Secondarily infertility. Trying for a sibling from the same set of embryos my 3.5 year old son came from. I’ve had two FETs of grade A embryos and both have failed. I will be 40 in a few months.
Well, I am an example of why you shouldn’t test early… I was convinced my body felt “different” and it had worked.
Period arrived this morning. I am gutted and I just don’t know what I can do to support implantation.
We have two embryos left and then I think we’ll stop and try to accept we’re not destined for two children.
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I'm sorry to hear about your BFN. I have been in a similar situation (also trying for a sibling with a nearly 3 year old)
We had 5 embryos left after our successful transfer (6th try) back in 2022. We did one transfer in November 2023 which was BFN, another in February 2024 which ended with a verrrry faint positive but then went negative the next day, and did a third in April 2024 - this time I took doxycycline, probiotics and also upped my steroid dose by 10mgs. This one worked (although sadly ended in an mmc).
Have you tried looking at your immune panel? Often after a first pregnancy your immune system works harder and can impact implantation. I needed steroids the first time round, but this last time I needed a higher dose - so my immune system was clearly working overtime.
Might be worth looking in to. I would also recommend thinking about your uterus environment - especially if you had a c-section - as it can harbour non-symptomatic infections that you just don't know about. After taking Doxycycline (which is an antibiotic) we did have success so I wonder if there was something there. My clinic wanted me to do an Emma / Alice biopsy but I didn't want any more nasty procedures so said no.
We have 2 left and will be trying again in the next couple of months but after these 2 we're calling it a day - I am so done with it all.
Sorry you’re experiencing similar. Thank you for the tips on what else to consider before diving into another transfer. I’m a bit pissed at my clinic for not wanting to investigate more before the 2nd. They just said, it’s probably down to genetics and luck.
I had a vaginal birth. I haemorrhaged after placenta not all coming away but I was reassured no scarring
How many cycles have you done? We’ve only done one back in 2020. I don’t think I could go through another and we’d really like to move with our life financially too.
I am finding the whole secondary infertility thing baffling - my clinic is the same - they don't seem to have any ideas as to why it wasn't working - as usual I ended up doing loads of research myself....
We did 4 egg collections in total - and 9 transfers. Its a lot. I am done too. xx
Just read your bio. You have certainly been through it. It’s so unfair and none of it makes sense. Hoping either of the next once’s are successful for us. ❤️
Sorry to jump on this but can I ask you more about Doxycycline? Did this have to be prescribed? I've had two failed rounds since having my son via csection. X
Hello, could you message me about this as well please? Am in the trenches of secondary infertility, 5 failed transfers so far and not sure where to go from here. I also had an emergency c-section to have my daughter. Did your clinic do anything to test before giving you Doxycycline? Or did you have to go to them with the suggestion? Thank you so much xx
Hi my ideas would be to check Fallopian tubes arent blocked and allowing toxic fluid to drip into the womb, possibly causing embryos not to implant? Perhaps a hysteroscopy o check out womb and biopsy the lining . Blood thinner to prevent clotting and encourage blood flow. Low dose prednisolone, a sterood, to boost immune systen, so body accepts the embtyo as alien. Perhaps luubion. IM progesterone. Obviously nott all needed, but can be discussed if you want hope you have plenty of support around you just now, while you recover. Thinking of you. Diane
Thank you. I just read about this leakage on tik tok. I’ve never had a hysteroscopy. The consultant had said that at my age there was no point but now I think there is.
In about 2011 whole living in Asia I had a case of BV which I avoided getting help for for months. I increasingly suspect this could have called blocked tubes. And I would feel better knowing more about this.
Before having my son they also saw I had a polyp. I want to know more about that.
Thanks for the advice. Today is a sore one but I’m being looked after by my lovely family. X
Oh my heart aches for you too reading this. Thank you for the message. The negatives hit me so hard. Feels like a death some months. My lovely mum has been propping me up today and looking after my son but people who haven’t experienced it just don’t know what to say huh?
I have just sent our clinic a big list of questions so will update with what they say. I need more answers before I go splashing another few grand next time.
Good on you. I don’t know if we can go through another egg collection process. Emotionally or financially.
We've got two embryos left, so will do another FET. But emotionally & financially cannot do it after the next one. Have you any embryos left?
My clinic weren't the most helpful & said it was a numbers game 🙃 not sure how much I believe that. Let me know if your clinic have any pearls of wisdom ❤️.
It's just so hard isn't it. I feel guilty for feeling this was as I already have my son, but my heart just yearns for another baby. All I keep thinking about is all the firsts I'll never experience again, such a punch in the gut xx
Hi lovely, just wanted to jump in here and suggest you get microbiome testing to make sure you don't have any infections in the uterus or vagina. See my comment below to Emsk14.
I had a hysteroscopy to check that all was OK, which it was. What worked for me was cyclogest 400mg 3 times a day, steroids, prednisolone, 5mg and 75mg aspirin. Previous transfers was also on clixane but last one which till now has been successful i didn'ttakeany injections so hust took aspirin .. I also took probiotics non stop for years and still take them .
Sorry for what you are going through. This is a tough journey we go through. Wishing you the best of luck.
Hello, so sorry to hear you’re going through this (and so many others too) I am in the same boat with secondary infertility. We have had 5 failed transfers now. 2 of those transfers should never have happened as I had fluid my uterine cavity. We actually switched clinics at the end of last year as we were going round in circles with our old one. The new one added blood thinners and also aspirated the fluid I had before transfer. It sadly resulted in a chemical pregnancy, but we had implantation for the first time, whereas the last 4 transfers had been BFN. I had an emergency c-section for my daughter and have a c-section niche. Like you, I am absolutely puzzled as to why this isn’t working. Secondary infertility seems so common yet no one seems to know enough about it. It’s so hard to keep going through x
Hi lovely, have you been checked for infections in the uterus/vagina? Especially after c-sections, there can be underlying infections that develop that aren't symptomatic but that affect implantation. The Female Microbiome test from Fertilysis (fertilysis.com/tests/female... ) is what I used for testing. They're based in Greece but they post you a test kit, you collect your sample at home and then post it back to them. xx
I'd also have your partner do sperm DNA frag testing. Male factor issues are one of the more common causes of secondary infertility so it's really important to make sure he has a full workup (not just the standard semen analysis that the GP does). xx
Ohh good point! I guess as women we always tend to feel like it’s us as it’s happening in our body. Should my clinic offer this do you know? Thanks again for your help! Xx
Yes, most clinics offer sperm DNA fragmentation testing but if yours doesn't there's a private lab called Fertility Solutions where you can self-refer and get it done. They have locations in London and Bucks. fertilitysolutions.co.uk/dn...
Hi Emsk14, was the fluid in your uterine cavity detected by a special procedure or just found in a routine scan during an IVF cycle? And when should the fluid be removed? Thank you in advance. xx
Hi, yes detected during a routine scan during treatment. Usually it’s seen on my day 10 scan. I think it’s to do with the estrogen as I’ve had many tests to check my tubes (one I lost to an ectopic pregnancy & the other is clipped). Our consultant removed the fluid 6 days before transfer and I was scanned twice before transfer to check the fluid hadn’t returned. We recently changed clinics and my previous one never even offered to remove the fluid, so I don’t know if it’s ‘standard procedure’ among clinics. Do you have the same thing happening? X
Thank you Emsk14 for sharing. Apologies for my delayed response. The questions were for my daughter. She has had 2 fresh and 3 frozen transfers and all were negative. She is doing more tests to exclude immune, clotting, inflammation and infection issues. I remember seeing mention of liquid in some of her previous scans which were not concerned by her consultant. Will ask questions next time if we see liquid again.
Hello. I’m so sorry to hear your daughter bas been through a difficult time. I’ve also had 2 fresh and 3 frozen rounds, all unsuccessful. I recently switched clinics and was on blood thinning injections and I had the fluid removed a week before my transfer. Either or both seemed to help and I had implantation for the first time, but sadly it ended in a chemical pregnancy. Wishing your daughter all the very best x
Hello sorry to hear that. It is good to set an end if necessary and the main thing is you have your miracle and having one is the new norm so you won’t be alone. I had to recently donate my last embryo to research so have been through the feelings of letting go and it’s not too bad. Your embryos are only as old as you were when you created them. So provided you still have periods it’s not your body. However have you cut caffeine out? Caffeine is a fertility offender. Also I tried acupuncture (I tried anything going) and I swapped my vitamins for one with pure methyl folate in. I also did a naturally modified cycle. Who knows what worked but these are things I tired after my first failed. Xx
I had 4 failed transfers and paused for the EMA, Alice and ERA test. That told me I had 0% of the good bacteria you need for implantation plus I needed an extra 30 hours of progesterone before transfer. The biopsy showed my lining just wasn’t ’receptive’ on day 6 which is when I had all my previous transfers. So my last embryo was transferred on day 7 of progesterone (clinic times exactly 30 extra hours compared to biopsy) and it worked! So for me it was probiotics and timing. She’s now 3 months old 😌 Good luck x
Hopping on here to say that I had an initial hysteroscopy after two failed transfers for a sibling and they found nothing, but when I went to start a third cycle I was just chatting to the radiographer about the hysteroscopy so she 'had a look around' with the internal ultrasound and saw 'something'. A later private ultrasound thought it was probably just the c section and dismissed the idea of it being something, but I pushed for second hysteroscopy (under general anesthetic this time). He couldn't see anything but on the way out 'went round a corner' and spotted a lump. Who knew there were corners in the uterus 😅 Took it out, and told me it could have caused issues. Low and behold third attempt worked, currently 17 weeks.So I guess what I'm saying is maybe a hysteroscopy could ve a good idea. I'm 35 and generally fertile (had to have PGT) so they weren't pushing for me to get one, but I reckon it helped.
wow. Just goes to show you the inconsistencies in care huh? I’m emotional reading this. Congratulations. I’m really fearful about the next try as we have two embryos left and want to push for more investigations first. There’s definitely things that could have been missed.
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