Doxycycline

Hi

Did anyone take doxycycline before embryo transfer and it gave them a positive result?

[happypupp]

In what context are you taking the antibiotics?How long ago counts as "before embryo transfer"?

[Hidden in reply to happypupp]

I was told to take it on the same day I start taking progesterone.

[happypupp in reply to Hidden]

I took it to treat ureaplasma 8-10 months prior (probably won't count) to two FETs, one unsuccessful and one successful leading to my current pregnancy. Not during the actual IVF cycles.

Have you been diagnosed with endometritis or any infections? If not, chances are they are routinely giving doxycycline just as prophylactics - I'd at least ask for the clinical indications for your specific case and the evidence for its use if you haven't done so.

If you are convinced and consent to taking it, bear in mind that it wipes out good and bad and commensal bacteria indiscriminately throughout your body not just in uterus. Feminine and gut probiotics and prebiotics plus beneficial yeasts e.g. saccharomyces boulardii are essential, which I took alongside and continuously after and had no adverse effects from the antibiotics, whilst husband was treated at the same time as me but didn't stick to his probiotics regimen and later developed gastrointestinal issues.

Once you get pregnant, your gut/vaginal microbiome will become ever more important because your immunity will be compromised - even I have had a yeast infection and a cystitis and a cold over the past 20 weeks of pregnancy - so I'm not sure wiping your system just before ET will be beneficial especially if you don't have any symptoms of ongoing infections, antibiotics could do more harm than good.

Here are some food for thoughts:

cochrane.org/CD008995/MENST...

fertstert.org/article/S0015...

"When considering the use of prophylactic antibiotics during ET, it is essential to practice safe antimicrobial stewardship, use evidence-based medicine to guide decision-making, and avoid relying on a speculative benefit. Beshar et al. (3) provided an insight into the lack of benefit of doxycycline on pregnancy rates in natural cycle euploid transfers and supported the current ASRM recommendations. Additional large studies with minimal bias can confirm whether there is a role for other types or courses of antibiotics before ET, particularly in transfers that do not occur in natural cycles. If antibiotics continue to be used until additional evidence is published, their potential harmful effects, such as microbial resistance, gastrointestinal disruption, and post-treatment shifts in cervicovaginal flora, cannot be ignored. The use of antibiotics in an effort to improve pregnancy rates without strong evidence to support the practice mandates the question of whether specialists in the field of reproductive medicine are treating the patient or themselves. Perhaps we, as physicians, should reconsider that antibiotics “might hurt and won’t help.”"

[Hidden in reply to happypupp]

Thank you for the information, I will look in to it 😊

[NemoFish]

I took it for one cycle, one thing I will say is have some gaviscon or rennie on standby! The heartburn was horrendous!

[Chowlady14]

I took it last cycle and got a positive although it ended in a chemical x

[Tinkertinkerbell]

I took Doxycycline for a chest infection a couple of weeks before a transfer and told the nurse at my fertility clinic and she wasn’t bothered. That was BFN. I then did the EMA, Alice and ERA and one of the results of that was that I had no good bacteria which was blamed on the Doxycycline. I then had to take loads of probiotics before my next transfer. I was a bit annoyed as I had told a nurse I was taking it and she didn’t advise me to take probiotics at the time. I got the impression that the nurses didn’t have much understanding about the microbiom. My advice would be to take probiotics after the doxycycline otherwise it could cause problems x

[Hidden in reply to Tinkertinkerbell]

Thank you and will do

[MyeggsRfab in reply to Hidden]

Are the probiotics for the gut ?I havent heard of this before... Can you please help me understand why Doxycycline and probiotics may help with ET.💙💗