Failed Fresh Cycle - Recommendations?

[Pos1tivelybaby]

I’m 43 and had my first failed IVF cycle last month. Egg collection wasn’t that great - 5 eggs collected, 3 blastocysts, 1 was A grade and transferred on day 5, and the other 2 weren’t mature enough to be frozen. My clinic advised ‘there is nothing they would do differently for the next cycle’ which really sounds lazy and doesn’t fill me with much confidence. My AMH is 8 and my partner has good swimmers.

I’m considering going to another clinic but not exactly spoiled for choice where I live in Surrey. I know age isn’t on my side, but I can’t just sit back and do nothing. Am I just being emotional? Please can anyone recommend a good clinic in my area? Private message me if easier. Thank you x

[IVFat40]

HeIllo, I wanted to get in touch as I'm also in the IVF over 40 gang, started when I was 40, turning 42 in a month. I'm so sorry to hear your first round wasn't successful. While heart breaking it didn't work this time, it sounds like good news that you got an A grade blastocyst, and 3 that made it to day 5.

Have you come across the book 'It starts with the egg'? Lots of advice in there about ways for us older ladies to improve egg/embryo quality (I felt that DHEA helped me, along with other supplements she recommends such as ubiquinol).

I was curious whether your clinic let the 2 early blastocysts you mention grow till day 6? That seems to be common place for clinics to do (and is what my clinic do), and if they 'catch up' by day 6 they can then be frozen and transferred like any 5 day embryo. That said, for me I've tended to find that the ones left till day 6 aren't good enough quality to be frozen, but I've also seen plenty of women on here transfer frozen day 6 blastocysts and be successful.

You may be well aware already (and I definitely don't want to push stats if that's not helpful to you), but I've also found the HFEA website useful in helping me understand and think about my average percentage chances per egg collection and per embryo transferred for our age group etc.

Wishing you all the very best of luck.

[Pos1tivelybaby in reply to IVFat40]

My clinic took the embryos up to Day 6 but they still weren’t mature enough to be frozen.Thanks for the advice, I’ll get the book and do whatever I can to improve my egg quality.

I wish you all the very best too.

[JoyfulStar]

Hello we are roughly the same age. I just turned 44 last month. My doctor at 43 recommended embryo banking ie multiple cycles of IVF to take advantage of my age as he said at 44 they see little to no success. My AMH was 9 and one of the rounds we got two blastocysts which were frozen.

PM me if you are interested in the name of the clinic which is in London.

[HemBella]

Hello

My first IVF cycle was a disaster- I had 12 mature eggs but only one fertilised and I had a fresh transfer on day 3 with a very low grade embryo.

What I've learnt since is that every cycle is an opportunity to tweak something to improve your chances, and the more you learn about your body the better the chances will be. Sadly IVF does seem to be a numbers game and it doesn't seem to work for that many on their first cycle.

I'm 42 and not once had a positive pregnancy test. A few cycles later and many tests , I've learnt that I have high natural killer (NK) cells, an immune system that is too efficient and a body that is inflammed. As well as blood clotting issues.

I had 3 PGS tested embryos after an ICSI round and am working my way through frozen transfers. I'm transferring my second frozen embryo this week and I'm on lots of additional meds to try and ensure that this little one sticks.

If that doesn't work I might consider another round of egg collection to hopefully bank a few more, but I don't know at this stage- we also use donor sperm..

So basically there's loads you can still do and consider when doing IVF post 40. Don't give up and keep asking lots of questions. Good luck xxx

[Pos1tivelybaby]

Thank you for sharing and for the encouragement. I will keep going….I hope this one sticks, all the best too xx

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Hi Pos1tivelybaby, I hope you are well and treatment has worked by now for you. I came across your post and I am basically in a similar position now. I am reaching out as wanted to know how you handle your clinic then if anything you did after made any difference and if you were with a clinic in Surrey. I am in Surrey as well, at the moment with newlife if you have been with them can you DM me please for any advise? Thank you x