40+ ttc: bring on the bfp's!

[ababsurdum]

Continuation of the long-running 40+ ttc thread.

Link to the previous thread.

Fingers crossed soy works for you this time mini, it really is great stuff! If I had not taken it this month I'm sure my cycles would have continued in chaotic confusion, probably resulting in 3 months on the contraceptive pill to straighten them out (that was dr's next plan for me) so am very grateful as don't really want to waste 3 months when my fertility is already rapidly declining. All hail the soy! ;-)

Welcome hedgehog! Good luck for this month. Hopefully we'll be seeing some success stories soon

@Cleozeta thanks! Can I ask how you are taking soy? Just downloadad it starts with an egg last night but would be great to get going! Good luck.

Hi happy!

I would get onto any supplements ASAP as it can take around 3 months to really build up in your system / an egg takes 3 months to fully mature, if they’re to have any affect. (Which is what the book says) But you may be lucky anyway! Also might be worth asking to donor to do the same - on the advice of the book I put dh on a male prenatal (has Maca in it), gave him extra folate and ubiquinol- only human study so far on ubiquinol has been on men and it improves sperm (dna) - it has done the same in female mice but they’ve just not done a study yet. But most older women are likely to want to try it and forgo any placebo!

Thanks @ekphrasis can i ask what supplements you take? On a standard prenatal vitamin at the moment. I need to try and speed read that book tonight once DD asleep!

I took soy this month on cd2-6 just to encourage ov as I don't think I have for a few months now. Next month I'll try cd3-7 as later is supposed to improve egg quality, so better later if you do already naturally ov. I started on 120 for first 3 days and 160 for last 2

thank you

Happy, currently 7-8 weeks pregnant but after reading the book and a miscarriage I decided to take ubiquinol and sometimes extra folate (when I remembered!) plus pregnacare. I don’t drink much anyway and only have 1 tea a day. I tried cutting that out but wasn’t hugely successful!

Dh did the same though does drink and have more caffeine than me.

The ladies on the 40+ pregnancy thread seemed to think some extra exercise helps too, I didn’t quite get round to that though usually swim once a week.

I also took evening primrose from cd1 to ovulation to increase ewcm which it did. I found all the pills did seem to even out my cycle a bit but I sometimes ovulated a bit to early (day 9, that resulted in an early mc).

I decided against some of the other things in the book but I can’t remember why - I think it’s as I don’t have pcos or I looked up research on them and decided I didn’t need them.

This was from quite a good fertility clinic’s website, basically advises ubiquinol. It’s quite pricey - but I figured not as pricey as ivf.

http://fertility.ca/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/HFSupplementss_Info.pdf

I never got as far as soy etc but I’m hypothyroid so I’m not sure I would have tried that anyway as it can affect levels.

I knew I was ovulating though as had been tracking my cycle for a few months.

Hi Hedgehog, I'd second ubiquinol. I was also taking high dose folic acid (5mg a day) and 50mg B6 a day prior to conception (although that was mainly to try to lessen the HG I had with my daughter). I'm currently 9+1 at the age of 41. I've had three miscarriages in the last 14 months and I wasn't taking any supplements apart from pre-conception tablet then. No idea if the supplements have made a difference but not doing any harm. I also intended to up my activity levels and never got round to it, but makes sense that would help too. Oh, and the consultant also put me on low dose aspirin every day while ttc and up to 12 weeks pregnant. Obviously we're not out of the woods yet but have seen bean and heartbeat twice, and I still feel sick as a dog. Am taking those things as good signs! Best of luck with it all. Getting pregnant over 40 is tougher but by no means unlikely.

Hi step glad you’re good!

Yes I took aspirin from bfp but it has been mentioned to me by the consultant when I had my son who was low birth weight, I had a very small placenta.

Hi

Thank you so much @Ekpharsis and @StepAway (great name btw!). Wishing you the best of luck!

Have ordered Ubiquinol (yay Amazon Prime!) and some evening primrose oil. Have baby aspirin here so can add that and already on 5mg folic acid so hopefully that's a good start!!

Yay amazon!

I have to say I found the ubiquinol good for energy after a couple of months too.

Good luck! After all that you’ll get pregnant before you’ve started it....!

Hi all. What exactly is ubiquinol? Af had just arrived so I’m very annoyed and need wine.

Sending you wine - the only consolation of AF arriving

Looking online today based on the responses above Ubiquinol seems to be Coenzyme Q10 which I have heard of before but don't know much more about but found this today: natural-fertility-info.com/antioxidant-ubiquinol.html

Hi Ekphrasis, glad you're good too! How's the morning (all day) sickness going?

Rugby and Hedgehog, ubiquinol is the absorbable form of Co-enzyme Q10. Just type it in to Amazon and you'll get loads of different types x

Morning ladies.

Coming back to the 40+ group after about a year or so away - we have been ttc #1 for me (DH has 2 adult children - 28 & 24) for 3 years now after meeting in May 2014 and deciding quite quickly that we were going to be a permanent fixture in each other's lives.

I'm 45 - 46 at Christmas - and DH is 49. Fertility tests show LH and FSH are good for age; D21 bloods show some anovulatory cycles and AMH was very poor at 1.85. HyCoSy in August 2015 showed no blockages and consultant advice was donor egg ivf likely to be the only route to go down. Due to being over 43 at the time there was no other help from NHS.

GP very supportive of our journey and doing all he can to help with medication he can prescribe on NHS and with tests etc. DH slow to come round to the idea of DE IVF but agreed early this year so, after looking at costs here and abroad, we decided on a clinic in northern Cyprus. We have started this month to sync my cycle with that of the donor and should be flying out to Nicosia in around 3 weeks time.

So lovely to get back on now we're so close to our treatment happening and, all being well, bfp will be due around 20 November

Welcome back @rememberallball and wishing you the very best for your trip after the long route to get to this point x

Thank you, HappyHedgehog247

I had stayed away as there was so little we could do and I was getting carried away with how much time I was spending on mn. Now we’re so close to our ‘D-Day’ I’m getting involved again!!

Af has arrived (nice and on time, which is great as that means I must have actually ov'd) so have decided to go all out this month and went shopping for suppliments. Am going to take soy again, also purchased some evening primrose oil capsules which are supposed to help, but got confused with the ubiquinol. So many variations (and some bloody expensive!), so do we need ubiquinol or Q-10? And what quantities? And do you think it would mix ok with soy, EPO and conception vitamins? Feel like I'm going to be rattling after all this!
Also went and bought a menopause home test kit stupidly. It was only £2.79 from wilko's so thought why not. Came out as boarderline which I guess I expected but was hoping for no line (makes a change haha!)

Hi Cleo, they’re the same thing except that over the age of 25/30 or something like that, the body doesn’t convert q10 into ubiquinol, which is the biological form. So we need ubiquinol unfortunately. It was only isolated within the last 15-20 years hence the expense. It is expensive but I surmised worth it.

I got the pharma nord as I know they prescribe that one in my local boots (saw it on the shelf - for statin users, helps heart tissue). It’s bloody expensive but I found it gave me more (much needed) energy after a few weeks.

Welcome back remember!

Ok thanks step - worry I’m not always that sick but have had some bad days recently and struggling with my boobs rather a lot! How are you?

Cleo I think ubiquinol is recommended beyond 35 as it's more easily absorbed (?) I'm taking just 1 tablet a day. Took it up to ovulation last month but am going to continue through cycle. Have soy taken again this cycle, taking royal jelly and im on Seven Seas vits. Have been baby bombed by 4 friends this month and feel so deflated with whole process.

Cleozeta, yes, ubiquinol is the absorbable form of Q10. And I took so many supplements I rattled when I walked so I wouldn't worry about that!

minime, blimey - FOUR baby bombs! That's rough. Fingers crossed you'll be baby bombing people yourselves soon.

I'm ok, thanks, Ekphrasis, pretty sick and I've had two reassurance scans with good heartbeat so hoping that's all positive. 10 weeks today and 41 now! x

Thanks all, will be worth the expense if it works!

Minime - 4 baby bombs, wow thats a lot. And disheartning when still trying I bet. Hopefully you will be next

I’ve just seen this and thought it might be of use:

Fertility MOT tests 'a waste of money'
www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-41573346www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-41573346

Just read that story, very interesting!