I am absolutely devastated. I came out of my egg collection yesterday so happy we managed to get 8 eggs, more than I anticipated. To then get the news this morning that none have fertilised. Not even 1. Nothing. We have nothing to transfer.
Perhaps I’ve been naive to think we would atleast get transfer even if it meant only a couple of embryos, i just didnt think this was even a possibility. I always assumed it was my low AMH and autoimmune issues which caused the implantation problem but to then have this happen has really thrown me.
Ive just come here for a vent if im honest. Everyone on here is really supportive and it feels like a safe space to express how I’m feeling.
Not sure if we will go another round as it’s so financially and emotionally draining. We dont want to get into debt and have nothing my the end of it.
Anyone had similar happen and received any answers as to why?
I hope you are all well x
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Mlove12
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im so sorry to hear this. I was similar a few years back 8 eggs only 2 fertilised but not well by the next morning they were gone. The embryologist said that the eggs were poor quality that he could see when doing the icsi that they weren’t looking good xxx I hope they can give u some answers xxx
Hi Mlove. So sorry to learn this especially when you got more eggs than you expected. What were your fertilisation results from your first go? Has the sperm ever had additional tests?
Thanks for replying . I was super pleased with 8-couldnt believe it! However was short lived hey.
They said from basic tests sperm was great and nothing wrong with it. She said they tested sperm in droplet test to see if they still swam etc and said they were fine during that but no other tests, sperm was above average in other basic tests.
When would a DNA frag test be carried out, do you know? Something I would like to ask them.
Deffo ask clinic for an SOS test I think it's called our was about 100 pounds. Showed high level of DNA fragmentation in the sperm. We had to go away for 3 months hubby on proxceed daily cut out caffeine increase antioxidants into his diet. Also check for a UTI as this can damage sperm aswell
just piggybacking off this but we increased our fertilisation results from round 1 to round 2 through hubby using proxeed (at least 3 months) reducing caffeine and alcohol and me on ubiquinol (not just coQ10) and switching to a supplement that had methylfolate not just folic acid. First round = 12 collected only 4 fertilised through icsi and only 2 were average (not freezeable) quality and transfer was a no. Second round = 15 collected, 8 fertilised (non-icsi!) 6 made it with varying quality including really good. Clinic said egg quality was so much better, I don’t know if this is helpful and if not I’m sorry but wanted to share in case it could help you. Def recommended DNA frag before any other rounds so you know if you need to do anything else xx
The basic sperm tests won't pick up on DNA fragmentation. My clinic did this test plus the karotype test on us prior to starting IVF. When dealing with low AMH, getting many eggs is so difficult that you really want to be sure the sperm is good.
so sorry you are going through this. I had a round last month and only had 1 egg fertilise and unfortunately didn’t make it didn’t make it to transfer either. Sending lots of love xx
yes I had EC on Wednesday and this time I got 7 eggs and 5 fertilised hoping they survive till Monday. This time they did a mixture of 2 drugs and done a different trigger shot. Do you think you will do another cycle in the future? Xx
Oh that’s amazing news! We had two NHS funded rounds which ever now used. Really not sure if we’ll go ahead with another, I would like to but financially it’s so difficult.
Keeping my fingers crossed you had fab results on Monday! X
When we had zero fertilisation on our 1 round of NHS funding the said it didn't could as a complete round and let us do a second. It's only 1 NHS round in my area. So definitely check to see if you are eligible for a another try on the NHS. If you can look up your CCG criteria for your area.
Sorry to hear this :/ like said above defo worth getting the sperm fragmentation test if you go again.
Can I ask is it under active thyroid you have ? As I have that too and often wondered how much it effects implantations etc. sending positive thoughts xx
Hey, I honestly am not sure if it’s over or under active! I know that they wanted my thyroid level to be under 2.5 for treatment and mine was initially at 4.6. So thinking over active? Sorry that’s not much help! I take levothyrine meds on small dose x
Hi Mlove, regarding your thyroid that would indicate that it's underactive because the TSH, thyroid stimulating hormone, has to increase to compensate for the body's lack of it. If you do decide to go again, I would check it and try to ensure it is close to 2.5 because that can impact on the maturity of the egg. Also make sure that you ask about a double trigger if you didn't already get that because that can also give a final push to the maturity of the eggs. So sorry this was the outcome this time, it's so tough.
I am so sorry hun. This happened me in Jan. 6 eggs and none fertilised. I felt like giving up. But we went again and got 2 embryos so you just have to keep going. It’s a long hard journey isn’t it x
hi this has happened to me…I got 12 eggs and 8 were mature and then none fertilised. It is so upsetting! I’m so sorry for you.
For me they had tried natural insemination but probably should have used icsi as my husbands sperm had antibodies which can make natural harder. I recall they also said maybe my eggs shells were too hard. Honestly I don’t think they really know.
Arrange a call with the Dr who did the EC and find out from them why this may have happened and what you can do next time. For me they gave me a round free as they hadn’t read my notes properly and should have done ICSI.
It’s so frustrating and emotionally draining. Sending you love and luck x
I’m so sorry, it’s such a heart wrenching outcome... I’ve had similar experiences 3 times. All slightly different issues each round all done with icsi. Absolutely nothing to transfer first 2 times (out of 26 eggs!), third (from 12 eggs) had 1 very slow developer that we put in as a “let’s just see” knowing full well it wasn’t going to work.
We took a year off ivf, I had 4 months on coq10 and NMN, HB on vitamins for sperm health prior to our final ivf attempt. The Dr recommended we didn’t do this round unless we wanted to use donar sperm (our fertility is male factor), although I do also have endo. My HB just didn’t want to do that so we gave ivf one final go. Well, we have just had 1 transferred and got a positive BT yesterday with 3 on ice.
I don’t know if the tablets helped, or if it was just pot luck this time.
Ivf is absolutely brutal and to pick yourself up and go through it all again isn’t at all easy.
it’s an anti aging supplement - there’s been some recent studies to suggest that it can help slow down aging of eggs. The supporting science isn’t too great (not enough of it yet, and I think it’s lab evidence without too much human evidence) but was told I could give it a go - minimal side effects so I figured what’s the worst the could happen.?
I had 0 eggs fertilise twice. We had 3 egg collections in a row and it happened on the 1st and the 3rd. We had ICSI for the 2nd and 3rd time. There didn’t seem to be any explanation - just bad luck.
On the plus side the 2nd egg collection gave me 1 egg … and he’s got his first birthday this weekend.
It’s hell and a savage process - only so what you can feels right for you. I almost didn’t go through with the implant after finishing the 3 collections -as I assumed it wouldn’t work and I felt broken. I took a few months out and really looked after myself - diet, exercise, less stress and making me the priority and then felt ready. That sinking feeling of 0 eggs was paralysing and I’m sorry you’re going through that. It’s really important now that you look after yourself and use all the support around you that you can. best of luck Xx
I am so, so sorry. I know exactly how you feel. I have had 6 rounds of IVF in the last year, freezing any Day 3 embryos, but there were several rounds when I didn't get a single Day 3 embryo and it was truly devastating. I felt like everything I had put in had been for nothing. It is so gutting when you don't know why, especially when you've been so happy to get a decent number of mature eggs. I was getting 5 to 7 each time (actually I just got 3 on one occasion). Anyway, in the end, I only got one blastocyst, which I'm about to transfer. The most likely reason is the age of my eggs, because they would usually start to deteriorate before Day 3, and sometimes would start to go backwards rather than even just slowing their development. At that stage it is more likely the egg than the sperm apparently. I did a sperm dna fragmentation test on my known donor's sperm though, amd it came back as being mediocre/just ok. I was 42 - 43, so my conclusion and the ultimate steer from the clinic was that it was most likely to be the age of my eggs. I followed to the letter all the advice in the It Starts With The Egg book from one month before my 2nd collection, and kept it up through to my 6th collection. If this one blastocyst transfer I'm about to do next month doesn't work, I'll need to decide whether to leave it there or I might do one more round but with an anonymous donor that time, because apparently young sperm can work wonders with older eggs. Good luck with the rest of your journey if you decide to continue, and I send you all the strength you need to recover from what is such an awful shock. I'm usually extremely strong, but those phone calls from the Embryology dept telling me the embryos hadn't made it was utterly devastating, so there's no way to dress that up. We know there are no guarantees but it is still so hard when we get nothing after all our efforts. Take good care of yourself and good luck deciding whether or not to try again xx
They said the sperm was fine so no need for icsi but we haven’t had in depth tests for sperm like others above have suggested. No reason why at all, other than 4 of the eggs are not mature and the others which tried to fertilise didnt get the cells required to move forward so would never work out. Just strange as we had 3 fertilise last time but bfn and other didn’t make it to day 6.
I really recommend reading the book “It starts with the egg”, it gives really good advice for both partners in terms of life style and supplements. I wish I’d read it before I did my first round of IVF! The lady who wrote it had no success the first time doing IVF & after her changes managed to get around 17 fertilized eggs!
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