Failed fertilisation

[Stephybivf]

Has anybody else had unsuccessful fertilisation with icsi. My husband and I had icsi last week (after his successful sperm retrieval). They managed to get 7 eggs from me- 4 where immature and 3 just didn’t fertilise. It never even entered my mind that this could happen 😔

[Hollibob]

We don’t have great fertilisation results.

It might be worth looking into your other half having a Sperm Comet DNA test x

[Stephybivf in reply to Hollibob]

Hi! Thanks for reply, is this only offered privately? I can always ask at my follow up next week. I get 3 cycles on the NHS and one of the other ladies suggested combining the two (private and NHS) I can ask anyway. It’s just awful waiting isn’t it x

[Hollibob in reply to Stephybivf]

We had to pay for ours privately, but they have a website which I believe shows the costs..worth checking out what it says and you can then be armed with questions for your appointment x

[Stephybivf in reply to Hollibob]

Good idea. Thanks for advise xx

[Running79 in reply to Stephybivf]

My husband had a sperm DNA fragmentation test and we paid £500 if that helps

[ttcrainbowbabypatel]

If you're in London, I'd recommend seeing a urologist. Jonathan Ramsay and Suks Minhas at London Urology Associates are brilliant. Sorry that this happened but perhaps there are answers out there that could help.

[Stephybivf in reply to ttcrainbowbabypatel]

I’m under st Mary’s in Manchester, but I can add the urology opinion on my list of 100 questions I’ve got to ask the doctor 🤭 my husband has been under a great Andrology specialist but we’ve been passed over to someone else now we’ve gone on to ivf x

The embryologist said she couldn’t see any problems with the selected sperm or egg but surely there must b some issue, I’m hoping I’ll find out next week x

[Running79 in reply to Stephybivf]

We were told you only need urology if your DNA fragmentation test comes back with a problem - which I think we were given good advice as the bills start racking up and you maybe paying for things you don’t need

[Ladypii in reply to Stephybivf]

Hi Stephybivf

I have also been referred to St Marys in Manchester and my husband also has azoospermia so we are looking to do SSR. How have you found St Marys? We cannot decide if we should have the SSR at St Marys or go private, although we would have to save for a bit first to afford that, but been messed around so much by the NHS so far not sure if it’s just better to go private x

[Klndmr]

Heyy. Im so sorry you've been through that. Similar thing happened to me just 3 weeks ago. I had EC on 25th January and only 4 eggs collected. One wasn't mature for the rest they've used iCSI and only one fertilized but abnormal. Such a horrible feeling but unfortunately there is nothing we can do but put our head up and carry on. Im now looking forward to my next cycle.

On our follow up we've been told there was nothing wrong with the sperm or the eggs just didn't happen.

Hope you are feeling alright. Sending lots if hugs xxxxxx❤❤❤

[Stephybivf in reply to Klndmr]

Hi, I’m really sorry that you have been through that too. It’s a lot to take in after the years of trying to get there and totally devastating. Nobody really talks to one another at the clinic and I only have my sister to talk to as she had ivf and it worked first time for her (she now has 4 children) and of course my husband. All my friends have children and have had no problems conceiving so they try to be understanding but it’s a very lonely place to be sometimes x

If you don’t mind my asking, what sorts of questions did you ask at your follow up? I have some jotted down (about 20 🤔 lol) x

[Refocus]

Hi, we had that last year. Sadly mine isn't a positive story. We tried a second time but that time we used calcium ionophore which helps bypass a certain issue with the sperm, this often works for people but not us. The embryologist said that my eggs were beautiful so we went to a urologist, did sperm DNA fragmentation, karyotyping etc... No major problems. So we're at a loss for the cause. We only got one round on nhs, so with money being a factor, we're moving to donor eggs next. There's only a 0.8% chance of it happening a second time, so it's quite possible it will be a completely different story next time. There was a post on here a week or so ago with some more positive stories, so see if you can find them. Good luck and I hope it works out for you xxx

[Stephybivf in reply to Refocus]

I’m really sorry this didn’t work out for you. I can only hope as we all can x my husband had genetic testing and karyotyping done prior to SSR and everything came back ok -not sure if it’s the same as what you mean with the sperm though. I will definitely look into the calcium ionophore and 🤞 if there is anything they can do x I’m also 35 my AMH is 13 and I’m aware my mum and gran went through the menopause at 38 so I also don’t know if it’s my egg quality, it could be both. X

[Refocus in reply to Stephybivf]

We came to the conclusion that because my husband has had all the tests possible and nothing was flagged, it must be my eggs. Although there is nothing obviously wrong with my eggs, there aren't any tests they can do (other than karyotyping). It's just so bizarre that this seems to be so rare, the doctors are completely baffled!

[Lizzielizzielizzie in reply to Refocus]

Just checking they have done karyotyping on your eggs too? Xx

[Refocus in reply to Lizzielizzielizzie]

No I haven't. None of the doctors have suggested it and I'm not sure what it will achieve at this point other than possibly giving us answers of which there will be no solution. Xxx

[Lizzielizzielizzie in reply to Refocus]

I guess so. I hope donor eggs gives you your long awaited baby xx

[Libsie3103 in reply to Refocus]

Hi, I just wondered if you knew if DNA fragmentation can develop? We had 19 eggs collects and 9 fertilized using IVF in Sept 18 and this week 19 eggs, of which 10 were mature, and only 1 fertilized using ICSI this week?

[Apple87]

Hey really sorry to hear your news. Don’t know if this is useful but we had a similar situation where 7eggs were collected and got fertilised via ICSI then nothing after that. They just didn’t develop past day 2. We were told there was nothing obvious to explain it. Drs said the more cycles you do the more information they get. I see you got sperm retrieval done maybe worth trying out more tests on the sperm. Xx

[Stephybivf in reply to Apple87]

Hi, it must be so frustrating when they can’t give you an answer as to why it didn’t happen. It’s just heartbreaking. A lot of the ladies have mentioned about tests on the sperm so I will definitely mention it on Wednesday x thank you

[Apple87]

Very frustrating. It’s almost like trial and error. We just need to keep trying till we get there I guess. Hope it goes well on Wednesday Xx

[Stephybivf in reply to Apple87]

Thank you xx

[Libsie3103]

Hey, I am so sorry to read that you've had this experience. I understand your frustration & emotions. We did our second egg collection yesterday and had similar devastating news today. Or first EG was in September and we got 19 eggs, 11 fertilised and 3 made it to Day 5. We did a FET in November and transferred 2 which failed. We decided to do another EC before transferring our last embryo as I'm 42 in March. They collected 19 eggs yesterday and did ICSI on the 10 mature ones and did IVF on the rest. My husband is having chemo so, as we're using frozen sperm they said it was the best option. My husband's sperm analysis a year ago was great - no concerns at all. But we only had one egg fertilise from ICSI, I thought it was meant to improve fertilisation and I'm gutted... Not really sure what to do next xx

[Stephybivf in reply to Libsie3103]

Hi there, how awful. How is your husband doing? You got a fair number of eggs there , it just doesn’t make sense to me how the fertilisation rate is so low with icsi, I too thought it improved fertilisation rates. Have you spoken to anyone with regards to what to do next and why this is happening x

[Libsie3103 in reply to Stephybivf]

I thought the same that fertilization rates were meant to be better so I’m so confused. My Consultant hasn’t said anything yet as I only heard yesterday they said it would be reviewed this week by the team and they’d be in touch. Keep me posted on what your clinic say to you? My embryologist couldn’t explain it... xx

[Stephybivf in reply to Libsie3103]

Hi Libsie, we went to see the consultant yesterday. He said basically I responded well to the stimulation but too quickly which resulted in less mature eggs (4 out of the 7 where immature). He’s discussing it at MDT on tues then is going to ring me with a plan. He said increasing the dose won’t help as I could over respond. He’s thinking maybe long protocol or doing short one but for a bit longer with a double trigger shot to help mature eggs. He didn’t know why the 3 eggs didn’t fertilise and couldn’t guarantee me it won’t happen again so still none the wiser really 🤨

[Libsie3103 in reply to Stephybivf]

Hey, hope you have a good chat with your Consultant tomorrow. I'm seeing mine as well tomorrow, it was reviewed at MDT last week so I'm keen to know what they have to say. Keep me posted on what he says and fingers crossed for next time! x

[Stephybivf in reply to Libsie3103]

Good luck today x keep me posted x

[Libsie3103 in reply to Stephybivf]

Not much to report from today other than they have no idea why it happened and we went round the houses for ages! They said the sperm was fine and my eggs were OK. They suggested that the only way to work things out would be to do another round and to use donor sperm as well as my husbands. If the eggs with the donor sperm fertilised it would indicate an issue with the sperm and if neither did an issue with my eggs... We're not up for the donor route so need to decide what to do. Let know what your MDT say xx

[Stephybivf in reply to Libsie3103]

Hi, I can’t understand that as yours fertilised with IVF?? Why would they jump to donor so soon? It’s not an easy decision to make and I understand that you don’t want to go down the donor route, to be honest I would probably feel the same. Have a think about it and maybe discuss again with doctor.

The doctor rang me today and he’s upping my dose to 450 menopur from 300 which I don’t understand. He said after discussion with colleagues they suggested pushing my ovaries further to produce more eggs to increase my chance of fertilisation as most of mine where immature and do a double trigger. It wasn’t what we discussed last week and like yourself went round the houses a bit! X

[KDA0510]

This happened to us in our first round of IVF 😞 We were absolutely devastated as like you, it didn't cross our minds that failed fertilisation was even a thing! I put it down to poor/lack of information provided by the clinic because we couldn't even prepare ourselves for the heartache. Due to my low AMH we retrieved 5 eggs, 3 were mature - all failed to fertilise. I stupidly went into work the day following egg collection, so I was told whilst I was in the office. And ugly cried so heavily I am sure people thought I was dying It was just awful. Our clinic said in hindsight they would have attempted ICSI instead (whcih they did Round 2 - and I got to transfer stage). Sending you lots of love as I know how painful failed fertilisation is xxx

[Stephybivf in reply to KDA0510]

Yes I felt the same. The clinic didn’t tell me there was a possibility it could happen. When the embryologist came round after retrieval she said they had got 7 eggs then went through the different stages of development. My husband asked what if they don’t fertilise and she basically brushed it off! That’s why I was shocked when they rang. I’m hoping it doesn’t happen again but as I say they can’t guarantee that. I’m sorry you went through that and wish you lots of luck for your next cycle xxxx

[Aleelilook]

Hi, I just wanted to say I’ve been here and I understand your pain, it’s just awful. We were on round 4 and everything was looking great, everything fertilised great, and on day 3 we had 7 fertilised embryos, this was our best round yet! But on day 5 whilst I was having acupuncture they phoned and told my husband they had all arrested. At that point I was nearly sick in Harley Street! The pain was personally worse than a failed transfer, it was crippling, so we decided to go down the DE route as the embryologist thought it was my eggs. I would definitely ask lots of questions, and don’t jump to DE if you’re not ready. Once again I’m very sorry and here if you need a chat xx

[Stephybivf in reply to Aleelilook]

Oh god Aleelilook, i can’t imagine how you felt on your forth round to get to that point. It must have been soul destroying and so painful to deal with. I personally dont know what to think as I didn’t have much faith in the doctor at our consultation and he obviously hadn’t read my notes. Anyhow we will see what plan he suggests. We’re seeing my husbands Andrologist in a few weeks and he’s fantastic so I might ask his opinion too x wishing you all the best with egg donor. I am open to the idea also but I’m going to give it a second go with my eggs x