How to improve egg quality?

[monkeybumsmum]

Having just lost a baby for the fourth time (at 15 weeks ) I am interested in how I can improve the quality of my eggs.
Two of the four losses were due to chromosomal abnormalities (other two too early to test), and I have read that these abnormalities are mainly due to poor quality eggs. DH has been tested and has super swimmers apparently, so I know it's not him!

Does anyone know what I can do to give ourselves a better chance next time?
I'm taking Pregnacare already, and plan on taking extra folic acid. Am also upping intake of water as much as I can.
Am so desperate for it to work again next time that I'll be willing to do almost anything!

Any idea's/advice would be great, thanks x

[aubergenie]

I'm really sorry to hear about your losses. Have you been given any advice or information by your hospital?

I think that some practitioners of Traditional Chinese Medicine would claim to be able to help with this. This www.jcm.co.uk/media/cms/File/Inga.pdf article is about improving egg quality in an older patient, so I don't know if it is directly relevent to you or not. I was seeing Inge Heese for acupuncture treatment following a miscarriage and she showed me this article she had written (I was worried about my egg quality because of my age). I became pregnant very quickly after and had a healthy baby. I've no idea if it was the acupuncture or not but could it be worth a try for you? Just make sure you find someone who specialises in fertility. (If you are in the London area, I'm happy to pass on her details if you want.)

[monkeybumsmum]

Hi aubergenie, and thanks for your reply. I'm going to see my gynaecologist on Thursday so I shall be asking her for tips, but when I was in the last time she said there was nothing we could do. Not particularly helpful
I'm in Belgium, but I do have a wonderful acupuncturist in the UK, I just don't get to see her enough. I've got one in Brussels too but the logistics of getting to see him are a nightmare, what with collecting ds from school etc. After what you said I shall try to find one closer to me, because I really do believe it helps. Congratulations on your healthy baby, it's lovely to hear good news

[littletortie]

MBM I have diet stuff from the Zita West clinic (will desperately try and get to the post office for you this week after seeing this!!) and one of the sheets the nutritionist gave me was about using nutrition to reduce the chance of miscarriage. I presume this would be about egg quality and having a scan through the sheet, it talks about free radicals and oxidative damage. Worth a look

When you see your gynae, it may be worth asking for some further testing. I know you ave had some done but perhaps there are further tests that can be carried out?

Acupuncture can be really wonderful and if anything, it will help support you when you are feeling emotional and nervous.

Speak soon chick xxxxxx

[monkeybumsmum]

That's fab Ammy, thanks! What further testing do you think we should ask for? Am a bit worried as I need to sit down and compile a list of things to ask before Thursday, but my brain has literally shut down Couldn't even think what to put with quiche for lunch and dh looked at me like I'd gone mad
If you have any idea's I'd love to hear them!

[littletortie]

When you do a meal you need protein (so the egg in your quiche) and then leafy green and a 'colour' (so a pepper chopped up or tomatoes) and a little bit of carb (few baby potatoes?). This is how the nutritional lady told us to plan meals- its the ultimate way to make sure you are getting all your nutrients

Perhaps you could ask to be referred to a geneticist who can advice you on any further tests or help? What chromosomal disorders have the PM come up with? Sorry if this is upsetting to ask- just thinking if its a similar kind of disorder for both of the losses where you have had testing then they need to look further and you would have a good case for asking to be referred.

xxxxx

[littletortie]

OOOOOOOOOOOOPSSSSSSSSSS- I dont think you wanted meal advice did you????!!!!!!! Just read that back- what an arse!!!!!

I think you need to make it absolutely clear that you want to know why this has happened so many times (did you have a MC before DS or am I making that up? What happened with that?) and you want ALL the facts testing and info they can give you before you are pregnant again. Time for some answers I think.

[littletortie]

Also, have you been given high strength folic acid up to this point? x

[monkeybumsmum]

You are funny I loved the meal advice! Would usually do what you suggested but without the potatoes, so will make sure I do carbs in future too...

The last two lost babies have had completely different things wrong with them, and so the dr's have just said it's bad luck. Which is really useful
Surely they've got to be able to help us next time? When I was in having the baby two different doctors (one is a professor) told us that we should just try again and hope for better luck next time. I don't think we can do that as it might go wrong again, and both dh and I think that next time might have to be the last try - we can't bear much more of this

I had read somewhere that high dose folic acid was good - dad's coming over tomorrow and so has got some stronger stuff from Holland and Barrett, but am going to ask the doctor I see on Thursday for a prescription so I don't have to take loads of tablets every day. Would feel much happier if doctor knew and agreed to me doing it. Are you taking it in a high dose? How much do you take? Am also getting co-enzyme Q10 which is the only other thing I could think of that I'd read about when dad called me from the shop! Do you know anything about that?

We are also thinking of going to see an IVF specialist who has been recommended to us by one of dh's friends. We're going to ask if preimplantation genetic diagnosis could possibly help us. Do you know anything about this?

Hope you're okay and Happy Birthday to O, just seen on other thread that today's her 7th! Hope she's had a lovely day x

[littletortie]

I have heard of pre-implantation screening....

www.hfea.gov.uk/70.html

Heres some info I found- sounds pretty impressive doesnt it?? Perhaps its an option for you. Options and choices are far better than nothing at all.

I dont take strong folic acid. I take Zita West vits and have done for a while now. I also take an Aspirin 75mg tablet each morning (not sure if I'm meant to or not- not taking it on Drs advice), high strength fish oil liquid and agnus castus. Oh and chromium to stop me cravin sugar apparently sugar is really bad for your eggs.

Just saying its bad luck is no use to you- you need lots of info and support, of course you wouldnt want this to happen again so you need to feel confident that you have done all you can.

MC are horrible, horrible, horrible things. My MC went on for weeks and weeks- a horrible infection, bleeding, retained products- it was just a nightmare.Im so paranoid of having another one, Im sure its why I havent conceived again- fear makes you do funny things. Its only now, 2 years later that I am starting to get a bit more confident- Im saying a mantra to myself each day "Ive had a healthy pregnancy before, I can do it again". Mind power is wonderful. I can only imagine how you must feel going through this over and over and it seems that each time its getting worse and taking so much longer for you to get on your feet. Its so important that you feel happy and secure before you carry on trying.

xxxxxxxxx

[chandellina]

i don't know how proven any of this but i recall taking coenzyme q10, l-arginine, royal jelly, among other things. There's something called DHEA but I don't think it's available in the UK.
Wheatgrass is apparently good.

[KC11]

Hi sorry to gatecrash but someone asked about improving quality of eggs. i've read in Zita West's book that getting natural folate into your diet (as well as an artificial supplement/tablet) is good idea. folate can be found in fortified cereals, bread esp wholemeal, and seeds and nuts. I have eat a handful of sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, walnuts and natural peanuts every morning and I'm convinced that a glass of milk every day must help the diet regardless. Good luck to all those trying to conceive. i'm in the same boat and just started my third IVF. No children and no miscarriages just unexplained infertility. all tests ok.

[AttilaTheMeerkat]

KC11

What tests have been done on both of you to date?. I only ask as sometimes people are given a so called diagnosis of "unexplained" (unexplained simply means they have failed to find out what is wrong) simply because not enough tests have been done and some tests do get missed out.

Re quality of eggs there is nothing that can be done to improve egg quality. We are born with eggs within the ovaries and they age.

[monkeybumsmum]

KC11, you're not gatecrashing Thanks so much for the info, and I'm sorry to hear that IVF has not worked for you yet. A friend of a friend went through a lot of cycles, and they adopted as they were so sure it wouldn't work. She is now pregnant (naturally) and due in June. There is hope yet. Good luck to you too.

Attila, hello again . Surely there must be something we can do to help the eggs mature? Doesn't it take three months for those eggs that are sitting there to mature before ovulation? I would've thought that diet could make a difference to this. I'm not that old (34) and we've been having problems since the beginning of 2008. It makes me feel better to think there is something I can do, and that it's not completely out of our hands

Thanks for the link Ammy, I would really like to try that if we can find someone over here who does it. I like the idea of testing the egg before conception. Am sure the problem lies with me and not dh. Glad to hear you are talking yourself into being more confident - you have done and can definately do it again We both deserve it I reckon

Chandellina, thanks for the list of things you take - will be looking into the things I hadn't heard of! Think am going to rattle when I walk after reading all this

[littletortie]

I have also heard DHEA can be good.

Although the eggs are there when you are born and age as you do, you can make a better environment for them to mature in which can only have a positive effect.

[chandellina]

i think it's also the idea of encouraging the good ones to make a dash for it, instead of old withered ones (sorry, that's how i imagine mine!). happily i did have at least one good egg help make my son, after two miscarriages and two failed IVFs ...

monkeysbum - have they tested your FSH and the like?

[monkeybumsmum]

They haven't tested my FSH as far as I know - what is it? Am going to see my gynaecologist tomorrow morning for my follow up appointment, so maybe I should ask her about it...

Is there anything else that should be tested?

Thanks Ammy xxx