Losing all hope after another BFN 😢

[Crie1983]

Just had the call from my clinic to confirm another BFN. It was an FET with a 5AB PGTA tested embryo. I was on a down regulated cycle with zoladex at day 21. Then in preparation I was Progynova x 3 a day, Utrogestan x 3 a day, Prednisolone x 4 then reduced to 2 x a day, lubion x 1 day & Inhixa x 1 a day. Tubes removed a year ago due to hydrosalpinx.

I still have 5 normal frozen embryos but losing all hope that this will ever work for me and I’m getting so tired of having to pick myself up and go again. This is the 5th transfer I’ve had, only 1 was positive and that ended in miscarriage.

Will book a follow up with clinic soon, any suggestions on what questions I could ask or what different protocols you’ve used would be great…thanks everyone. X

[DianeArnold Partner Nurse Fertility Network UK]

Hi Cherie. So sorry to hear this and hope you have plenty of support around you just now. The only thing I can say, is perhaps have a rest and try later. Your embryos are safe and maybe one of them will be the one you’ve waited for. Have you had a hysteroscopy to check out your womb and take a biopsy. You probably already have, so apologies for that. Look after you. Thinking of you. Diane

[Crie1983 in reply to DianeArnold]

Hi Diane, I haven’t had a hysteroscopy so thank you for the suggestion. I’ll mention in to my clinic in the follow up. X

[DianeArnold Partner Nurse Fertility Network UK in reply to Crie1983]

xx

[Here4ivfinfo]

Hey, I don't have anything particularly helpful to impart but just wanted to say that I'm sorry to read this. I think it's understandable that you'd be struggling with this and having a wobble, well done for getting this far. I was looking at my clinics add ons earlier (I'm actually an NHS patient so this isn't an option right now for me) but they seem to have tests where you can look at your wombs bacterial composition to check if there is anything going on that makes it less embryo friendly. I don't know how worthwhile these add ons are but I thought it sounded interesting. Sending love xxxx

[Here4ivfinfo in reply to Here4ivfinfo]

Replying to myself! That add on is a red rated add on which means there is NO EVIDENCE that it is helpful. Thought I'd better update!

[Crie1983 in reply to Here4ivfinfo]

Thank you for your reply and for the information about the add ons and the warning about the red rating. Still worth me asking my clinic when I have my follow up in a couple weeks. X

[Seren0119]

I have had two miscarriages with PGS tested embryos. Finally success with my third tested embryo (and after many transfers).

My doctor said in his 30 year career he has never seen a woman not have a live birth with more than four tested embryos - so your baby is waiting for you. Just keep going (and make sure you are on 25mg or more steriod dose for immunes as anythibg under doesnt work - according to my doctor). X

[Crie1983 in reply to Seren0119]

Congratulations you finally had your success.

Thanks for the reply. It’s reassuring to hear. I was on 5mg Prednisolone 4 x a day for 4 days and then they reduced me to 5mg twice a day. I’ll ask about the dosage in my follow up. X

[Babyhope8 in reply to Seren0119]

Hi Seren , I had 3 previous miscarriages with untested embryos . I did a double embryo transfer using pgta, one failed implant and other embryo miscarried . Did ur doc tell anything about against transferring doing double euploid embryos. I feel like wasted two precious embryos

[Seren0119 in reply to Babyhope8]

I am so sorry for that.

My doctor said exactly that - it’s a waste of two precious tested embryos. He said the issue will most likely be communication between the embryo and the lining so I did steriods (25mg) and an hcg flush. That’s what worked (it was my lowest grade embryo, the best grade tested embryos resulted in miscarriage). Xx

[Babyhope8 in reply to Seren0119]

Thanks for the reply . I’m gonna ask for steroids for extended period if not buy and ship from else where as they have only for 5 days . But they don’t do Hcg wash not sure how I can manage to pull that . I can do Hcg injection but wash is gonna be tricky

[Seren0119 in reply to Babyhope8]

If you are unsure of your clinic, you can always transfer your embryo to a new clinic and get a fresh perspective, especially if you don’t have many tested normal embryos or they were hard to get (like me) x

[Babyhope8 in reply to Seren0119]

not many clinics around here , I transferred to new clinic because my previous clinic got shut down unexpectedly. But I get your point , I will explore …

[Seren0119 in reply to Babyhope8]

If it was me, I would travel to a clinic you are happy with. I even travelled to another country and it was worth it and saved me money long term x

[Babyhope8 in reply to Seren0119]

no at in my current clinic gives a damn about being me achieve pregnancy . They even did not get back to me since my miscarriage for which they even refused to give misoprostol saying they already discharged. All I have is anger and frustration. Ended up calling doctors back in my home country ( india ) they said it’s illegal to transport embryos from another country to india.. I’m not hurrying to transfer another euploid embryo of mine and lose it . Just sick and tired of losing fetus / babies . I feel so frustrated why such things happen to me

[Boo718]

hiya, we had 3 failed good quality pgta tested embryos then our 4th worked after the era alice and Emma tests xxx

[Crie1983 in reply to Boo718]

Thanks for your reply. Do you mind me asking if your clinic tried anything different with each round? And what do those tests involve? X

[Boo718 in reply to Crie1983]

hiya, yep every round was different they added steroids and clexane. The upped doses of progesterone. I had a hysterocozy and the had a look at my womb for fibroids etc. for the era emma and Alice test they follow the protocol like you will have a transfer then they do a biopsy instead of transfer. It checks for bacteria levels, infection in the womb and the optimal time for transfer. My results came back that I needed an extra days medication so the next transfer was on day 6 instead of 5 and it worked.

They say you don’t need the era if you have had some form of implantation. This isn’t true as I had 2 chemicals xxx

[Crie1983 in reply to Boo718]

Thanks so much for the detailed reply. Definitely worth me asking about the era Emma and Alice. X

[Baby2023]

Hi. I'm so sorry to hear this. I've just had a failed first FET and it's devastating. I have one more embryo left. On the bright side you have 5 and I'm sure one will work xx

[Crie1983 in reply to Baby2023]

Thank you. I’m sorry to hear that your first FET failed. Wishing you all the very best with your next one. X

[Koala365]

I would ask for all the tests for implantation issues. I too had a miscarriage with my first pregnancy which was why they initially thought I didn't need any tests for implantation failure. I had to really push for them as they pushed back saying a) I had been pregnant before and b);it couldn't be an issue as I had already been pregnant once. I wish I had pushed harder as didn't get tests eventually until I insisted and they I was positive on the thrombotic risk profile test and later when I switched consultant for Natural Killer Cells. I have since read that you can get raised NK Cells from having a miscarriage. I also wonder (although there is no science behind this, just my personal feeling) that perhaps my body was confused because I didn't have a natural miscarriage, I had to have an operation to remove the dead baby as my body refused yo recognise that there was no heartbeat and continued producing the hormones and growing the placenta. Anyway, I would push for the Emma/Alice test, ERA, the thrombotic risk profile test and the Natura Killer Cells test and then to go onto the immune protocol (which can be run together with your usual protocol as it just includes steroids, low dose heparin and intra-lipid infusions) They can't possibly argue the not very good quality embryo thing with you given you actually had good quality embryos that were PGTA tested so they should be looking at what else is going on for you. All the best. I hope you get all the tests you need and your next transfer works out xx

[Crie1983 in reply to Koala365]

Thank you. I had the thrombotic risk profile done just a few months ago.

Will ask about the other testing but already read an article on my clinics site about nk cell testing and doesn’t sound like they support it. But I’ll definitely ask.

Sorry to hear about your miscarriage experience. I had similar, missed miscarriage at 7 weeks and ended to having to have surgical removal 3 weeks later as was still testing positive. Such tough times. Xx

[KimberKUSA]

My precious girl is from my 6th transfer (all test normal) after I was told to get a surrogate by my clinic. I was so mad after they suggested that to me although I know they were only trying to present all options. I knew in my heart it would happen and it did. She’s perfect. We have been trying again and have one left which will be the 11th transfer. I ask the Universe to please let it be our baby. It is a lot. Give your self credit. My demeanor throughout it all was to cry when needed and try to be kind to myself. It was hard to get that call over and over and over and over and over! Maybe my most important rule was this: Always find a story that ended up positive as the very last thing I read online. I allowed myself to read and research as much as I wanted but I always ended by finding a story that showed anything is possible. NEVER get into these websites and read stories that are negative and defeating and then shut off your phone and ruminate. My heart is with you. Most others can never understand what this is like… and I am glad for them…. but many of us do understand you on here. Continue ie to reach out for support. XO😘

[Crie1983 in reply to KimberKUSA]

Thank you so much for your lovely reply. Congratulations on your daughter and I hope and pray your last embryo works.

That’s such brilliant advice about reading positive things. There is so much out there on ivf and it’s hard not to get bogged down with the negatives sometimes but there’s also lovely stories of hope! X

[Krystal_43]

I’m sorry to hear about your failed transfer. I totally understand how frustrated you feel - I’ve had 6 failed transfers (8 embryos including with 1 donor egg transfer) & it really sucks.

The ladies above have given lots of helpful suggestions as to what you might want to do to improve your odds for the next cycle - definitely look into these. There’s less evidence to support these add-ins but that’s because so the problems are so rare, it’s difficult to get the funding and participants for good quality research into them. The lack of evidence doesn’t mean they won’t work for you.

Not sure if this is helpful or not, but I think it’s worth bearing in mind that you’re still within statistical probability of just being “unlucky” - there’s a 95% chance of it working after 3 euploid transfers. Given your first 4 transfers weren’t tested, it’s still possible the next one will work. And I have everything crossed that your next one will be your sticky one 🤞🤞