Failed IVF again

[LavenderRains]

I'm writing this on behalf of a dear friend. I have her full permission and she's keen to hear anyone's experience.
Let's call her Ann
She has previously fallen pregnant but sadly had 3 miscarriages.
She was then told her eggs are probably too old (she's 41) so she's had 2 rounds of IVF in the UK, both failed.
Then went abroad and used doner eggs. The 4th round has just failed.
She has one more egg left (frozen)
She obviously got pregnant before (losses at 8 & 13 weeks)
Why don't these eggs 'take'? I'm so upset for her. I can't begin to imagine her heartbreak.
Anyone who has positive stories similar to this?
Thanks for reading

[bananafish81]

Failed rounds with donor egg suggest she has an implantation problem

Immune issues are often a reason for this, although reproductive immunology is a controversial area of fertility medicine

The infertility forum Fertility Friends has countless stories of women who had failed cycle after failed cycle, and only when they had immune treatment added into their protocol was an embryo then able to implant, and for her uterus to be able to propagate a pregnancy

If she hasn't already had immunes testing, I would strongly recommend going to see Prof Quenby or Prof Brosens at their Coventry clinic, who specialise in failed implantation and recurrent miscarriage and the role of the uterine environment. You can self-refer, a uterine biopsy and consult is about £400 or thereabouts I think

The Fertility Friends forum is a mine of useful information - would recommend checking it out

Wishing her much luck

[LavenderRains]

Thank you so much banana that's so helpful

[miamiaMo]

Hi, I am so sorry for yr friend loss. I fully agree with bananafish81- dig deeper into implantation problems. I have no experiences but check out preimplantation diagnosis eg (invictaclinics com/increase-the-efficacy-of-in-vitro-even-to-84-4-with-pgs-ngs-360) And yes, look at fertilityfriends, tons of useful info, reviews and comments on clinics, also overseas ones. Good luck with treatment. xx

[mouldycheesefan]

Your poor I end. I agree with the suggestion re immunological testing. I had it and the appropriate treatment and it worked.

[Lymmmummy]

I think could be a few factors some of which may never be known or corrected

But some things she may want to look in given the failure with donor eggs

1. DNA fragmention of her partners sperm this can now be tested at clinics in the uk - it basically significantly reduces chance of successful pregnancy but is not routinely tested - sperm can look perfect but without performing a fragmentation test you would never know there is a fault
   
2. thickness of womb lining at the point the transfer is made - if the lining is too thin implantation unlikely to succeed
   
3. other issues such as NK Killer cells - personally less convinced by these theories but others have a different opinion which may be worth exploring
   
4. womb lining problems - some suggest hysterectopy to check for any problems and to clear out the womb lining to aid implantation
   
   If it were me I would go for the sperm fragmention test first if she wishes to continue

[LavenderRains]

Thank you so much, I have passed all your info to my friend.

[Oooblimey]

Hi, Sorry your friend has had to go through this. Unfortunately (and not helpfully) there are many reasons she could be miscarrying on top of the ones already mentioned.
What tests has she had?
Personally I have lost 5 pregnancies all somewhere between 5 and 13 weeks. After years of thinking it was due to there being an implanatation problem with me our last round of tests discovered a chomosome translocation on my husbands sperm. I have now discovered this is a lot more common than I could have guessed.
I think, from my experience, it is too easy for women who are desperate to get pregnant to fixate on and assume that they must have the same problem as the first other woman they come across who also has issues, therefore missing the bigger picture and not knowing to explore other avenues. One of the most annoying things you can say to a woman who has fertility issues is "Well my friend had IVF and now shes got twins! Or my frind had a stitch when she was pregnat and now her son is 3yrs old etc" as those frinds are likely to have totally different infertility causes.
I would advise your friend to go and speak to a reputable fertility clinic and ask what tests they recommend.