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ICSI - how was it?

  • 30-04-2018 4:23pm
    #1
    SighNup
    Registered Users Posts: 5 ✭


    Myself and OH are starting to go through this procedure. Both in late 30's. Just interested in how anybody else who has been through this found it? Was it a success? Anything we should look out for?
    I am the husband, and I was the problem (most likely due to a varicocele which resulted in a low sperm count)- they extracted sperm successfully a number of weeks ago, and we are now starting ICSI, initial appointment this week with egg extraction in the coming weeks. From the investigations so far, they found no problem with my wife.
    There are pages and pages of information, many from US/etc, with wildly varying accounts of everything from success to experience - it is true what they say - don't google anything related to your health!
    So I decided to seek a few Irish perspectives.
    We are both in perfect health, neither are overweight, both do plenty of exercise, have a very healthy diet, don't smoke, drink very little.
    Would love to hear some real Irish experiences, obviously the process is much harder for my wife from here on (I wish it weren't so and would do anything to share the load) and I can only really offer emotional support at this stage, and hopefully the emotional support will turn to elation in a few months.
    I feel very like the prison officer in The Green Mile at this point - if only I could find a John Coffey! But since I don't think that will happen, in the timescale in which we would require it to happen, ICSI will have to do.


Comments

  • #2
    kastasia
    Registered Users Posts: 154 ✭✭kastasia


    I had icsi last year, currently a week away from my due date! Problem seemed to be mainly on my husband's side, nothing wrong with any of my tests, however when it came to the treatment I didn't respond well enough first time so the egg collection was cancelled. 3 months later tried again with pretty much double the medication and it worked. Have two in storage too. A friend of mine went through the process the year before me and all worked out first time, she's hoping to go through with second transfer in next few months. Best of luck!


  • #3
    LCD
    Registered Users Posts: 1,120 ✭✭✭LCD


    We finally had success with IVF last year. Problem was on my side (male). I did a course of medication for 9months & eventually got a few viable swimmers.

    The egg retrieval was quite hard on my wife, she felt very sick & full on the day of retrieval. Actually stopped for something to eat on our way home & she ended up throwing up in the beer garden of the pub.

    From a physical point of view, once I had provided the swimmers, that was it for me. We initially got 20 eggs or maybe even more, however only 6 fertilised.

    There is the added fear of eggs not surviving the thaw on the day of transfer, which only happened us once & we had others that did thaw on the same day. Therefore we didn't have the disappointment of the build up to the implementation then to not even getting started.

    All in we did 4 rounds of FET, rounds 1-3 single embryo transfers & standard drugs, all failed. On the 4th round we went natural (well as natural as you can do), which mean't Mrs LCD was in almost everyday for monitoring. We transferred 2 embyros & Lucy made it. She'll be 6 months in 2 weeks.


  • #4
    SighNup
    Registered Users Posts: 5 ✭SighNup


    Thanks for all the information, very much appreciated and glad to hear it has been a success for you, good luck with the upcoming arrival kastasia.
    We just had our first meeting and it all kicks off in a little over a week. I promise to come back with an update after it all to help those coming after us, and hopefully it will be a success story!
    (Feel free to add more stories in the meantime)


  • #5
    skallywag
    Registered Users Posts: 2,981 ✭✭✭skallywag


    Been through ICSI 7 times, with 1 success, so all in all I have a positive view on the process.


  • #6
    Toots
    Administrators, Business & Finance Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 16,905 Admin ✭✭✭✭✭Toots


    Haven't been through it myself but wanted to wish ye all the best.


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  • #7
    orchidsrpretty
    Registered Users Posts: 2,138 ✭✭✭orchidsrpretty


    Have done three rounds of ICSI. One success. we didn't do anything different in any of the cycles. it was just when the time was right. Its ver easy to start finding blame when things go wrong and I am firm in my belief that if its going to happen it will. I was lucky and didn't feel any side effects from the medications.


  • #8
    SighNup
    Registered Users Posts: 5 ✭SighNup


    Thanks all for the good wishes and experiences.

    My wife is going through all the hardship of injections, etc at the moment. The ones into the stomach are OK but one into the leg this morning was sore. No significant side effects otherwise from what I can see.

    Scan on Friday so see after that (fingers crossed), probably looking at egg retrieval next week.

    Thanks for the above all. We are preparing ourselves for disappointment and trying again, basically hoping for the best - not much more we can do really!

    Update to follow at a later date. Thanks again.


  • #9
    squigglyd
    Registered Users Posts: 34 ✭squigglyd


    We're starting this ourselves this week, collected all the meds yesterday, my God so many different things! I've had my pre-treatment appointment which was fairly pointless so hopefully when I go back for the Day 2/3 scan appointment and to start injections they will be more informative.


  • #10
    SighNup
    Registered Users Posts: 5 ✭SighNup


    So an update on our treatment, it has been a while and a lot has happened.
    My amazing wife finished the injections, etc. They were a slog but she got through them. We had egg retrieval after that, which went well and they retrieved plenty of viable eggs.
    ICSI was carried out on them and we have ended up with 5 viable embryos after 5-day blastocyst.

    One of these eggs was transferred and we found out yesterday that my wife is now 4 weeks pregnant and are absolutely delighted.

    We also have 4 more in the freezer for future egg transfer, I don't think we'll be having 5 kids but we have them if we need them for repeated attempts at transfer.

    So in summary for future readers :
    - the injections were a little tough on my wife (but not as bad as she had expected self-injecting to be!) and she felt very bloated, etc throughout them and for some time after.
    - the sperm retrieval was fine, just a bit sore for the day it was done.
    - the egg retrieval was fine, a bit sore for the day it was done as well.
    - the egg transfer was fine, uncomfortable during the transfer - no anaesthetic for it - but she was fine once it was done.
    - we had ourselves prepared for bad news on the day of the pregnancy test. We felt it was vital that we didn't get our hopes up and have major disappointment after that....and thankfully we didn't have the disappointment after all but we had said to ourselves - if it doesn't work, we try again and don't get depressed about it.
    - the overall cost of the process so far has been just under 10k, it felt like the bills just kept coming so be prepared. But hopefully it is money well spent!
    - it is early days yet and we are keeping our fingers crossed the pregnancy continues to go well.

    Thanks for all the help and advice above.
    (P.S. Hope you are getting on OK squigglyd)


  • #11
    kastasia
    Registered Users Posts: 154 ✭✭kastasia


    That's great news, congratulations! And great you have a few more too. My son is currently asleep on my tummy, obviously has no idea what we went through to get him here, but it was all worth it! My friend is on her medication for number two, we'll probably go back next year ourselves, there are two in the freezer, so hopefully one will work, but if not, we're happy as we are!


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  • #12
    squigglyd
    Registered Users Posts: 34 ✭squigglyd


    That's great news SighNup, congratulations!

    Unfortunately we weren't so lucky. We just go bad news after bad news last week, it was very tough.
    Injections were unpleasant but doable, egg retrieval went fine but only 2 fertilised and none survived to Day 5. On top of that, my womb lining was too thin for implantation anyway so we were looking at freezing for another month but didn't even get that far either.
    I felt horrible on the Crinone gel, stomach pains and a lot of bloating so I was glad to finish them. Meeting with doc next week to review and see where things went wrong for us and what's next.


  • #13
    squigglyd
    Registered Users Posts: 34 ✭squigglyd


    Actually the only 'positive' we had was that we'd agreed to ICSI but the 2 eggs were fertilised without needing it (so just ivf)


  • #14
    kastasia
    Registered Users Posts: 154 ✭✭kastasia


    That's a pity squiggldy, hopefully they can pinpoint the issues. Were you on a high dose already or can they increase it? The first time I think I was on 150 (of whatever the measurement is, I can't remember) and each time I went for a scan there were fewer and fewer potentials until there were only two and they cancelled the retrieval as that was too few. At the time if it was my decision I'd have gone ahead, as in my mind there was no reason why it would be any better the next time, but they were right. The next time my dose was increased to 400, which seemed like such a huge increase, but to be honest, I don't remember it being any worse, though that might be partly because my husband was sick at the same time, so I couldn't really focus on my discomfort as much.
    That time on the scans they saw 5 or 6, collected 8, 6 were mature, 4 fertilised and 3 made it to day 5.

    I'm surprised at the ivf v icsi comment. I thought the point of icsi was that they choose the strongest sperm and if numbers were low they would suggest it even if someone was initially just going for ivf?

    Crinone is actually the worst. I mean, it seems like the simplest part, but there are so many side effects. I was just talking about it with my friend as it's the part she is dreading the most.


  • #15
    squigglyd
    Registered Users Posts: 34 ✭squigglyd


    If you mean the dosage of Gonal F I was on a dosage of 250 per day. They retrieved 6 eggs but only 2 fertilised. Partner had a SA a while back and from the results of that they recommended ICSI but then on the day decided it wasn't necessary but you are right about them choosing the best of the sperm to inject into eggs rather than letting it happen naturally. It's something we'll be asking about next week anyway.
    Good to know there are options, as I said to a friend they probably start everyone on a standard dosage and have to tweak it then for some of us..
    I had no idea about Crinone, at least I'll known what to expect next time.


  • #16
    SighNup
    Registered Users Posts: 5 ✭SighNup


    squigglyd wrote: »
    That's great news SighNup, congratulations!

    Unfortunately we weren't so lucky. We just go bad news after bad news last week, it was very tough.
    Injections were unpleasant but doable, egg retrieval went fine but only 2 fertilised and none survived to Day 5. On top of that, my womb lining was too thin for implantation anyway so we were looking at freezing for another month but didn't even get that far either.
    I felt horrible on the Crinone gel, stomach pains and a lot of bloating so I was glad to finish them. Meeting with doc next week to review and see where things went wrong for us and what's next.

    I am really sorry to hear that squigglyd and can only wish you all the best and I hope it works out for you. Please keep us up to date if you want to. We will be thinking about you.


  • #17
    leeroy10
    Registered Users Posts: 11 ✭leeroy10


    We have just got the news that our only chance of having a baby is ICSI.

    Could someone who has been through this experience post more details about the whole procedure?

    We have just received the results of the sperm and we'll be making an appointment for assisted reproduction.

    Thank you.


  • #18
    skallywag
    Registered Users Posts: 2,981 ✭✭✭skallywag


    Well the ICSI part itself it just an extra step in the overall process, which will be done in a lab and has no overall influence of the 'mechanics' of what you and your other half will go through in any case.

    Are you aware already about how the whole general IVF flow works, with respect to what the steps are, etc?


  • #19
    macsauce
    Registered Users Posts: 136 ✭✭macsauce


    leeroy10 wrote: »
    We have just got the news that our only chance of having a baby is ICSI.

    Could someone who has been through this experience post more details about the whole procedure?

    We have just received the results of the sperm and we'll be making an appointment for assisted reproduction.

    Thank you.

    My wife and I are also going through ICSI at the moment. The reason this was recommended to us is because we have a limited and finite number of 'straws' of semen to use owing to the fact that I could only bank so much before I had to start chemotherapy.

    Because we were going on holiday to Zika Virus region we did the egg harvesting, collection and fertilization before we left on holiday (January) and then we had to wait two months from coming home before the transfer (which is in fact this afternoon).

    The process for egg collection was, from my memory, as follows. My wife had to have a series of hormone injections to promote egg growth. In all I think there were three different drugs, Luveris, Ovitrelle and Cetrotide (there might have been one more - Gonal?). My wife had blood tests to determine the dosing and then we had at least daily injections for about 2 - 3 weeks before egg collection. Some days there are two injections. Throughout this period she had to go to the clinic at set intervals for scans to determine how the egg development was progressing. She then had a final scan (it was a Friday I think) and it was decided that collection would happen on Monday morning. This meant that she had to take the trigger injection on Saturday evening at a very specific time, which i think was 36 hours before the planned collection.

    Despite what we were told in terms of average / expected number of embryos, we have agonized over the number of viable embryos we got and you hang a lot of emotional energy on them. It got to the point where I just had to stop comparing them to other numbers online (or maybe I just ran out of new sources of information). So for other people's sanity I wont share them here.

    In preparation for transfer today, she started taking hormone tablets on day one of her cycle and progesterone, but I cant remember exactly when she started - possibly around day 8. It was expected that transfer would occur on day 20 which would have been the 20th of this month but her scan last Thursday showed that her lining was at 8mm and so transfer was brought forward to today.

    In terms of cost, we have spent in the region of €7 to €8k. This roughly breaks down to: €6,500 on ICSI. Approx €600 on visits prior to commencing the process and maybe €300 to €400 on the drugs. Of this, we got 20% back from revenue. I highly recommend apply for the Drug Payment Scheme now too. This will cap the price you pay per month on approved drugs to €144 / month, though some drugs and supplements are extra. It's not means tested, you just apply and get it.

    That's all I can think of for now. If you have any questions feel free to ask.


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