# Fet or another full cycle?



## Flossy34 (Aug 11, 2013)

Hi
I'm in a bit of a dilemma and Im hoping somebody may be able to offer me a bit of advice.
I have three blasts on ice - not great, but blasts none the less. 2 x 2bb and 1 x 3 bb.
I'm preparing for a third cycle and have been planning on starting at argc who will monitor me closely and possibly give immune treatment.
I have stage 4 endo and a thyroid condition. On my previous cycles I have bled early both times which was pretty horrid to deal with. Argc offers new hope and close monitoring which I have never had before.
But a little voice in my head keeps making me consider using my frozen blastocysts. I've never had a blastocyst transfer - I've always transferred on day 3. Plus I've read that severe endo responds better to a frozen cycle in some circumstances. 
So now I'm in a dilemma.
I find full cycles long and a bit stressful. I find it hard to cope with all the waiting and wondering . I'm guessing fet is shorter and perhaps less stressful?
Does anyone who has been in a similar position have any advice at all?
I would be very very grateful.
Xx


----------



## evan80 (Nov 30, 2013)

Flossy I am not in a similar position but from my experience my body responded better to fet. During my fresh cycle due to overstimulation I bled during egg retrieval and I was in so much pain. It turned out into a bfn. We were lucky to get 5 frozen blasts from that cycle. A year later I had a medicated fet and it turned out into  a bfp. The fet was so much easier. On both cycles I started bleeding exactly a week after transfer. We are considering of doing another fet cycle next year and I will be discussing the bleeding issue with the consultant because I freak out and stress myself so much when i see the first drop of blood exactly a week after transfer.

I've learnt that the important thing is not to have any regrets when dealing with ivf. Therefore ifyou feel that you are going to keep wondering whether a fet would have worked for you, then perhaps you could go for 1 fet cycle first and if that does not work out then you could perhaps have a fresh cycle.

Good luck with your decision and any future cycles xxx


----------



## L_ouise (Sep 23, 2010)

I think it's a no brainer to use the frosties.

I really don't know about endo, but everything about my frosties tells me that they arent viable and that we'd have a much better chance with a fresh cycle but I can't abandon them.

Them working might not be likely but oh the relief if they do.

A fresh cycle is such a chore and admittedly the FET doesn't seem much different but I have read plenty of examples of a FET working where fresh has failed. It's actually a recognised technique to freeze all by default to transfer on a non fresh cycle.

I hope you figure out what is best for you and you get your BFP xx


----------



## Flossy34 (Aug 11, 2013)

Hi
I was so pleased to log on tonight to see some responses.thank you so much for your advice.

Evan, like you I was in so much pain after the first transfer. I was literally doubled over in pain and then of course convinced it was all over. Second time was much better. I'm convinced there was some kind of ohss the first time. My stomach was like a bowling ball for about three weeks. I pretty much needed maternity clothes!
Second time was much much better but of course I bled even earlier that time so the cycle itself was much harder to deal with. Not helped by the steroids etc.

Fet does seem, in many ways, the obvious choice. It's cheaper, less trauma on the body, closer to home, blastocysts ready and waiting. It's just the hospital not being great and the potential for a third failure. It feels too much to bear. But I'm at the stage where I'm coming round to the idea it may just be worth a try. If it doesn't work maybe I can go to argc the following month as originally planned.

Thanks so much for your advice ladies, it really does mean an awful lot. Support from people in a similar boat is everything right now xx


----------



## Audiprincess (May 7, 2012)

Flossy go with ur heart...from reading I would say u want to try frozen...go for it! 

Personally I don't find a fresh or frozen 'easier' or less stressful but have read many others say they found the frozen easier.

FET is much cheaper too

Something else the think about (without being negative) u can cycle straight away after a failed FET where as u have to wait minimum of 3 months after a failed fresh cycle...just something to bear in mind xx


----------



## bombsh3ll (Apr 19, 2012)

Hi flossy,

I think it would be madness to put yourself through stimms again when you have unused frosties. 

Could you either a) transfer your blasts to ARGC and go with them for the FET with immunes etc, or b) have the FET at your previous clinic with private immune treatment alongside it?

Best wishes,

B xxx


----------



## Tihica (Dec 19, 2014)

Flossy, just a thought... Could you transfer your frozen embryos to ARGC and get the immune treatment (if necessary) and embryo transfer done there? I don't have any experience with this, but I've seen it mentioned on other threads.


----------



## Sunshinequeen (Mar 26, 2012)

Flossy - I would definitely consider trying a FET. Have you had any discussions with the clinic re whether it would be a medicated or "natural" cycle?

When we had our full IVF cycle we had somehow almost (and stupidly!) decided not to freeze any embryos. We'd read up on it and fresh cycles seemed to have a much higher success rate than FET. Anyway we spoke to a different Consultant and he flagged all the benefits of a FET. Less stress in the body etc. He also said it would be a waste to not freeze viable embryos.

In our fresh cycle I started bleeding about a week after transfer and basically knew it was all over. Personally I found FET less stressful. It is not in any way stress free but there seem to be less hurdles. Rather than the worries about how your body is responding to the stimms, how many eggs they'll retrieve, how many will fertilise etc those steps are skipped and the main worry is whether they will thaw. 

I have now had 4 FET and they have all kind of been BFP's so my body had reacted much better to the treatment. The 1st unfortunately resulted in a miscarriage and the third was an ectopic BUT the 2nd was my beautiful little girl and I am now 7 weeks pregnant on my recent cycle. So personally my body seems to have reacted better to natural FET's when the blast is just popped back in at the right time of the month. 

The only other thing to maybe consider is your age etc. Someone did say to me that one option is to have another fresh cycle and keep the frozen embryos on ice. That way you preserve each batch of embryos with the egg quality at the age you were when you had the treatment? If that makes sense?

Please don't worry too much about embryo quality. My understanding is that if they're good enough to freeze then they're pretty good quality. But we weren't that lucky with the thaws and have lost almost 3 embryos that didn't thaw properly.

Good luck with your decision but please believe that FET can work!  Xxxxx


----------



## Flossy34 (Aug 11, 2013)

Hi

Thank you again - I've had even more replies and I really am so grateful.
My heart is telling me to try the frozen blasts so this is what I am going to look into.
What I do need to do is figure out what to do about the immune tests as I will need to do these I think.
I have a fairly complex history with the implantation failure seeming to point to an autoimmune response of some kind. Of course this is not confirmed but I think there is something which is messing things up for us as we seem to do so well until the point of ET.
ARGC will do immune tests as part of a cycle but after speaking to my previous clinic they say I cant move my blastocysts to another clinic. This seems odd to me but apparently they were vitrified and cannot be moved! So this means I need to have the transfer at my old clinic and then immunes somewhere else. I have been wondering fi I could do the immune at argc with the idea that they will be treated for if I do need to move onto a full cycle there. Come on where is my positivity today!! FET will work, it will!!
This may not be possible as I think they only do immunes when you are treated there - but would they even know if I whipped back for a quick FET at my old clinic?? Probably but worth thinking about.
the most sensible option seems to be to have immune tests at Gorgys clinic and get treated there for any issues and then carry on at my local clinic. And then go back to ARGC if it doesn't work!! God why is everything so complicated - or am I making it that way. There just doesn't seem to be a simple answer here. In my little dream world I think I could get tested at argc to see exactly what I am up against ie if the worst immunes ever then maybe the frozen cycle will be pointless anyway. I they aren't too bad then I know there is a clinic nearish to me who can administer intralipids. My clinic nearby doesn't do any immune therapy at all hence it not really being the right clinic for me.
x


----------

