IVF at 40

[Sexy376]

Has anyone had IVF at 40?? If so how many good eggs did you manage to retrieve?

[Beclp]

Hi Sexy. I’ve donee 3 egg pick ups.First cycle I got 5 mature eggs

Second 14 and 3 rd I got 4

It comes down to your AMH levels, hormone levels and the protocol your specialist puts you on I believe.

I was 40 for my first and 41 for the next two.

Ive never had a successful pregnancy from any cycles though so often it’s not based on how many eggs you get but the quality. But it only takes one 🙏

All the best 💕

[Gerti2020]

Hi, I had 1 cycle at 40yrs old and 20 eggs, of which 10 were good. 6 were subsequently fertilised and 3 made it blastocysts and we’re frozen. I had a baby from 1 of them. Hope all goes well with you xx

[Corchi]

I did. Ended up having 5 healthy embryos

[JoyfulStar]

Hi Sexy376, I completely agree with Beclp, the number of eggs retrieved does not indicate quality. This is because not all eggs retrieved are mature, not all mature eggs will fertilise, not all fertilised eggs that become embryos will be good enough to freeze or transfer. Also, not all embryos transferred will stick. All of these point to egg quality issues.

For us over 40 years of age, success can depend on a number of factors including AMH. These numbers vary from woman to woman. If I were you, I would undergo the first round to see how your body responds to meds and if you create embryos.

If possible, also avoid comparing your stats with others. If you do, you may have unrealistic expectations. As it has already been said, it only takes one!

That being said, there are many women on here including myself who have had IVF success with their own eggs aged 40 and above. I was 42 when I had my first cycle almost 44 when I had success.

When it comes to IVF, nothing is guaranteed and the stats for us over 40 are depressing so celebrate any little successes in your journey

I will be rooting for you 💫

[EndoBabe23 in reply to JoyfulStar]

Thank you for sharing. I too was told I have a low AMH. I’m 43 with endometriosis and faced with the decision to move forward or not. I know the chances aren’t high but hearing your story gives a glimmer of hope

[JoyfulStar in reply to EndoBabe23]

Thank you for that. I hope you get your heart’s desires 💕

[Reebee001]

I was 39 going on 40 when we went through a round of IVF. 3 healthy embryos and pregnant from first transfer.

[Rew123]

Hello, I was 41 and my AMH was 4 so on the low side. They retrieved 8 eggs, 7 were mature and 6 fertilised. I now have a beautiful little girl and 4 frosties.

[AuroraXen]

I did two cycles at 40 (and 2 just before turning 40) . One was quite a poor response compared to previous attempts, got 5 eggs but only 2 mature. Both fertilised and one made it to a (apparently) good day 5 blastocyst. My other cycle at 40 (nearly 41) was better, 6 eggs collected but 5 mature this time and all fertilised, led to 3 decently-graded day 5 blastocysts. X

[IVFat40]

Hi hun, I did 3 egg collections at 40 and 2 at 41 (as I wanted to bank embryos). As others have said I focused more on how many decent quality 5 day blastocyst embryos I got (essentially how many good enough to freeze). 1st egg collection 11 eggs, 1 good embryo.

2nd collection about 15 eggs, 1 good embryo, 2 not good enough to freeze but put back fresh.

3rd egg collection (I made quite a lot of changes before this collection) 18 eggs, 6 good embryos (I'm currently pregnant with one of those).

4th collection 8 eggs, 4 good embryos.

5th collection around 15 eggs, 2 decent embryos.

In my experience there are quite a few things you can do to improve your chances of getting more good embryos, although in IVF there's also always a fair bit of luck each round.

Good luck.

[Sandra_M in reply to IVFat40]

Could you please share what you did to get more good embryos? I’m taking multi-vitamins for pregnancy, ubiquinol and impryl. Have yet to discover if it makes any difference

[IVFat40 in reply to Sandra_M]

Hello hun, I actually wrote a post after my 3rd egg collection about things I felt had helped improve my embryo development/quality, which maybe might be helpful. Things I felt helped included seeing a fertility nutritionist and changing up my diet quite a bit, DHEA (although I would recommend getting your DHEA-S and testosterone levels checked first before trying this), Ubiquinone, a good fertility multivitamin (Nutri-Advanced), and Menopur seemed to work better for me. I found the book 'It starts with the egg' helpful, although didn't follow everything it recommends (I found it quite full on). I also changed my sperm donor for the 3rd round, but of course that option wouldn't apply for everyone (but I guess what I took from that is the importance of also looking at the male side of things). Wishing you so much luck hun.

[ebonyebene]

Hiya, I think Joyfulstar summarised it quite well. Having IVF at 40 is a different experience for everyone and really depends on your lifestyle, hormones, and protocol as to whether it's deemed successful.

I had my first round at 40 (NHS), down regulation for 3 weeks, 4 mature eggs, and none fertilised. Second round (NHS), 6 eggs, 3 fertilised 2 2-day embryos implanted BFN. Third cycle (Private in Prague) cancelled (new srims didn't agree with me). Fourth round 5 eggs collected 3 fertilised, 2 made it to day 4, one arrested on day 4 currently have a 3baa frozen. Fifth round - find out tomorrow if any eggs have been fertilised 😌. It can be depressing when you read of younger women complaining about only having eggs/embryos when you know the numbers mean nothing. I've read of younger women having 30 odd eggs collected with no embryos making it to day 5. This really puts things into perspective and makes you realise that having high AMH doesn't guarantee anything. I know of one 41-year-old who has banked 14 embryos from 4 cycles and another who is currently pregnant with 4 embryos remaining. I think protocol and lifestyle changes play a massive part. We overhauled our lifestyle, and I got 15 follicles but was denied NHS treatment. I put my body under so much stress that it was reduced to half by the time we eventually started our cycle. However, a month before our first cycle abroad, we went on an all-inclusive holiday and indulged in food and drink and got an excellent quality embryo. Unfortunately, there's no real science to this; it's mostly an art.

I'd say go for it, the first round if more seeing how you respond to the protocol but what I will say is don't have a flare protocol. Older women have high levels of LH and adding more can be detrimental to egg and embryo quality.

[Luvfat]

39 going on 40. I got only 3, which weren't so good so the doctor advised we fall on a donor. Today is day 4 after ET. I think the quality is what is more important here! Good luck to all of us<3

[Marisa32]

I did 2 at 40. First no follicles, cycle canceled. Second only 1 follicle/1 egg retrieved. Made it to blast but not suitable for testing and got BFN. The reason for my dismal results was having very low to non existent AMH. I was told IVF was useless in my case because I did have a baby naturally at 38. I then tried IUI, given my 1 egg per cycle issues and got blighted ovum. Continued to try cycle after cycle with at home IUI kit while waiting for donor egg treatment and got pregnant at 42. Baby is 10 months now. I was given 1% chance due to my low egg reserve but somewhere in there this old lady still had a viable egg! Good luck and don't focus too much on the numbers. Sometimes, it's just blind luck.

[dexy1389]

Hello lovely, I had 3 ivf cycles at 39 and gave birth at 40.. I was a poor responder (max 4 eggs) so I used steroids to improve the ovarian response (in addition to fixing issues with NK cells).. you have the post on my wall. Lots of baby dust💫❤️

[dexy1389 in reply to dexy1389]

P.s. My son was born from the third cycle where I got 4 eggs and 2 blastocysts.. the crucial thing is the egg quality- you really need only one good egg..