How soon to start next round?

[LauraShe10]

Hi all, I'm interested to know how soon some of you have started rounds after having failed IVF attempts? I've heard of some people who take up to 6 months in between rounds to let their bodies (and minds) get over the stress of the process, but has anyone gone straight onto a next one after a failed cycle?

I'm due to test tomorrow for our first IVF round and I'm pretty sure it's a BFN as I got my period a few days ago. So now I'm thinking about the next try. We get one more EC on the NHS so if it is better to wait a few months and increases your chance of a successful second try, I'd be fine for that. However I feel like my head is in the right zone at the moment, and we've spent years waiting and waiting for this so I just want to keep going.

Plus age isn't on my side, I'm 38 and this year my follicles are reduced. A very long story but we got referred for IVF over 2 years ago - no major medical explanation for our infertility and at that time I had a good follicle / egg supply. My husband's sperm is fine too.

But we had to delay as at the time I was on a visa in the UK, not a permanent resident (I'm originally from New Zealand, met my husband here 10 years ago and stayed). But the funding is all based on the woman so we couldn't get anything - and the usual costs go up significantly if you're not British too if you had to pay yourself. About £7,000 a round of IVF if you're going through the NHS (not private) instead of approx £3,000 for UK residents.

I've since got my Citizenship and we now have our funding, but of course 2 years has reduced my follicle supply and during our first EC we only got 5. All 5 fertilised ok, but only one became a viable Blastocyst for fresh transfer. No others developed so we couldn't get any frozen this round. And I don't think that our blastocyst has worked as I got my period a few days ago.

Sorry for my life story!

I'm really interested to know if anyone has had a failed round and what they did to help make it more successful the next time. Any medications that I should be taking to help with AMH levels? And would you recommend waiting or keeping on with the process and starting again next cycle?

[Millbanks]

Hi Laura, sorry to hear your first cycle hasn't worked. I'm very much like you and start to plan straight away as a coping mechanism - knowing that I have a next step really helps to process what is happening.Personally I would crack on. I'm also 38 and the feeling of ticking time is real.

It would probably do you good mentally to have maybe 1 month break - but physically I've not found much difference in taking time between cycles. I find the meds are ok and as I say, I prefer to just get on with it.

In terms of having a more successful cycle - there are lots of things you can try. Your clinic should be able to tweak your protocol to help. I added these things to my diet in a month leading up to my last egg collection and it was our best ever egg to blastocyst ratio:

1) Ubiquinol 400mg per day

2) NAC (N-Acetyl Cysteine) 1200mg per day

3) Omega x 2 per day

4) 250ml whole milk with 2 x table spoons of flax powder, 1 table spoon chia seeds, 1 teaspoon blueberry powder (blended) sometimes added a banana

I'm sure others will have other tips but these were the major changes that we made from our previous cycle and we went from 2 blastocysts to 8.

Hope this helps a little bit! x

[LauraShe10 in reply to Millbanks]

Thanks so much!

[McQueeny]

Hi. Im sorry your cycle didn’t work... after my failed cycle I only waited because the clinic said I had risk of OHSS so said I had to wait two cycles for body to normalise... if it weren’t for that I would have gone straight away! I hated the waiting. so talk to your doctor, but I don’t think there’s a need to wait more than clinically necessary x