endometrial scratching

[MrsMidge0505]

I am new to this, just had our 2nd fresh IVF fail getting AF one day before test and of course the BFN result. I am NHS but at a Nuffield Woking and they have never mentioned any extras such as the scratch or embryogen... What else is there?
What are your scratch experiences please?
And is there anything else people can comment on to help it embed!

Hi, so sorry for your bfn. My fresh transfer failed, so I decided to throw everything at my fet. Had the scratch (very uncomfortable but not sore), embryo glue and acupuncture before and after transfer. It worked, although I'll never know if any of those made any difference. The scratch in my opinion has the most evidence behind it. Good luck x

Hi. I had the scratch as part of a clinical cycle my first round and it was a bfn. My doctor said the only evidence of it helping is in cases of multiple implantation failure (more than 3) so I haven't had it again but might again in future if this round fails.

Hi OP. I'm sorry IVF hasn't worked for you yet. I had a scratch before my positive FET cycle (DD is now 4) having had 2 x previous FETs with 2 x high-grade embryos implanted in each cycle and not a whiff of a BFP. However, I also had Clexane and IVIG before and after transfer- so I'm not sure if it was the scratch that made the difference- or the above- or none of it and it was just the lucky roll of the dice! Good luck. X

Hi, so sorry to hear about your BFN.
I didn't have the scratch for my fresh NHS cycle and the first transfer failed. When I went back for an NHS FET, I had the scratch as part of a trial and that worked - DS is now 17 months.
I've just been back to same clinic for a self funding FET and they couldn't do the scratch for me so I went to another clinic who were happy to perform it, even though I wasn't cycling there. It cost me £150 and I'm currently in my 2ww so don't know if it has worked again yet.
My advice would be that it is worth a try as it's a fairly low cost, in the grand scheme of IVF costs.

Sorry to hear your cycle has failed.

I had a scratch before either cycle 4 or 5, I forget now. The cycle failed though.

The scratch wasn’t that painful- I found the HSG much more painful. As clickncollect points out, the cost of a scratch is pretty low in the grand scheme of IVF costs so it might be worth a try especially if the embryos you had transferred on your 2 previous cycles were of good quality.

Hi, I've been a patient at the Nuffield. Our fresh cycle worked first time but when we went back for a sibling we didn't have as much luck. After 3 failed frozen cycles mr riddle suggested a scratch and the 4th cycle immediately afterwards did work. I think he probably wouldn't suggest it yet but if you ask and are willing to pay for it as an extra procedure (it isn't much, I recall a couple of hundred pounds, I had mine in march) I don't see that he'd refuse. He is quite anti all the extras usually but there is evidence for the scratch even if they don't really understand how it works. It didn't hurt but I didn't have a good time with the pain relieving suppository I was given!!
I'm not sure what embryogen is, sorry.

Sorry to hear it didn't work for you this time. We had a scratch both cycle one (NHS, fresh, BFN) and cycle two (NHS, FET, BFP). I have no idea if it helped at all. We had much better embryos cycle two.

It was mildly painful for perhaps 30 seconds. As a pp said, nothing like my experience of an HSG!

Scratch, glue and acupuncture worked for me on my FET in 2013 but not my fresh or FET in 2016.

Hi. So sorry your cycle wasn't successful this time.

I had the scratch with my positive IVF cycle. Was pretty painful but over quickly. I would have it again - as others have said the cost is relatively low.

I also had acupuncture which I think made a real difference.

I was put to sleep for my scratch so didn't feel a thing. Mind you they took some photos of my womb while they were in there.

Thank you very much everyone. We are def having the scratch and I am sorting acupuncture as well. May as well try.
I asked my nurses about Maca powder as well and he told me not to waste my
Money!!