Eggs at 40

[Purplewitch18]

Ok, so i stupidly googled about egg quality at 40 and now i need some success stories please girls! I only turned 40 3 months ago but according to the internet my eggs are already doomed, matter how healthy i am. Our consultant started going on about donor eggs as soon as we sat down and we had only just met her, so no test results for her to go off. Arghhhh!!

[Cinderella5]

Awww sorry you've been hit with negativity already! Its not the nicest thing to be met with on a first consultation. I think a lot of Dr's mention DE on just seeing a numbe unfortunately. I also had a lot of negativity aimed at my age when I was 38 (Im 41 now)! Im sadly not one of the success stories and I have moved onto DE but I can say Ive been doing this a long time and Ive seen a fair few ladies on here have success in their 40's. Hopefully once you have some tests done the consultant can have an open discussion and you can weigh up their advice from there.xx

[Purplewitch18 in reply to Cinderella5]

Thankyou Cinderella. I hate the fact that the media and all these ‘statistics’ shoved in our faces, seem to think if your over 35 youre menopausal or half dead! I had my daughter naturally and to full term at 35, and i never thought id be trying ivf for another at this age, but my body has let me down as we were trying for 2.5 years since i had her for number two. But still, i dont appreciate the glass half empty attitude! There is always hope, nevermind how bad the statistics are. I dont know if it will work for us but id rather draw on the posatives than the negatives, but there are none if you google it!

Im sorry to hear you are not one of the success stories... YET, doesnt mean you never will be though. Just think we need to be realistic, BUT there is always a posative and there should be more focus on finding more inspiring things to say other than, well youre clearly past it, should have had kids younger. I just want to be treated as an indivdual, not a statistic xx

[Cinderella5 in reply to Purplewitch18]

I would like to hope that when you get your results back the clinic will treat you as an individual....if not maybe its time to move clinic! You probably have better stats than me as Ive never had kids.....our NHS clinic (after mentioning that I was old loads over my cycles....I got to the point where I felt like shouting "yes I know my age thank you and that Im no longer young".....grrrrr) only gave me a 5% chance of success. I think if you are given the prognosis then you can make an educated decision.xx

[Purplewitch18 in reply to Cinderella5]

Aww i know you just feel like screaming at them! Mine was like, well there are 3 things going against you, your age, your tubes and your bicornate uterus. I was thinking Err, yeh, we know, thats why we are here. EVERYONE here has a problem getting pregnant, i already know what mine is, what i want to know is what are you going to advise, as before we saw this woman we were advised we had a good chance at ivf rather than natural as it would be quicker. She said with one of those voices a builder does when he tells you the price, that i had a 15% chance, based on statistics. And then basically told us to go home as try naturally. The clinic itself is excellent, it was just this one consultant.

5% is still a chance. Ive seen some of your older posts and i understand youve been through a hell of a lot. Im sending huge hugs your way, and hoping my little rants on here will at least keep you amused if nothing else xx

[Cinderella5 in reply to Purplewitch18]

Ha ha ha yep, it does grate on your nerves a tad!! From what you're said you sound like you have a decent shot at things with your follicle count. I thought they would be fighting to take your hand off as your paying, not sending you home to try yourselves! Has your OH has his sperm count checked recently, just something else to think about if not.

Well I really dont think we have much chance naturally as my OH has a very low sperm count but we usually give it a bash....you never know if you could be one of those miracle stories. Thank you, I think its important to get these rants off your chest and I think we can all relate to some of them anway!! Ha ha haxx

[Purplewitch18 in reply to Cinderella5]

Well i know, i was thinking maybe they dont want our money 🤔. I mean, its not through lack of trying it hasnt happened yet! Yes he had it done a year ago and all was normal, he is getting the little swimmers tested again now for the ivf. Not to give one of those, i know someone who ... stories, but my client has pcos snd her hubby very low sperm count, too low for ivf. They started being strict with diet etc and his sperm count went up and second round have a little boy. Im sure youve tried everything as youre a pro at this, but has your partner tried maca? Black maca for male sperm count is a proven method of naturally increasing it. Xx

[Cinderella5 in reply to Purplewitch18]

Glad to gear you have it all in hand....that is not a pun!🤣😂 Unfortunately hubby's sperm situation is not fixable. Weve tried diet and alcohol etc. When we spoke to the consultant he said nothing would help things, it's a hormonal thing and an injury when young so screwed really and likely to get worse! Hey ho, we have lots on ice...not that we're doing much more treatment for too much longer. It's going on too long!xx

[Purplewitch18 in reply to Cinderella5]

Lol, no pun taken 😁. Sorry to hear that Cinderella xx

[jengi]

Hi Purplewitch! Have you had your AMH tested? You can try a few things to increase quality, DHEA, co-enzyme Q10 etc. There are success stories so stay positive. A friend of mine has just had her 2nd child at 44 with her own eggs. For me, I’ve had to embark on the donor egg route. Happy to share my experience/thinking if that would be useful but appreciate if you are not quite ready for that yet. Big hugs to you my lovely Xx

[Purplewitch18 in reply to jengi]

Thanks so much jengi. I have been taking co q10 for months now but ive switched to pure ubiquinol the last few weeks for better absorbtion. Ive looked at dhea, but its not easily available in the uk. Had my amh done on consultation day last friday, so i dont know the results yet. Im not expecting them to be amazing but probably average for my age. I had 9 follicles when scanned which apparently is also normal.

Thankyou for sharing your friends success! And yes, you are right im not ready to talk about any other route just yet. Xx

[jengi in reply to Purplewitch18]

9 follicles is great news! Fingers crossed for a good AMH! Xx

[Jessy1280 in reply to Purplewitch18]

9 follicles is amazing. I'm no doctor but I reckon your amh is probably normal. I had 16 follicles on my scan and produced 18 eggs (16 mature). Not sure if this is coincidence. My AMH is 45.2 and I'm nearly 39. Mine is high though. Please don't listen to Dr Google.

[Purplewitch18 in reply to Jessy1280]

Wow thats really high for 39! No i will stop googling now lol x

[CAS2]

It's a shame your consultant started on that conversation without having a full view of your results beforehand. Really they should wait until they have all this first I think.

It's true at 40 our eggs are not the best quality, but if your AMH and antral follicle count are okay, and you have the emotional and financial means then no reason not to give it a go I'd say!

I'm 40 and currently pregnant ager 3 rounds of IVF. It's not been easy, and we lost a twin during this pregnancy at 16 weeks due to Chromosomal issues. So definitely not for the faint hearted but currently 28 weeks pregnant with one seemingly very healthy remaining twin.

You can get DHEA and Melatonin from biovea.com (DHEA at 25g x 3 per day and Melatonin at 3mg per day). I also took ubiquinol, Vit B, D, E, Omega 3 and L'argenine. All recommended by my consultant to improve egg quality.

Good luck! xx

[Purplewitch18 in reply to CAS2]

Thankyou Cas, and sorry for your loss but congratulations on your little baba. Yes thats what i mean, they should ony start on about that if my eggs are no good, no need to thow things at us that we dont need to think about right now xx

[Hidden]

Hey, Step away from google!!

I think its really harsh your consultant starting so early with that. I am 42 and started IVF at 41. I have had 3 rounds so far (2 x BFN, 1 x BFP but MC) I have also had 2 MC naturally and no live births. Every follow up appointment I ask my consultant if its egg quality and he has said every time at this stage we haven't enough evidence to prove that.. that 42 is the new 32 and there are more live births in the 40s than ever before. I have found I have a lot of reasons why I might be MC so we can't just blame the eggs. He said to me its more about quality of embryos that can tell us if the eggs are poor quality or not and mine tend to do the right things at just about the right time.. anyway I am rambling now I just wanted to say its way too early to right yourself off!

Good luck! x

[Purplewitch18 in reply to Hidden]

Thankyou Daisy for the positive vibes 😃, they are much needed. It sounds like youvd been through a lot, i really, really hope the next round is the one for you! Much love for not giving in and still smiling xx

[KayCan]

I had the same worry at 39! And to be honest when I embarked on my treatment I don't think the consultant was expecting anything great from me, as we talked about a double transfer if eggs weren't the best quality etc, but I proved him wrong and I'm currently 14 weeks pregnant from my first cycle ( 1 4aa blastocyst was transferred). Try not to worry xx

[Purplewitch18 in reply to KayCan]

Wow!! Thats amazing hunny! You go girl, and thankyou. I have acupuncture in a mo, its great for my endo, that will chill me out for a bit xx

[Purplewitch18]

Just to say, thanks for all the good vibes, advice and support guys 😘😘

[Purplewitch18]

Oooh and just a quickie cuz im totally new to all this, she said because im 40 i need the high end of all the drugs, and again thats purely on my age and nothing else. This didnt sound right to me, and im not comfortable with it, does it sound right to you guys?xx

[Jessy1280 in reply to Purplewitch18]

This clinic sounds awful! They can't guess what level of meds you need without conducting any tests! I'm nearly 39 and needed mild meds first cycle as I have high ovarian reserve for my age. They should be looking to do bloods on you plus the amh test to use this as a guide as to how you may respond to meds.

[jengi in reply to Purplewitch18]

You are right, it doesn’t sound right at all. Your consultant should be making evidence based decisions & given you are still waiting on results, these statement seem a bit premature. Wait for your FSH & AMH and take it from there. These consultants sometimes forget there is a human being sitting in front of them, definitely not blessed with social skills. Something I’ve very much struggled with on my journey. Best of luck & keep us posted! Xx

[Purplewitch18 in reply to jengi]

Thankyou, ive just done some research on the clinic, and read a lot of reviews, and it seems the same dr comes up time and time again as being the best one, so we will book with her from now on, and just move on from the rubbish one we just had. Looking at their website it looks asthough the one we got is quite new to the clinic. The one i want has had ivf herself, always better when they have some personal experience. I will keep you posted! And also look out to see how all of you are doing xx

[KayCan]

I think its unfair to assume you will without first doing all the diagnostics. They will use all this information to assess how well they think you will respond to the treatment. They will set your meds based on the outcome of baseline scans, amh, fsh checks etc. You may be 40 but your fsh might be low etc.... not sure if this is a standard for every clinic but mine kept a close eye on me, had bloods done every other day and they adjusted my meds based on what the bloods were telling them. ❤

[Baypony]

There may yet be hope for you. There are definitely tests that can be done and your eggs may be good 🤞

Unfortunately my eggs were doomed at age 32 but i’m now 23 weeks pregnant with DE at age 40. It’s been a long journey for us but has eventually worked out. Best of luck for you 🍀

[Purplewitch18 in reply to Baypony]

Thankyou Baypony, and congratulations x

[Jessy1280]

Ignore Dr Google. Its for the best! Stats aren't tailor made to an individual. I'm nearly 39. I have high amh 45.2 with no pcos or endometriosis. I had 18 eggs first cycle. 16 mature and 13 fertilised. OK, so I'm not the norm but who is. By all accounts I should have no eggs left according to Dr Google! I have fsh of 4.4 too. A mile away from menopause.

I admit I didn't get pregnant first cycle but doing all I can to improve egg quality for cycle 2. The clinic told me fertilisation rate is a good measure of the quality of eggs. So my eggs ability to fertilise I took as a good sign even if only 3 of the 13 only made it to good quality day 5 embryos.

No idea if all my supplements for cycle 2 will help. Only time will tell. First cycle I took just folic acid. This cycle I'm on inofolic (recommended by my clinic), folic acid, high strength coq10, omega 3, vits D, c and e, melatonin and dhea.

Also got the OH on supplement albeit reluctantly.

It's not over til it's over!!! X

[Purplewitch18 in reply to Jessy1280]

Thankyou hun. Just spoken to my partner about it, we are going to the patient information eve asap and take it from there. We went around 3 clinics in the area and this one was amazing, staff are lovely, so im shocked of how our consultation went. Hopefully it was just her and we can get a better one, if not we can change clinics, but we will ask questions on the patient eve and make a decision x

[MissSaoPaulo]

I did my IVF when I was turning 39. Got 5 blasts, one of which is now an 8 week old girl and 3 others are still in the freezer. Definitely not over the hill yet although generally the older you get the more challenging it is. I would just say don't hang about. My dr also had me on coq10 for about 3 months before treatment. Don't know if it made a difference but it's worth a go.

Good luck hon xxx

[Purplewitch18 in reply to MissSaoPaulo]

Thankyou xx

[Scarlett13]

My 44 year old friend just got pregnant with her own egg on second round x

[Purplewitch18 in reply to Scarlett13]

Thanks hun, congratulations to your friend thats amazing x

[Trying1234]

The age thing winds me up as surely it is all relative to the individual. I am 39 and through my EC I had 18 eggs collected, 13 fertilised and in the end 5 blastocysts, which are all decent quality. I have PCOS and did over respond to the treatment so had to wait for ovaries to settle back down. The blastos are currently in the freezer so to speak, ready for me when I am ready. No idea when the outcome will be.

Best of luck to you and please don't be disheartened by your clinic, I would like to think they are trying to provide you with all the options so that you aware.

[Purplewitch18 in reply to Trying1234]

Totally agree, it is all relative to the individual. Thankyou and best of luck with your transfer x

[SharlyWarly]

Sounds like you saw a very daft consultant!!! You (or anyone else) knows nothing until you have some tests done, and AMH / FSH can fluctuate in any case. Go get your tests done and then you can see what you're working with.

Best of luck

[Purplewitch18 in reply to SharlyWarly]

Thankyou, we have changed consultants, i just pity her next victims! X

[Purplewitch18]

Ok, so ive managed to order some dhea, but what is the doesage? Ive read lots of different things. No point asking the consultant we just saw as she said not to bother with any of the suppliments x