I am in my late 20s and have just recently finished my first icis round (NHS Funded) my AMH is low for my age and there's other factors that seem to also be at play. However we remained hopeful as our consultant felt folks of my age typically have 'healthier' eggs. unfortunately only 6 eggs were retrieved and 1 fertilised, the plan was to transfer day 3 as we only had one. However on day 3 our little embryo was developing unusually so we were advised to wait and see if it would develop into a blast. Unfortunately, on day 5 it wasn't forming usually and starting to degenerate, so we weren't able to proceed.
We were both so upset, it's a lot to go through and not get the hope of a transfer. I was wondering if anyone has had a similar experience and gone on to have other rounds that where perhaps more successful? Even just more successful in terms of embryos developing.
We are also still waiting for our consultant appointment to discuss further and if indeed we will be offered another round. I know I should be greatful for at least the try but it's nonetheless so emotionally and physically tough.
Thanks
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Pineapple2743
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I’m so sorry to hear your first cycle didn’t work 🥺 This journey is incredibly hard and uncertain and it may take a few rounds to get a successful outcome.
I’ve only done one ICSI cycle so far where I had 18 eggs collected but only 6 were mature, 3 fertilised and only 1 made it to blastocyst (the other 2 did not reach a stage were they could be frozen). Sadly, the blasto didn’t implant. It was very upsetting and we needed some time to grieve and accept the outcome. We then used the follow-up appointment to try and understand what had happened and discuss changes we could make to my next cycle. I have also had consultations with other clinics just to have a second (and third) opinion on what they would do differently, so that’s also something you could consider.
Thank you for coming back to me and sharing your story. Sorry for the delay in responding I had to take some time off to process everything.
It is very difficult isn't it and I'm sorry that your transfer wasn't successful. I send lots of hope for your next transfer. Like you we used our follow up appointment to discuss the next rounds protocol. Do you know when your second round will be?
My friend had a similar story to yourself, with low AMH and they transfered the two embryos that managed to stay till day 3 but this was unsuccessful. She then had acupuncture done every week which helped with AMH levels, went for private IVF and was then successful.
Just wanted to send you hugs. I am really so sorry you had to go through that. It's really rubbish and I just hope that you have good support around you.
I can't really give you any advice as I'm still in the middle of it, but our first round was similar - our transfer was cancelled as no embryo developped normally. I'm 33 so shouldn't be too old to assume healthier eggs - but it doesn't seem to have been the case. It was devastating.
Our second round did lead to a few blastcysts but they were all lowest grade, which was again really devastating. I'm not sure what I could do to improve this but we will have a review appointment soon so it'll be our main question I think. The number improved though as I got 8 eggs from 13 good sized follicles in my 2nd cycle (3 in the first - despite many follicles growing). We changed the stim drug and also did a double trigger. Not sure which one worked (or perhaps both), or maybe it was just a luck. But I'd definitely recommend talking to your doctor about changing the protocol.
If you'd like a chat please feel free to send me a message. Again I am so sorry you are (understandably) very upset. This is a really hard path.
Thank you so much for such a thoughtful message it really did help me at the time. Sorry for the delay I had a break from all things IVF for a while. We are so lucky in that we've got such a great network around us it really does help.
Sorry to hear about the difficulty you had with your first round it really is shock and another loss to process. Thank you for sharing about how the changes to your protocol helped improve your second round, although I can only imagine how devastating it was for you to find out about the grading and it not being successful. It really is such an emotionally taxing time, it's so helpful to reach out and speak to folks who have similar experiences.
Did you have your follow up appointment? We had ours and the plan is to go to maximum dose and change the drug to see if that will help. Our clinic said other than that there is nothing they can do just to wait and see how the next round goes. Sending you a big hug lovely and I'll send you a message!
No need to apologise at all, you can reply when you feel like it, or not! What's important is that you feel okay (or better!).
I really do agree with what you say. I honestly don't think my partner fully gets it either. He wants to be supportive but what I need and how I want to be supported he just can't understand. Please do reach out if you'd like a chat ☺️
Yes we did have a follow up appointment - we were also told to go up to the maximum dose to maximise the chance of getting good eggs, although we're also changing the stim meds again. We discussed my history pre IVF (eg I was very skinny for a handful of years which probably affected my ovulation and response to hormones) (which I flagged from the very outset - but I guess they first thought it was a trivial issue at the time) and thought changing the meds might improve how my body responds to the meds. I have also heard that using too much dose can affect egg quality (as the body would overwork) so I might ask for another chat with a doctor and ask what they think before they finalise the protocol for the next cycle. But I'm happy with the change of meds as I feel like I finally got them to listen as I thought the history was a contributing factor to all this, and only now did I notice I was uncomfortable with it.
I know it can be disappointing. But believe me I just need one lucky embryo to make a baby. And we always get stuck up on the numbers . But it’s not a number game . It’s a question of getting the right protocol to get u to that baby. In between how many how many cycles , poor egg reserves nothing matters.
So hang in there and maybe do some Accupuncture and some relaxation with some holidays and get ur head around and make urself string to accept hinderences in this very difficult path. And then look up for a good clinic and go for it again .
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