Zero fertilisation

[Prayingforabubba]

Hi everyone,

I was hoping to get some advice. I have recently had my first cycle of IVF ICSI where only 5 eggs were harvested (despite 27 follicles on scans). Unfortunately all 4 mature eggs failed to fertilise . This was heartbreaking and shock as we believed doing icsi would bypass my DH sperm issues.

I've been reading up on why this could be, one realison was a failure to activate the oocytes. This is all mind boggling as we've previously conceived after only 3-4 months trying. I just am so confused whether that one icsi cycle was a fluke or if we need to do AOA. Has anyone had failed fertilisation and then had a better outcome with subsequent icsi cycles? My clinic has suggested it was due to poor sperm and have referred us to a urologist. I just can't shake the gut feeling that it's more than a soerm sample issue.

Any advice would be appreciated

Thanks!

It's unusual to have 27 follicles but only 5 mature eggs so id say it was more an egg quality issue at this point? Did you have OHSS?

Were all the follicles over 12-14mm on day of trigger?

What sort of trigger did you do? A single one or double?

I had rubbish fertilisation rates (less than 30% even with ICSI) - I changed protocol to natural modified IVF with ICSI focussing on much fewer eggs and my fertilisation rate Increased to 100%

Sorry to hear about your rubbish fertilisation. Our first cycle was similar, we had ICSI too. Seven eggs, only 1 fertilised properly and that one made it to day 3. That cycle failed.

Our second cycle we changed the meds. I was on only Menopur the first cycle and we changed this to a mix of GonalF + Menopur. On the day of trigger I also had a shot of Buserelin which I hear gives the eggs an extra maturity boost.

In terms of lifestyle, things I changed were diet for three months- I ate lots more protein (lots of tofu!) and veggies and cut down on carbs. Switched my exercise to focus on strength training. Hubby started jogging and took a product called Proxeed.

Not sure if any of this stuff made a jot of difference (it might have just been the meds), but we did feel healthier and we got 13 eggs, 9 fertilised and we got 6 blastocysts to freeze.

Both cycles we had similar-ish amount of follicles - about 16-20 i think. Maybe slightly more on the second cycle but it wasn’t much difference.

@andivfmakes3 I had about 15 above 14mm. It was very strange and the clinic couldn't explain why it happened. They expected 9-10 mature follicles 😩 I did the ovitrelle trigger (single). I suspect I do have eg quality issues but the embryologist claims they looked great but who know 😩

@LemonyT wow what a huge improvement! Congratulations on 6 blasts! 😍

Thank you for your advice. I'm taking a few months off to sort my diet and DH's too so will take what you've said on board

@Prayingforabubba
I just hope one of my eggs work! Last one ended as an ectopic - so you just never know
I’m having a few months off now too before the rollercoaster starts again! Good luck for next time!

@prayingforabubba

I had my first IVF cycle - out of five mature eggs, only one fertilised [without ICSI].

I have had a two day transfer. Now on the TWW.

Have you had another cycle?

@Ivfhoper hi! So sorry to hear that only one fertilised but congratulations on being PUPO. We had icsi which has a 75% chance of fertilisation so was a massive shock to us.

We spent the following three months eating healthily, being more active and my husband was on clomid. We did just have another retrieval this month. This time we had 14 eggs, 8 mature and 5 fertilised (with icsi). I had to have a freeze all as there was a risk of OHSS but we do have 1 8 cell embryo and a blastocyst frozen so hopefully we will go back for a FET in a few months. Hope the TWW goes quickly for you x