hello!
I’m currently in the middle of my 2nd fresh ICSI cycle (pre-egg collection) and in need of some positivity and inspiration. I’m hoping this will also help others feeling a bit defeated too.
If you have had success with IVF/ICSI, please could you share any tips? What do you think made all the difference? Especially if you had more than one round. Which supplements did you take? Did you have acupuncture? Diet etc. anything else you think contributed to your success 🩷
thank you!
Wishing you all the best for your cycle. I’ve just this week had my first ever positive on my 3rd round of IVF with ICSI (low fertilisation rates every time and no Frosties).
This time I had acupuncture pre and post transfer, followed a blood nourishing diet as recommended by my acupuncturist (Emma Cannon - Fertility) as well as drinking beetroot juice daily. I used castor oil packs pre transfer and took a hot water bottle to bed for my feet every night post transfer.
I had been taking Impryl as recommended by the clinic and also took Zita West Femceive.
Exercise has always been part of my life but in recent months I started swimming and walking instead of running. I reduced work related stress and took time off when needed.
I have no idea if these things helped and the road is still very long but at least I feel I have tried everything.
Hope all goes well for you!
Thank you so much for sharing. This is so helpful and congratulations for recieving a positive test! We too had low fertilisation last time and no Frosties. It is so encouring to know your story. Good luck for the rest of your pregnancy x
Hi,
I just got bfp yesterday after ICSI ( 3 eggs collected, only one embryo).
This month i was drinking almost half a litter beetroot juice daily (during implantation phase to get better lining), i took all different vitamins and probiotics (oral and vaginal), i was keeping my feet warm (day/night), i ate good fats (avocado,salmon, wallnuts), i listened to visualisation video (“imagine you are already pregnant,etc”) and subliminal fertility youtube records daily. I did not avoid stress, because it was not possible. But i tried to sleep at least 8 hours daily. Oh i also took coq10 1000mg (i have very low AMH).
This is amazing news! Congratulations!! All you need is one 🥰 thank you so much for sharing what you did, this is so so helpful. There are definitely themes that seem to work for people and I’m taking them all on board.
Ahhh to get a BFP must be such an amazing feeling! 🩷
Hey - I am really interested in what a blood nourishing diet entails. If you are able to give be a brief low down I would appreciate it. What you did sounds really good … into. Castor oil packs but not sure how I would have used them. Thank you x
Hello Cuppppatea I’m sorry to read of your negative and wishing you all the best in this journey- it really is brutal. In terms of the diet I followed Emma Cannon Fertility for a few weeks - it was lots of oats, grains, sweet potato, beetroot, healthy home-made protein balls and meat including chicken liver and lambs kidney (might not appeal to all!). I also tried to follow basic Chinese medicine such as warming soups / foods and bone broth daily. Castor oil packs helps with bloating during stims and support digestive system. I don’t know if any of these things helped but I at least felt like I was throwing everything I could at this cycle. (Especially important as it was my last on NHS, we had low fertilisation rates plus about to turn 40.)
Wishing you all the best x
Well congratulations <3 to you, And thank you, that does actually mean alot. I love this community it is one of the only things getting me through. What IVF did you have ? What protocol? I am likely to be denied my last NHS cycle due to increasing FSH - it was high on my last time to qualify but i suppled a private test result which was in range and they accepted it. So much messing around which delayed my cycle by three months. Its been a sham to say the least. I am 40 soon xx
It’s so tough but yes this community really helps with valuable information and support. Sorry to hear about your levels and really hope it can be in range for you. We had microflare for this round. We’ve been lucky but are also very scared of the next few weeks. X
Hi! We have a baby daughter from ICSI, following my second FET. Top tips: read It all starts with the egg (if you haven't already), took probiotics (oral and vaginal), did fertility reflexology, ate yoghurt with honey and walnuts and drank pomegranate juice. For the stimulations, our clinic recommended Proxeed for men and women respectively. Very best of luck!
Thank you! Eek, haven’t done any of these things, so I really appreciate you sharing 🩷 will definitely try the walnuts, yogurt and honey for breakfast tomorrow! Must remember to get some pomegranate juice (where did you buy yours from?) xx
Don't worry, you have time! My main take aways from the book where to eliminate plastics as much as possible from the household, stop using nail polish and take CoQ10 in the form of ubiquinol during stimulations. You only need the pomegranate juice for the lining, so you can start taking it around the time they give you estrogen tablets. I got Pomegreat from Ocado but I am sure there are many options. Very best of luck with this round, I hope you get your sticky embie 
xx
Thank you, that’s so helpful! Thankfully we stopped using plastics in the house a few months ago, I take coq10 and have stopped the nail varnish 🙌🏼 so that makes me feel better! I’ve ordered some pomegranate juice, was quite hard to find a version that’s not from concentrate. I’m so pleased I’m not too late for that xx
Oo we're cycle buddies I think, I'm coming up on 2nd egg collection too. Not got much to say really but thought I'd say we're in this together. I am taking coq10 this time too, 500 mg I think it is. If we get to transfer I'm on 3 pesseries so I will be doing that equally spaced, 7 am, 3 pm and 11 pm. I felt really down on Friday and Saturday and quite anxious this week, but feeling a bit more positive. We're jsut booked a holiday abroad for the summer, if I actually get pregnant I will have to cancel it but that would be a nice problem to have wouldn't it I gues, but it's something to look forward to if this round doesn't work. Here's to a good collection, transfer, and some in the freezer for later.
Awh I love this! Thank you for letting me know you’re in a similar time frame to me! I’m booked for my egg collection on Wednesday 😊 I really hope it all goes a bit better this time, but you never really know do you… all I know is I’m less naive this time round. I feel like I’ve done as much as I can to give us a good chance, and have to accept there probably isn’t much else to try. We also have a holiday booked to look forward to in June, so should be able to still go and have a nice time! I think it’s good to have things booked, otherwise you end up putting your life on hold. Definitely will be a good problem to have if you need to cancel it 😌 I hope that’s the case for you! I hope you are feeling a lot better. Wishing you so much luck xx
For my second round I took ubiquinol, bioavailable b vits that contained folate rather than folic acid, omegas and an own brand skin, hair and nails multivits, plus extra vit c. We got all to blast that round but it was only a month after the round before where I wasn't on ubiquinol and not sure it could have made a difference in that time, and we've been told since the low fertilisation we got first time was a one-off sperm quality issue on the day. I had 2 BFPs which ended early, which may have been a progesterone issue, or just because my body isn't recovered after egg collection for a fresh transfer. Then we success on our first FET a month after the last loss. I've since had a terrible round trying for a sibling (one egg which ended in a PUL) then a BFN on a FET. Then pregnant naturally the following month. So in all that, I have less of a clue what worked and didn't than when I started! My consultant says it's just numbers and 1 in 3 is about right for unexplained infertility. But I know what I took and ate didn't hurt at least, I mainly went for adding in things that might help (full fat dairy, good fats etc) and didn't cut or change anything in my diet or lifestyle.
Wow! What a journey you have been on! Amazing isn’t it. Thank you so much for sharing. I take from that to keep doing what you’re doing, and add in all the good stuff! A friend of mine had a successful 2nd round FET and the doctors said their 1st round was likely just a bad batch, and that’s quite common! Really hoping for a good batch this time 🤞🏻 so nice to hear the positive stories xx
That's the approach I went with. We've been doing this for the best part of 10 years and when we started TTC and it wasn't working, I tried being more strict and restrictive, and it didn't make any difference, save make me just a bit more down. So I just tried to find a balance that still allowed me to have a life (and maybe this is a little pessimistic or just me being a realistic, but I also had at the back of my mind that if it never worked, at least I wouldn't feel that I had 'wasted' all those years being desperately unhappy and saying no to everything).
So so true. We’re now onto year 5 of TTC. Tbh, I’ll be very shocked if this works for us as it’s been so long trying naturally and everything in between and nothing has worked yet. But they do say miracles can happen so you just never know! 🩷 it’s good advice not to put your life on hold, or stop doing the things you like because you think it might help. Everything in moderation is great and instead of excluding, just add in more of the good stuff 🥰
Yep, we were TTC for about 7 years by the time we got to doing a full round of IVF (lockdowns delayed everything) but since then and in the space of less than 3 years I have been pregnant 5 times, had one IVF success and another naturally conceived, due in two months. So I definitely subscribe to the miracles do happen philosophy!
Lockdown really scuppered us too. The waiting times between nhs appointments were 9 months apart. We ended up going privately!
Thank you so much for your messages, I’ve found them really helpful. I wish you lots of luck for the rest of your pregnancy 🥰
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