Any experience of improving egg quality & quantity?

[ccsea]

Hi guys, I’ve just had my second failed round of IVF. Both have been fresh cycles and there’s not been anything to freeze either time. I’m 39 and have an average AMH. On my first cycle they collected 5 eggs, 3 fertilised, 1 made it to blastocyst (3CC) but didn’t implant. The consultant said they’d expected to collect at least double the number of eggs based on my age/AMH and so they doubled my gonal-f dose for my second round. But I’ve had almost an identical response. 5 collected, 4 fertilised, 1 low quality day 3 transfer.

Has anyone got experience of successfully improving the quality and quantity of their eggs? I’m relatively healthy, good bmi etc. but I’m sure there’s more I can do. I’ve just started reading It Starts with the Egg, but would love to hear from people who have first hand experience before I get my hopes up! Sending everyone lots of love and positivity, it’s such a hard time of year xxx

[Hidden]

So sorry about your disappointment, it is so hard. Had they thought about changing protocol at all? When we started IVF we were immediately put on long protocol due to my age, but switched to short protocol the next time and the difference was marked.. might be worth a try maybe? x

[ccsea in reply to Hidden]

Thanks for your reply ☺️. Both my cycles have been the short antagonist protocol already, but maybe it’s worth trying the long one. Thank you x

[Tarasunny]

Same as Daisy, I responded better with short protocol with maximum dose getting 9 eggs. Whereas on flare I got 4, 4 and 0 eggs on my 3 rounds. Not sure if it helped quality as only 2 out of 9 fertilised, will find out on Tuesday if I have any blasts. Good luck.

[ccsea in reply to Tarasunny]

Thank you for your message. Wishing you all the luck! Xx

[Kittykat198]

Sorry to hear your news. I did better with menopur and overleap than just overleap to stimulate my ovaries and apparently that can improve quality. Oh and I took cq10 that the consultant said “wouldn’t hurt”. X

[Fairytale22 in reply to Kittykat198]

Snap! Same as you that worked much better xx

[Jokiekin11]

Hi after reading the book, I took supplements for 3-4 months before my 3rd round and although I didn’t get more eggs the quality was greatly improved, also changed from short to long protocol too. I also read the secret and really believed it would work that time round and it did. Wishing you all the best x

[ccsea in reply to Jokiekin11]

That’s great! Can I ask which supplements you took and how much of each? There seems to be so much variation in what people recommend!

[Jokiekin11 in reply to ccsea]

yes I will dig out my note book and send a picture x

[Jokiekin11 in reply to ccsea]

hi I took the ubiquinol version of CoQ10 and methylfolate version of folic acid.

I would take the ALA, iron and vitamin c on an empty stomach. CoQ10 with meals.

I also took pregnacare.

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[ccsea in reply to Jokiekin11]

Thank you! What quantity of the CoQ10 did you take? I’ve been seeing amounts vary between 200mg per day right up to 1000mg!

[Jokiekin11 in reply to ccsea]

it was 200mg per dose, twice a day.

BD twice daily

OD once daily x

[StarsAllAround]

Hi ccsea, your cycles sound similar to my first 2 cycles. My first was short second long protocol. Are you taking any supplements? We started 300mg of coenzyme q10 3 times a day a few months before we started 3rd round as there is some evidence it can improve follicle numbers, egg quality and sperm I was also put on testosterone gel during stims to change the environment egg grow in. 3rd cycle got more egg, embryos and currently pregnant. Full story on my profile. Good luck.

[ccsea in reply to StarsAllAround]

Ahh congratulations! That’s so helpful thank you x

[Heather0707]

apparently vitamin D improves egg quality, my doctor told me

[Lolalules]

ubiquinol (bioactive form of coq10) increased the quality for me on second round. Went from 2 (average) out of 12 with none to freeze to 4 out of 15 (2 v good, 2 average) all freeze quality. Got pregnant (chemical) from first good quality and currently 15 weeks from second one after FET. Hubby also took proxeed 3 months before that fresh round too x

[ccsea in reply to Lolalules]

Amazing congratulations! That’s so good to hear. Can I ask how much coq10 you took a day?

[Lolalules in reply to ccsea]

Thanks! I think i took two tablets but it depends on the quantity of your supplements too

[NatLee15]

Hello, I am 30 with a good amh and have had 3 rounds of ivf now.

My first round was a long protocol and I had 10 eggs, 5 fertilised, 3 made it to 5 days, but none to freeze as they were good enough quality. This ended in a chemical pregnancy.

Second round was short protocol and I got 1 eggs which fertilised abnormally and didn't make it anywhere.

Third round we decided long protocol again, but I was advised by the clinic to take inofolic alpha which is sachets for 2 minths before, with vitamin d. They also put me on a low dose of steroids through my stims until egg collection to bring down any possible inflammation that might be causing the poorer quality eggs.

This time at egg collection I got 10 eggs again, 5 fertilised, 3 made it to day 5 and were all top quality. So I now have 2 frozen 😊 it's not a huge difference but definitely an improvement from where we were.

I'm currently 7 weeks 3 days pregnant with my first scan on Thursday too 🤞🏻🤞🏻

Fingers crossed for you, and wishing you all the best 😊 x

[ccsea in reply to NatLee15]

Ahh congratulations! That’s so great to hear. I’m going to ask about changing to a long protocol for my next cycle. Good luck! X

[isla86]

I'm sorry to hear it didn't work. I'm not sure about the eggs but I can give some tips re: transfer. Based on my experience (36 years old, second cycle worked and I'm now 16 weeks pregnant), try not drinking alcohol at all starting at least 2 weeks before transfer and take supplements (try Conceive Plus). Also, two days after the transfer I went to Portugal on holiday where I spent a lot of time outside (vitamin D is so important, go out even of it's cold, we produce happy hormones after being outside, even in cold), I ate lots of grilled fish and drunk 2 glasses of fresh orange juice every day. My mind was occupied as we were looking for a house, so I didn't think about the transfer much. Personally I believe such distraction helps too. Good luck!

[Tnthketnf]

Hi

I am not sure that what I have to say is what you want to hear. I am the same age as you and started ivf at 37. Still no success

I have egg quality issues. Quantity of eggs is more than adequate but unfortunately very few blastocysts and my best blastocyst is at most average in morphology. I haven't had enough to do pregenetic testing.

I had discussions with a few clinics and a few consultants. No one has said that egg quality can be improved. Changes to stimulation protocols might increase the number of eggs but that's not guaranteed either.

Loads of women in here will swear by one supplement or the other. I tried a few (ubiquinol, NAC, R alpha lipoic acid to mention some) for more than three months each but I saw no change in blastocyst number and quality. At this point I only take folate and vit.d. Vit C too but this is more as a general supplement not for fertility.

The book you mention has some good ideas, points to think such as quality of supplements, healthy diet, things to avoid but please do not obsess in following it. It will add so much unnecessary stress. The author is NOT a fertility specialist.

Any improvements you might see will not be because of the changes but because sometimes it happens one cycle can be bad and the next good. Whatever influences these changes science cannot yet fully understand.

The way I understand it is that we have a certain egg quality, there are certain things that according to studies can negatively influence it such as age, smoking, extremely unhealthy diet etc but there is nothing proven to help it improve.

Unfortunately nature is not fair on this.

I am so sorry I sound negative. I honestly hope that something works for you.

All the best!