OK, so you have had your nurse consult. All you heard was…….blah, blah, shot, needle, blah. Don’t fret. We tell you each step of the way what your results are and your next steps. The "patient portal" is your window into your (electronic) medical record. It also is an excellent way for us to communicate with you and you can e-mail us questions anytime.
You are looking at your results on the "patient portal" and one eyebrow is arched in a peculiar way wondering, "what is normal?" Normal is such an overused word. Let’s toss it. There really is NO normal only a framework to start with.
Before you start your stimulation medications there are reference ranges that we want to see on cycle days 2-4. Remember we like your E2 (estradiol) to be less than 100 pg/mL, your FSH (follicle stimulating hormone) level to be less than 10 mIU/mL and your AMH (anti-mullerian hormone) level over 1 ng/mL. We have now instructed you to start your stimulation medications. You do and realize that the needles and shots really aren’t so bad. Now you look at your portal message and that "normal" word haunts you again. Let’s put it this way, as long as your E2 level increases and your follicles increase in size, you are "normal". A mature follicle puts off about 200 pg/mL of E2. We will watch you carefully so that your body doesn’t ovulate on its own before we trigger you. This is why it is very important to keep all of your appointments for their scheduled time. We for the most part CANNOT change the day you are to come in but can move the time. As long as it is during our morning monitoring.
There are occasional times when your levels may slightly decrease. What does that mean? It can be a couple of things. First could be a lab error. Remember as long as the follicles continue to grow, a slight dip in your level doesn’t bother us. If there is no growth in your follicles and your E2 level drops, you may be plateauing and need to be triggered. Finally, remember that our ultrasound techs are people and not robots and everyone sees things differently. That being said, you are the whole package and not just numbers. If you ever have questions about what your numbers mean, we are here for you.
These are your monitoring numbers in a nut shell. I know…..blah, blah, blah.
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