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Infertility

Our Infertility Support forum is a space to connect with others in the same position, discuss causes, treatment and IVF, and share infertility stories of hope and success.

Just had appointment followed failed IVF cycle

4 replies

Georgina125 · 21/07/2020 12:43

In June I had my first IVF cycle. Due to severe endometriosis, it is unlikely I can conceive naturally. Despite a low-key AMH, I got a decent number of eggs but unfortunately only 2 made it to Day 5. One was transferred back and the other frozen. Sadly, I started bleeding just 5 days after transfer. I was given extra progesterone and oestrogen, which stopped the bleeding but still got a BFN.

Today, I spoke to the consultant about the plan going forward for the frozen transfer. I am on Zoladex (28 day implant) currently to manage my endometriosis and hoped to transfer after this but he wants me to take another injection in 2 weeks. Then wait for it to wear off and have a natural bleed before doing the transfer. He thinks this will be some point in September. This seems like such a long time to wait. And assumes my body plays ball and has a bleed. Some women take 3 months to bleed after Zoladex.

He went on to go through medication. We agreed to leave off the clexane injections in case they caused bleeding following my last transfer (and because there's no evidence I need it). He was very dismissive of the intramuscular progesterone and said there's no evidence they help. I insisted on keeping them though because they stopped my bleeding and it makes sense to me that the embryo stands a better chance if I'm not bleeding.

Finally he said that whilst they collected a good amount of eggs from me, there was a disappointing drop off between Days 3 and 5 and there could be an egg quality issue.

He says we still have a good chance but the whole conversation has made me wonder if we are wasting our time. Having to wait so long between attempts will surely just deteriorate my eggs further. And if they are bad quality, surely we are just wasting our time thinking IVF could work.

Would the clinic be honest with me if I an just wasting my time here?

OP posts:
ivfdreaming · 21/07/2020 13:01

It's hard for clinics because often the first cycle is a bit of a tester cycle to see how you react and what happens. I know people don't like to hear that especially if they only intend one cycle as it's a very expensive trial run. I felt like my clinic thought my first cycle was a "one off" - rubbish egg quality less than 30% fertilised from 14 eggs so they didn't propose any changes for cycle 2 and we were a bit naive and went along with it and thought upping supplements and healthy living would improve egg quality. BUT same thing happens cycle 2. I then pushed to change to natural modified IVF and did a 3 cycle package as you target a LOT less eggs and am now 8 weeks with twins and 2 more top quality blastocysts frozen. BUT it took 5 cycles for the clinic to really start to predict my individual response to IVF protocols

So in answer to your question I don't think clinics can necessarily be honest as they just don't know if the 2nd cycle will be different - every month you can have a completely different response!

It was always my understanding that drop off from day 3 to day 5 had more to do with sperm quality than egg quality anyway.....

BabySweet85 · 21/07/2020 14:15

I have only had one round of IVF so I think I was just put on the basic model. I did have some enlightening test results before my IVF which told me I have a low AFC. That news sent me into overdrove about improving my quality of eggs. If you think egg quality may be an issue, I would be happy to share what I did to improve my chances as I am currently 5+6.

I don’t have any experiences or knowledge with endometriosis so can’t help on that front but know there are lots of women in this community that could share thoughts on that.

EL8888 · 21/07/2020 23:18

@ivfdreaming my understanding was the same about sperm and after day 3?

ivfdreaming · 21/07/2020 23:44

@el8888

Yes my friends with male factor were all advised it's the fathers dna which becomes dominant day 3-5 and before that it's more to do with the maternal dna

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