Sunday, December 7, 2008

What a mistake......

So I think I have made my decision. ……

I was googling Micro-Flare Lupron Protocol trying to see if I could find some information to support what Dr. Sher told me about it being bad for those with endo. However, what I found is the dose that you should be on when doing the Micro-Flaore Lupron Protocol.

This is from dfwivf.com - the Micro-Dose Lupron 0.2 cc (40 μg), every 12 hours, and
continue daily, until time of hCG. Please Note: Micro-Dose Lupron is a special diluted
Lupron prepared by mixing 0.4 cc (2 mg) of standard Lupron with 10 cc of normal saline.
This will be prepared by our office or your pharmacy.

This is from ivf.ca/flare - Start Lupron on the third pill free day. We use a 50ug dose of Lupron twice daily -AM and PM- for these flare cycles. 50ug is a very small dose as compared to the usual Long Lupron protocol dose of 0.5mg (500ug). The Lupron needs to be diluted by the pharmacy or the doctor's office in order to be able to inject such a low dose.

This is from centerforhumanreprod.com –
F.Y.I. Lupron Dose Equivalents:
0.25 mg = 5 units (Ta) = .05cc
0.5 mg – 10 units (IU) = .1cc
1.0 mg = 20 units (IU) = .2cc
If you are on a “micro-dose” Lupron, stimulation, most likely it will come pre-mixed, if not we will dilute the Lupron for you.

This is a question asked to one of those doctor websites: Dear doctor, I`m currently under my first IVF treatment using Microdose Lupron Protocol. However, I mistakenly got a regular-dose (1mg/0.2ml, 20 units per injection) Lupron administration kit from a pharmacy, and it is 20 times stronger than the micro-dose (50mcg/0.2cc). After 11 wrong shots in 5.5 days, this mistake was found out during a recent checkup, as my ovaries seemed a bit "quiet" and the estrogen level was 65.8. My doctor suggested to continue this IVF cycle with a slightly modified protocol (i.e., no more Lupron, but add 150 UI more Follistim per day). Then he`ll see how my ovaries to response. Yet, he also leaves the option for me to stop this cycle completely if I don`t feel comfortable to continue. In order to have a third party opinion and more confidence, I`d like to hear from you about how badly this mistake would affect my final chance of getting pregnant. Your help is very much appreciated!!!

Now you may be wondering why this is important. It is important because for the past 2 cycles, I have had a horrible response and for the past two cycles I have been doing the Micro-Flare Protocol….or so I thought I was. I just pulled my Lupron box out the refrigerator to look at it after reading everything above. And you guessed it…..I was on the Lupron 1mg/0.2ml as the lady above. Nowhere near the Micro-Flare Protocol I should have been on or was supposed to be on. So instead of doing a flare injection I was injecting 20 units of regular Lupron and not Micro-Flare Lupron (a diluted version of lupron). Now I sit and ask myself how can this happen not once but twice in a row. I’m kicking myself now for not noticing it sooner, but I’m the patient and the doctors get paid thousands to do their job correct right?!? Maybe this is the reason why my response has been so horrible. Maybe this is the reason my ovaries didn't start to respond until after 8 days of stims. How could they respond when I’ve confused the mess out of them by injecting quadruple the amount I should have been injecting into them.

How could this go unnoticed for 2 cycles in a row? How could no one catch the fact that I was never on a diluted version of lupron…..how?!?

3 comments:

JW Moxie said...

Oh my goodness, Tashida. This should have been noticed. I would definitely bring this up with ML. I'm upset on your behalf.

Did you get my email the other night? Just wanted to be sure.

Ms. J said...

I am so friggin' upset for you right now!!! You have gotten put through the wringer, and this is TOTAL BULLSH*T!!!

Michele said...

I hope you've called your doc and given them hell... I agree with Ms. J- what a load of crap!!! As if this journey isn't rough enough, this is added on it.