Shreya’s Journey Through OHSS and Infertility

What Went Wrong At the Outset?

OHSS is a side effect of hormonal treatment, basically due to higher dose of HCG.  It is, however, important to understand that the doses can differ from women to women. Women struggling with PCOD are more vulnerable when compared to others. Shreya hyperstimulated during IUI when 75 units of HCG was given in the course of the treatment. She produced about 7-8 follicles and they were of good quality. However, she changed her doctor midway during her first IVF and the new doctor injected another 150 units of HCG into her body. She was told by the new doctor that the increased dose of HCG is to enable her to produce more eggs as more eggs are always better. The doctor was unaware of her previous hormonal doses (that she was previously hyperstimulated for 75 units).

No Proper Guidance:

The previous doctor never informed Shreya that she is already hyperstimulating and posed a problem at a later stage. With extra doses and more eggs, Shreya was very happy and she eventually conceived during that period. However, she had to go through abdominal pain as follicle rupture resulted in a lot of fluid releases. She had severe cramps and blotting but she was told by the new doctor that she is producing healthy eggs.

Repeated Mistakes and How It Affected the Ovaries:

Once again Shreya changed her doctor who informed her that she has been hyperstimulated due to continuous shifting in the course of the treatment. By that time she had 15 follicles and most of them were healthy, and she was all prepared for egg retrieval, where, they puncture the ovaries to suck the eggs out of the follicle. Shreya had 13 eggs retrieved as two of her follicles were not matured at that time. Her ovaries were punctured several times during the process but the quality of eggs was average.

What Freaked Shreya Out?

In the course of her treatment for 5 years her body was bombarded with a lot of hormones and medicines to which her body finally revolting against. PCOD patients are more vulnerable to OHSS, and Shreya also had mild PCOD. She used to get her periods regularly but her ovaries were polycystic. The high amount of ovary punctures also increased her stimulation rate. At that time she was bloating which the doctor said was normal and when she woke up at midnight to puke. She noticed that her abdomen was heavily bloated and she looked like someone who was 7 or 8 months pregnant. This freaked her out and she called her doctor the next morning. She rushed to the clinic to get a scan done. The report showed that both her ovaries were swollen to 11.8 cms, where normally ovaries are 3-4 cm in size. This meant that she definitely had a case of extreme ovary enlargement.

She was immediately admitted to the hospital and was put on injections. It took 3-4 days for her ovaries to reduce to its normal size.  But all was not OK yet. There was fluid accumulation in her lungs which was a further cause for worry. However, she slowly recovered and was shifted to the general ward in a week. Her embryo transfer for IVF was delayed for that cycle as she had just recovered from OHSS because even if she did go for embryo transfer, the chances of success in this cycle were slim. Yet, when the embryo transfer was done in the next cycle, it failed! Why?

All’s Well Finally:

Shreya began to understand that it is important at this stage to detox her body first and this took her another six months. Once that was done, she conceived naturally. Shreya ’s story is a huge example of caution other women of Ovarian Hyperstimulation Syndrome, especially the ones who are undergoing treatment for fertility.