# AF 3 days after ET - is this even possible?



## SuperKitty (Jul 30, 2011)

Hi all - with apologies from the start for TMI, I started bleeding 2 days after my ET (which was on 29th August), bled reasonably  lightly for 2 days and then on Friday last week the bleeding turned into full-blown AF.  I checked the app I use to track my cycle normally, and Friday was day 28 of my normal cycle so I was actually due on that day.  I couldn't get hold of anyone at the clinic over the weekend so just stopped doing the Crinone as there didn't seem much point (it would just have come straight back out again, I was bleeding so heavily!)  

Each time I spoke to the clinic last week they said that it was much too early for it to be AF, to keep taking the Crinone and wait till the OTD (which was supposed to be tomorrow).  Then when I spoke to them on Monday, they said that it sounded like it was my period, that it was very unusual, and that I should take the Crinone for 2 more days and do a test today.  I did, and no surprise it was a BFN.  So it seems that my natural cycle just completely overrode the IVF.  Is that even possible?!  The nurse said it shouldn't theoretically be possible as the IVF drugs completely supress your natural cycle.  Has anyone else experienced it?  I've been looking on the forum for ages but I can't see anyone who has had this happen.  I might be looking in the wrong places though I guess 

We have a follow-up appointment with the medical director of the clinic at the end of October..although I got the distinct impression that if I hadn't asked for it, we wouldn't have been offered one...I  might be wrong though, I'm feeling very bitter at the moment    

This is our first cycle of IVF so I'm really new to it...but I'm finding it really hard trying to understand what happened, when it seems as if it's really abnormal.  Is it just a coincidence that I started bleeding so heavily on the very day that my normal AF was due?  And if it wasn't a coincidence, I can't seem to find out what might have caused it.  We are planning another round for January, and (because my clinic seems to give out information as if it were gold bullion) I want to make sure that I've got a proper list of questions to ask about what caused it and (depending on that) what would need to be done differently next time?  This time I was happy to let 'the experts' do whatever they said was appropriate, but next time I want to be more involved with my treatment.  But where do I even start..?

So sorry for such a long post, I just feel a bit lost and confused and sad at the moment - and the end of October seems like a very long way away to get some answers


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## GIAToo (Nov 8, 2009)

Hi Superkitty,

I didn't want to read and run and saw you had no response.  I'm really sorry about your BFN      

You should have got the follow-up anyway ( I think most clinics do them, although I only went to one in the UK), but you would have to call them to make the date no matter what.  

I have no experience of what you have just been through in terms of AF arriving so early, but hopefully your clinic will have some answers or ideas about why this happened.  I do hope so   

Take care and I hope that you can indeed try again.    In the meantime, take time to get over this and look after you and DH.
GIA Tooxxx


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## LJyorkshire (Jan 12, 2011)

Superkitty - have never heard of this before so sounds like something went wrong. What injections / sprays and doses were you having? Was it short or long cycle? maybe going on HRT for amonth your cycle would help..our clinic use this for anyone on SP so they can regulate when AF arrives pre treatment and gives your ovaries a rest. It sounds like the dose of downregging must have been wrong for you but they should have picked this up with blood tests...poor poor you. Hope they give you some answers..don't let them fob you off. Only other thing is if you had something else that bled eg a polyps but don't know much about it??

Take care

LJ x


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## SuperKitty (Jul 30, 2011)

Thank you for responding guys.  And for validating my suspicion that something went wrong...I was wondering if I was going mad (as if this whole process doesn't make us mad enough already!) 

It was short protocol; I was on Synarel (2 sprays twice a day), then started the stimming with Gonal-F 225 once a day whilst reducing the Synarel to 1 spray twice a day.  Then the trigger injection and stopped everything and had a drug-free day the day before ET.  Then just 1 Crinone gel in the evening during the 2ww.  Looking at other posts, it seems that other people have all sorts of other stuff after ET, not just the Crinone.  

I wish I had asked more questions, but being a first-timer I just went along with everything they said.  I did it all to the letter and the most frustrating thing is that up until ET, they were saying that everything was going perfectly well - they did blood tests and scans etc. and I was responding well to everything and all my bloods were ok...or I assume they were; I never actually asked them what my levels were.  I have been beating myself up over the fact that I just went along with everything - keep wondering if I had been more involved and done more research beforehand so I was more 'involved' with the treatment, could I have made a difference to the outcome?  I won't make the mistake of not asking questions next time  

LJ, if you have time, could you explain what your clinic do for people on SP?  I didn't quite get it   They put people on HRT before they even start the down-regging?

Argh, this is all so


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## GIAToo (Nov 8, 2009)

SK - I think most people go into this putting all their faith in the doctors and soon realise that they have to do a lot of research and take a greater interest in protocols etc themselves as they go through cycles. Well, that's my experience anyway. I took to telling the "specialists" exactly what protocol I wanted! At the end of the day they are just people and they all have their own opinions and beliefs!

Here is a link which may help you put together a list of questions for your follow up (it says following ICSI, but most questions are relevant for straightforward IVF)

http://www.fertilityfriends.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=66634.0

Hope that helps and good luck   
GIA Tooxx


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## MandyPandy (May 10, 2010)

Oh hun, I'm so sorry. 

On my first cycle I started bleeding 5 - 7 days after ET. I was on SP and it would have been the right day for my AF to start naturally. The nurses at my clinic called it 'breakthrough bleeding'. So yes, it is possible. I started a similar thread when it happened to me and quite a few ladies had had the same experience. I know it probably doesn't help but you're definitely not alone. 

I got the same: 'Oh it's very _unusual_...' Yeah. Thanks.

I had my progesterone tested when I went in for the HCG test (which I wasn't going to go in for as I didn't see the point but they talked me into). My progesterone was 20. It should have been around 150 - 250. I had been on cyclogest and was told to keep taking it during the bleed as well - most unpleasant.

After that, I had my immunes tested and my CD19+, and CD5+ were high, meaning that I probably had an immune attack going on for my progesterone.

My next cycle I had gestone instead of cyclogest and that held AF at bay until OTD and my progesterone levels on OTD were absolutely spot on.

I'm so sorry your cycle didn't work. When it comes to an end so abruptly and so unexpectedly early, it is a real shock and I completely understand how it feels. I looked for someone/something to blame as well but in retrospect, I have come to learn that most of this process is trial and error. They did the right thing for me with the information they had. The second cycle - ditto. Each time I've learnt more and more and I'll be heading into my third full cycle with a wealth of information that should help better than anything I've so far tried.

The best I can really offer you, is to investigate what could make you bleed early (normally low progesterone levels and/or thyroid issues) and learn from it for your next cycle. It's so hard, I know, as we invest so much emotionally into each time and each time we're knocked down it takes a while to get back up again. I guess, for me anyway, the most positive thing I can do is to look at a negative cycle as a fact finding mission. As long as something is learnt that can go toward the next cycle, it wasn't a failure at all.


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## MandyPandy (May 10, 2010)

On my first cycle, I just had cyclogest pessaries after ET.

After ET on my last cycle, I had gestone injections, ritodrine, prednisolone, clexane and aspirin.  I also take thyroxine for my thyroid so continued with this.

I had IVIG during stimms as well.


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## SuperKitty (Jul 30, 2011)

Thanks ladies - SO good to know I'm not going bonkers and that this has actually happened to someone else. 

And yes, if I heard 'that's very unusual' once I heard it 50 times.  Meh. 

That info is really really useful and gives me a place to start; I can't thank you both enough.  

Mandypandy; I'm with you on the 'learning' aspect of it.  Now that the initial shock of the BFN has started to fade, I'm starting to feel quite positive in terms of actually being able to do something to affect my chances next time.  it's just the lack of control over everything that does my head in...but then I'm a control freak anyway  

Thanks again, take care


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