Anyone doing ivf at 40+

[lucieloos]

We're considering doing a couple more rounds of ivf at 40.5 years old. We have 2 children already but still feel someone is missing.

Is anyone else starting or already having treatment at 40+ and would like to share the journey?

@Unicorn9 I’m sorry for your miscarriages, we have been through the same pain , the first I lost was a girl , her harmony test was perfect but when I did it she was already gone unbeknown to me . It’s very hard . Unfortunately , they corrupted my second and third sample of mc was too small so I never found out reasons for mine. I did read a lot about miscarriage testing though and girls can come back normal ( but have chromosome issues ) as the labs often pick up the mums dna . I just wanted to mention that because I was preparing for that of my last one was classed as normal that perhaps that wasn’t the case really .
I think you are doing all the right things and there’s not much more you can do . Will you keep us updated ? How did you arrange the Coventry tests by the way ? That’s one I never had done ..
I think I might get our results next week . To be honest I really don’t have any faith they will be normal , they were two average /poor blasts . Plus I read a lot and seems super rare to get normals in your 40s especially with such small numbers , you’re the first I’ve seen with so many ! I’ve already started to plan out cycling at a new clinic with banking .
Where did you cycle and what protocol ? Xx

Anyone can go to Coventry. It’s £540 for a consult with prof brosens and then two biopsies. They like to do two to make sure they have looked at more than one cycle but it takes time. You have to wait to ovulate and then 7-10 days after u do the biopsy. It takes around 4 weeks for results for each one but at least u get each result separately. Next protocol depends on our results. Egg retrieval protocol I can’t remember so well as was in August. Buserelin, gonal and menopur with ovitrelle trigger. Max dose on all with long protocol. The 18 months of miscarriages was up to March 2020 and then we have been trying to arrange since then.
We are with a clinic in Greece referred to. I think he cares and I can ask him any questions etc and he comes back to me on WhatsApp. He has worked in U.K. and I would t trust anyone else. I didn’t receive great care in uk. My recurrent miscarriage obgyn said just go away keep trying and then give up!

I’m sorry for your losses. I had read about the dna being the mums. It was 10weeks. It’s just so hard and we can’t afford more after this. I would try again. I pray every day it will work with one of these blasts but my age is an issue too I guess and why won’t it take when it’s normal? Everything else went “according to plan”.

I hope you have one at least that comes back normal. I don’t think grading matters. Lots apparently come back normal even when they look very dodgy!!

Ah I’ve been dealing with professor Quenbys secretary and she told me it required a doctors referral and there’s a three month wait on top! I didn’t think to ask about other doctors . I was happy to pay privately but Quenby is only nhs.
In terms of why pgs normal don’t implant , I found this link interesting ( at the bottom) shows depending on grade that its not always a guarantee . Of course there can be uterine reasons for non implantation etc but you have managed to be pregnant 5x in 18 months so ...
I definitely feel anxious and depressed after all the miscarriages, it’s so hard isn’t it because you’re grieving what you have lost but having to face more stress with ivf . It’s a constant rollercoaster of hope and crushed hope . It’s very difficult .
You are very lucky to have those pgs normal though and I’m really hopeful one at least will stick x

www.remembryo.com/pgs-success-rates/

Look up Implantation Clinic coventry. You just email them and I didn’t wait long. I went the month I emailed them. The consult with prof brosens was quick. It was 30 minutes online taking my history and then telling me about the biopsy.

I hope u have them come back ok. Keep me posted too. The wait is really hard and I can do empathise... I would literally phone the consultant in tears because it was so hard waiting. He kept reassuring me we had done the right thing for us.

Here is the link...
warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/med/research/biomedical/tem/bru/

Thk u for the link as well.

I definitely think it’s the right thing . I know I could try naturally and get pregnant in a couple of months but what’s the point and all the heartache of miscarriage too :/ at least with pgs you have ruled out as much as possible the ‘seed’ so it’s now a focus on the ‘soil’ otherwise you wouldn’t know if you’re miscarrying because of chromosome issues with the embryo which is the most common reason with our age .
Is this your first child? I have one ds conceived quickly and easy pregnancy. Was shocked to then have so many issues . NK cells often arise after one successful birth apparently x

Just reading about uterine killer cells . The treatment seems the same as what I had for my last pregnancy which miscarried. Steroids , progesterone . Have you ever tried any of your pregnancies with these ? I’m more sure my last one was chromosome related because the clinic through everything at it - baby aspirin, clexane to thin blood , progesterone was monitored and had injections and pessaries , thyroid pills, steroids to reduce inflammation, intralipids for killer cells.

No I’ve never tried any of the nkc treatment which is why I want to. Desperate too as think I may have it. I have one dd. Had a miscarriage before her and then her three months later after miscarriage pregnancy took. Since then all the miscarriages. We were surprised too especially after so many. Is it ok to take prednisone and intralipids. It scares me a bit but I have an instinct that this is what has been causing mine...

Yes though treatment would be the same except if it came back as low nkc then they give u some sort of anti diabetic medication.

The treatments I had were fine . I was with Argc . I didn’t have any side affects other than progesterone injections are a bit painful . You can pay argc to monitor a pregnancy and then you get treatments and scans . If I was lucky to get pregnant again , even at another clinic I’d go back to argc to have all the medications and tests . I actually knew my last pregnancy was failing at 6 weeks because I was having hcg monitored and it was doubling every 5 days suddenly so at least I was prepared when heartbeat stopped during week 8 . It was expensive to do the monitoring though but obviously if you’ve got this far we’ll do anything to support the pregnancy.

My sister In law also had a lot of miscarriages but went on to have two successful pregnancies at 41 and 43 with steroids and aspirin .

Sorry keep thinking of something else ! My consultant said people with inflammatory response and killer cells often have one healthy pregnancy which the body ‘allows’ but it is then armed and ready for the next one to reject it . Do you have a weird blood group by any chance , I’m rhesus negative and we can be more prone to these kind of responses I read too .
I think if you throw everything at the next pgs normal , hopefully , it will have a very good chance 🤞

I don’t have anything strange re blood group that I know of. My consultant in Greece monitors me until I get to 12 weeks if I am lucky enough to get there. He uses a clinic here where he used to work to do the scans etc or provides u with other places you can use. He then reviews ultrasounds bloods etc from his end. Obviously all the scans and bloods are then paid for by us so not included in any treatment as such but I would pay it too. Thank u for all the thoughts and add ins. Hopefully it will work and I will get the other things thrown at me so that it will give me more hope! Just have to hope results come back high now. Never wished for an abnormal result until trying to have a baby again...

Thank u again so much for responding with thoughts and ideas. There is a website called fertility for the soul and this lady had two children in her 40s, one at 45/46 I think. She is a counsellor and gives YouTube videos on fertility.

When do your results come out for the pgt? No worries if u would rather keep it to yourself. Are you managing to keep busy?

No worries ! I know how lonely it all feels . I don’t know many people other than my sister in law who have more than one miscarriage. It’s so heartbreaking. You can get pregnant which is what a lot of people struggle with but I’d rather not get pregnant with the thought it will repeatedly end . Every day of pregnancy is full of terror , it’s awful . It will hopefully feel better for you with everything thrown at the next one .
I think next week . I’m not actually stressed about it because I expect abnormals , Or may be I’m just used to bad news now ! . I’ve already moved on in my mind . I’m planning the next clinic and banking . It was interesting you did full stimms and got three normals . I was wondering if the high stimms had affected the quality of embryos and was looking at mild stimms next x

I have no idea. My AMH was 10 a year ago so 11 eggs is what he expected. I was disappointed. It was my first ivf and I thought you needed at least 15 but now I know it’s not always a numbers game. The two best follicles were empty... I agree re miscarriages. I think I was so disappointed by the ivf failure because it was the one part I thought my body could do... get pregnant and then it didn’t even do that now. I expected to be anxious after I got a positive. How naive I was... good luck for next week. I admire ur planning ability. What were u thinking of doing next?

Wow your amh is really good , mine was 5.8 a year ago , and only have 7 antral follicles so that seems to make a difference in ivf . I was thinking a couple of banking rounds with crgh if they accept me on mild stimms . I looked at natural modified too . It’s hard I need high egg numbers really but I was on highest stimms possible and only got 7 and probably one of those people who never get more than two embryos whatever I do . I would like to try mild just to see if it’s easier and makes any difference, might end up with worse result , not sure . To figure anything out you seem to have to try different types of ivf , all costly , esp with few embryos and paying for pgs each time . I’ll have to do banking to make it worthwhile sigh x

Yes , I never realised til I read that pgs may not even implant or miscarry . I mean how can we implant all these bad ones and miscarry , yet a good one comes along and ... argh x

I just put this in another thread and feel so bad

I got one normal the 5bb omg . The other one would have led to miscarriage they reckoned one extra and one less chromosome. Should I implant the one I got or do another round to get more ? In total shock

Omg that’s amazing news! What would u like to do or what does consultant say?

It’s hard to know what numbers are good or not when you don’t know what others have. I am so chuffed for you re the results!

We went overseas as we enquires about pgt here and they wanted £13k by the time we would have been done. It’s hard to know what to do in any circumstance. I read somewhere that you just have to “trust the process” and maybe that’s true because you had one normal! Whoop whoop.

My friend did ivf and she got pregnant both times first try...

Thanks hun 🥰 I haven’t spoken with consultant yet . I might just transfer it . If it fails to implant I’ll then do banking and more cycles . I’m just amazed one came through , I thought all my eggs were awful with so many miscarriages. Also got me thinking like you - is my eggs or my body causing the miscarriages. It’s scary x

@Sunshinelove8 Fantastic news on your PGS, results came back quickly too! I read you had 2 blasts in the end, so to get 1 normal is brilliant. 5BB is really good grading too, fingers crossed this works and you don’t need all those future plans you were making.

Also, thanks for the PGS link you posted to Unicorn9, I’ve been reading your chats with interest.

I started my second cycle this week, hoping I can get more blasts in the freezer to PGS at the end of my package.

@IslandStars thanks , I’m totally amazed myself . All doctors tell me is I’m old and have bad eggs so it’s nice to at least have some good news and same for unicorn - is older ladies do have some ok embryos so I hope it gives you and others some hope . I had none tbh . Of course pregnancy and a baby is another thing but I’ll take a night off to be happy for once ! I saw a lot against pgs on threads but I imagine if I’d transferred the other one or both were bad , just couldn’t cope with that. Personally , I’d rather keep looking for good ones . Of course they can miscarry too but at least a big reason at our age is removed . When will you finish cycling and which clinic are you at? X

@Betty135 how are you getting on ? X