IVF failure - unexplained infertility, any advice?

[k8mcm2019]

Hi, my husband and I have been trying for a baby for 3 years, and the last year with ivf. I am 31, he is 35. His sperm is great, my eggs great - I had stage 3 endo which was removed 18 months ago, and had another hysteroscopy 5 months ago to confirm it hadn’t come back. Started IVF jan 2019, only 6 eggs collected = 3 embryos... all failed to implant. Did another round of ivf in November, 9 eggs = 6 embryos. Had an ERA which came back normal, and have had 2 more transfers with no success. Does anyone have any advice on what more tests we could be doing? After 5 failures and no reason why I’m really losing hope and I just don’t know what to do next. My most recent transfer was a natural cycle, all the others FET (except the first which was a fresh). I just feel like I’m running out of chances and ideas..

[Bluelady-sing]

Have you ever been pregnant? The endo was it a laparoscopy?

[k8mcm88 in reply to Bluelady-sing]

Never been pregnant and yeah was laparoscopy and they checked my tubes too which were fine.

[Bluelady-sing in reply to k8mcm88]

What investigations have they done so far? Day 21 bloods ?

[k8mcm88 in reply to Bluelady-sing]

Yep did all the blood work before going for ivf. I ovulate every month and have a 27-29 day cycle. Everything seems normal. I’ve been working with a nutritionist for 6 months and have cut out dairy, gluten, alcohol and caffeine.

[Bluelady-sing in reply to k8mcm88]

What about your husband ?

[k8mcm88 in reply to Bluelady-sing]

Yep his sperm all came back great - no issues there

[Ranchu90 in reply to k8mcm88]

Have you done DNA fragmentation test as well? Motility, morphology and concentration can be in normal ranges but sperm can still have fragmentation.

[LizzieBW]

Hi 👋 so sorry you're in the IVF club and your journey has been tough. You sound incredibly strong to be pushing ahead and fighting to find some answers - amazing 👍

It may be an obvious one, sorry but have you had your progesterone levels checked and adjusted pessary doses? Have your clinic suggested what area they are focused on/what they think could be improved next cycle to help boost your chances of success? Xx

[Florencenightingale]

Have you tried an endometrial scratch prior to treatment to help with implantation x

[Ranchu90]

Try PGS, maybe your embryos hasn’t been chromosomally normal. If your embryos will come back normal than you will know that there is an implantation problem.

I also decided to do PGS testing after 2 biochemical, in 2 weeks time we will know the results 🤞

Xxx

[Bluelady-sing]

I was thinking of this Ranchu90

[Starsandsunbeams]

Hiya, I don't really have any answers but just wanted to offer support. It is the toughest thing to go through I think. We are in a similar-ish blat. 3 transfers- 2 fresh, 1 frozen last year. 2 faint positives which didn't stick around for long. I've just had some various blood tests done to investigate- NK cells testing and something for sticky blood. Just waiting on results. On my next transfer, I will be requesting a progesterone blood test on transfer day to check my levels are ok as apparently, even though you take lots of progesterone, some people do not absorb progesterone as well apparently? Wishing you luck and lots of good wishes xx

[Shirazlover2013]

Hi, what a tough run you’ve had! It’s great you guys are producing lots of embryos but also so frustrating and heart breaking that they’re not getting further than that. Are you embryos day 5 blastocysts? Have you had your progesterone levels checked before any of your transfers?

When you had your ERA did you also do the ALICE/EMMA tests for infection and flora of the womb? If not they can be done on a natural cycle quite easily.

Having asked all the above sometimes it is a numbers game and the odds are in your favour being young with no known problems. Good luck for your next transfer and may it be the one who makes it!!

[Georgie17]

Have you had your progesterone checked?

[Rainbowhope]

Look into progestrone testing. Do u know what your progestrone levels were when you transferred? Ask your clinic if maybe you dont absorb progestrone properly and you might need to be on extra progestrone support. Best of luck

[GPmum]

I'd recommend making small investments n buy 3 books n apply the advices there as much as you can: "it starts with the eggs" to improve your eggs quality n hubby's sperm quality cos I'm surprised that with my age 42 n hubby at 45 n bad sperm the qty of embryos you had is same as ours, then Zita West's "IVF diet" n "guide to fertility n assisted conception " n this last book has suggestions what kind of tests you need to insist to be done on you n your hubby n I'd say after being my own advocate n insisted on lots of tests on us, I finally got pregnant with 3rd transfer of 2nd cycle after having heartbreak of 2 implantation failures.

You can get them from Amazon.

If you look in my old posts, I think I listed all tests we had n all complementary therapies etc I did to improve my body basically n to some degree my hubby's too.

I think what's not in the books is genetic blood test on both n this can also replace PGS testing cos the latter has been proven to have risk of discarding embryos that can be viable.

And this genetic test can be a good base to test the fetus for genetic test like to discover Down syndrome etc. so 2 birds with 1 stone!

Good luck!

[Chantysal]

Sorry to hear that u had no sucess so far. I had the same issue wasnt getting pregnant and unexplained infertility. Did a round of Ivf and was told i had a great embryo that I transferred with no luck. Then i went to a different clinic and they used embryoscope and found out that the way my embryos were dividing was not correct and therefor it resulted in a bfn so kept trying and third cycle i got a good embryo that divided very well and resulted in pregnancy

[Bluelady-sing in reply to Chantysal]

I agree it is the quality of the egg the counts

[Hidden]

Sorry for your experiences so far. Everyone one HATES this when I say it but sometimes it is just luck and my nurses always say you have to just keep going and keep going. My sister got her precious baby on her 7th round of IVF with some of her worst embryos, my friend got pregnant on round 9 and then randomly got pregnant 9 months after that birth naturally.

My consultant always says this tests are as yet unproven. I don’t know if it’s right or not

Anyway my mindset is just keep going and it will happen eventually

Good luck xxxxx