Antibiotics after EMMA test and before an IVF cycle

[Gold00]

Hi everyone,

My EMMA test results showed that I have 0% lactobacillus. Does anyone know / can share personal experience if taking antibiotics to fix this just before starting a new IVF cycle will affect egg quality and/or quantity in that cycle? I am assuming taking probiotics after a course of antibiotics should not affect IVF, however I am worried that antibiotics might have a detrimental effect on fertility. Many thanks.

[soccerkt6]

Hi lovely, I assume you had the ALICE test done at the same time? If so, did it show any infections that need treating? If you didn't have any infections, there's no reason you would take antibiotics. You would just want to take probiotics to help build up your lactobacillus levels. xx

[Gold00 in reply to soccerkt6]

Thanks soccerkt6 😊. Yes, I also had ALICE test done and there were no infections found. I did these tests through Igenomix Japan and their suggested therapy to fix lactobacillus levels was "metronidazole 500mg/12h for 7 days followed by probiotic treatment is recommended"...

[Peony85]

I had this same result. The idea with the antibiotics is to essentially create a clean slate and colonize with the good bacteria. So just taking the probiotics won’t have the same effect as they won’t necessarily effectively displace the others that are there. I did mine between a fresh and an FET and that was the first time I ever had implantation, after several rounds - so do think this had an impact for me. I miscarried that round but then went on to have a successful pregnancy and I do think this was a big driver. Xx

[Gold00 in reply to Peony85]

Many thanks Peony85 🙂. So you didn't see any deterioration in quality or number of eggs during the IVF cycle? Also, if I may ask, how long did you take antibiotics and probiotics for and did you repeat EMMA test afterwards? Thanks again.

[Peony85 in reply to Gold00]

I didn’t take metronidazole because I’ve had a bad reaction before, so took a different antibiotic for 7 days, followed by the course of probiotics which I think was 7 days and then once per week for 3 weeks. I then redid the EMMA which came back normal and we then proceeded with an FET. So quite a bit of time but worth it for us. It was a while before I did another fresh (due to COVID lockdown) so unfortunately don’t know about impact on an immediate fresh cycle - but no impact by the time we got there. We also treated my husband with antibiotics so as not to introduce more bacteria if he also had a microbiome imbalance - he has DNA fragmentation and this can sometimes be influenced by the bacteria too. Good luck xx

[Gold00 in reply to Peony85]

Many thanks for sharing your experience and best of luck to you too!

[Eloquentia]

I had to take antibiotics for a vaginal infection just before my FET and for a few days after it. I was told by my clinic to take probiotics after I finished the course of antibiotics, again after transfer. The FET worked. I think the treatment made a difference. Good luck!

[Gold00]

Thanks Eloquentia for sharing your experience. If I can ask, how long were you taking antibiotics and probiotics for before doing FET? Did you repeat EMMA prior to transfer?