TTC naturally after unsuccessful IVF - waste of time? But DH sperm count improved

[AnnaSteen]

My DH & I were having no luck conceiving. Went to fertility specialist who said DH sperm count was 1 million and to take wellman & come back 3 months later - it went up to 5 million and they said it’s unlikely it’d improve any more and IVF ICSI was our only option. All my tests came back normal but in our 1st round I responded badly to drugs, few eggs and no decent embryos so consultant said it implies poor egg quality / that DH sperm and my eggs don’t go well together but she can’t be sure!

In the meantime DH made some substantial overhaul to his life to prepare for IVF and give us the best chance - it turns out his count is now 18 million with good motility and classed as normal.

Given now my tests say I’m ok and DH is now normal Is it worth trying naturally again for 6 months then go back if nothing happens - or am I just deluding myself?

IVF is such an age game and if we wait then we will be older doing it and if it is an egg quality issue older again if we have to do multiple rounds.

I don’t know what to do! Any advice greatly appreciate! (I am 33)

33 sounds quite young to me still in terms of fertility. Considering you've had a bad time with your first IVF cycle, and your DH has improved sperm, it seems to make perfect sense to try naturally for a few more months. I wouldn't have thought 6 months would make much difference at your age. Perhaps, more importantly, get a second opinion on why things didn't work so well for your first cycle. There seem to be a lot of different options for drug protocols, so it might be you just need to try something different, rather than just assuming your eggs are poor quality. What was your AMH like?

Do try again naturally but as above poster says I’d look into the next round of ivf and what you can do to improve your odds.

We had ICSI and despite my husbands sperm being normal on the day we got no good quality blasts and they felt sperm was the problem. We then had his dna fragmentation checked which was high - second round they surgically removed his sperm and we ended up with one baby and two Frosties. Good luck

The first cycle is generally considered a bit of a test cycle for clinics as they won't know how you're going to react until you're in the middle of it. I would try another cycle as the clinic will most likely change your medication to try and give you a better response?
Also start taking coq10 200mg daily and a really good supplement like Proceive as both supposed to be good for helping improve egg quality?
Reduce caffeine and fizzy drinks - both full fat and diet and eat less carbs and more protein? X

Ditto for CoQ10, and a water and fat-soluble form absorbs better. Yes, there is some research on it for fertility support.

Egg quality can be improved too - Pregnacare Max is usually what clinics recomment for this as it contains a lot of good stuff to sort ovarian function out. Plus you should add co-enzyme q10. Lose weight if you need to. Exercise. Drink 2 litres of water per day. 3 months of this should give you great eggs.

Thanks all, I’ve now cut out alcohol and caffeine (bar 1 morning coffee). I’m going to Pilates & yoga once each a week. Taking Zita West supplements and following a calorie controlled diet as I would like to lose a stone (I’m not overweight - size 12 from putting on weight during IVF/general felling sorry for myself and overeating) but my natural weight before all this was a stone lighter. Having salads for lunch, salmon c3 Times a week etc. hopefully it’ll all make a difference. We’ve decided to try naturally until September and start another IVF in October. Not too hopeful it’s going to work but at least I will be IVF ready and have done my best to improve!