protocol question about meds

[gatorsteph]

Quick question to my panel of honorary RE's...(LOL combined we have the knowledge of several REs).

For IVF #1 - My DP did gonal-f and repronex. She had 20+ follies out of which we got 12 eggs, 6 mature, 3 to transfer, none to freeze and a chemical pregnancy. DP has pretty bad endo and the RE said he aspirated blood out of some of the follies (chocolate cysts).

So this time around for IVF #2 he's thinking of using bravelle and menopur. The reason for the switch from repronex to menopur is that the clinic changed contracts. However, I'm not sure why he's using bravelle - I think it's because he knows we have a bunch of it at home (from previous IUI's) and so he's trying to keep costs down. My concern is that bravelle has a little bit of LH (not as much as repronex or menopur but it has some) and then the menopur also has LH in it. Is that too much LH to stim with? Anyone have any thoughts on this protocol? How about any success? I appreciate your input.

Steph

[poppan]

Hi Steph,

I did a Bravelle + Menopur protocol. I am 31 and have PCOS so my understanding is that I would have tended to produce a lot of eggs anyway, but may have had problems with maturity of eggs. We got 27 eggs, 25 were mature and 21 fertilized with ICSI (we have severe MF).

My protocol:
5 weeks BCPs
10 days Lupron
2 days: 3 vials (225iu) Bravelle + 1 vial (75iu) Menopur
3 days: 2 vials Bravelle + 1 vial Menopur
2 days: 1 vial Bravelle + 1 vial Menopur
2 days coasting: Lupron only

I also did acupuncture weekly and had been doing that for many months prior to the IVF. I hadn't done any other protocols so cannot offer a comparison... but the Bravelle/Menopur combo worked well for me.

Good luck to you!

_____________________
Me: 31 DH: 35
Dx: Mild PCOS, auto-immune (NKs), MF (morphology)
IVF #1 with ICSI, IVIg (for NKs)
Retrieval on June 13, transfer postponed (NKs and E2 too high)
FET on 9/16: transferred 3
HPT + (7dp4dt) ~~ 1st Beta 377 (10dp4dt) ~~ 2nd Beta 927 (12dp4dt) ~~ 3rd Beta 17,220 (19dp4dt) ~~ 4th Beta on 10/12 ~~ u/s on 10/14

[KAYJAY]

I dont respond well with stims containing LH and read that its not good for poor responders. Dont know if this helps you but you could ask.