I’ve had 2 nhs funded rounds. On round 2 I had 8 blastocysts on day 5 but only one was grade 1-1, 2 grade 2-2, and the rest discarded as grade 3-3.
The fresh and the 2 frozen transfers all resulted in BFNs. Before we start round 3, our first private round, it’s been suggested my partner does a ROS test to see if he has free radicals in his sperm that might be causing the embryos to decrease in quality from day 3. I’m taking DHEA but can’t afford PGS as suggested. Any one here with experience of any of this or advice?? X
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Scarlett13
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Hi we were similar, we got 15 eggs 1st round and around 8 looked good at day 3 but only 1 good enough to transfer then on our second round we got 25 eggs with 15 looking good but only 2 in the end that graded good enough. Luckily the 1 they put back stuck and we now have a 9 month old little girl. The only things we did different 2nd round were we used the embryo glue, (had icsi both rounds) but we used the embryoscope instead of the clinic having to keep checking on the embryos for growth and that way they could see which were dividing equally. X
Wow Laura you had really high numbers!!!! Wonder why your number ended up dwindling so much too....but hey! It only takes one! And you have your baby! I really appreciate you still being on the forum and sharing your story - I really needed to read that as have been feeling a bit at a loss.... how come you did ICSI both rounds despite high numbers? Going forward with Access fertility we will be using the embryoscope for the first time - did the clinic say that made a difference with choosing your best embryos? X
I follow all the posts still as this place was a life saver for me when we were going through ivf. The clinic never gave us a reason as to why the initial eggs and embryos were so high and then dwindled after day 3 but we had icsi from the get go cause my now husband had low results on morphology and motility in his sperm analysis. We used access fertility for our 2nd round as that was a paid one and they were great. There is differing evidence around the embryoscope but I felt like it really helped the clinic chose the right embryo for us. I’ll keeo everything crossed that your next round will be a success x
If you're over 35, there's growing evidence that having a natural cycle ( just using the one egg you naturally produce) and putting that back after 2 days is better than blasting the body to produce many eggs which are lower quality. If your under 35, stimulated may be best, as your egg quality should still be very high.
My wife was 37 when we started IVF and we did repeated cycles where she would be medicated to produce many eggs, do the 5 day wait and transfer the 'best' blasto's, we did that year in, year out, and got nowhere. With hindsight, we should have been trying natural cycles from the start.
I had ROS and every other test out there, genetic screening, scans of my testes, the works- if they find anything - they'll just your partner to increase his intake of antioxidants, give up booze and fags, exercise, loose fitting underwear, etc, he can do all those things now, so I'm not sure if its worth it. Your NHS cycle would have done a sperm analysis and they must have found good enough sperm for you to have the cycles in the first place. With your rate of fertilization - it doesn't sound like its a major issue anyway.
After a couple of years of trying ( we always did ICSI as I have low sperm count and low quality) and it worked first time (so far thanks god) once we switched to donor eggs, which demonstrated how important high quality eggs, compared to sperm is, unfortunately.
Speak to your new private clinic as they may suggest things that can have more of an impact, for example in our donor cycle my wife was put on baby aspirin, so don't know if that helped get the bfp, along with the young egg. DHEA is also very good for your own egg quality, but I would mention the natural cycle depending on your age and see what they think.
Thank you so much for your reply! I’m 38 in a few weeks. My private clinic is the same as my nhs clinic. My partner takes multivitamins, has given up drinking, has never smoked, is fit and healthy, but maybe working in central London and breathing in fumes is an issue - we will have to see the result of the ROS test. Hope it’s fine... I’ve looked into natural ivf but it seems like it might take a lot longer to work? I must read more into it, thank you. I take DHEA and have been advised to avoid aspirin by my consultant. I’m soooo pleased you got your result with switching the donor egg, that is amazing! Thanks for taking the time to reply. Lots of food for thought
Hi there, it sounds like he's doing everything right, selenium is a good one to take also.
I would say one more thing, like you we stayed with the same clinic when we went from nhs funded to self funding. Don't be worried about looking around, especially if you can get to london, some clinics are much better than others. We stuck with the same clinic because we felt comfortable, but that was a mistake looking back, compare their results with other places. When we shopped around and moved to new clinic they introduced things the other clinic didn't even discuss like immunity, steroids, natural IVF .
As its your third round and your paying, I would shop around and check out the results of each clinic. Obviously if you have a comfortable vibe where you are, its a strong pull- they know you, etc, but I can only speak for ourselves that we wish we had shopped around and compared clinic live birth rates.
Best of luck whatever happens, really hope its 3rd time lucky !!!
Hi Scarlett13. I do know that if the test is positive, it is usually a case of lifestyle changes. They are often raised when some trauma or hydrocele has been present in the testicles, or infection. If this is what has been recommended then I do hope that if found and removed it ends with a positive result next time round. Diane
Your partner could take condensyl or menevit, complete supplements for sperm health? That’s what my clinic recommends. Also have they suggested doing icsi rather than ivf?
Is the ROS test basically the sperm fragmentation test?
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