That's round 2 over and out for us - our embryo stopped growing after day 3 so wasn't transferred back yesterday. I wasn't sure about waiting to try for a day 5 transfer, but actually I think the clinic was right - I don't think it would have made it anyway, and if we had to deal with this sad news, I'd rather know now than have to go through the TWW.
We always said we'd try three rounds, and when we got turned down for NHS funding we remortgaged the house to borrow enough for three rounds - so we have one left. I'm really worried that my advancing age isn't helping, so I guess we'll give it a go as soon as possible. I really don't understand why our results this time were SO much worse on basically the same protocol - but we did stim for only 8 days whereas last time was 13 days, I do think giving it longer might have helped get more eggs. We'll talk to the consultant about it at length.
Wishing everyone else doing cycles at the moment much better luck xx
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LCharlton
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Really sorry to hear this. It’s such a tough process. Hopefully they can learn from this and tweak things next time. I wish you the best of luck with your third round when you feel ready to go again lovely. But big hugs in the meantime xxxx
Oh I feel so sorry for you ☹️ and I perfectly understand your feelings. We collected 16 eggs and on day 5 we only had one embryo that wasn't quite a blast, they left it for one extra day and finally reached blastocyst on day 6. I consider a failure that cycle because the embryo was PGS tested and it came back as mosaic. Anyway we never gave up because next cycle we had 4 blastocyst and 3 PGS normal. Don't give up!! If it the last cycle that you want to try make the most of it, change the clinic, change the protocol, never use the same protocol if you didn't get a great result. Continue to hope and be positive, there must be a way. I am sending lots of love and support 🤗❤️
So sorry to hear that. Absolutely gutting! Hope you’re both ok. It’s just awful.
We’ve done two cycles with our current clinic. Both rounds have been rubbish.
We had a 2 day transfer yesterday of our only embryo. Our clinic said it’s better to get the embryo inside to optimise things rather than push it in the lab. We’re not out yet but very low chance of success.
Our plan B is to ask for a long protocol rather than short - our 1st round (NHS) was our best and it was long protocol.
If our clinic says no, we’re going to switch.
Other option is looking at Create Fertility to maybe do Mild IVF.
I always feel better having a plan B.
Hope you can rest, recover and treat yourselves before the next round xx
I am really interested in long protocol, both my rounds so far have been short and my follicles have grown pretty unevenly. My clinic doesn't recommend long for my age (41) but you're about my age, right? Mild IVF is never going to work for us because our issue is DNA fragmentation in the sperm, so we need as many eggs as we can get to raise the chances one of them is injected with a less fragmented sperm xx
Yes, same age. I did long protocol when I was 39. But it was SO much better. 11 eggs. Stimmed for 12 days, eggs collected on day 14. My issue this time was uneven follicle growth. One large dominant follicle at day 5 which likely suppressed the rest. I stimmed for 9 days this time and EC day 11. But only 3 mature eggs. My left ovary did nothing this time!
Also, I was on Menopur this time rather than Gonal F for my 1st and 2nd rounds.
Hi. Have you seen a urologist re the sperm issues? My hubby has fragmentation issues and we were told he needs to ejaculate every 24 hours lead up to egg retrieval and rather than the 3-5 days wait to ejaculate on day of collection to do it 24 hours instead. This might yield healthier Sperm! Also highly quality Vitamin C for him maybe 1500 along with other male supplements. Try adding lypocene daily to your diet. 1 tea spoon of tomato purée. It helped us with the fragmentation- shifted the index from 32% damage to 30. Also worth trying DHEA and melatonin for egg quality. Message if you need anything else. Devastated in your behalf wott your news. We have all been there so we know the anguish. Sending you lots of love. Ps: ladies are right about the protocol and drugs.. a change might make all the difference
I’m so so sorry to hear that lovely. It’s such a tough journey. Sending lots of positive vibes your way, everything crossed that round 3 will be the one xxx
Balls - I am so sorry to read this I really felt you deserved a break
Had you thought about going back to back? My best (doomed bfp) cycle was when I did one round after another. I found I had the best result in terms of number but also qualify of eggs and I wonder if it’s because some of the drugs were still in me
You need to have a good cry and rage a bit about this failed cycle but also don’t feel like all is doomed - each cycle is so different the next one won’t necessarily be like this one
LCharlton I just recently ended a round with similar results. It was 3 weeks ago and I’m still aching inside... I really wish u all the best and that you stay strong xx
We’ve had a few failed rounds before this one and my husband was referred for more tests with a specialist who in turn referred him to the nutritionist Melanie Brown to look at supplements and foods to help. We had a joint appointment and I personally feel it really helped getting our best round in 5 this time (my doctor told me in Feb not to leave it too long as we both have issues). Good luck xx
Thanks lovely - we actually worked with her for four months running up to this round, one of the reasons I was really hopeful and gutted that it's gone so badly xx
I’m so sorry to read this, sending big hugs. It such a tough process. My cycles got worse too until we switched up protocols & the long one gave us slightly better result compared to short. Sadly my egg quality is very poor so we didn’t have any success. Hopefully, once you speak to your consultant & make tweaks for next time you’ll feel better having a new plan in place. Everything crossed for you Xx
Sorry to hear this but stay strong and give yourself some space to recover and then stick at it. Will keep my fingers crossed for better luck next time xx
Are you taking DHEA? This really seemed to improve my egg quality at the age of 43 - we ended up with 2 top grade blastocysts, one of which is napping right now ALso, consider early egg retrieval - this was the other thing i did to try and improve quality: ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...
Ubquinol is another supplement to consider taking. A center in the US that specialises in older women and difficult cases thinks that you should spend 3 around months preparing the ovaries before retrieval...
Thanks lovely - really glad to hear of your successful cycle. I had been taking ubiquinol and PQQ for four months before this cycle - we haven't looked at DHEA as I don't actually have diminished ovarian reserve yet (our issues are on the male side) but maybe I should investigate it a bit more. With our previous cycle when I wasn't on ubiquinol we got 12 eggs of which 8 were mature; this time we got 8 eggs and only 4 were mature so the ubiquinol really doesn't seem to have helped sadly. Only 11% of our sperm has a low enough level of DNA fragmentation for a successful pregnancy so the urologist was saying that even with IMSI they can't necessarily pick out the right ones and ideally we need at least 10 eggs to have a decent shot that one of them will be injected with healthy sperm. Very stressful xx
Hi there, I also don't have low AMH - in fact my levels are in the top 5% for my age, but I think as you get older, the testosterone in the follicular fluid naturally declines and that is why it is recommended for older women.. That is a shame the ubiquinol didnt seem to work :/
Have you thought about a refund package. We paid 10.5k for 3cycles. Live birth or 109%refund. Your meds are extra in fact it cost us 16k and we got pregnant first time but if my daughter was to suffer a loss then we move to the second cycle as she had no reserve eggs. I'm thinking it was nurture fertility she went with. I'm so sorry for you but I hope you can keep going xxx
Thanks so much, Ayesha - sadly we couldn't find any packages that would consider us because of my age (40 when we first started, 41 now) but I probably need to have another look round to make totally sure there isn't anything available. Really happy for your daughter's positive result and wishing her the very best for a healthy pregnancy xx
Hey, I think you'll struggle to get a refund package due to your age (I looked into it when I was 42 and they were SO expensive and didn't make sense). But if you look at Access Fertility you can buy packages for a number of rounds which works out a lot cheaper than paying for individual rounds. Drugs are on top but it's still more cost effective as all the FETs etc are included. xx
Really good to know, thank you! We DREAM of getting more than one embryo per round, but good that they cover FET if we ever manage to somehow have a spare!! xx
Really sorry to hear this We are on it 3rd cycle, day 5 is tomorrow , our embryos haven’t been looking great and we’re told we only really have one good one, it hadn’t done what it is supposed to this morning so either tomorrow we have a transfer or game over. It’s all so hard. I really hope things work out for you better your next time round.
But there was something wrong. I wouldn't want a stressful life with a sick child. Take it on the chin. It was positive. Its a learning process about dealing with this matter. Having a child isn't a given in this modern world. Both woman and men aren't as fertile. Endometriosis and other illness makes it harder.
We all have high expections of ourselves we all want everything to be perfect!
It isn't a given. Many people have no children or children with problems. Perhaps you don't know someone who has had a bit of this bad luck. But there's so may who have problems. Still many people don't talk about what happened. Older woman some years after their birth or several miscarriages or still births will talk. As with wedding it's dressed up as fun, exciting and magical. The day might be but what comes next? The same with a friend is having a baby, exciting, wonderful, lovely little clothes, part of you.
All I am really saying is keep a level head. Don't let it take you over or effect your relationship. The is a great life out there. Enjoy the days, look outwards and forward.
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ALso, consider early egg retrieval - this was the other thing i did to try and improve quality: 
We are on it 3rd cycle, day 5 is tomorrow , our embryos haven’t been looking great and we’re told we only really have one good one, it hadn’t done what it is supposed to this morning so either tomorrow we have a transfer or game over. It’s all so hard. I really hope things work out for you better your next time round.
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3rd failed ICSI round, where to next?
