Embryo Banking Support Thread / PGS wait

[ForeverAintEnough]

Hi all, I’ve just name changed but I’ve been on here loads and chatting to many of you under different user names ( irrational fear of being outed!). I wondered if there was interest in a ‘no transfer happening’ group? So those doing embryo banking or PGS or whatever.

I’ve just done one round of embryo banking and found the normal threads difficult with discussion of hoping for a Christmas pregnancies etc.

We are unfortunately taking the long way round with 3 rounds and no transfer. It looks like my first transfer might not be until June 2021.

If anyone wants to jump on feel free!

About us: Me 34, DH 36, TTC 3 years. Both male and female issues. x3 rounds of IVF all failed. Moved clinic to Lister for 3 rounds of embryo banking and PGS. One round of embryo banking just finished with x3 blasts sent off for PGS testing.

@IslandStars I'm so sorry. Take all the time you need but we're here if you ever need us. This just sucks sometimes xxx

@IslandStars

I’m sorry. I know how I felt when I was TTC my first. I had two failed IVF transfers before success. IVF is so difficult, but you’ve done so well to keep going. Take some time for yourself.

Sorry for being a bit out of touch. Been a bit dragged down with feeling depressed etc and also got locked out of my account and have set up a new one. @IslandStars I am so very sorry to hear your news. I hope you are able to cope with this and can find a way through the feelings and next steps. You may want to consider counselling to help. My best wishes and prayers are with you as this is a very painful experience. @2021ivfagain @Ivfhoper glad you managed to add to your batching rounds. We got 12 day 3 embryos from 3 rounds which turned into 7 blastocyst and 3 PGS normal so your numbers are a healthy start. I never used DHEA. I did read about it and the side effects bothered me a bit but it never came up in any of my consultations. I am having my ERA, ALiCE etc quartet biopsy on Tuesday. Hoping it goes ok this time and they manage to get a sufficient sample (I am repeating ERA as sample wasn’t adequate last time) and that my endometriosis is in check after the round of antibiotics. If all is ok, my consultation is on 17th December and then hopefully I can proceed with an actual embryo transfer (the NK cells treatment will need intralipids or steroids apparently too so Paul Serhal needs to advise on that as my consultant can’t). I worry crgh will have a backlog so not sure it it will proceed quickly or not. I need to desperately get back into healthy eating as need to shed weight before a transfer. Am on the cusp of obesity and my BMI is too high. Grateful for any diets or nutritionists ideas you may have! Eating pizza for two days isn’t a great start! 😞 I hope you are all well and the next stages of your treatment go well.

@Sarahk20000 thank you for your kind message. I am doing my next round in January. This month I am hoping to undergo some PRP treatment which apparently improves ovarian function.

Good luck with all your next steps, I hope it all goes well.

My diet has been terrible, I adore pizza and love chicken biryani - neither are considered healthy foods. I asked my Dr at CRGH about exercise and she said no heavy exercise, avoid gym, but long medium paced works are recommended.

How is Dr Serhal? I had an encounter with Dr Saab and he was so unpleasant. My Dr might be on leave next year I have been warned so I might need to pick someone else...

@islandstars I am sorry, I am sending love and prayers your way.

@Ivfhoper I haven’t interacted with Dr Serhal. My consultant is Dr Khanjani and she is good but her availability is difficult as she works a very limited time with CRGh in a week. My friend has had success with his baby girl and has a great relationship with Dr Ali who he recommended to me (I stupidly thought the doctor you choose does your procedures and preferred a female but realised later it didn’t matter!!) - dr Ali did my quartet procedure today and my previous transfer and seems to have a great manner so you may want to try him. You chose two of my favourite foods too 😂 no hope for me haha

@SarahK2000 @Ivfhoper @Sarahk20000

I’m sorry for the delay, but I’m not feeling good at present. In fact, I’m having trouble sleeping and everything is getting to me.

I had my consultation and left feeling very confused and anxious. My first cycle was good but I’ve been told my next might not go so well. I had 15 follicles last time but might need to do dhea for the last cycle just in case everything goes badly.

Because I might not get my norethisterone on time and because the clinic is closed until 30th December I would be over suppressing my ovaries if I took more norethisterone. So I might have to wait until end of January to start stimming.

I’m not sure if I should just take dhea to avoid wasting time. I cannot try naturally due to mfi. It would be a miracle if that happened, but it would be good as well.

Sorry for feeling so rubbish but I don’t know what to do next. My husband is great but he does not know what to say.

Hope you all are doing ok.

@Janefx40

I meant to add your name too. Hope you’re doing ok. I’m feeling stressed and anxious. My consultant said that it was a rush to get my eggs out, but my amh is 16 and fsh is 6.7. That’s without going on dhea.

I don’t know what to think. I know that I should be prepared just in case, but now I feel really stressed and anxious. Did you feel the same at this stage? I’m 40 and thought my results were good. In fact I had a letter saying my amh was good.

@2021ivfagain sorry you're feeling crap. It's a tough time. Your consultation sounds confusing. If you first cycle was good, what makes them think the next one won't be good? I'm hoping my period will start on 28th Dec so I can be there straight away for the 30th Dec baseline scan. I don't know your timings but noresthisterone is fairly easy to get. Maybe they could fax your prescription to a local chemist? These closures are such a pain especially as they didn't tell us early enough to make it all work.

@Sarahk20000 sorry you've been feeling so down. How did the Biopsy go yesterday? Fingers crossed they get a good enough sample this time. I followed a fertility diet as much as I could before but if anything I gained weight so that's not much use!!

@Ivfhoper sorry Dr Saab wasn't nice. I have Mr Theodorou who is lovely. Would recommend.

@2021ivfagain sorry you are feeling the way you are..totally understandable in this game of IVF..an added level of anxiety plays in when delays happen too. All so frustrating. I am not sure why your consultant thinks your next cycle will be worse. I did all my cycles post 40 with an AMH of 19/20 and the first cycle was the worst in terms of numbers of eggs collected and the next 2 led to the normal blastocysts and higher numbers, the last one was a write off. Whilst I get age adds a decrease in viable eggs surely it can’t be so dramatic that it happens one cycle to another cycle. If your consultant is advising on DHEA you should take it. And I agree Northisterone is easy to access and you can call the nurses to send to you in the post or your pharmacy. I think your point might be that due to the closure you will be having it beyond the recommend day 14-25 (or 30 max) days following your period. And are losing a month due to this. I am due my day 25 around end of December so am hoping they let me start a transfer cycle at the beginning of the year (depending on how results from quartet go). @Janefx40 thanks for asking about my biopsy. The doctor tried to take extra tissue this time so let’s hope it was sufficient. I feel much better after it than I did following the hysteroscopy and biopsy last time. No where near as much bleeding etc like before so am relieved by that. Yes you are right Dr Theodorou was good, he did some of my egg collections and had a really direct and friendly manner. Best wishes to all of you.

@2021ivfagain @Sarahk20000 @Janefx40

I had my consultation, and even though there will be no IVF this month, I have been given the go-ahead to do some PRP [ovarian rejuvenation]. My Dr said another patient in her 40's with a low ovarian reserve was successful after a PRP treatment.

My friend lives in the US, she did 2 rounds to bank embryos and was unsuccessful. She got 6 eggs each time but they didn't make blastocyst. Then she had PRP in Connecticut, got 7 eggs and 3 PGS normal embryos!

There are also plenty of scientific journals reporting on it's success.

@Ivfhoper I had never heard of PRP but you are right the latest research sounds promising for both egg collections and transfers. Good luck with this, and fingers crossed it results in more viable embryos for you 😊

@sarahk20000

My Dr at CRGH is very keen on this treatment and I have seen a close friend of mine benefit from it. I will be taking this treatment without a doubt.

The research in relation to PRP is staggering - some women who were into menopause were able to then produce eggs and have children from their own eggs.

Wow @Ivfhoper that sounds amazing. Wish I had heard of PRP sooner. When do you start taking it?

@Janefx40

PRP is platelet rich plasma - the blood is taken from your body and put into a centrifuge where the plasma is extracted from your blood. Then the plasma is injected into your ovaries.

The treatment awakens "sleeping" follicles and improves ovarian activity. It is also called Ovarian Rejuvenation.

It is not available anywhere in the UK. I am flying out to a clinic in Europe on Monday morning to have the treatment.

There are a few articles about the success of the treatment:

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32700285/
www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fendo.2020.00050/full
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31271054/
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33457137/

There are hundreds of peer-reviewed medical articles you can read through. The evidence supporting the treatment is very strong.

@Ivfhoper

That sounds amazing. It is a shame that the U.K. are behind. From what I’ve read, this helps older women so you have a very good chance as you are young. I expect you’re excited.

You’ve already got a lot of day 3 embryos, so you will be doing really well. Keep us posted. Where in Europe is it?

@2021ivfagain those are not day 3 embryos my dear, they are just eggs, I am collecting all eggs and then will fertilise them. Due to my low ovarian reserve egg accumulation has been recommended by my doctor.

The treatment helps ovarian function in general.

There are clinics in Greece, Turkey, Cyprus, Italy and Spain that offer the treatment. Also in the US. Lots of options.

@Ivfhoper
Oh. I assumed it would be similar to my protocol. Due to mfi, we did IMSI on the same day as retrieval. That makes sense then that you have done so many retrievals, but as you are younger you will have a lot more good eggs.

Good luck

@2021ivfagain
Thank you. I hope I will have more good eggs but there is no way of knowing.

I will keep you updated as to how the treatment goes. There are different types of ovarian rejuvenation and I'm going to try out the least invasive one at first - the PRP. Hopefully it will help.

I can't wait to start my next egg banking round, I'm almost addicted to this!

@Janefx40 @Ivfhoper
Thanks for your messages. My consultant has said due to age only I might benefit from a low dose of dhea. The problem is Pharmasure have stopped selling it. Could someone recommend a brand they use as I’m struggling to get it. My dhea levels are not low so I don’t want to overdo it.

@Ivfhoper

Good luck. I expect you are excited and it’s good it’s not invasive. I was always worried about egg collections until I had the first one!

@Janefx40
Hi. Where do you get your dhea? Thanks

@2021ivfagain the DHEA I got on prescription was from Asda Pharmacy and the brand was Douglas Laboratories. The one I bought online was from Biovea. The first one is micronised which is thought to be better but I had taken both and my levels seemed to rise so I think they both worked x

@Janefx40
Thanks for your message. I’m getting it from the clinic now as Pharmasure has stopped selling it over a year ago! I tried Asda chemist in my area, Sainsbury’s and my local hospital. All have not heard of it! It’s so frustrating. I was worried about ordering online due to the time factor and not knowing whether it is genuine. I‘ve got to go all the way to the clinic tomorrow. I was so worried about taking them as my levels are normal and my first cycle was good that it made me worried. However, I have noticed that I’m starting to produce less eggs on my right ovary but 4 times the amount on my left! I don’t know what’s going on.

Good luck with the next step. Are you doing a natural or medicated FET? I expect you are getting excited. You’ll have to keep us posted. Thanks for your messages.

@2021ivfagain do you have a prescription? Asda hadn't heard of it initially but they worked through the system with my prescription and ordered eventually. It took about 7 days through Asda and about 3 weeks from Biovea. Good luck.

We have another month so not excited yet! Just mostly worried about catching Covid and being further delayed. Just cancelled going to the office Christmas party which is a shame but I don't want to take any risks. Am going to start semi-isolating after this week!

Good luck with the DHEA

X

Hi everyone. Strangely I still have a heavy period following my procedure a few weeks ago. It’s 12 days of heavy period so far 😞 I had my consultant appointment on Friday and fingers crossed should hopefully be able to head to another FET round in January subject to some diabetes, liver function tests etc. The ERA/EMMA/ALICE tests showed receptivity was normal but the bacterial infection still hasn’t cleared so need to do another round of 14 days of antibiotics followed by probiotics (ordered Muvagyn ones this time). The consultant has also added steroid and intralipids for raised NK cells - never had this before so will be interested if any of you have and know what form it takes and timing. I have a nurse set up on Monday so am really hoping can start the cycle during the first week of January with Northisterone starting from next week. The consultant tried to assure me that the embryo quality is not relevant when PGS normal but I still wonder about the two remaining 6B-B- grade embryos and their chances as they don’t seem great quality (my husband won’t do any more rounds so these are our last chance). It will be what it will be, finding it hard to feel positive about it all but really would like to get to the end of it after 7 back to back rounds of meds/injection since last November and onto my 8th - am also hoping can avoid the new variant of covid. I hope you are all keeping well and progressing positively on your different journeys. Wishing you the best and if we don’t interact before Xmas - a wonderful festive period to you all and a Merry Christmas to those who celebrate.