Before we scare you, please know that this story is a rare case…
Can you imagine, getting all the way to the trigger shot in an IVF cycle and then finding out you are allergic to the medication? Well this is what happened to IVF warrior Haylley who sadly really struggled with this allergy and shared her story with us in an instagram live. (Watch Haylley’s story here.)
We turned to the team at IVF Life Spain to help us understand more….
be given first to develop and ripen the follicles.
Ovitrelle contains a medicine called ‘choriogonadotropin alfa’, made in a laboratory by a special recombinant DNA technique. Choriogonadotropin alfa is similar to a hormone found naturally in your body called ‘chorionic gonadotropin’, which is involved in reproduction and fertility
Allergic reactions such as a rash, a fast or uneven pulse, swelling of your tongue and throat, sneezing, wheezing, or serious breathing difficulty are very rare.
When Haylley switched clinics and came to us at IVF Spain, we directly conducted a substituted cycle for endometrial preparation, so there was no need to trigger ovulation at any point.
A Substituted cycle means that it involves hormonal medication and is not dependent on the patient’s “natural” cycle, which facilitates cycle scheduling.
In a natural cycle, Ovitrelle is administered to trigger ovulation, but the thickening of the endometrium is driven by the patient’s own hormones from her normal menstrual cycle and not from “external” medication. In the natural cycle, the cycle is monitored, and when there is already a dominant follicle of around 20mm, Ovitrelle is prescribed, and typically two days later, progesterone supplementation begins, although the woman’s body is already producing it naturally.
In a substituted cycle, everything is easier to control because the patient’s ovaries are at rest, and the thickening of the endometrium is achieved through the hormonal regimen of estrogen prescribed to the patient. To organize and schedule the puncture, it is sufficient for the endometrium to have a triple-line pattern and a thickness of 7mm or more. Progesterone levels at the time of transfer scheduling should be less than 1. If they are higher, it would indicate that the ovaries have started functioning when they should not have, which can negatively affect the endometrium. Therefore, sometimes Decapeptyl 3.5 is administered beforehand to ensure that the ovaries are inactive before starting endometrial preparation.
In the case of menopausal women, the only feasible option is the substituted cycle since they lack hormones.
The progesterone level before transfer and after 5 days of progesterone (which is the necessary average prior to transfer) should be above 10. If levels are lower, additional progesterone supplementation would be needed.
