What to ask at consultation following 2 failed rounds?

[Scarlett13]

Hi everyone

I’ve had 4 good embryos transferred in total from 2 rounds of nhs funded ivf.

I have my follow up consultation on Tuesday before going private with the same clinic.

They want to discuss PGS with me but I can’t afford it.

What questions would you ask?

I’m 38 next month with good ovarian reserve and my partner has good sperm.

Thanks!

[Abaco]

Sorry to hear about your 2 failed rounds, this journey is so hard isn't it! with regard to questions I thought I'd let you know about the tests our clinic requested after our failed transfers. I've also had 2 transfers one resulted in a bfn the other a chemical pregnancy. After the first round our clinic decided to do autoimmune tests to see if my immune system was playing havoc with implantation. After the second transfer they decided to do alloimmune tests on both my husband and I plus a karyotype test for him to see if he had any chromosome abnormalities. Not saying you have to do the same but these tests have brought a few things to light which are now being addressed.

Diane Arnold also has a list of questions to ask which are really useful, if you email or pm her then I'm sure she will send you a copy. All the very best on your follow up appointment xxx

[Scarlett13 in reply to Abaco]

I’m going to ask my GP if I can get karyotyping on the NHS- probably can’t but I’ll ask!! How much were your immune and karyotyping tests if you don’t mind me asking? And worth the cost for you for what they found? Thanks for sharing xx

[Abaco in reply to Scarlett13]

Don't mind at all, happy to help. We're having treatment abroad the auto immune tests including karyotype cost us just over £300 and roughly the same price for the allo immune tests.we enquired at a clinic over here and they would have cost around £1300 for each set of tests to be done as the bloods would have to be flown to the US. This price included quite a few immune tests that our clinic wanted us to do, I think the karyotype alone over there cost us about £70, am unsure of the individual cost over here sorry. It was worth us getting them done as they found out I have low nk cells and low allo mlr antibodies. We're now under the care of an immunologist and hoping to go for next transfer next month. All the best to you xxx

[Squeak2]

Hi hunny! Hope your well? Diane Arnold sent me a list of questions which is definitely worth reading through. I wish I had had them the first time.... Also read the post on my page about PGS. I found it difficult to decide and haven’t yet been back but I was worried when they test the cells so early when the embryo could also still turn out ok but they won’t then let you use it if they think there is a possible problem! This is all hard enough without the possibility of having embryos there but not being able to use them!! There were also some links in some of the replies on my page. Worth a read! Much love 💕 xx

[busygirl in reply to Squeak2]

Just an interesting side note ....I read a story about last at 44 with many all abnormal PGS embryos. A very interesting article on that. and I will see if I can find it. it was about an embryos ability to correct and change. It was really interesting to read.

thecut.com/2017/09/ivf-abno...

[Squeak2 in reply to busygirl]

Thank you 💕 I thought I might be better going the route of better egg quality with the ubiquinol but haven’t done that yet! xx

[Cinderella5 in reply to busygirl]

That is an interesting article....!! Thanks for sharing!xx

[Scarlett13 in reply to busygirl]

Thank you for this busygirl, I’ll be reading that when I’m home xx

[Scarlett13 in reply to busygirl]

I’ve read something very similar to this before about how abnormal embryos can make normal babies which is reassuring as I can’t afford the PGS and I don’t want to discard any embryos that I produce! X

[Scarlett13 in reply to Squeak2]

Thanks squeak! Yes I read through your post, interesting stuff! I agree that it’s not nice thinking you might discard embryos that could produce a normal baby and I don’t have a spare 2k!! I’m guessing the karyotyping is worth doing though? X do you still have the questions from Diane? X

[Lizzielizzielizzie]

I would ask why they think you need pgs. If it’s because they think you are producing an unusually high number of abnormal embryos then I would ask them about chromosome testing for you and your partner instead. There’s a 2% chance they will find something with one of you. It’s called karyotyping. It’s a blood test which will cost money but way less than PGS. For me, this test gave us our answers and led to a successful round. We also used ubiquinol and condensyl (for him) to improve our quality.

[Scarlett13 in reply to Lizzielizzielizzie]

Thank you Lizzie. I’ve booked a GP appointment in the hope that I can get karyotyping done on the NHS, worth a try! I’ve had 4 good embryos transferred from 2 rounds and no BFP so far. So if something came up on the test for you, how were you able to do something about it? If you don’t mind me asking? I’m ordering ubiquinol and taking DHEA. Thanks so much for your helpful message x and congrats on your successful round!!

[Lizzielizzielizzie in reply to Scarlett13]

You can see my story on my previous posts but basically they found my hubbie carried a chromosome disorder which unlocked more ivf funding, a switch to another clinic who specialise in PGD and then embryo diagnosis which allowed us to find a normal embryo. I’m due on 10th December,

[Scarlett13 in reply to Lizzielizzielizzie]

Oh wow- congrats! I will read through your posts - what a fascinating journey!!!! X

[Lizzielizzielizzie in reply to Scarlett13]

Fascinating to look back on... was pretty horrendous to live through, as all our journeys are xx

[Scarlett13 in reply to Lizzielizzielizzie]

It is a horrendous journey but as long as the journey ends with a baby, it’s all totally worth it. And yours will be in time for Xmas! ❤️x

[Squeak2 in reply to Lizzielizzielizzie]

Lovely news, congrats 💕 xx

[C_C_H in reply to Scarlett13]

Hi Scarlett, appreciate this in an old post but did you end up having these extra tests done before you went into your next round? I am about to start round 3 after 2 failed FET and wondering what I need to potentially do differently this time and wondering if the tests are worth asking about. Thanks

[Scarlett13 in reply to C_C_H]

Hi, no decided against PGS because of the cost. I believe getting my progesterone levels tested after transfer 7 and then changing progesterone as a result was key to finally becoming pregnant and staying pregnant. Look at my more recent post about progesterone and good luck!! Xxx

[C_C_H in reply to Scarlett13]

Thanks for the advice, really helpful x