IVF at 40

[Keyu]

Hi ladies, I am 40, and started the first cycle of out IVF over a Week ago. My egg retrieval was today, my stomach is sore.
We got 14 eggs which will be fertilized by ICSI. I know it has to do with egg quality and all, but I am just worried and we hope get done success. We are doing a 3 cycle and transfer after the 3rd cycle. Also decided to do some PGT on a few embryos. What are your thoughts guys? Any advice based on experience?

Just got a call from the clinic, saying of all 12 eggs matured, only 7 has fertilized, so they will contact us again in a couple of day. Worried and hope some make

Hi @Keyu this sounds like a really good result so far, at age 40 I think you'll need around 3 embryos for each PGT-A euploid one. With three cycles planned it sounds like things are going well so far. I have my fingers crossed that you'll have a good amount on day 5 and that the PGT-A results are good from this first batch :)

@Gardenlady543 thank you so much. We had consented to some embryos being tested, hope it's a good idea as I hear some embryos get destroyed in the process. Just worried about everything. Thanks for your kind words.

@Keyu I had mine Pgt-A tested as well. It's best to do it before freezing as one of mine didn't survive the thaw. There is a risk of damaging the embryos but the risk is low. It's up to you whether you want to test them, it will help with the selection process. It also eliminates those which would either have not implanted, miscarried or result in a condition like Downs.

@Gardenlady543 that's sounds reassuring, was asking my husband if we should reduce the number we are testing. Thanks a lot. All I can think of now is how many make it to Saturday. Thanks for all the insight.

I guess the issue with only testing a few is knowing which ones to test. My best embryo didn't survive the thaw- that could have been bad luck or it could have been abnormal and my only aneuploid embryo was the next best one! So had I tested just those two I would have been massively disappointed. But as things turns out 5 of my 6 tested embryos were euploid, I'm 35 by the way.

Some people will not bother testing if they say get two embryos, they will just do a double transfer and hope for the best. But as you plan to go through banking it's likely you will have a few embryos to choose from so having selected out the aneuploid ones will be helpful.

I only got 2 embryos out of 7 fertilised and 1 was pgs normal. Yet to transfer as got pregnant on another cycle with a fresh embryo. I’m over 40. All you need is the one !

@Funtimedreamer @Gardenlady543 thanks for your encouragement guys. we were Informed today, day 3, that 5 of our embryos are grade1, 1 grade 3 and 1 is compacted morula, never heard that before till today. Fingers crossed, I feel drained from the waiting. Wish you guys all the best

Hello ladies,

I hope you don't mind me joining this discussion. I am torn between doing another cycle with my own eggs or opt for egg donation. I have already had two cycles of IVF with my own eggs. The first cycle resulted in fertilisation failure with nine eggs collected but none fertilised with conventional IVF (not ICSI). We got two grade A blastocysts from a subsequent cycle - I had six eggs retrieved this time but only two were mature enough to be fertilised with ICSI. One was transferred but unfortunately resulted in miscarriage at 10 weeks. Doctors suspect it was due to a chromosomal abnormality. My last AMH was 21.5 and AFC was 4 on left ovary and 16 on right ovary.

Most clinics have recommended cumulative cycles to retrieve as many eggs as possible, fertilise them all at once and do PGT-A on the embryos before transfer, but a couple of doctors I have spoken to seem to be think that, even though my numbers are good, but egg quality isn't great. Not sure if I should keep insisting on my own eggs at a very high price, as multiple egg collections and PGT-A will pretty much triple of the cost of an already very expensive treatment.

I would be grateful if you could share your thoughts or experience with me, please. I will be 40 in October! Best of luck with your treatment and may you get your rainbow baby soon!

@Fabsco hey, nice of you to join. Seems like you've been through it. I was advised to do mild ivf by the dr as he states that you are less stimulated and they only concentrate on quality of eggs. And it's seemed sensible that if we go for 3 cycles and pgt hopefully we may have some embryos in the end, I am new to this. Today is the 4th day for my embryos and will be called by the clinic tomorrow for updates. Very nerve racking.

For me I said to myself that I will only go for egg donation when it is obvious there is something wrong with my egg quality. It's hard to say and will be your decision to make. Though you should not give up. For me I says there will always be the option of egg donation as that doesn't depend on your age.

@Gardenlady543 is quite knowledgeable about this things hope she can give some insight

Hi @Fabsco it sounds like the first cycle was very unlucky, I take it you did ICSI for the second cycle? I guess what you do is up to you. You are just before age 40, so you can expect around 1 in 3 embryos to be euploid. You will need to aim for around 3 euploid embryos for a child, as the chance of success is around 50-70% per euploid embryo.

Noe the good news is that you have a very good AFC and if the protocol is right hopefully you should be able to get a good amount of eggs.

You will need to decide if you feel able to bank 9 embryos? As it may mean a few cycles to get that many. You will need to do some financial calculations and decide whether you feel able to put your body though it.

I think the decision of when to go for donor eggs is very much a person's individual decision.

@Keyu and @Gardenlady543 Thank you so much for your replies! I think the main issue for us is financial, really, because we have already spent close to £15,000 in two cycles. We do have one frozen embryo left from our last cycle but our clinic doesn't do PGS and the doctor at our review appointment didn't seem to think it was a good idea to send the embryo for testing with another clinic, as too much manipulation may kill the embryo? Not sure I can face a FET worrying that I'll have another miscarriage.

My husband is more inclined towards egg donation, while I feel that I would like to try once again with my own eggs. He has very little faith on IVF after our two cycles but will support me if I decide to go for another round. It's so tough. I wish I were already at the stage of accepting that my chances are higher with egg donation, but I can't get over the fact that I had nine eggs retrieved in my first cycle but none fertilised because our clinic doesn't do ICSI as standard practice. Yes, we had ICSI in our second cycle but they triggered me early (on CD11) as I developed two large cysts and as a result had six eggs, only two mature enough for ICSI.

Thank you once again for your replies! @Keyu good luck with your treatment and I have everything crossed for you and your embabies today! @Gardenlady543 thank you for sharing your knowledge on the subject! So happy I found this forum!

Can you try a different clinic, I was with argc and the close monitoring and constant medication tweaking may bring a better outcome potentially. Although it’s not cheap

Also assume you are on all the supplements in book , starts with the egg?

@Funtimedreamer Thank you so much for your reply. Yes, we have made contact with a few clinics in the Republic of Ireland and abroad. We live in Northern Ireland and our local options are limited. I believe there are only two fertility clinics here and none of them do PGS.

It's interesting that you mentioned supplements as I took DHA with Omega 3, Myo-inositol, CoQ10, Folate and Vitamin D religiously for three months before my first IVF cycle and got nine eggs retrieved, but stopped everything (except Folic Acid and Vitamin D) during my second cycle and I was doing acupuncture and taking Chinese herbs. I had fewer eggs in my second cycle and think it might have something to do with supplements? I have bought all the supplements again and told my acupuncturist that I'll be focusing on the acupuncture and won't be taking the herbs this time. The only supplement that I don't feel confident taking is DHEA. What's your experience taking the supplements recommended by 'It Starts with the Egg'?

Thank you so much once again for replying to my message and all the best to you!

@Fabsco I take omega 3, vitamin d, ovaboost and pregnacare. I know people take a lot more but I get confused pregnacare seems to have a lot in one. Not sure what else to add.

Fertility treatment is so expensive, we were lucky to get help from my father in law, so we hope that we get some good news from this cycles, if not we have to save and I'm not getting g any younger.

@Funtimedreamer have you had success with argc? We are getting our treatment from create their prices seemed reasonable.

@Keyu These are great supplements! Ovaboost has myo-inositol, CoQ10 and folate, which I also take.

Our sister in law has offered to help us with our next cycle as well, but I prefer to save & get a low interest loan. Honestly it breaks my heart to think that, by the end of this, we will have spent close to £20,000 on IVF. It's mad but it's what we want the most in life! I know people who have spent £50,000 on IVF with no baby at the end, and they say that they don't regret it because they can say that they've done everything. Hopefully I'll be resigned to my fate like them but at present I worry every time I see these figures.

@Keyu Good luck with your report today and lots of baby dust your way!

@Fabsco with DHEA, I'd recommend sorting out regular blood tests through medichecks if you do decide to take it. My understanding is that it's important to keep it within range. Definitely stay away from the Chinese herbs and take the supplements.

I take:
Inositol and choline from H&B
Coenzyme A 200mg
Methylfolate (I have the MTHFR mutation)
A preconception multivitamin
Vitamin D
Vitamin B complex
Omega 3,6,9 (vegan version from Tesco)
Vitamin E 1000 from H&B
Probiotics (this is really important for implantation, you need one that has lactobacillus rhamnosus, gr-1 and lactobacillus reuteri, rc-14. I take femodophilus and optibac probiotic for women, both have these strains in.

It sounds like you want to give it one last collection cycle with your own eggs and I think that's a sensible approach. I would take the supplements, go for ICSI and transfer the embryos you get. If it doesn't work it sounds like you'd be happy to move on to donor eggs knowing you've tried 3 cycles.

I would advise you make sure you have done some form of imaging: either a HSG or saline scan (ultrasounds miss things) and that you do the ERA EMMA ALICE, before a FET. I had the worst microflora issues found on this test and it's easily treatable.

I get you with the spending, I have spent £20k to date and nothing to show for it. But I would much rather spend now and have a family than look back with regret. Hopefully we will all get there ❤️

Good luck for the update today @Keyu I hope it's great news!

Hey there! 7 fertilized eggs on the 1st cycle I think is very good news! Congrats so far! Fingers crossed things will progress great :) I am 39 and I am starting IVF as a single.

All my best wishes to everyone who is trying to conceive!

@Fabsco @Gardenlady543
Just had a call from clinic, 1 blastocyst for biopsy today and frozen and 2 early blastocyst stage and they will wait to see how the 2 get on tomorrow. So seems like it's down to 1 so far. The journey continues

@IsabelHerna good luck and wish you all the best, I believe we will all have good news in the end.

That's good @Keyu I hope the 2 others in the running are at biopsy stage tomorrow

@Fabsco hi 👋 I also took ubiquinol instead of coq10 and took melatonin too.
I gave up drinking and did a low carb diet. I tried dhea but I didn’t need it and it messed up my hormones ! Never take that one without testing dheas and testosterone first to see if those levels are low.
My dh also followed all the supplements in it starts with egg.
We got two embryos and one pgs normal on first cycle ( I have very low amh, af etc)
I then did another cycle and am in second trimester with fresh transfer.
I’ve had a lot of immune support too as argc said I had high killer cells - so ivig, intralipids , steroids etc.

Hi ladies, just heard that the two embryos made it to blastocyst. So we have 3 embryos. But from my findings their of low grades, 5BC 6BB 6CC. Seems like this is going to be one long journey. All the embryos will be tested after the last cycle. Considering maybe not testing all the embryos we get as I worry they may all come back as abnormal. After all not everyone tests their embryos but still get pregnant and not miscarry.

That's great news @Keyu if the embryos are euploid then the grading isn't important really. In USA where they do PGT-A routinely they often don't grade at all. My best graded embryo was the only aneuploid one!

Sounds like good news for you today. When is your next fresh cycle?