ERA/ALICE/EMMA testing thread 2

[seven201]

Link to the old thread
https://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/infertility/4187520-era-testing-after-multiple-implantation-failures-anyone-had-it-done?msgid=110302437&utmsource=mentions&utmmmedium=email&utmcampaign=2020-10-19&utmmterm=You+have+been+mentioned+in+a+post&rei=438192#110302437

Welcome to the new thread. Anyone welcome.

The clinic have emailed to say I need to start within 6 months for access fertility so it will be this year after all! Maybe yours is different @Gardenlady543 as you're doing necessary tests.

Oh that's interesting @seven201 well it sounds like good news for you as you can get going ASAP!

Oh that's great news @seven201 does that mean you could start in a week or so? Are you down regulating? I'm so pleased you won't have a prolonged wait.

I'm just at my miscarriage clinic having intralipids in advance of transfer. Had such a poor sleep last night, felt like I couldn't switch off and felt like my heart was racing (my fitbit says not). Anxiety is vile. Had a snippy row with dh on the way down, think the stress is getting to us both 😔 we're supposed to be on a holiday week together but doesn't feel very relaxing so far. X

Hi all, I hope you are getting on well. @Gardenlady543 I’m so sorry your Emma and Alice results have not improved. I hope this new stronger antibiotic will tackle it once and for all.

When are you hoping to go for a FET by the end of the year?

I’m supposed to be doing one this month but of course another problem has cropped up. My lining is now too thick at baseline! I’ve never had this issue before. Worry now is it’ll be cancelled - might need to remove the lining and then where does that leave me re Emma/Alice result! My DH saying maybe w remove the lining but all the bad bacteria comes back from the procedure and good is gone.

It’s such a mind wreck.

When is your transfer @VenusStarr good luck with it.

@Cream123 how are you doing? I hope all is doing well

Hi @Dochas121 I'm hoping to go straight into the FET, I have a solid plan in place so I'm hoping it resolves the microflora issues.

I just read the thread you made and the lining issues sound really strange. You went through so much to get the embryos I think you should have some further investigations to try and figure out why your lining is thick at baseline and not trilaminar. Have you had a hysteroscopy before?

Don't worry about the microflora because you responded well to the treatment, you could always do another treatment course. If I need to have my microflora checked again I'm going to use the fertilysis.com test as it uses menstrual fluid so it's quicker and less invasive.

@VenusStarr I'm sorry about the stress, how are you feeling now?

@Gardenlady543 that’s a good idea to check re menstrual sample. I’ve heard that brand are quite good to use.

Hopefully this is what caused your previous FET to fail and it’ll work with this new FET.

Yeah the lining is totally odd. I feel like I fix one thing and another crops up. Literally for 6 baseline scans over 3 years I had perfect

I can definitely relate to that @Dochas121 because I had lining issues that improved I expected the microflora to be amazing I was beyond shocked when I got the news that it's still 0.00%, and now I have to deal with it all over again.

I don't think your partner understands this, a thick triple lining will give you the best chance. You could do a saline scan or HSG first, have you had them before? That's what the Ashermans specialist's do to see if people need a hysteroscopy.

I totally get it @Gardenlady543 we both really need a bit of good luck at this stage. Seems to be one thing after another.

I’ve had saline scan and HSG done before but tjis is a new issue. My lining was perfect for 3 years from April 2019- April 2021 and now we’re at transfer stage it decides to go funny. I’m hoping my consultant will be proactive and say no something isn’t right let’s stop and check it out but I think sometimes they want you to go ahead in the hopes it’ll work and you’ll be pregnant.

@Dochas121 when are you speaking with your consultant? If the hsg and saline scan was when you had triple lining and now you don't you might want to ask them if it should be repeated.

@Dochas121 I read your other thread about lining. I actually had curettage with my last egg collection to see if my extremely thick lining (gets to +15mm in a matter of days) was hiding anything & basically just strip it out. I was super worried about Ashermann’s particularly as I know that my consultant (who is otherwise amazing) has caused this for at least one other woman after ERPC, but curettage for fertility is quite gentle and very unlikely to cause this.

I went on to have ERA/Alice/Emma a month later & had 88% good bacteria so virtually normal.

We have just started FET & it was under 3mm to start (albeit after 3 months of aggressive downreg) so seems to have worked.

@Porridgeislife thanks for this information. Was your lining always thick or did it suddenly start being thick like mine? What were they worried it might be hiding?

I’ve gone down a bad spiral of worrying about things like endometrial cancer from all the ivf I’ve done.

Good luck with your FET. I’ve heard lots of positive stories of pregnancies after hysteroscopy and sounds like with good Emma:Alice results you are all set.

My consultant contacted me today @Gardenlady543 said it is definitely unusual and they will cancel the cycle if it’s still to thick and try again or ‘maybe’ do another test but he’s not too keen to do so. I presume this test is hysteroscopy to see what’s going on. The saline scans etc were back in 2019 when before my first round of IVF. Honestly starting to feel like just giving up. The whole thing is so stressful and now I’m worrying about my health.

@Dochas121 I'm sending you such big hugs, sometimes I feel "how much more is one person expected to take" I bet you're in the same position. It's good your embryos are banked and I think you just need to keep working on optimizing the endometrium, I'm doing the same. It just feels so exhausting though.

I hope everyone else is ok.

I have been stressed waiting for confirmation about my specialist agreeing to do the FET. I just spoke with her and we're going ahead. I think both me and her are in the same mindset, she told me she thinks about me all the time and prays for me.

I asked her if we can send the catheter tip for culture and sensitivity testing and she's going to try and figure out if this is possible with the lab they use. We're adding in viagra to this protocol. I'm still waiting on the NK biopsy, I really hope it comes back normal, so that I just have this one problem.

Sorry, just trying to catch up

@VenusStarr how are you doing now? I hope you and dh are getting on better. I get so snappy at my dh from all the drugs.

@Dochas121 oh what a shock. I'm sorry you're having to deal with this. I wish I had something useful to say. I do think your dh might be wrong though; it's probably worth waiting. Is there any potential for it to be just a random one off and next month will be back to normal?

@Porridgeislife good luck with your FET

@Gardenlady543 I'm glad your doctor is on the same page. That must be a relief.

I had it confirmed today that I can start our FET at the start of November.

Yay that's great news @seven201

I am now panicking that my new ERA timing could mean I end up being postreceptive.

Here are my two results, on the top is the first biopsy done on day 6 of progesterone, I then got told add on another 12 hours which is when we did the next one. They've then advised another 12 hours of progesterone and I'm worried that when I jump by another 12 hours I'll be post receptive. I guess it's better to be prereceptive than post receptive as the embryo can likely hang around and wait.

Im adding in viagra this time and I'm worried that could shift the window as well :(

I actually got told to add 24 hours on the first time.

@Dochas121 my lining just kept getting thicker with each cycle, it was approaching 20mm on my most recent egg collection. It has been a seriously hard slog producing the 5 embryos we have so my consultant suggested doing this to be on the safe side. The curettage was to check for fibroids but also just to bring it back to 0 or close to.

It seems to have worked as today is cd9 and it was only 7.9mm which is the calmest I’ve seen it at this stage, and it was very obviously trilaminar.

@Gardenlady543 I guess with that you do need to try and trust what they advise. Or you could meet in the middle of the two results and go for an extra 6 or 9 instead of extra 12. So tough! Have you chased your nk results or are you being patient? I've done viagra for the past few cycles. Your dr hopefully wouldn't recommend it if they thought it could throw out the era.

@Porridgeislife that is great that your lining is so good this time!

That's good that the surgery worked @Porridgeislife I didn't realise lining could do this, I'm always on the lower side and want it thicker!

Thanks @seven201 I think I need to try and stop worrying because we control so little in this process.

Thank you @seven201 we're doing OK, had a nice day out yesterday. I think the pressure is just something we need to ride through.

I had a call from our embryologist today, all confirmed for Monday afternoon. Timing is spot on from our era, was a bit panicked as they said start progesterone on Wednesday but no specific time, but afternoon, so I started at 1pm and it's 1.30 on Monday 🙂 she said our embryos are beautiful 🥰, only transferring one but she said they're both top quality (3aa).

Glad you can start soon @seven201 not too long now.

Good news about your lining @Porridgeislife

Glad you've got the go ahead @Gardenlady543 I hope you've had your nk cell results and all is OK with them.

I hope your lining issue gets sorted @Dochas121 it's hard when things aren't straightforward ❤️

That all sounds great @VenusStarr I hope everything goes well on Monday!

I decided to call up Coventry this afternoon, the lady on the phone tried to explain the process which I didn't really understand. But the conclusion was that it's down as pending, I'm the 14th person on the list and they normally release in batches of 15. I was told to call back if I hadn't heard in another couple of weeks.

Thank you @Gardenlady543 🙂🤞

That's rubbish that your results are technically there but not been released to you. Hopefully it'll be next week. X

I didn't really understand it @VenusStarr the lady said they run the sample through the machine, then it goes to the lab and then the lady I was speaking to makes a graph, then it goes to Prof Quenby. And I didn't really understand at what point in the process my sample was at. She also said their machine was broken for 2 weeks so expect it to take 6 weeks. I really hope it comes back normal with all these microflora issues I'm having :(

Has anyone been prescribed probiotics after these tests or after a course of antibiotics? I am doing metronidazole for a week because I did a vaginal swab (rather than endometrial biopsy) and it came out as no good and no bad bacteria - as there were no good ones they said may as well zap with antibios. But now I need to rebuild the good ones as much as possible before my next FET!

Hi @whatcangowrong yes, you'll need to use a daily vaginal probiotic for 10 days after the antibiotics. I've attached a list. Canesflor is the easiest to get in the UK. I also take oral ones: optibac for women and femdophilus.

Thanks @Gardenlady543 appreciate the reply, think you've helped me with something before!

Will get myself down to Boots tomorrow. Will make a change from buying zillions of frer all of which to remain resolutely negative