IVF- no eggs at egg collection- has this happened to anyone else?

[Bearfacedchic]

Yesterday we had our EC after our first round of IVF. I had four mature follicles and lots of smaller ones. One of the follies was 21mm. They didn't retrieve any eggs at all and I'm quite confused as to why. The response from the consultant was that not all follicles contain eggs. My oestradial (spelling?) level was 4000 two days before which suggested there were at least 4 eggs, so where did they go? Does anyone have any ideas? Tbh the consultant seemed as mystified as we were because of the oestradial levels, but he did say (while I was quite distressed and under sedation [hmmm] that it could be that because of my BMI it might not have worked because of not being able to distribute the medication evenly. My BMI is 25.9. We have a follow-up appointment in a week and a half. If anyone can shed any light or suggest any reasons fro their own experience if be most grateful.

Also, the consultant said we'd have to wait for 6 months for round 2. We're NHS patients. Is this the norm?

Thanks in advance.

Bumping. Hopefully some experts will be along shortly! That sucks though...
BMI of 25-26 isn't really that bad at all, only just edging into overweight (I'm 29.8 and wouldn't consider myself 'fat' by any means) so I can't imagine why that would be such a big deal? How frustrating for you

Thanks Nessa. Hope you're well.

Just to add to the above, your BMI is right on the cusp of normal so that can't have been a reason! Sounds like the consultant was clutching at straws a bit! Sorry I can't help any more than that though! Best of luck for your IVF journey

Bumping.
That must have been a shock for you, hope you're ok.
You should call back for a meeting or second opinion to explain to you properly, it sounds like there is a complex reason for the follicles not being retrieved. It may be that they should put you on another protocol next time.

Hopefully someone with experience will be along soon.

Thanks for the reassurance about my BMI Nessa and Han.

We have an appointment booked Annie and yes it was a shock. Really hoping someone here has some experience they can share but I do know from Dr Google that it's perhaps more common than we think. I've found other stories of it happening, but not much about why that might relate to me. Anyway, bumping.

Oh yes and my AMH level is 17 which is very good for my age which is 35.

Sorry to keep bumping.

Can anyone help? Thanks.

Bear I'm so sorry I can imagine how shocked and upset you must be. I don't have any personal experience to add only that I've had IVF-I'm currently stimming on cycle 2. I have met someone at my clinic who didn't get any eggs, she was a bit older and had very low AMH so obviously doesn't seem anything like what's happened with you. I agree with everyone else that I can't believe your BMI has anything to do with it as it's practically in the normal range.

The only thing I can suggest is that you might get more information if you ask on fertility friends as the IVF boards get a lot of traffic.

As for waiting 6 months the advice is to wait 3 periods after a fresh cycle. But that said I'm nhs and my clinic has made me jump through so many hoops after my failed cycle that I have waited 10 months between goes.

Good luck, I hope you get some answers x

Just to say I'm so sorry Bear. That really is awful when you'll have had your hopes up. My ivf was a failure and they retrieved two eggs. I think that what went wrong for me was I was over suppressed by the buserelin and my one ovary just never bounced back. I also have a good level of AMH so there wasnt a reason my retrieval went so badly.

I have to say that I wish mine had been cancelled before egg retrieval when they saw how poorly I was responding as we had to pay for full treatment with little chance.

I'm doing short protocol next time. That might be good for you?

Thanks for the advice Nocupcakes and sorry that your first cycle didn't work. Good luck for the next one.

Thanks as well Turquoise. I'm sorry yours didn't work either. yes that is annoying about them not cancelling it. I'm NHS but I think that even if they had cancelled it, it still would have counted as one cycle used up. I just wish they had given me a higher dose of drugs when it was clear my body wasn't responding. Even the nurse said the doctor was being cautious. I triggered two days earlier than expected as well, so I think tgis has all contributed.

Thanks for your help both. It helps to have someone to chat with. X

I'm six weeks down the line but I can remember the raw pain of it not working.

Try and see it as a tester cycle where they can learn what will work for the next one. That's what I'm trying to think like. Bloody hurts though.

Yes, you're right, Turquoise. I'm trying to do that too. I'm going to get some counselling to try to help deal with it. It is bloody hard though. Wishing you loads of luck for the next round and hoping it gets easier for you.

Thanks Bear, glad you've joined our egg buddies gang now!

Thanks Bears I really hope this go works too, IVF is so blood hard emotionally let alone physically.

I think counselling is a great idea, I had some after my first IVF. I was so anxious afterwards and it really helped. I don't know about you but I find that my DH can only talk about it a bit as he finds it really stressful. I am the complete opposite as I can't stop thinking/talking about it. So it was great having an hour where I could talk non stop about it all without feeling I was being a pain!

You are right that it would still count as one of you nhs goes if it got cancelled.

It's good that your review is soon. I know your focus is going to be about not getting any eggs but it might be worth googling agates cycle review questions (it's on fertility friends) as it might give you some other stuff to think about. Given your age and good AMH I think you could have hoped for more than 4 eggs if everything had gone well.

The other thing I thought after posting is it possible that you ovulated before EC? Was your EC exactly 36 hours after trigger? Maybe your suppression drug didn't work over the last few days?

Bear I am sorry you have been through this. I had no egg at egg collection - a truly shitty experience so I do understand - such an anti climax and utter let down. Mine was a bit more clear cut though, I only made one follicle and had the shittest ever response to ivf druggage. However, as it was an nhs round, I was encouraged to go to collection as the follie was a good size and lining was good etc. On the morning of ec I felt ov pains and sure enough awoke from sedation to a very worried looking nurse. She wouldn't tell me what had happened so I bawled the place down until the cons said it looked as if I had ovulated the egg myself a few hours earlier. How I cried. I had taken the trigger at the right time but well, I guess these things happen. They did give me iui though - was that offered? Not that it worked.

For me, the next step is donor egg but as my clinic said, it is a black and white situation and ivf is highly unlikely to work for me. My antral follicle count is 2, my fsh is 10 and they know my amh and I don't want to but I am kindly assured it is very low! In your position I think it could be that another cycle could yield very different results, perhaps with a dif protocol and have you looked at dhea? I think it works for some. I find it hard to believe your weight has anything to do with it and doctors do say things sometimes that might not be very helpful at all and that another doctor would say a totally different thing.

I found the waiting for my review felt like ages and was quite down after it all. Sending you a big bear like hug and will be hoping to see you around these parts with a bfp very soon. You have enviable results from where I stand and I am sure you will get there.

Oh and as for the wait, it has been that long for me for nhs no 2 but that has been because of the donor situation. Had I been using my own eggs it would have been 3-4 months as they like you to have 3 cycles. So it prob will be sooner. I've actually appreciated the break though admittedly I didn't feel like that in December. Pester about your review date. It took three cycles for my periods to go back to normal also, they were quite heavy after ivf but are fine now. And oddly much more regular. If only they had purpose!

Bear - am so sorry but concur with everything Fox has said. Personally it sounds like they messed your cycle up. You clearly have lots of follies and so it's not a lack of egg problem- it's probably more a drug problem. Were you monitored closely? Every cycle can be so different. I met someone who had two rounds where they got no eggs but on the 3rd with careful tweaking she got plenty and she ended up pregnant with twins. Sadly with many NHS clinics it can be a one size fits all which doesn't help a lot of people. Hopefully you will get more answers though. Best of luck. I will be on to my third round in a few months and I know how bloody horrible it all is.

Thanks Fox, Joycep and Nocupcakes. This is all really helpful information and I'll definitely look up the things you mentioned.

Nocupcakes- I'm not sure if I had a suppression drug??? I was in buserlin and gonal f and my trigger shot was ovitrelle. That's all I've had. Was buserlin the suppression drug maybe as that's what I used for down regging?

Sorry that this happened to you too Fox. Hope the next round goes well.

Bear - so sorry this has happened. Although it happened many years ago, I remember the feeling all too well.
Had 2x rounds of IVF with no eggs collected. It was "just one of those things" and I was declared a "poor responder". pffft Whatever!

By the time we were doing round 3, I was told by the clinic of some research that suggested drinking milk was showing signs of higher response rates. So I spent about 2 months drinking a litre of milk a day and I also went for acupuncture. That cycle I got 8 eggs! Had 2 implanted, and I now have a wonderful 9 year old dd.

We tried again for a sibling 4yrs ago, and was told that short protocol was a "newer technique" and more suited to poor responders, I had forgotten the milk thing, and also didn't do acupuncture. They got 1 egg that was such poor quality it wasn't worth even attempting to fertilise it

Was it milk and acupuncture? I'll never know for sure but I like to think it was.
Best of luck for the time ahead.

Interesting Dishes! Might get onto the cows stuff soon then. I might try acupuncture too if I can afford it. Glad it worked and you got your son, but sorry it didn't work the second time. thanks for your good wishes though.

Hi sorry to hear of your tough time, keep your chin up- ivf can be full of unexpected surprises, twists and turns unfortunately and that's partly why the average no of cycles to achieve a successful outcome is 3.

There is something called 'empty follicle syndrome' (EFS) where everything looks good before egg collection (follicle presence, size, hormone levels etc) but no eggs are collected. Did the clinic check your hCG levels to see if you absorbed your trigger shot? If you didn't it's possible the eggs in the follicles never matured properly and if so they are difficult to retrieve them although they are there (and they wouldn't fertilise if immature anyway I'm afraid). The clinic may not have deemed it appropriate to test your hCG absorbance so if they didn't don't panic, I don't know your full story, nor am I a fertility Dr, these are just the things I do know.

Like someone else said, could you have ovulated before collection? If the consultant could still see follicles, but just couldn't retrieve eggs from them, then it is unlikely. (They probably wouldn't offer IUI with that many follicles though, even if you had ovulated-risk of multiple pregnancy far too high)

If if was EFS there is a chance of recurrence, but equally changing protocols can help, one size does not fit all, so see what they say at your appointment and I wish you a successful second egg collection and treatment.

Hi bear so sorry you're having to do this. My experience first time round was that they expected to collect 8 to 10 eggs and only got 2, 1 of which fertilized. Unfortunately that was a bfn. I remember the drugged up tearful discussion with the consultant too. I have severe endometriosis and thought maybe I grow good cyMy second round I did nothing different and they got 8 eggs and I am now nursing my week old son. I guess I'm saying that your response first time doesn't necessarily predict the next round. Try to stay positive

sorry - that was meant to say maybe i grow good cysts, not eggs. My clinic said three cycles between rounds. Good luck and hang in there. It can work.

I read that sometimes there are not no eggs its that they are stuck.
So there werent even any immature ones?
I would find out the sizes of all the follicles.
As some may have been below the 15mm anyway.

I had 8 on scan, 9 collected but only 4 mature ones.
Bfn with the 2 3day embies.

Do you have any medical conditions? As i think pcos can make this an issue.
We were told that the high number of immature eggs wouldnt be the trigger as it can be used to ripen about 40.
But i think i may be a bit resistant to hcg or the ovitrel trigger as i also had 3 immature first time.

4 follicles are not many anyway hopefully they will put you on a higher dose next time. Considering age (im also 34)
What were you on? Menopur/gonal f
There are other protocols and triggers etc
It may be worth looking at weight anyway as you have time between treatments (not that its helped me) but our clinic did say more successful treatments for lower bmi.
If you were late into the op i guess you could have ovulated them
Makes you wonder why they dont scan beforehand.
If they can tell they are ovulated then.. They would save the cost of the op. Although i guess op room time, surgeon etc. but at least the patient wouldnt have had an unnecessary op.

This waiting is awful. I did my cycle in jan and would have been able to do another this month if it didnt clash.
My cycles have been a mess since.

Depending on what the need for ivf is i have seen some people with natural pg soon after.
I certainly feel my uterus is staying bigger and am still on metformin and thyroxine.