steroids and ivf

[Pkm4321]

6 transfers all BFN

Next FET I was wondering if worth testing for uterine NK, Emma, Alice and ERA is coming to £3500, with a 2 month wait.

My consultant is happy to prescribe steroids, clexane and aspirin without the text which is so much cheaper.

Wondered if anyone else has done this and got a BFP?

[Emilioh31]

Hi

Before deciding whether to pay for add ons I’d highly recommend checking out the HFEA (you may have already) as some of those you have listed are either grey (not enough evidence they work) or even red (no evidence they work and some evidence they may actually damage your chances).

After our unsuccessful cycles like you I started to look at what else might hope but our consultant (privately funded but at an nhs funded clinic) talked me through the evidence and the threshold for nhs clinics offering new treatments.

Since then I’ve always questioned clinics who are content offering them to people who are already paying so much for treatment and raising expectations without clinical evidence. Like you say £3500 is a lot of money that could be used towards another cycle.

I know a lot of people will feel differently, either because they happened to have success after an add on or because they feel better having tried everything on the market. Ultimately you have to do what you feel is right for you x x

[Pkm4321 in reply to Emilioh31]

I have looked at the evidence so don’t really want to pay the £3.5k.

My thoughts are to have steroid for 6 weeks without investigations as it’s a lot cheaper. obviously it’s risky to have the steroids but I have noticed it has worked for others.

Unsure what’s best now as clutching at straws

[LouCollier]

so sorry you are going through this - it sucks!

You could take steriods, it would cover if you have high NK cells. I took them for a couple days before transfer until 12 weeks (I had been tested by Tommys trust and the result came back high) but you can also have low NK cells which could cause problems too. apparently it is also treatable. its so hard when you dont have any answers as to why its not working. xx

[Wishinandahopin]

I’m so sorry you’ve had 6 failed transfers. After that i would definitely be doing some investigating.

ERA, EMMA and ALICE have nothing to do with steroids and clexane. ERA has been shown to not be massively helpful or accurate. Emma and Alice test the microbiome. However you can do vaginal microbiome tests that are a lot cheaper and then if it shows poor flora you can take some specific vaginal and oral probiotics etc (I did this). I did then do ERA, EMMA and ALICE and they all came back fine and I don’t think it was necessary for me to get that done.

I had had only two failed transfers but both were PGT Tested embryos so I knew there was something more going on.

Having a hysteroscopy was very helpful for me as they found I had a narrow uterus and were able to widen it a bit during the procedure. I also had some immune testing (not nk killer cells as there is not enough evidence behind this) and they found my partner and I had a mismatch with something genetic and immune and I had to take some medication for that pre and post transfer. They also found out I had MTHFR gene mutation which increased chances of clotting etc and a slight insulin resistance. So I was put on steroids, clexane, aspirin etc. This protocol worked for me and my third embryo finally worked even though it had much less chance than the first two.

The issue with HFEA regs are they are for the mass, the majority of people- most of those things for most people are unnecessary but once you start experiencing Recurrent implantation failure or multiple miscarriages etc then you are not the masses anymore. For us, for example, we found out that only 12% of people after two failed PGT tested transfers are still not pregnant. So we weren’t in the masses anymore and we didn’t want risk losing another embryo.

And I’m so glad we didn’t. I’m now 28 weeks with this miracle 🙏🏼❤️

I would say go for the steroids, Clexane and aspirin etc. perhaps do the vaginal microbiome test or just use the vaginal probiotics anyway.

Perhaps look at changing your protocol if you’ve always done medicated FETs for example, maybe try a natural or modified natural. These are all things you can do without much extra expense but may help.

Wishing you so much luck!

[Babyhope8 in reply to Wishinandahopin]

Hi Wishinandahopin. Can you please tell me what vaginal probiotics did you use and how to use it ?My clinic doesn’t recommend any . If it’s off the shelf I want to try . No harm in trying . I just had my 8th transfer yesterday. This time with steroids , fragmin and aspirin and intralipids .

[Wishinandahopin in reply to Babyhope8]

Sure - my clinic recommended the canesflor pessary ones. And orally I took Invivo Bio Me Femme V.

Wishing you all the luck with your transfer!! X

[Babyhope8 in reply to Wishinandahopin]

Thank you