ERA/EMMA/ALICE Testing thread 4

[Janefx40]

New thread ladies! @Gardenlady543 @MyEasterEggs @seven201 @VenusStarr @Violette22 @Yuliaaa

Lol @VenusStarr I know! If I was 1.5 hours late bringing in a patient and told them to come earlier next time, I don't think I'd be able to run away quick enough from their rath! The procedure was fine it was just stinging, but then I was so focused on my train I was ignoring everything else!

That's good that you can move on soon :)

@VenusStarr I've found Create alright. I guess they are a bog standard type of ivf clinic.
They don't do immune testing (as you probably know). But they are reasonable as ivf prices go I suppose.
I have the scan tomorrow, which hopefully is decisive and doesn't involve more waiting.
I will try to test this miscarriage tissue. But the results will take weeks.
In the meantime I have 2 day 6 blastocysts frozen. I want to PGT them, but just wondering if I need to do more cycles first to see if I can get more blasts or just test these. Its £1350 to test the first one then £350 for each one after that, but as they keep saying only 30% eggs are likely to be normal at this age.
I ideally really just want one child out of this.

@birdbybird I hope your scan goes as well as can be expected ❤️ will you be having surgery or medical management?
My cytogenetics took 11 weeks this time and we waited for those before deciding what to do next.

We're the same, just want one baby, not doing all this again. So its a strange feeling only having one embryo left. Unsure whether we should do more ivf, but I don't want embryos left over that I won't use. I do feel very attached to them.

How are you @seven201

Hope everyone is doing ok @Janefx40 @Gardenlady543 @Yuliaaa @Violette22 xx

Hi all. Just catching up.

Well done @Gardenlady543 for getting the LIT done. The queue system sounds annoying! Glad you caught your train.

@Janefx40 sorry you're feeling out of control. I can relate to inappropriate blurting out of stuff in frustration. How are you doing now? Do you think you need a few days off work to try and re-set a bit?

@VenusStarr sorry you're feeling disconnected. I hope the next two weeks go quickly for you so you can get on with the FET.

@birdbybird good luck with the scan today. I hope it goes smoothly and they're supportive. Are you planning on waiting for things to happen naturally or are you wanting some intervention?

I'm doing alright. Still bleeding a little. I've been away for the weekend with friends so that was a nice distraction. Just want to get on with another try, but have to wait.

I'm glad you've had a weekend away @seven201 a mice distraction is well needed, especially at times like this ❤️
Are you seeing Dr S soon? I'm glad you're feeling ready to try again. I hope you can get a plan soon xx

Hi all <3 I am sorry I have missed out on so much of your recent updates, but wanted to say how sorry I am for your loss @seven201 😔💚💙It sounds good that you are hopeful enough to start trying again and I agree it is the right direction to go 🤗

Seems like your next FET is approaching in a week or so @VenusStarr how are you feeling about it? Hugs 💗

I am 16+1 weeks 💖Cant believe we've got this far really since all of my six losses happened in the early weeks (4-8). I did have a big sudden bloody bleed last Thursday and got really, really scared. Thought here we go again. No reason for the bleed was found and all ok on ultrasound. Still feeling scared though :(. I had just stopped the progesterone injections four days earlier and had started taking mini aspiring to prevent pre-eclampsia two days prior (due to my mother's history). Now due to the bleed I was put back on progesterone and the aspirin is stopped.

If someone comes across this thread looking for info on EMMA test I want to say that in my case I think treating the low lactobacillus made a difference. To sum up I had 0% lactobacillus and 75 % gardnerella in my EMMA test. After treating it I had one really early loss (hcg only went to 25) and the month after this current pregnancy, ofcourse anything can still happen but it has gone a lot further than the previous ones. Intralipid and progesterone injections might also play a big role as well.

Hope everyone is OK 💚

Good to hear things are progressing well @Violette22 despite the scary bleed.

@VenusStarr @seven201 I went for a scan this morning and it was 10 days since the last one but there was only 1 day growth and still no heartbeat. I was measuring exactly 6 weeks at 8weeks2days. It was more or less what we were expecting.
I’m booked in for the procedure this Thursday and testing the miscarriage tissue. We’ve decided not to find out the gender of the little bean to spare ourselves further heartache.
@seven201 have you got a post cycle appointment with the ivf clinic? (I think you are doing ivf right?)

@birdybird I am so sorry you have to experience this loss 😔😢Lots of hugs 💕

@Gardenlady543 Do you have a link to studies about the role of low lactobacillus and birth rate/miscarriages/implantation? I was supposed to send it to my doctor but cant find it...if I remember correctly you also had read about it...

@Violette22 the links to the studies are embedded in this post I wrote:
www.reddit.com/r/infertility/comments/rwsxwy/theuterinemicrobiomeemmaalicemenstrualfluid/?utmsource=share&utmmedium=iosapp&utm_name=iossmf

@birdbybird I'm sorry :( this is so horrible to be going through, I hope the test results will be quick

My endometrial immune biopsy has come back normal.

Thank you @Violette22 and @Gardenlady543

@VenusStarr do you mind if I ask what the grade is of your frozen embryo?
mine are a day 6 4BA and 4CB. And I don’t want embryos left over either. I’m attached to them too :(
I may PGT-A them before any new cycles.

thanks a lot @Gardenlady543 that was helpful 🤗

I feel rubbish today, the site of the LIT was itchy and inflamed and is still all red. I feel like I've been hit by a truck today I'm so drowsy and I can't get my words out I was speaking to someone and they kept asking me to repeat. One of the partners of the donors coughed the whole time I was in the waiting room, I wonder if she had Covid and I've caught it from her partner's blood product.

@Gardenlady543 sorry you feel rubbish. Hope you don't have Covid too! Have you got any holiday coming up?

@birdbybird I'm sorry it's all so rubbish. Hope you are doing ok.

@seven201 been thinking of you. Glad you had some distraction with your friends

@VenusStarr it's probably healthy to disconnect from time to time. The pressure of all this is too much to take all the time.

@Violette22 so wonderful to hear from you. 16+1 is fantastic. I know there's a way to go but you have come so far and this gives me hope ❤️

I just want to disappear into a vat of chocolate. Am getting fatter and fatter tho so need to reign it in soon. Also seen to have given up taken my vitamins which is silly! In fact I'm going downstairs to take them all now!

@birdbybird it's a 3AA, same as the one I miscarried last year. My chemical was a 5AA. We decided not to defrost to test, but its a totally personal choice.
Wishing you lots of love for Thursday.

@Violette22 I'm so pleased for you. I'm sorry you had another scare ❤️

I'm sorry you're feeling rough @Gardenlady543 I really hope it's not covid! That's good news about your biopsy - was that uterine nk cells or something else?

@Janefx40 I've reduced my supplements, I'm not on pregnancies or folic acid at the moment. Don't be hard on yourself 💗 what are your next steps? Xx

@VenusStarr Gorgy said it was about activity, the results were

IL-18/TWEAK 0.056 (0.03-0.11)
CD56 0.757 (0.5-2)
IL-15/Fn14 0.393 (0.3-3)
Endometrial immune profile: normal

I just don't get why I never implant ever.
I am booked to discuss treatment with him on Monday.

@Gardenlady543 I'm glad you're seeing him soon and can hopefully get some clarity on your next steps. And also why you have never implanted ❤️

@Janefx40 Ive been taking the pregnacare gummies. I hate swallowing tablets!

@VenusStarr I am also very attached to all the embryos I lost. I think of them as my little lost babies.
I am surving. I am on holiday and it's nice and relaxing, but I remember sitting on the beach last year just before the second Ivf round and thinking that would be our last summer without a baby. I was so optimistic, but here I am again this year sitting on the beach childless and joyless. I wish I could stop thinking about it for a day and clear my head!

@Violette22 Happy to hear things are progressing nicely. 💜

Sending love and strength to everyone else. It's a awful challenging situation for all of us!

So I just decided to delay the operation by a week, I started freaking out. The only day I was told not to book it on was CD1 and that's exactly when it fell. I asked about taking noresthisterone to bring my period forward by 2 days and the surgeon said that would be fine. But I started worrying about how the hormone may impact on what he's looking for. Eg it's a treatment for endometriosis so if it's there, would it be harder to spot. I know moving it one week forward is much better timing and since the recovery involves 2 periods before a transfer it doesn't impact on timing. All I needed to do was tell work and I'm sure they'll be fine with the adjustment. I'm just second guessing myself about whether this is the right decision.

Hi @Gardenlady543 it sounds logical to me.

I’m sorry for how you’re feeling @Yuliaaa

Hi everyone on here,

I was hoping I could join and ask your advice. I’ve had two FET failures now, and I know some of you started additional tests after two. I wonder if you could recommend would be a good place to start with additional testing? I assume the era/emma/Alice tests are something you’d recommend but I don’t know a lot about them if I’m honest, or if all clinics do them. It all feels very overwhelming, so many tests and no clue where to begin.

TIA

Hi @thislittlebird welcome! Yes do come and join us complicated lot. What's your history, how old are you? how long trying to conceive? Any positive tests? How did the collection cycle go? Any issues picked up to date?

@Gardenlady543
hi! I’m sure we’ve chatted before about microflora, and I read your Reddit post previously!

I’m 39, 40 next May. Been trying for nearly three years now, started in October 2019. Dh will be 41 later this year, he has male factor, poor motility and we’ve had ICSI.

My history is not the worst or best, have lots of follicles for my age (23-38 on scans) but not PCOS apparently, possibly borderline, maybe PCO, doctors don’t seem to agree but I don’t meet the three? criteria you need to be officially PCOS. I have regular periods too, just slightly variable in length. AMH was 31 when last tested.

I do have repeated low progesterone results which may have been an issue this cycle, they called me today after a blood test telling me to take more Cyclogest but it’s too late, my period has already started. I’ll take it anyway until OTD 🙄.

We’ve had one round of IVF in February, our nhs cycle. I was on fairly low dose meds, collected 15 eggs. 12 were mature, 9 fertilised ok and 4 embryos made it day 5/6. Didn’t do a fresh. Had my first transfer in April which failed, didn’t make it to OTD, I got my regular hormonal migraine and tested the day before knowing what that means. Second transfer was this month, just found out it failed. Didn’t make it to OTD again, this time probably because of low progesterone/my period starting.

Only other issue I can think of is my recurring suspected thrush. Treatments for it usually work so I think it is thrush, I have been taking Optibac daily in this cycle and I do think it helped.

Other than that I guess it’s worth mentioning have various immune conditions, I’m worried that could be a problem. I have asthma, eczema, sinusitis. Nothing major, but I do seem to have an overreactive immune system. I really would like it not to be this because I hate prednisolone so very much. My face still hasn’t recovered from a couple of months of it last year.

I know it’s only two failures, and my consultant would say I’ll probably have success from this cohort, I’m not as optimistic as him and at my age I don’t really feel like I have time to lose.

Thanks for reading my long af post 😩

@Gardenlady543 I wanted to ask you what is your history? Have you had any positive tests?
I think I read you were vegan? I was too but started having eggs this year after I caught pneumonia in January and was very weak... although I'm still predominantly plant-based.
I had a bit of a panic attack on a work call a few minutes ago (thankfully I didn't have to do any talking).

I forgot to say: no, never had a positive test :/