43 years old - new doc wants me to use HGH. Any insights?

[Sja1981]

Hi everyone,

I used 225 Pergoveris in my first cycle, responded well, and had 5 mature eggs, 4 fertilised, which resulted in 3 good day 6 blasts. PGTA said they're all abnormal.

I have switched to a new clinic as the doc just wanted to move me onto donor eggs.

New doc (now in Greece, not Spain) uses human growth hormone for women my age. This will be for priming, and then I'll start Meriofert on day 2 of my period. (Then fly out to Athens for the EC.)

Desired outcome is 4/5 blasts this time - which will give me some to transfer (will not be doing PGTA) and some to bank. I will let my body decide what embryos are to grow.

Interested to know if you have used HGH, how did you feel using it, and if it improved your outcomes - especially among women +40.

(I asked him about improving egg quality, and he says research is ongoing into strengthening the spindle within the egg responsible for chromosonal duplications/management, he hopes in about 6-7 years there will be new solutions to this issue that causes poor egg quality among older women.)

[JA-fnuk Partner Nurse Fertility Network UK]

I am sure you will get some replies to your post as this forum is a great source of information and peer support Hope you have people around you for support Take a look at our website fertilitynetworkuk.org Access Support - Fertility Groups then select UK-Wide Groups to find closed Facebook Group "40 & over Fertility Group "

Thinking of you

Janet-Partner

[leo1980]

hello! No idea on the growth hormone but surprised you opted out of PGT-A . We are the same age and I am 33 weeks pregnant with an embryo we made is 2021. Of the 6 we tested 4 were genetically normal. And 2 resulted in pregnancies. I am only asking about the PGTA because although I had failures and successes with both tested and non tested. The tested one proved its worth when it came to screening and testing at 12 weeks. My age through out the high probability of downs etc but after speaking to the embryologist- who has screened the embryos she said the likely good was low. Which was confirmed by the second round of testing, So for us it was worth it as it saved making a painful descions.

My 5 pence worth! Best of luck on this round

[Sja1981 in reply to leo1980]

Have you read up on the testing process and your body's ability to self correct?The test isn't totally conclusive and for me, removes the sense of having faith in my body, that I trust it to decide what will be viable.

Spoke to a local UK consultant leading a clinic in Brighton who had recently been presented some convincing research into the PGTA process indicating it's not as foolproof as everyone thinks, which means there could be viable embryos disposed of.

Id prefer the risk of MC than throwing away healthy embryos.

When you're only getting 1-3 embryos, it's also typically more advised to just get them back in, than testing and risking damaging them.

Schools of thought go both ways. Im going to let my body decide from now on 🙏

[XXKKXX]

That's interesting to hear. Would love for you to keep me updated if it improved your egg quality. All mine ( 4 eggs) were of poor quality. We managed to get 2 embryos 5cb and 3cc. We didn't test them. We would have kept the baby whatever the outcome as we wanted one so badly. Ttc for 20 years. Very lucky one turned into our son but were going to start the process again soon but we've nothing frozen. Hes our first. We had one other embryo but it was too poor to put in or freeze.

[Sja1981 in reply to XXKKXX]

That's fantastic that poor quality embryos led to a healthy baby! 💕✌️

[Vassi]

I have used hgh (saizen) it was my second last cycle, I didn't feel much different on it however my partner said I had 'roid rage' lol. It didn't improve that cycle for me, I did have more eggs collected but poor fertilisation and none made it to day 5. I would potentially try it again, Ive since done another cycle without it and that was even worse, however this time they said the sperm was not a grade also. It's so hard with all these add ons I wish it was more straight forward.

On the topic of pgta, like you I never wanted to test any embryos and wanted to give each and every one a chance. This was more about my beliefs and what felt right for me. That decision though made my journey long and tough when I didn't have time on my side. I've had 10 transfers, a miscarriage and a few chemicals and sadly I'm just getting older and it seems to be getting tougher. Had I tested I wouldn't have lost so much time and been through so much heartache. Even though not getting blasts my last two rounds was heartbreaking, going through a miscarriage was something else, something you don't really get over. I'm now looking at testing going forward, if we get one or two I'll ask for a fresh transfer but if we get a few more then testing will hopefully help in getting the golden one.

All the best for this next cycle in Greece, hopefully it's the lucky one 🙏

[Sja1981 in reply to Vassi]

Thanks I'll check out Saizen!

Yes my thinking is similar - to try to get more eggs hence trialling with HGH, transferring a couple of fresh and then freezing/testing any extras so that if I have a MC, I will have more in the freezer. Even euplioids don't necessarily work out though....

Mentally I'm assuming that I will miscarry so am preparing for it and reading up about what happens. Though also need to focus on some positivity as I do think mindset has a huge and underestimated role to play.

Thank you and wishing you the best outcome for your next cycle

[Gerbear22]

Hi currently taking HGH.Im on genotropin for 8 days of my stims.Only side effect is slight headaches.Im 42.We will soon see if it makes any difference.Last cycle end of August/Sept was cancelled.I wasn't taking HGH.x

[Sja1981 in reply to Gerbear22]

Thank you. So I assume the thinking is that HGH will improve your follicle number? X

[Gerbear22 in reply to Sja1981]

I have basically non existant amh but we were delighted to have 4 follicles the last time however one of them basically took all the meds.It was 30mm after 5 days of stims so cycle was doomed to fail after that.Few changes made to this round including HGH and we would be over the moon if we had 4 follicles again.x

[Sja1981 in reply to Gerbear22]

Which HGH are you taking? X

[Gerbear22 in reply to Sja1981]

I'm taking genotropin goquick.3mg a day for 8 days.x

[GH1986]

Hi Sja

Really sorry to hear you’ve had such a tough journey.

I’ve used HGH, didn’t seem to make a huge difference to be honest but I got similar quality eggs and embryos despite being a year older with low AMH so maybe small improvement.

Wanted to mention my consultant recently recommended NMN alongside the raft of other supplements (like DHEA, alpha lipoic, CoQ etc). Helps with DNA repair apparently. Easy to get online.

I have a friend who switched to donor eggs and got pregnant after many failed attempts but realise this might be a big step and not everyone willing to take.

Wishing you all the best with it

[Sja1981 in reply to GH1986]

Yes I started taking NMN about a week ago and in less than a week, I could feel the difference. It's like rocketfuel! Ordered some for my 75yr old dad and got some more for me!

DHEA gave me acne after 2 5months and my voice was changing so have stopped taking it. Now reading about how too much testosterone can damage egg quality. It's potent stuff and I suspect ppl are a little too carefree in taking it since it's mentioned in That Book.

Yes friend has a beautiful DD daughter after 5 failed rounds. I'm not ready for that yet. Thankfully found two greek clinics who aren't trying to push it. Plenty of lazy docs out there who will try to convince you into it after one failed cycle as they can't be bothered to change your protocol.

Which HGH did you take and what was your age? X

[GH1986 in reply to Sja1981]

I’ve tried a few different types of HGH. One ‘low and slow’ using only 0.4mg of somatotropin daily for 7 days whilst monitoring IGF, a few rounds using zomactin 4mg every other day for 4 doses for stims and transfers and a medium dose using gonotropin (goquick pen) every other day 4 doses when doing ovulation induction.

Yes, I know what you mean about egg donation- I’d be the same.

I’m 38 with low AMH/egg reserve as well as other issues. I decided to batch and then PGTA.

X

[Sja1981 in reply to GH1986]

Thanks for that.

The doc mentioned I'd be injecting two powders that I mix up, every other day, for 14 doses. Feels like a lot to be injecting and I need to do more research but if it gets me more eggs without compromising the quality then I guess I should give it a try.

On which one did you see the biggest improvement? X