Advice needed - only ever get early blasts

Hi all,

It has been a long journey. I started IVF at 35 (now 38).

I have done five egg collections and only ever got one or two early blasts on day 5.

I know many people have had success with early blasts (and day 6 embryos), but I have just had another PGS tested embryo fail. I am trying to understand what keeps going wrong.

Isn't it unusual that after 5 egg collections all my embryos are early blasts, even though they test normal?

My partner has DNA fragmentation and I feel this could have something to do with it. I tried a sperm donor with one cycle and got my first ever day 5 blast (top grade) which I haven't transferred yet.

Any similar experiences? Thank you x

[DianeArnold Partner Nurse Fertility Network UK]

Hi Starfish. Oh dear! I suppose if you have had several cycles ending like that, perhaps it might be time to use the one stored embryo that is good quality. Wishing well with whatever you do decide, and of course for success. Diane

[LCharlton]

My husband has very high DNA fragmentation and we've never got past very early blastocyst over three cycles - we also have a very low fertilisation rate so have never had more than one develop to day 5 at all, so have never bothered to do any testing on them. So yes I do think there's a connection between DNA fragmentation and poorly developing embryos (although when ours do fertilise, they do very well up to day 3, the drop off is between days 3 and 5) x

[Hidden in reply to LCharlton]

Thank you....can I ask what your next steps are? I am very hesitant to use the sperm donor embryo as I just wish it could have a genetic link to my partner, but I don't know where to go from here...x

[LCharlton in reply to Hidden]

We are going to try one last cycle with donor sperm - I turn 42 in a couple of months so we feel like we may have very little time before we won't be able to use my eggs either so that has kind of accelerated the decision process, in an ideal world it would have been nicer to have a bit more time to get used to the idea. We have tried everything to treat his DNA fragmentation and did get an improvement, but the problem is so serious that even with a big improvement his fragmentation level is still massively massively higher than the recommended range for ICSI/IMSI treatment and after three failed cycles that we couldn't really afford we've had to draw a line under it and remind ourselves that having a family is the most important thing whatever that takes. Wishing you lots of luck whatever you decide to do x

[miracleneeded in reply to LCharlton]

Hi guys.I’ve just come across your posts and it’s like I’m reading our own story!

We’ve done 4 cycles of ICSI. We get good fertilisation rates but almost all of our embryos arrest after day 3. Any that do make it to day 5/6 are early blasts.

We’ve done 10 transfers now without success.

Our doc says there is no problem with the sperm but the only test we’ve ever done was our initial sperm analysis!

We’re going for a second opinion with a male fertility specialist at the end of the month because I just don’t think I can take another failed cycle.

Any advice? What kind of treatment plan did your doc recommended for fragmentation? Maybe we can get ahead of the game.

[LCharlton in reply to miracleneeded]

The most helpful thing for us was prescription hormone medication to correct an imbalance but obviously diet and supplements can also help - it depends what's causing the fragmentation. My husband also happens to be built with his testicles too close to his body so they tend to overheat which is hard to do much about.

I would say our fertilisation rate is low, over 3 cycles we've managed to get 2 transfers, so not exactly the same picture you're describing but definitely worth getting his fragmentation checked and if there is a problem, identifying what's going on.

[lisaba in reply to LCharlton]

I’m 42 with low amh and had tried 5 egg collections and never a bfp. We had day 3 transfers in our first 3 cycles, so we never know their qualities. In the last 2 cycles, we had only 1 day 5 and 1 day 6 blasts. My husband also has high dna fragmentation. Urologist couldn’t find any reasons causing the high fragmentation and he doesn’t smoke and had stopped alcohol over 12 months. Urologist said going to the source with tese could be the next step. We still don’t know what’s our next step. Anyone heard about if tese helps ?

[LCharlton in reply to lisaba]

My understanding is it can help if the fragmentation is happening when the sperm is ejaculated but not if the damage is happening earlier on... obviously speak to a specialist!

[miracleneeded in reply to lisaba]

Hey! I just watched a lecture on Dr Ramsey’s website today about the two types of fragmentation. I just googled dr Ramsey fertility London and it took me straight there. He explained it so well. It depends where the fragmentation is happening, one type is treatable and the other isn’t.Definitely give it a watch. 🙂

[Hidden in reply to miracleneeded]

So sorry to hear this. Can i ask if the embryos reached full blastocyst at all or if they were PGS tested?

I would definitely get a sperm DNA test done before more cycles, it sounds like a DNA issue x

[miracleneeded in reply to Hidden]

Our last cycle we got 31 eggs, 27 fertilised, we had 18 on day 3 and on day 5 they called to say there were none for the freezer. Then on day 6 we had two that had developed enough to freeze but were early blasts and not good enough quality for pgs. It’s been a similar story for all of our cycles and our dr is adamant it’s an egg quality issue, won’t entertain the idea of testing sperm at all!

[Hidden]

Has your clinic told you how your embryos develop? I had trouble getting embryos to blastocyst and it was because they started off well but started slowing down after day 3.. when I spoke to my consultant about it he said it was poor egg quality. I did have one round where we got grade 3 blastos but the last two rounds we didnt even get to stage 1 blasto they were getting stuck at morula. It might be worth asking if they are slowing down as the days go on? x