’t enough for the bank so my doctor said a realistic target is 4-5 at my age. I’m open to doing more cycles. My issue is that my AFC usually hovers from 4-6 at the beginning of the cycle but two follicles hog up the stims but the end. Is there a way to evenly distribute the growth so I can potentially retrieve more in one cycle? I have my follow up appointment in a couple of days so I want to come prepared with questions for him.

The protocol we did was estrase priming with letrozole after and stims with double orgalutran to prevent ovulation. And triggering at 17 mm.

Hi! I'm considering a duostim (regular ivf cycle, then a few days after retrieval, start stimming again in the luteal phase for another retrieval 10-20 days later)

Please let me know what your experiences are with this. I have heard a lot of mixed things. I'd love to know:

Age, AMH, AFC, # retrieved each time, medication protocol, and how it went for you. Do you recommend it?

TIA!

We only get one government funded IVF cycle (this is it). I’m 32F (husband 31M), AMH 0.5, AFC 10 (on monitoring cycle), FSH 8.5, 2 past pregnancies (unassisted life birth, unassisted ectopic pregnancy), doing IVF for mild MFI and tubal factor.

I was on Rapamycin 5mg weekly x 6 weeks with 2 week washout, Omnitrope 2.5mg daily and androgel 1 pump daily midluteal priming continued with stims.

I’m stimming with Rekovelle 12 mcg and Menopur 150 unit daily.

My CD2 baseline ultrasound showed only 5 follicles. I was hoping for closer to 10. If you had around 5 on your baseline, did more recruit with stims? How many did you retrieve?

Hi friends!

My July cycle was canceled (by myself) week before retrieval due to a functioning cyst on my RH ovary. That cycle was an attempt at a luteal phase stim start after we triggered my ‘runaway lead’ follicle.

Week before ‘retrieval week’ my cyst ended up at 42mm and I only had 3 visible follicles on my LH ovary (all measuring less than 15). I wanted to do a clean cycle.

I asked for September but they wanted to try and push for August. We did baseline 2.5wks later while taking 4mg estrogen daily and my cyst had decreased to 36mm.

They called me yesterday and are wanting to take Aug-Sept off, no extra meds to try and get it to shrink. Previously during IUI cycles I was on BC and had no cysts.

However. Going to do a baseline in October and see if the cyst is gone. My main concern is it shrinking in time + growing another one. Ive tried looking around in the forums and haven’t seen much - anyone have success stories taking a few cycles off?

I am fine with it but in the back of my mind I hate it because I don’t have all the time in the world with my levels. Thanks!

If you’re doing/have done IVF, how many egg retrievals did you do? Which # retrieval was most successful for you?

Hi ladies, I’d really appreciate hearing from anyone who has been through something similar. 🙏🏻
My AMH is 0.8 and AFC is 13. I have superficial endometriosis outside the ovaries with significant pain, but thankfully no endometriomas and my ovaries are clear. The ultrasound also showed no obvious adhesions or deep endometriosis. I also have signs of adenomyosis.
My doctor suggested laparoscopic surgery to remove the endometriosis lesions and assured me that he will not touch my ovaries. He may also need to take a biopsy.
Because of my low AMH, I’m torn between having the surgery first or trying to conceive before surgery, as I’m worried about losing time or potentially affecting my fertility.
Has anyone here had low AMH + endometriosis outside the ovaries? Did your fertility specialist recommend surgery first or trying to conceive first? And what was your experience with fertility/AMH after surgery?

Just got the call that the 2 blasts from our most recent cycle are aneuploid. This makes 5 cycles, 2 cancelled, 3 retrievals, 14 mature eggs, 5 blasts and zero euploid.

I know no one can answer this but myself & my partner but anyone else feel like the universe is just saying this isn’t your path? Maybe nothing but heartbreak and misery lies ahead if we keep trying.

We’ve done the testing, normal karyotypes, normal sperm DNA fragmentation. I’m 35, we’ve been at this since I was 33/34… REI has tried multiple protocols now no ideas other than us switching clinics for a second option.

I feel like in a dream world I have a family. I think I can be happy without- I do see some positives to being child free. I hate this limbo. How do I know how long to continue going through all of this?

I have an interesting success story I thought people might like to read. I'm 38, DOR (AMH .13) and have endo. I've had 4 unsuccessful IVF rounds. Only 1 that produced 2 day-3 embryos. I was about to start up again this year in April doing a Lupron downregulation protocol with a luteal phase start. That meant waiting until after I ovulated naturally, then doing low-dose Lupron priming (20 units/day for about a week) before I was to start stims.

They didn't order pelvic rest and my husband and I had sex around ovulation. To my surprise, on 10 DPO, I got a positive test! Of course I was a little worried since I had conceived while on Lupron, but I found retrospective studies of people conceiving on Lupron and everything was fine, and my clinic didn't seem concerned. (https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12958-021-00732-1 and https://www.researchgate.net/publication/287191212_Outcome_of_inadvertent_administration_of_a_gonadotropin-releasing_hormone_agonist_in_early_pregnancy )

And everything seems to have turned out fine! I'm 21 weeks and just had a good anatomy scan. We are so thrilled. I think the Lupron helped calm down my endo enough for implantation to occur. I'm not advocating anyone go against their doctor's directions. My real reason of posting is that I would love for some researcher to look into this for women with endo. And I want to encourage women with a super low AMH like me! I was always looking for success stories.

TLDR; got pregnant while doing microdose Lupron priming AFTER I ovulated. 21 weeks and great anatomy scan.

41 years. AFC 5. Baseline ultrasound today showed 5 follicles. Starting stims tonight. Any success stories with such low AFC? 🤞

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Hi All,

I’m 38. AFC 1-3, AMH 0.02 - 0.3. FSH all over the place. Moderate adenomyosis, endometriosis/ 18mm endometrioma on left ovary, High NK cells and high Cykotines.

TTC for nearly 3 years. Never seen a positive test. Over 9 cycles / 6 egg retrievals, I’ve collected 10 eggs and made 2 blasts on cycles 6 and 8, 1 Day 5 BC (age 37) and 1 Day 5 3AB (38). Untested.

I’m debating going a few more cycles or moving to transfer. If we move to transfer, should I have a lap to remove the endo and do suppression? A handful of REs have said absolutely not to the lap. My new RE says yes, but only if I manage to collect another 3(!) embryos as mine are untested.

What would you do? Any and all advice would be appreciated! Thank you