5th IVF - aspirin and prednisone?

[ShaunTgirl]

Hi, I am having 5th IVF next month (frozen donor embryo) having been unsuccessful in Autumn with fresh donor embryo transfer and again in November with FET ( 1st 2 unsuccessful attempts were with my own eggs in 2015).
Each time last year we elected to only have single embryo transferred as were so sure of success.

Anyway in run up to transfer I was prescribed 6mg of Progynova daily and a week before date for transfer I added on 800mg Utrogestan daily.

I am due to start Progynova again but also have been prescribed a low dosage aspirin as well as prednisone. Can anyone explain what these 2 medications do (obviously I know they must be of help in some way).

Finally we only have 2 embryos left, should we just have both transferred in hope one will take? Am worried that these weren't judged as "good quality" for 1st and 2nd attempt but my last chance.
We are having treatment overseas so each attempt involves flights/hotels as well as time off of work so really hoping 3rd time lucky.
Many thanks for any advice.

I asked about aspirin and abroad said no need for it but also wouldn't do any harm if I wanted to take it

I didn't

Our 5th worked. Was a fet from our 3rd fresh cycle - now 31/5

Good luck

How old are you? Do you want twins?

We chose one each time as didn't want twins at 43

Tho 2nd cycle when think was 39/40 we had 3 back in and all failed

Im taking 75mg aspirin at the moment in my 3rd pregnancy. Natural conception but have had an mmc then stillbirth.

Aspiring things your blood and is worth taking as a precaution incase you have thick blood which prevents the baby implanting / placenta forming correctly and giving nutrients to baby. As far as i know.

There are a lot of succesful stories of people taking aspirin. Are you on progesterone? Another thing that tends to give a lot of success stories so could be worth doing both?

Donor embryo I'd put one back as if the uterine environment is good then there's a good chance likely both will take. If not then neither will take

ginger OP is already on progesterone, that's what utrogestan is. For any IVF cycle progesterone is a mandatory - esp for a donor cycle where the oestrogen suppresses ovulation so you don't make any progesterone of your own x

BTW my Dr has me take aspirin post ET only because of the risk of concealed bleeding from the introduction of the transfer catheter. I take both aspirin and clexane post ET due to recurrent miscarriage of chromosomally normal embryos

Oh apologies im not familiar with ivf. Aspirin is definitely worth a try!

They build the lining up to make it nice for the embryos

As you are having donor eggs you may have an injection to stop own eggs

Or will work with your natural cycle and start the 6mg on day 1 of period

Basically a donor cycle is like a fet in terms of medication

I take 75 of aspirin now but due to dvt years ago

Thanks for responses.
I have just turned 44. I had diphereline injection only on fresh donor transfer and not with last frozen and this upcoming one. Both times has just been timed around when I last bled.
I already have a 7 year old (natural conceived when youth was on my side!).
We don't specifically want twins (also know harder to carry due to my age) but had been lead to believe that if implant 2, if one fails still have hope that other implants??? But if I had 2 implanted and both took I would still be happy!
I don't want to have another cycle as stressful and expensive and really hoping 5th time will be the one.

It's certainly possible OP. But with donor embryos the egg quality is likely to be excellent and twins are much more likely

The stats from my clinic show that in women under 37 (or women of any age with donor egg or embryo) the success rates of single and double blast transfer are pretty much the same. But the chances of twins if you do get pregnant are 1 in 2.

The national HFEA statistics bear this out. For donor embryo your own age is irrelevant, the age of your donor will be under 35 so you're looking at those stats

So the difference in success rates between single and double blast transfer is in the order of 2%

Have they suggested an era. It's a mock cycle where they take a scrape of lining would do et so usually day 19/20

They usually suggest one if had 3 failed and looks like you have had 4

2 own and 2 donor

Might be worth doing this first to see if need extra days progesterone and thus saving a precious embryo from going to waste if lining isn't quite right

At what point is it best to take aspirin, should it be a few months prior to IVF or just after the embryo transfer? I've been recommended it to aid implantation in FET.

My consultant told me not to start aspirin until the day after ET due to the risk of concealed bleeding from the introduction of the transfer catheter, in case a small bruise formed under the endometrium that could compromise implantation

Thanks Banana, so the aspirin must be pretty fast acting if only starting at ET, what dose were you on? Had my review appointment and baby aspirin and high dose folic acid were suggested to aid implantation. How are you doing? Not been on here much, been having a break from all things infertility before it all begins again, though of course it's always in the back of my mind

Yep. Washout time is 48h. It's not so much to aid immediate implantation as to help an implanting embryo to stick, by improving blood flow

I don't know why folic acid would help with implantation, that's an interesting one. I was prescribed high dose folic acid because I have epilepsy, and folate helps to prevent neural tube defects. I don't know that it has any role in implantation? Prednisolone, intralipids and clexane would be the usual options to consider for recurrent implantation failure, not sure how folic acid would help at this stage?

Sadly I'm at the end of the road with my fertility journey, I posted an update on the multiple failures thread - my uterus is clearly just not up to the job, and if we want to have a baby the only chance will be to transfer into someone else 😓

Oh no Banana, I'm so sorry. Infertility is so unfair, you've thrown everything at it, and when you see how easily some people conceive, many who don't even want to be pregnant, it's just rubbish :-(

I'll have a look into the folic acid thing, I am on it and have been for years, but not high dose. After all this time I'll give anything a go!