Tips for successful IVF

[turquoisegirl6]

I'm about to embark on IVF and wondered if people would mind giving me their tips/ experiences of what they did on successful rounds. Would really appreciate anything in the weeks beforehand, on the day of transfer and also in the 2 week wait that you feel helped make it successful. Thanks :-)

Anyone? Thanks

Bump

Morning! My experience of IVF is probably outdated as my IVF babies are 10 & 13 but I don’t think there is a lot you can do unfortunately. The obvious is eat well, exercise, keep stress levels low (yer right ) and get lots of rest but really, as my IVF consultant said to me, it’s just luck .

My third cycle (the successful one) was the one where I kept things as normal as possible (my first 2 cycles I’d booked the 2ww off work ), but who knows if that was the key?

I wish you all the luck in the world OP - no one who hasn’t been through it understands one iota of the stresses involved so above all be kind to yourself .

I have had two rounds of IVF my first gave me my five year old daughter and I am currently pregnant with my second.
I had a couple of frozen cycles in between which were not successful.

It seemed to me the more relaxed about things I was the better.

On one frozen cycle I spent a fortune on acupuncture drank lots of pomegranate juice and generally did lots of things To try help (I had issues with thin womb lining) and this was actually my worse cycle

I think eat healthy exercise take the right prenatal vitamins, pamper yourself and have a clear plan..... eg I'm willing to try x amount of times and after that I will consider....

Good luck, it can be difficult but also amazing once it all comes together

Hi OP

I don’t have any ‘hints or tips’ unfortunately but I am a fairly laid back person and don’t get stressed over things easily. Of course the whole process of TTC was very emotional and there were lots of tears every time I found out someone I knew was pregnant but I went to all of my appointments with a positive attitude and didn’t read too much into things. I didn’t know until I had my investigations that I had an endometrioma and a possible PCO, then came the low AMH level... but in our first round they took 19 mature follicles, 9 became good quality embryos and the first one took. I understand we are extremely lucky but like I said I didn’t do anything special as such. I exercise regularly but didn’t change up my diet or anything like that! And took folic acid every day. Just try and be relaxed and as optimistic as possible and good luck! ☺️

Thanks all. It sounds like relaxing is the key. What about resting up after the transfer or should I continue as normal? Any foods to have/avoid? I wasn't sure if I should avoid particularly hot or cold foods.

I'm pregnant following IVF. I honestly think that nothing I did or could have done at any stage of the process had any impact whatsoever. It's all down to luck. In a way, that thought is very freeing.

@turquoisegirl6 I had arranged a week off work which did actually end up being a few weeks due to falling pregnant and covid. I was at risk of OHSS and the bloating was really bad! I honestly wouldn’t have been able to work (I know that sounds dramatic but it hurt to even walk🙈). After that passed I felt absolutely fine.

@turquoisegirl6 good luck with the cycle. I did 2 rounds of IVF in 2018. The second resulted in my DD. We then did a frozen transfer last year which ended in miscarriage and are now halfway through a fresh cycle.

Don't let yourself worry too much about being relaxed. Yes in an ideal world it will make it easier if you can relax but very few women going through IVF are relaxed so don't get too fixated on it. The key advice I always give to people is "don't worry about the worry".

I think the key thing is to trust your clinic (if you can). When we go through infertility we spend so much googling and trying to work out what we need to do. Once you get to the clinic you need to hand the decision-making over to them. That can be easier said than done of course - I go to a great clinic but I also had a cycle at a different clinic which was utter chaos.

Incidentally the chaotic clinic led to my DD. So that's the other thing. As other people have said there's a lot of luck. If you get that good embryo and the environment is right then it can work.

If you really want to research there are lots of diet tips etc you can do to prepare for any future cycles but I wouldn't get too worried about that. I only discovered that research as I embarked on my second cycle and it takes 3 months to take effect but that was my successful cycle anyway. So don't stress about it but if you want to research in the future, It Starts With an Egg is basically the bible of IVF diets and supplements x

3 months ahead your DH should eat lots of vitamins & give up drinking. You should do ... whatever you feel you need to do so that if/when it doesn't work, you don't blame yourself. Might include time off work, rest, acupuncture, posh vitamins, meditation, blah di blah, might involve you carrying on as normsl. I don't think any of it makes a real concrete difference to the implantation. But it is super important that you feel happy with your choices, as it's about you protecting your mental health through the process. Therapy helped me handle the ups and downs.

Practically speaking, if you have unexplained infertility/implantation failure I would get the thrombophilia blood work done ideally before IVF as they often don't do it as standard and it can be the reason why it doesn't work etc.

It had a much bigger impact on me than I thought it did and I went a bit mad when it was all over and we had stopped..

I also agree you might feel dodgy just before EC (bloated etc) and in between EV and transfer. That's when I took time off usually.

I'm someone who found IVF very tough and stressful. There's nothing you can do really in terms of increasing the chance of success (I actually did the wrong things, lots of comfort eating and put on weight during our successful cycle!).

In terms of looking after your mental health, it depends what works for you, but I tried taking a week off work first cycle and then with the second I kept busy, and that worked much better for me, took my mind off it.

Don't test early - it's so tempting but just makes it more of a rollercoaster. I also booked a weekend away at the time I was due to test so whatever the outcome there was something nice to keep me going.

My first IVF was successful. I actually agree with PPs who have said there's almost nothing you can do to affect it (y'know, as long as you stay off the hard drugs etc ).

That said, I engaged in all kinds of crap that made me feel better, and I agree with @wateruniform - as long as you feel happy with your choices, that's the most important thing. So get tips by all means but only do whatever feels right and don't worry about anything else.

My doctor said stress isn't a factor unless it becomes distress, and that helped me to feel calmer. So relax if you can, but if you can't, don't stress about it!

In the 2ww I meditated and visualized the embryo implanting, ate pineapple core, kept my feet warm, had lots of tv shows that made me laugh lined up (I heard laughter helps!). In fact I meditated throughout because I found it relaxing (there are meditation videos for different stages of IVF on YouTube if it's your thing. If it isn't your thing, don't do it). Some people swear by acupuncture but that wasn't for me. I tried to imagine myself being pregnant and told myself it would work for me (difficult to believe after a long time of infertility but I was determined to be positive).

Before egg collection, I took ubiquinol, vit d, folate, fish oil capsules and ate very well, lots of salad and nuts etc. I heard it was important to keep warm after transfer so I ate soups and stirfried veg rather than salad at that stage. I walked for exercise, nothing too strenuous.

About a week into my 2ww I decided that if the embryo was good and the environment not terrible, that I wouldn't be able to stop it working and I relaxed, but I enjoyed all the measures I had taken (rather than stressed about them). Even if they did nothing else, they made me feel I was doing something and trying my very best.

Also agree with @Xdecd don't test early. There is almost never anything to be gained by it. I read lots of 5dp5dt BFP stories so when I tried it early I was devastated to get a BFN. I got my first super faint BFP in the evening of 8dp5dt so all that upset was for nothing. Even if you get an early BFP, you worry about how early it is and that you could have a chem, so you wish the time away to official test date anyway. Pregnant until proven otherwise so wait to test if you can (and not everyone can - I couldn't!)

Finally, be prepared for nothing to go to schedule! Someone told me the same but the process had gone so well for me at every stage that I thought it would go to plan. I got OHSS unexpectedly on the day of egg collection which meant no fresh transfer and a 2 month delay until FET.

I wish you the best of luck. Infertility is awful and cruel, and IVF is tough physically and emotionally, but as a @81Poppy said, amazing when it all comes together 🤞

My tip would be is to speak to your Occ health if you have one as I found the process really messed with my memory and concentration, it was difficult until I spoke to my ‘big boss’ rather than my line manager and he was really supportive.

And good luck- I forgot to say that xxx
Also I forgot about pineapple core! Jeez I ate a load of pineapple! It takes me back.

I had a completely different approach to testing, I tested the whole time. I tested the trigger shot out of my system. I tested for negatives then right up to 9dp6dt or whatever. For various reasons it was important to me to know if I had a chemical pregnancy or a hint of anything, even if it didn't work. I took the line that every cycle of IVF is diagnostic as well as intending to get me up the duff. I think that was part of how I channeled my control freakery in the face of something totally uncontrollable!