It starts with the egg - is it worth the buy?

[Dot457]

Hi all, looking for some success stories on the back of reading the above book?

We’re going to have our 3rd round of IVF In the new year and I wanted to take a different approach. I’ve heard good things about it on here but on amazon the reviews are mixed, seems to have helped with natural pregnancies, but made some women’s IVF results worse?!

Obviously these reviews range from 2018 onwards, however I was just wondering if the advise in this book is actually worth it? Hoping for a miracle on our next round 😭

Thank you x

It has some useful advice. I read it a several months ago and started with some of the nutritional suppliments where there was evidence to support.

Can't say if its made a huge difference as we've not compleated our full round yet, but results so far are good post-egg collection (19 eggs collected and 7 good quality embryos in the freezer) although we've paused now because of the risk of OHSS and my estrogen levels.

As with so many of these things I don't know if anything in there made a difference or if on the right drugs it would have happened anyway (our first round was cancelled because of a poor response to drugs). I think it all depends on exactly what the causes of your issues are.

Sorry if thats not supper conclusive or helpful but didn't want to read and run! xx

Honestly? I bought it, started doing some of the stuff, though 'this seems a bit ridiculous, is mega expensive and I'm sure millions of people get pregnant without doing all this faff'. Discussed it with our consultant when we started our round of IVF and he advised to put it down and stop worrying about it. The book is based on one persons experience and none of the recommendations have been demonstrated in robust clinical trials. The book is expensive itself, and following the advice is even more expensive! I would personally just follow the advice of your consultant. Wishing you luck with your next cycle 😊

Personally It made no difference to the success/failure of my IVF rounds x

I did have much more ‘success’ after reading it as in I went from making no embryos to making embryos. This is as I asked for my DHEA and testosterone to be tested and it came back basically zero. So I’m on DHEA since but monitored with monthly blood tests.

Followed it to the letter & produced my very worst round of IVF, so I think it’s pretty pointless and cost me a fortune.

The important things are pregnancy vitamins, extra Vit D and omegas. Ubiquinol is also a good idea. DHEA can be useful to improve egg quality but you must get your levels checked before doing so.

I read the book and started taking coq10 because of it, nothing else, besides the multivitamin I was already taking. Got pg quite soon when we tried, even if had been ttc for dc1 for a long time. However, I maybe wouldn’t say you need to buy the book. If I recall correctly, the recommended supplements are listed on the website too. And otherwise it was common knowledge about avoiding plastics etc topics. Tbh, I was a bit turned off by the thought of taking as many pills as the book recommended. Seemed excessive, so thought just to give coq10 a chance.

Thanks so much everyone for your comments. All the above is very interesting, It really does help and I think I’ve come to the conclusion that I won’t be buying the book. This will be my 3rd round and almost 3 years since we started investigations, however I have no idea what DHEA or Coq10 is. I feel stupid even saying that because I feel like I should know what that is by now. Can someone enlighten me please? And can this be taken with the likes of pregnacare? I only take pregnacare because I got a huge bulk from amazon for quite cheap otherwise it would be like a Morrison’s own version, just to clarify that I’m not a vitamin snob haha x

I read the book and didn’t implement all the recommendations (far too restrictive/expensive) but I started taking ubiquinol and extra vitamin d in oil format. I had a successful round of ICSI a few years ago, and I took it recently before conceiving naturally, so I think it’s worth a try. From what I remember in my non-scientific terms ubiquinol provides more energy in your cell DNA so can improve egg quality, especially if you’re older. I took it daily then stopped when I had egg collection/got my positive test. Have a read up on the studies on the internet.
I didn’t bother looking at DHEA as I think you have to be tested for that and it’s only recommended in specific circumstances?

Ubiquinol is a supplement which improves ATP transfer and therefore energy activity within the egg, supposedly improving the quality. Our consultant said there aren't any robust clinical trials demonstrating it has a positive effect (Coq10 is the same but in a different form) but he was happy for me to take it if I wanted to. Ubiquinol is a purer form and is thought to be absorbed better). From what I've read it probably won't do any harm but it isn't cheap and may well not be of any benefit either. My understanding is you need to have been taking it for several months for it to have an effect, so if you're having a cycle in January it's probably not worth it.

DHEA is a hormone which is thought to improve follicular development and egg quality. However, as it is a hormone it interferes with the balance of other hormones and can have really detrimental effects. Definitely do not take this unless agreed by your consultant. The evidence for this is still pretty ropey too although you will find lots of blogs on Google telling you it is revolutionising fertility treatment! The NICE guidelines recommend it shouldn't be used. Again, I think you have to take it for several months for it in theory to work, so for January, also probably not worth worrying about.

Stick with a healthy diet, minimal alcohol, minimal caffeine, weight within normal BMI range and regular exercise. Plus vitamin D and folic acid supplements. Although if you're taking pregnacare it probably has both of them in it already 👍

I'm pretty sure that there is a copy uploaded on one of the IVF facebook groups.

I got through a few chapters and it made me feel like the worst person ever! I have since removed it from my reading list and I haven't looked back.

I took all the supplements for about a year. Nearly bankrupted me. I have no idea if it helped but I did get 6 embryos to freeze (including ohss), as opposed to 3 the previous collection. I'm waiting for a FET and I've now stopped all of the tablets except pre-conception multivitamin and I feel liberated and less poor!