# Menopur or Gonal F? Anyone tried both?



## Hope2 (Feb 22, 2005)

I wonder is anyone can help me. I'm trying to find out if Gonal F has better response rates than Menopur or if it depends on the individual.
My story so far is....
*ICSI No.1* - Was on 150i (2 amps) of menopur for 12 days. I had 14 follicles, 10 eggs but from these 1 abnormal; 6 immature; 3 ok but only 2 fertilised. 2 grade 1 embies (4 cell) put back but BFN.

*ICSI No.2* - It was decided that due to the high number of immature eggs, I should stimm for an extra 2 days to increase the follicle size. However, I had a poor response this time with only 5 follicles after 1 wk of stimms. Then they increased my drugs (at day 10) to 225i Menopur (3 amps) and the follicles increased to 10. Next scan, I lost follicles or they stopped growing and went back down to 6. I was left stimming for 18 days in total. At EC they got 5 eggs (lost one due to starting to ovulate!). From these, 2 were immature and 3 were ICSI'd. I was told that 1 egg was good (ish), 1 was OK and 1 poor. 2 eggs fertilised, and 2 grade 2 embies were put back. BFN. (Do you think they messed with the drug dosage too late or is this normal?)

So I don't know whether I've got crap eggs or if it was just a dodgy cycle. The clinic said I should be put on 225i menopur from the start next time. But I wonder if I might have a better response on Gonal F. Has anyone tried both? If so, was the response better or worse. I know everyone is different, but I'm interested to know. 
I've got my follow up appt next month so i was wanting to do some investigating and get my long list of questions ready!

I'd be really grateful if anyone could share their advice with me. Sorry for such a long post, but someone might have had a similar experience to me.
Thanks so much. I'd be totally lost without this site!!
Love
Hope2.
xxxx


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## Dee (Jan 27, 2003)

Hi Hope

I have had 3 cycles of IVF each with different drugs - Menogon, Menopur and Gonal F.

Even though my FSH levels were fine and everything, for some reason I responded poorly duting each cycle.
On all 3 cycles I stimmed for longer than planned as well to see if the additional time would give a better response.

Cycle 1 - Menogon - converted to IUI as I only produced 2 follies.

Cycle 2 - Menopur - produced 3 follies, 3 eggs all fertilised, 2 embryos transferred - negative.

Cycle 3 - Gonal F - produced 3 follies, 3 eggs all fertilised, 2 embryos transferred - positive.  My dream came true and the wee fella on the left was born in December last year.

I have details written down somewhere what dosages of the drugs I took and for exactly how long if this would help you, I will try and find them ... just let me know.

I was never allowed to increase the daily drug quanities taken after a cycle had started.  The "theory" was that follicles were recruited in the early days of stimming and all the drugs did thereafter was make the already recruited follicles grow, so additional drugs would not produce more follicles rather just make them grow bigger and/or quicker.

Good luck with your review
Love
Dee
xxx


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## kia (Jun 9, 2004)

Hi Hope,

I've had three cycles of IVF, two with Menopur and one with Gonal F.

First cycle - Menopur - produced 13 follies, 13 eggs and all fertilized, two embryo's transfered and i got a BFP but i m/c.

Second cycle - Menopur - produced 17 follies, 17 eggs (was egg sharing, so i got 8 of them) only 4 fertilized, 2 embryo's transfered and i got BFN

Third cycle - Gonal F - produced 23 follies, 9 eggs (was egg sharing again, so i got 4 of them) all 4 fertilized, 2 embryo's transfered and i got BFN.

Hope this helps a bit, good luck.

Love
Kia.x


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## Hope2 (Feb 22, 2005)

Thanks for your advice.  Its all so confusing, I suppose I'll have to take advice from our gyn.  

Dee - congrats on your beautiful little chap!  You give me such hope that I will get there!

Kia - thanks for your profile.  It seems that your follicle to egg ratio was better on the Menopur, but did you feel the Gonal F gave you better quality eggs?  If you're going to try again what would you do?

My heads mashed with it all to be honest..... but this site helps so much.  Its full of total experts!
Good luck with everything & thanks again for your help.
Love
Hope2
xxxxx


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## Ruth (Aug 6, 2004)

I find that which drug to take depends on so many things; consultant preference (!!!), age of woman, previous response, quality of eggs in previous cycle.
One drug is no better than another, it´s just a matter of deciding which drug seems to work best for you.

Ruth


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## kia (Jun 9, 2004)

Hi Hope,

We will be having another cycle but not for a while, i don't know what drugs we'll be using because I'm not sure which was better for me.
With our first cycle the eggs were good quality, we had a grade 1 and a grade 2 embryo's put back.
With our second cycle we had a grade 2 and a grade 3 embryo's put back. And the same with our third.
I think we'll go with whatever our clinic say's will be best for us.

Hope i haven't confussed you.

All the best 
Love
Kia.x


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## encore (May 27, 2004)

I had both drugs on both cycles.  My clinic do daily blood tests to see how you are responding to the drugs.  So I had my dosage adjusted on a daily basis, and when i 'peaked' with one drug i was swapped to the other which kick started me again.  Sometimes I was swapped back again.  I was also scanned 3/4 times and triggered when I was ready.  There was none of this  standard 12 days of stimulation and trigger day 13.  You should trigger when your levels, follicles and your lining is ready - not when it is convenient for the clinic.  After all, you are the one shelling out the cash.  I feel very strongly about this.  M


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