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Conception

When's the best time to get pregnant? Use our interactive ovulation calculator to work out when you're most fertile and most likely to conceive.

Original poster

‘Unexplained’ infertility yet our test results are great. Going for IVF but else can I investigate?

55 replies

Decaffe · 16/08/2022 09:49

Briefly, for whatever reason, I can’t get pregnant.

The plusses
My day 3 and 21 bloods are fine.
My HSG was clear and my tubes are ‘perfect.’
My antral follicle count is good for my age.
My womb appears healthy with good blood flow.
By taking ubiquinol I now regularly ovulate on cd12-13
DH’s most recent sperm tests were phenomenal (after I gave him lots of supplements to get his morphology up).

The possible minuses
I have a small dermoid cyst on one ovary but apparently it would cause more damage to take it out.
I am approaching 40.
Although I have a 15 day luteal phase, sometimes I can start spotting from 10dpo.

We are commencing IVF soon but I am convinced that it won’t work. Something is clearly wrong.

I have never had a conversation with an NHS consultant. A nurse simply reviewed the tests then referred us for IVF.

The IVF consultant was lovely but our meeting was, understandably, all about the IVF process and not about what’s wrong with us.

I want someone to tell me what’s wrong and what we can do about it.

There must be something, they simply haven’t found it yet.

Any ideas please?

OP posts:
EthicalNonMahogany · 16/08/2022 10:18

Thrombophilia disorders were behind my unexplained infertility. I think! We never found out.

Worldgonecrazy · 16/08/2022 10:17

It sounds similar to my situation. It was only when we went private, third attempt, that the clinic suggested ICSI. For whatever reason, my eggs looked perfect but had an outer layer that wouldn’t let sperm through. When we tried ICSI 16 out of 19 eggs fertilised so we went to blastocyst stage, ended up with eight fertilised, two implanted and the rest frozen.

I was 40 when DD arrived.

RudsyFarmer · 16/08/2022 10:14

Have you ever fallen pregnant op?

Shortmamashortcycles · 16/08/2022 10:12

Hi love, so sorry - infertility sucks! The only thing I'd say is that none of those investigations are focused on egg quality.

So you won't know if the DNA of your eggs or, actually, the DNA in your DH's sperm are ok or not.

You may be making a little embryo every month but there's a DNA issue that each month means it can't develop or implant.

IVF can help because they will develop the blastocysts and can do some genetic testing to see if they're normal. Not a silver bullet as they can't test for everything and the process itself can cause some embryos to get damaged, but it is worth asking about.

Another thing to check would be sperm DNA fragmentation, which is becoming more affordable.

I would definitely push for a chat with your IVF consultant to discuss egg quality and sperm quality more clearly with you. Good luck!

Separately, what supplements did you use to get your DH's morphology up? My husband's sperm is great, other than a 4% morphology score. I've got him on wellman conception which contains l-arginine and selenium and high quality ubiquinol. Any tips?

Original poster
Decaffe · 16/08/2022 09:54

We have tried the SMEP and the ‘purple’ method.

We have tried DTD twice a daily, daily, every other day and every three days.

We have tried fertility lube and we have tried the cup that holds the semen in.

OP posts: