Anyone doing IVF at 40+ pt 2

[lucymills1234]

Setting up a new thread as the old one was nearly at the limit.

@Anxiousbuthopeful
@Islandstars
@Woodcottage1
@Unicorn9
@SerenditySunshine

Typos galore ‘covid’ and crgh

Thanks so much @lucymills1234 - I'm in the 2WW but not looking hopeful. I have found CoQ10 helpful in the past - I took it with DHEA and we managed to get my only BFP with it.

@Goldilocks2528 - fingers crossed for you. I too have very low AMH and high FSH.

@SerendipitySunshine are you taking wheatgrass for your fsh, mine was rising and it helped stabilise it

@Queenofsupreme ooh no - how do you take it - in a shot or is it a tablet?

You can get all different versions. Fresh shots of the juice are best but I just got a powder one. I took it when ttc , I stopped during my actual ivf cycling

Hi @lucymills1234and @IslandStars, thanks for your lovely messages. I have stuck with the same clinic, and the same meds. The clinic wanted me to change, but we stuck to our guns. It worked last time, I got pregnant! The new medication was an extra jab a day making it 3 a day, and I didn't really have any side effects to the meds last time and didn't know how I'd react on new ones. Sadly due to the DOR I just got 3 eggs last time, 2 fertilised and went to day 5. I had one transferred back, and we lost the other on day 6 as it wasn't good enough to freeze.
Fingers crossed for this round. One week down, 3 to go..!

I was just wondering, if you are taking Ubiquinol, how much you take a day? I took 200mg during my first cycle, and have upped that to 400 a day this cycle in the hope it might improve things. It Starts With The Egg says its ok up to 600, so hopefully I'm not taking too much...

Sorry @IslandStars I've only just checked back in and see your surgery is today - I really hope it has gone / is going smoothly and you can go home knowing the hurdle between you and the next transfer is now cleared!

I know, I find waiting for appointments so frustrating. Interesting that you repeated your tests, I will ask my consultant about that. I am a contractor, which is tricky with IVF as it means an uncertain level of income each month and of course no paid holiday or benefits such as counselling, unfortunately.

@Queenofsupreme thanks for the thoughts on ARGH - I will definitely look into it. I am some way out of London so it would be quite a commitment. Saying that, I am also starting to look at overseas clinics which involve lots of travelling too! Though at a lower overall cost. After my first two BFNs with 5AA blasts I did a thrombophilia screen which was ok though the consultant added 20mg Clexane to my following FETs anyway, and I had a few of the auto-immune tests (can't remember which, but they weren't crazy expensive) and they were ok too. I'm sure there's more I could be tested for, there always is!

Fingers crossed for you @SerendipitySunshine, I really do understand how tough it is to be waiting and treading the tightrope of wanting to hope and yet not feeling optimistic.

@Goldilocks2528 when I took Co-Q10 before I took 600mg a day, but because Ubiquinol is a purer form I'm planning to take 200-400mg of that instead, so a bit less.

@lucymills1234
Hi, I am really sorry to hear about your loss. So unfair after everything you've been trough.
May I ask, have you considered a more affordable option of doing IUI, I have done some research and at our age, chances of pregnancy are cpmparable to that with IVF. The cost however is about 5 fold lower, per cycle.

Let me know, I can give you more info.
Best of luck whatever you decide. Perhaps try not to rush your decision, as stress and emotions can all play part in conception.
xxx

@SerendipitySunshine Goid luck on your 2ww

@lucymills1234 Thanks, it went well today and I’m feeling fine now. Had to ask for anti sickness tablets as the anesthesia affects me quite a bit, but they worked a treat and have been fine since.

They removed 1 polyp, but the other ‘polyp’ was actually some minor adhesion which they cleared. Only had light spotting since, so hopefully nothing much more tomorrow. Should be good to start FET in a couple of weeks, so I just have to hope this procedure is the missing link. Does feel like a weight off my shoulders to get going again.

Hope you’re managing to get through all the recent stress, I know it takes a long while for the negative blow to wear off.

Hi, I’m new on here, I have googled stories of women in similar position for two years of ivf but never been brave enough to post!
I’m 43 and have been doing ivf for 2 years. 3 egg collections so far, 28 eggs, 32, then last month 25 eggs which in all have amounted to 14 good embryos transferred so far but with one miscarriage and 2 bio chemical pregnancies to show for it 😢
I took 600mg ubiquinol for 3 months before my last round but as only 7 of the 25 fertilised it has put me off a bit and unsure if should use it again.
I have two 6 day embryos frozen but I am thinking of doing another egg collection before transferring them as I feel it would maximise my chances of at least one being “normal”. The clinic say it is down to egg quality/age etc which I’m sure is probably right however I find it frustrating that nothing else was ever investigated incase it was the cause of implantation failures and now its too late to embark on investigating anything else with the long delays and wait lists at the clinic we have now. Sorry for the long message, I really hope I have replied to the original post at the top of the page which I meant to reply to, apologies if not! I’m not sure what I’m doing yet on this site! X

@Faith78 Welcome, sorry to hear about your mc and chemicals. You’ve collected a huge number of eggs, I presume you did long protocol? I did mild IVF / short protocol, only 150 Bemfola and got 29 eggs and 13 embryos over 3 banking rounds, but after PGS testing, only 2 were normal. The stats for 41-42 suggested I should have had 3 normal, so the same would apply to you, at least 1 or 2 should be normal, so there is a chance for those embryos left.

PGS isn’t for everyone, it’s expensive and doesn't improve your chances of having a baby, but it’s a useful selection tool when time is against you, otherwise I would have been transferring so many abnormal embryos.

My first euploid transfer failed, so my next FET will involve clexane, Lubion and Prednisolone to help implantation. Some clinics won’t prescribe all of them without immune testing though.

Glad to hear it all went smoothly @IslandStars, although the nausea is no fun. Will they do a scan to clear you in a few weeks or is it assumed to be all fine unless you've had symptoms?

You'll be doing a natural FET, from memory? I think you were having a go at using the sticks. Or were you tracking for this procedure? I really hope it's smoother sailing from now on.

I'm still feeling a bit shell-shocked. I've bought Ubiquinol to start taking just to feel that I'm doing something. And I'm researching overseas options.

@AnikaAL I haven't considered IUI to be honest, I thought the success rates at this age were very low compared to IVF?

@Faith78 sorry to hear it's been such a rough time for you so far. I completely understand what you mean about wishing your clinic would investigate implantation failures, I had two top quality blasts transferred, both BFNs, and had to push for investigations before I had a third.

It might be worth asking your consultant about the Co-Q10. Low fertilisation could be down to the maturity of eggs or sperm as much as egg quality - if you were going to do another collection, perhaps they'd tell you that ICSI could help with the fertilisation rate? Mine has been quite low - around 50% - so it's something I've wondered about myself.

Thanks for replying, I did a down regulation LD21 protocol. 8 days of menopur, I was a bit surprised when I went for the first scan as they told me that the follicles were 15 mm at the largest and that I would probably have to come back for another scan. However when the blood results came back they said to go ahead with the collection. I wondered if that may have been an issue, if they weren’t quite mature enough. I’m probably just looking for something to blame though 😂
If I could go back to the start knowing what I do now I would have done 3 rounds and banked the embryos and pgs tested them. I feel I’ve wasted a lot of time but the clinic didn’t advise this and I didn’t know enough about it in the beginning. I used clexane and progesterone the last few transfers and I had a test for anophospholipid ( not sure I’ve spelt that right) too and the clinic doesn’t offer anything else as I’ve asked about NK cells but they don’t do that one here apparently.
I feel a bit like a burden who is bringing their stats down now 😂
Good luck with your next transfer!

Thanks, I will ask about CoQ10, I’ve carried on taking it at 200 rather than 600. They never mentioned icsi at all so I don’t really know anything about it. The consultant when I asked about the fertilisation rate said it differs from cycle to cycle. I did end up with 4 embryos from the 7 fertilised though which is a higher rate than I have had previously so maybe that’s a good sign for the Co Q 10? Who knows!

@lucymills1234 Thanks, had some mild cramping overnight and felt whacked out this morning, but overall things are good. I've got a follow up call in a couple of weeks, as they had to send the biopsy away for testing, which is just their standard protocol. Then we can discuss results and FET plan, which i know will be natural plus implantation meds. Next scan won't be until day 8-10 of FET, but as i won't be taking estrogen beforehand, i've got nothing to lose with proceeding like this.

I did OPKs for my past 2 cycles, but the internet cheap ones don't work so well for me. I'll be using CB for my actual FET.

Hope you get some good info on overseas options, it seems really overwhelming to plan the logistics of it all with work.

@Faith78 Thank you, it sounds like you've tried quite a bit in terms of implantation meds, maybe PGS is something to think about in future as you do get quite a lot of embryos, but it is costly. Sometimes worth weighing it up against the expense of several FETs.

Thanks so much for all your support. I've started bleeding 4 days before OTD, looks like AF, so I think that's me out.

@SerendipitySunshine So sorry to hear that, this process is just awful when it goes wrong, it’s hard to keep picking yourself up. Take care.

Hello all. I wonder if I could also jump in on this thread. I'm 40 doing IVF for the first time. On short protocol, CD9 (8th day of stims). Hoping for the best but being realistic as well. In a same sex relationship so I have no real idea about what to expect as the end result, as haven't beenTTC in the "normal" way before jumping into fertility treatment.

Welcome @Bryterlayter1- how are you feeling?

After last week's scary bleed, today I got a BFP. Still in shock to be honest. OTD is tomorrow, so I'll try again tomorrow and then let the clinic know.

@SerendipitySunshine wow that’s fantastic news, congrats on getting this far! So hoping it works out for you

@Bryterlayter1 Welcome, let us know how you get on. I’ve been single for a while and now trying with donor sperm. It is quite strange when you aren’t able to ttc naturally too, I find it makes the waiting harder between cycles, even if for most couples doing IVF, it would just be a slim chance that they would conceive naturally. Good luck with your cycle.

Thought I’d post a link to the old thread incase anyone needs it for info

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/infertility/3774815-anyone-doing-ivf-at-40

Hello everyone and congrats @SerendipitySunshine. A very odd update from me. Went for my 6 wk scan today and found my single blast had split into twins, who are apparently sharing placenta and amniotic sacs. Super rare and very complicated. The twins were also a little small with slightly lower heart rates, don’t quite know what to think.

@Anxiousbuthopeful Congratulations on your twins!! How exciting, but daunting! I don’t know much about the medical side of twins, but I’m sure you’ll be closely monitored from now on. I suppose being slightly smaller etc might be normal as they’re sharing a placenta…all the best, keep us updated.

Thanks so much, @IslandStars and congratulations @Anxiousbuthopeful - fingers crossed for you.