Chances of success - Aberdeen Fertility Calculator?

[Orangeflowers]

Hello everyone,

Im in my early 40s and always disheartened by fertility stats of less than 5%. I know there is such a thing as individual chances of success and as you progress further through a cycle and hopefully get eggs then embryos odds increase.

Just wondering if anyone has used the Aberdeen University fertility calculator, or any other ones, and how good a prediction you thought it had?

Or if be interested to hear of any experiences of contradictions or otherwise to consultant opinion. This whole process often doesn't seem very personalised.

w3.abdn.ac.uk/clsm/opis/hom...

Good luck to everyone whatever stage of your journey 💕 xx

[Fertilityjourney]

Hello lovely. When I first came on this forum one lady told me to ignore stats as they will scramble with your head - and I think she was right!

I was 41 when I first met my IVF clinic and they were so doomy gloomy about my chances and showed me those depressing fertility graphs - I almost gave up before we started!

However I was 42 when I first started and my first fresh and frozen round 'worked' from an IVF point of view but sadly I miscarried both times down to active NK cells that I later discovered

I am now 42 and 3/4.now and 28 weeks pregnant and have 3 embryos in the freezer 💕 So I think I suprised my IVF clinic so I do think it is a very personalised approach...

I did use that calculater but I can't even remember what it said - but I know it wasn't very high. But the way I looked at is with natural conception your chances aren't that high anyway...

So please don't be disheartened. We all know it's harder in our 40's but it can happen. Xx

[Orangeflowers in reply to Fertilityjourney]

Hey, thanks for sharing. You're right this is a lottery and there's no point chasing the stats. I just can't help it! Fantastic news on your pregnancy and brilliant that there are more in the freezer! There are so fewer success stories for ladies in their 40s than I was expecting.You must have responded great to your protocol. All the best for the final stretch xx

[Positivechangeplease]

Hi Orangerflowers, I haven’t tried a calculator. We did ask the doctor as we went in for our FET what the chance was. He asked how old my embryos were - I said 39 (I’m 40 when using them) he said 35% Age is such a personal thing in the end. And so for that reason is egg quality. So that made me think there’s a 1 in 3 chance (I had three embryos frozen) although my bf said it doesn’t work like that. He’s right but simplicity works well in my head. There were 3 ladies in that day incl me so we equated it to for one of us ladies it would work. In the end, I don’t think stats work. Less over 40 year olds give birth and therefore stats are lower - things haven’t been updated for years. I transferred my 5AA embryo under medicated FET and it didn’t work. We transferred a second under naturally modified FET - a 5AB and I am now 41 and 34 weeks pregnant with one emby still in the freezer. And I’m glad to say that even though I’m 41 I have no issues in pregnancy and the hospital has been very keen to push me as low risk. Not based on my age. Remember we’re all born with our set amount of eggs, they never run out - rather our bodies decide when: if you’re still having periods you’re still in the game. Good luck 🤞

[Orangeflowers in reply to Positivechangeplease]

Thank you for sharing. Good to think about. I guess putting a figure on it is very difficult for consultants to predict. I've never been told or asked. Maybe to scared to know and not confident of it been meaningful anyway.I was attracted to the calculator as it's based on age and personalised history and uses information collected from previous cycles.

Congrats on your pregnancy. I hope all goes really well for you xx

[Positivechangeplease in reply to Orangeflowers]

Thank you. As we’ve said stats are just stats really in the end. If you’re healthy you still have fairly regular periods (mine were never always a set day ever - but always monthly except for a few times in my life where I missed the odd one. Also if you’re going down this road you’ll have your AMH checked and mine was good - and your womb - and they’ll be able to tell if you ovulate which is key. They said my system represented a younger one by maybe 5 years at the time (on my first fet but they put me on a higher medication which I think was unnecessary in hindsight) - so age is clearly very personal to each person. I also thought since I started periods at just turned 11 I’d run out sooner but it doesn’t work that way either. As I said, if you get periods - you’re in the game 👍🏻👍🏻