I had written a few weeks ago because my endometrial thickness (after one cancelled cycle) was again refusing to go about 5mm even though I was on very high oestrogen. In the end our clinic in Greece said that we should try even with such a low endometrial thickness (morphology was good) because they have no other things to suggest. We transferred to top quality embryos but no luck with pregnancy
Although we are keen to try again soon, I don't want to keep putting embryos in with such a thin lining, and our clinic does not seem to have any other options. They told me there is no evidence to back other things that clinics try.
Could you tell me what others have tried (especially as advised by their clinics) and if you were told why this works. I feel like I need to push our clinic a bit to try some other things (Viagra? vaginal oestrogen? higher dose oestrogen from the start?).
At the moment all I have tried is oestrogen tablets only (first failed cycle) & tablets plus patches (second cycle, made no difference to thickness). Both times I was starting on lower dose of oestrogen on day 3 after period starts and increase to higher dose after 4 days. Never been able to get more than 5mm.
Thank you!
Written by
MBLONDON
To view profiles and participate in discussions please or .
I also have a rubbish lining, things I've heard helps are, caster oil packs, raspberry leaf tea, pomegranate juice, beetroot juice. Vitamin e, I've also started wearing a haramaki ! Good luck lovely xxx
Hi just to say I also used to rub castor oil in the evenings and used a hot water bottle against my tummy in the evenings. It worked! But stop after transfer. That's very important
I tried aspirin, vitamin E and myo-isotol just in the run up to starting oestrogen injections off my own back. My nhs clinic added in viagra pessaries 4 times a day and I still only managed 5.2mm but had success! Hope this helps! Xx
Wow, great that you had success at 5.2mm. Gives hope to those of us with troublesome lining. Very interesting to hear that you had Viagra through NHS as I would imagine that they wouldn't give it unless there was good reason to try. Thanks!
Hi there, my understanding is that estrogen is started as soon as your period starts and continued for 2 weeks or until when you have over 7.5mm of thickness. It looks like you are started on it later and not sure for how long before FET?
Hi Jols, they start me on oestrogen on day 3, then increase on day 7 and I have gone for more than two weeks on high oestrogen (10mg plus 3 patches) with no change showing past 5mm on repeat scans. Last time I went for about 20 days on oestrogen and the clinic was afraid I'd have a breakthrough bleed if they kept going.
I think hot water bottles on tummy and feet helped me, as well as eating some Brazil nuts every day. I also had three patches. Keeping your feet warm apparently helps so wear fluffy socks. X
Hi, I’ve had exactly the same issues. My clinic now start me on high oestrogen (8mg and 2 patches) as well as 50mg vaginally of viagra from day 1, 100mg of aspirin and 20mg clexane injection. I also take vitamin E, cherry and pomegranate juices, raspberry leaf tea, myo and d-chio intosol and l’arginine.
In my last cycle in Jan, there was one thing that I accidentally found out that really worked....I’d gone away on a girls 4night trip to Gran Canaria to celebrate a friends bday. I lay in the sun on a sun lounger (23-25 degrees) all day for 4 day’s. Did the trick. My lining was over 9mm and was 5mm 6days before I left.
I guess it’s just a very good way of getting heat there. I’m having treatment in Spain so I’m heading over to lie in the sun to try and thicken my lining for my coming round (if I can get there).
My clinic did offer one other treatment called PRP. This is where they take platelets from your own blood and cover your lining with it to help it grow. They recheck lining thickness 48-72 hours after treatment. There is some early research to say its working. It is expensive and you can do it up to 3 before transfer.
I opted to do an ERA instead. Which I got the results of a few weeks ago. They put me through a mock cycle and took a biopsy at 5.5 days of progesterone. The clinic were not at all concerned about my lining thickness for the biopsy. Mine was 5.8mm but it came back as being receptive.
Wow your clinic added quite a few things in! Really helpful to know this and your tips on keeping warm/getting heat. It might be that taking in easy and being relaxed also helps?
I do hope you manage to get to Spain. Things are complicated enough without the extra complexity of travel restrictions! We had a tough time getting to Greece for our transfer.
I just wanted to say don't give up! I've had 4 cycles cancelled due to thin lining (see my previous posts) and could barely get to 5.8mm on all the medication (patches, viagra, 4 x 2mg from day 1).
I can't really tell you what has made the difference but this time I was amazed as I got to 8.3mm by drinking loads of raspberry leaf tea, aspirin, taking raspberry leaf tea supplements, vitamin E, L'Arginine. I also had an endometrial scratch this time. Ive made some huge lifestyle changes;gained some weight and completely stopped running.
Sadly I've still not had a BFP yet but I'm hopeful about the lining.
So happy to hear you got to 8.3!! I have been following your posts and I can imagine that having 4 cycles cancelled was not easy. Hope a BFP follows soon for you.
Did someone advise you to stop running? Before my last cycle I was doing 30 mins or so of running or high intensity exercise as I wonder if this was not a good idea. I will do light exercise in the future...
The consultant told me that in some women high intensity exercise can have an impact on the amount of sex hormone binding globulin (!). If you have a high amount of this then it can impact on your ability to absorb oestrogen. That's about as scientific as I can understand! I thought it was worth a shot and although I don't feel great mentally and I've put on a few pounds it does seem to have worked. That said it could also be just luck!
I'll keep you posted. I wish you luck with your next move xx
I had a thin lining that never responded to estrogen and it ended up being more of a blood flow problem. In the end what worked for me was pentoxifyline (800 mg/day) and vitamin e (1000 IU/day) - my lining went from around 5-6 mm to around 7-8 mm. Pentoxifyline has a similar effect to Viagra in that they both increase blood flow to the pelvic region. I also had endometrial scratches which may or may not have helped (recent studies suggest that they don't have much of an effect). Another thing to try (which worked for a patient of my doctor's but not for me) is granulocyte colony stimulating factor, which can also stimulate a thicker lining.. it is so frustrating isn't it! Here are some studies of pentoxifyline + vitamin e that you can show your clinic: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/199...pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/119...
Thank you - the studies are really helpful as I am speaking to the clinic tomorrow. Since I also seem to be non-responsive to estrogen I think these other things might be worth trying. Fingers crossed!
Hi, sorry for jumping on this post, I am in the middle of a natural FET ( Just didn’t respond to medicated estrogen) however despite trying everything I’m still at 5mm day 13. They want to trigger me tomorrow, did you find that the trigger helped it thicken any further?
Hi there, it did seem to thicken a bit after the trigger but I can't say for sure whether it was that or just having the extra time until transfer. Could you get a lining scan the day before your transfer and then make a decision about whether or not you should transfer the embryo?
Thanks for your reply, I did ask this but they said that after ovulation the lining starts to compact so they don’t measure after trigger as its not a true reading 🤷🏻♀️
I hope it worked out for you, Prayingforafamily. If you are still having cycles, I would recommend that you insist on checking the lining compaction even if it is not a 'true reading'. I think clinics do not check mainly for their own convenience and operations, rather than the patient's benefit.
Agree, articsnowfox. It is simply amazing that clinics still do not measure lining the day before transfer. I suspect it has to do with their revenue. As long as their statistics look good, why bother? If they did, more cycles will probably get cancelled. On one of my cycles I insisted on a scan the day before transfer, which showed my lining had compacted to 5.5mm-6mm. In the end, the consultant decided to cancel. If it had not been checked, the transfer would have gone ahead, likely without success. The following cycle, I checked again and lining was 7.6mm a day before transfer (compaction from 8.8mm). FET went ahead. Got BfP. I had a chat with a USA doctor recently, and he mentioned that an institution they report data to now requires them to measure lining before transfer. About time. It means there will be more data and research about the impact of lining thickness just before transfer.
Hi. I also was having thin lining issues. In my case no amount of synthetic estrogen was going to help including putting my on letrozole. I just did a natural cycle this month and my lining got to 8mm when previously it was at 6.1 at transfer day. I also had no success when my lining was thin despite good morphology. Maybe a natural cycle would be something to look into.
Hi Sloop14, great to hear that you were able to get up to 8mm with a natural cycle. I think because of my premature ovarian failure that a natural cycle is not an option for me, unfortunately.
Hi hun do at 5mm that’s perfect to increase estrogen 4 patches of very other day and 2 vaginally along with the progesterone shouter you to at least 15mm for transfer do not transfer without your lining be thick it’s a waste of your embryos. If this clinic doesn’t care move to one that does
Content on HealthUnlocked does not replace the relationship between you and doctors or other healthcare professionals nor the advice you receive from them.
Never delay seeking advice or dialling emergency services because of something that you have read on HealthUnlocked.
i also found a natural cycle (with trigger) to be better for my lining than a medicated one..
Lining thickness for FET
Endo scratch
Endometrial Lining Thickness - Any advice
Plan B...donor eggs 😢
How long to wait after failed fresh embryo transfer before a FET ? 
