IVF thin lining specialist recommendations

[Rubyroo1984]

Does such thing exist?

I am looking for a new IVF clinic and am at a loss which one to turn to. Please does anyone have any recommendations for thin lining issues?

We turned to IVF due to my PCOS (irregular / light periods all adult life, minus the 10 spent on contraceptive pill 😬). I had mild stimulation with create and have frozen embryos on ice, however thin lining is now my issue. Even with 25 follicles collected, lining was only 6mm. Had a hysteroscopy, endometrial biopsy, no issues. Thyroid all okay. 10mg of estrogen and patches, max 5.7mm.

Taking high doses of larginine, vitamin e, etc.

Anyone here had success with PRP, Neupogen wash, sildenafil…if so, please can you say where?

Thank you all, really appreciate any help / advice

Hiya,

I am in a slightly different position as I am much older and using donor eggs, but I also have thin lining issues. I’ve done two mock cycles with Progynova, and estrogen patches. I’m now trying for a third time and asked my clinic to give me sildenafil as well. I’m on day four of my cycle, and day two of taking this protocol. I am taking it vaginally. My lining won’t go past 4.8, it’s extremely frustrating. I will let you know in a week or so if it’s made any difference.

I would also like to hear from anyone that’s tried PRP and Neupogen wash. I have heard that PRP is just a con and a way to make even more money out of infertility.

I would highly recommend Tarek at Guys in London. He is amazing and very honest.

Good luck!

I'm also looking for suggestions of specialists for thin lining. How are you both getting on?

Definitely be good to know if you had any luck @Pinkcherryblossom74 @Rubyroo1984
Having similar issues. Max 6mm in fresh cycles and max 5.2mm (with 12mg oral oestrogen and 100mcg patch) in FET. Not been able to have FET done yet as cycles cancelled due to thin lining.

Hi @BewilderedBee how you doing? I decided to go with Ms Srividya Seshadri at CRGH. Happy so far but haven’t transferred yet.

Hi @Enfys23 no update to report yet, sorry. Hopefully transferring January. This cycle we are doing Emma and Alice test as well as nk cell biopsy and blood. (If these come back okay) January will be mild stimulation (all the estrogen supplements don’t seem to do much for me either). Sorry not that helpful but can let you know how it goes and what other meds dr introduces when i know

Hi all, I did another transfer - my lining got to 4.9. We were advised not to go ahead but we'd already invested so much in the cycle we decided to. I got a BFP and had had doubling betas but have started bleeding now and I think it's another miscarriage. Seeing EPU tomorrow.

How have you got on with dr S @Rubyroo1984 ?

I feel I need to see a specialist now. This last cycle was a natural one with low dose stims. I'm not sure what to do next. I've had a nk cells biopsy of my uterus which did show overactive nk cells. The only thing I haven't tried is IVIG

Hi @BewilderedBee
I am so sorry that you might be miscarrying. It’s all so rubbish.

Im awaiting results from biopsy for NK cells, but my lining was so thin they could barely get a sufficient amount of tissue to test 😫

Have you done the Emma and Alice tests? I’m waiting on results for that one too.

Are you with create in London? Will they do IVIG?
Are you you considering an immune reproductive specialist? I did have a consultation with Dr Gorgy in London but all he suggested for thin lining was to treat it with Neupogen/GCSF… So I then looked for clinics that offer this… and at current clinic If NK cells come back elevated we will add a GCSF flush.

I have seen lots of women on here who have had miscarriages and unexplained get treated at CRP

Hi @Rubyroo1984

I have done neupogen wash several times now but it hasn't improved my lining thickness. There's been no noticeable difference!

It ended up being a suspected ectopic and I had surgery just before Christmas! However my beta levels were still positive so I ended up having methotrexate. It means we have to have a 3 month break now.

I don't know where to go next with my lining. I want to try sitagliptin. I haven't had an EMMA / ALICE or ERA test. I'm not sure whether that's something I should look at. I've got a GP appointment this week and hoping for a referral to Tommy's. No idea how long it will take though.

How are you getting on?

Forgot to say I am with Create in Manchester but also been having treatment under Dr Gorgy for the immunology side of things. That's where I've had the neupogen washes done

Hi Ladies, I came across this thread when I searched for thin lining. Thin lining seems to be an issue that impacts a smaller group of people.

I’ve had my first cycle of IVF but no transfer due to thin lining. I should be starting on 8mg Progynova at the end of the month and patches if lining is still thin on day 14 scan. I’ve been offered an endometrial scratch and wanted to ask whether this is something any of you have done? Thank you x

Hi Ladies, I came across this thread when I searched for thin lining. Thin lining seems to be an issue that impacts a smaller group of people.

I’ve had my first cycle of IVF but no transfer due to thin lining. I should be starting on 8mg Progynova at the end of the month and patches if lining is still thin on day 14 scan. I’ve been offered an endometrial scratch and wanted to ask whether this is something any of you have done? Thank you x

Hi Ladies, I came across this thread when I searched for thin lining. Thin lining seems to be an issue that impacts a smaller group of people.

I’ve had my first cycle of IVF but no transfer due to thin lining. I should be starting on 8mg Progynova at the end of the month and patches if lining is still thin on day 14 scan. I’ve been offered an endometrial scratch and wanted to ask whether this is something any of you have done? Thank you x

Sorry about the duplicate messages! It kept coming up with an error message so I assumed it hadn’t posted 🙈

I’m hoping this is helpful to others. My story includes multiple failed and cancelled cycles due to thin lining. All medicated/stimulated cycles. With three routes of oestrogen, highest dose (and still barely getting to 5mm) and talk of all sorts of meds to boost, doing ERA/ALICE/EMMA and hysteroscopy, I got a second opinion and they advised seeing what my lining did in a natural cycle. I almost couldn’t see the point - after all why would my lining be better with amount of oestrogen I have in a natural cycle with one follicle vs multiples in stimulated? Well I took the advice and finally in a natural cycle got to 7.3mm. Heady heights! I couldn’t do transfer due to clinic close dates over Christmas but we’re now doing a modified natural cycle this month 🤞🏼. I’m sorry if you’ve already tried this and it doesn’t help your lining, and obvs I have no guarantee will be okay this month for transfer but it’s the best I’ve got so far and all just by leaving my body to do its thing. I also did acupuncture, pomegranate juice, Brazil nuts, vitamin E, L-Arginine, ubiquinol, Bettina Rae’s yoga for lining on YouTube, drank lots of water and whole milk, so maybe these helped too. I’m doing it all again this month! And really hoping last month wasn’t a fluke.

@Enfys23 thank your to sharing your experience. That’s amazing your lining got to 7mm plus on a natural cycle! My cycles are non existent so am starting a medicated cycle soon. Was it ok to take L-arginine whilst on Progynova?

Hi @Spin101 yes I don’t think there’s any problem with L-arginine, Vit E and D for lining during medicated but was told best to stop day before transfer. Good luck with it. I have my FET this Saturday in natural cycle and will take last supplements on Friday. My LH surge came early so never used the trigger.

@Enfys23 thank you!! Good luck with your transfer!
So hard for me to know when day 1 is to start Progynova. I had a scratch on Friday so my bleed has come a bit earlier after coming off the pill. I think I’m going to start Progynova today as one day surely can’t make a lot of difference when my bleeds are so light.

@Spin101 how did you get on?

I forgot to say I did have endometrial scratch but it didn’t seem to do anything for me. But I have had biopsy for the EMMA/ALICE/ERA and hysteroscopy - maybe they helped who knows, my lining seemed to be better after even though then tests themselves didn’t show anything the endometrial injury and healing might have done something.

Sadly despite my lining getting to over 7mm again and proceeding with natural cycle FET I had another BFN. But consultant is happy with lining now and we’re just going to try again next month with our last frozen embryo from this cycle.

@Enfys23 I’m sorry you had a BFN 😞 Did the consultant say whether or not they think it’s lining related? Will you try again with a natural cycle?

I’m on 8mg Prognova and 50 whatever the measurement is patches every 3 days. My lining only got to 4mm. It was triple layer. my consultant thinks maybe this is the max for me so has proposed we proceed with the transfer. I’m obviously really nervous but I guess if I don’t try, I won’t know. I don’t know if the endometrial scratch has done anything for me as my lining’s max before this was 3.6 ish. it might be the estrogen pills or the scratch that’s added a tiny amount. I’m quite petite so I don’t know if that has anything to do with it.

@Spin101 I can understand feeling nervous. Sending positive vibes. When is your transfer scheduled? What’s the situation with your blasts - how many do you have/are you transferring? Am I right that this is your first IVF cycle and first FET? How old are you?

I think he’s thinking it’s most likely just bad luck/more likely Embryo related this time and so we will go ahead with natural cycle FET again next month. I’m going to ask at my full review next week if we should throw sildenafil into the mix just to see if my lining will get thicker. It was 7.3mm day before transfer but the clinic couldn’t fit me in day of LH surge so I’m not sure what it was then. It was 6.8mm on day 8. I’m going to take the max dose L-Arginine (6g) and Vit E, D and iron through this cycle too and into first part of the transfer cycle. I wasn’t taking that much L-Arginine before. Doing all these things of yoga, ensuring I do some exercise daily, acupuncture, any suggested thick lining foods etc it’s honestly a little silly. Think if someone said standing upside down on my head for 10 mins a day with a frog on my foot would help I would be doing it by now. Gets a little crazy doesn’t it.

I have low ovarian reserve (diagnosed age 34, now just turned 36)and endo, never had BFP ever. We have got day 5 blasts from all our eggs so far but only got 1 egg in cycle 1 and 3 in cycle 2. Fresh transfers probably weren’t going to work as my lining was poor so feel we wasted those two great quality embryos. Sad the FET didn’t work this past month but I do think it’s the best cycle we’ve had and we know not every embryo will stick sadly. So think DH and I are happy to see how we go with this last frozen embryo but prepared for needing 3rd egg collection.

@Enfys23 thank you. Transfer is on Monday. Yup this is my first cycle. We have 5 blasts in the freezer. I’m 36 soon so NHS will only allow one.

what is sidenafil? Seems like you’ve tried lots of things for your lining. I know what you mean.. I read so much and try to incorporate it in. I stopped L arginine after a week as I felt I was getting dizzy spells, probably because it was lowering my BP. I tried acupuncture before I started stims and got weird sensations in my hands, so stopped that.

I feel with some cases such as ours, it comes down to trial and error but the thought of losing an embryo over it is very painful.

i hope your next transfer is successful xx

@Spin101 that’s a good number of blasts in the freezer. Really hope it all goes smoothly. You have to trust in your medical team but equally question everything too. It’s a strange balance. If you’re not happy to transfer at that measurement it really is your choice, make sure you’re as happy as you can be. I know I regretted going ahead with fresh cycle in august and “wasting” a great quality blast. I know it’s so hard to have cycle cancelled though. I had a couple cancelled in the autumn because my lining wasn’t playing ball on the estradiol tablets and patches and it felt brutal.

Have you had any investigations into why your lining isn’t developing beyond 3-4mm?

We've had to self fund as my consultant felt by time NHS would allow us to start my AMH might have dropped too low to be eligible. Really cruel. So we have a 3 cycle refund package.

Sildenafil is viagra. It’s meant to improve blood flow and has some evidence of helping to thicken lining. It should be via vaginal pessaries really but don’t think they are available in UK so I think most do oral version here.

Thank you. Wishing you so much luck xx

You’re right, I shouldn’t do anything I’m not comfortable with. I trust this consultant knows what he’s talking about. If this doesn’t work, I’ll want much more next time! The thought of cancelling a cycle after having been on Prognova for almost 4 weeks is very painful.

I asked my NHS consultant about viagra and he kind of laughed but I wasn’t sure if it’s because I ask a lot of questions in general or if they don’t do that on the NHS.

I think the thin lining is because I have PCOS and have always had light periods and more recently none at all. I had a lap and hysteroscopy last year which identified a small amount of endo which was treated at the same time. No other scarring. They couldn’t confirm whether one of my tubes was blocked or not (same during the HyCoSy).

Did you get 5 blasts from 4 eggs or have I misread your post?

I’m so sorry you had to go private immediately. The NHS wait time are so long atm. I really hope you frozen embaby implants and it’ll be worth it in the long run xx

@Spin101 Sometimes you just have to try and see. Though it’s hard I am getting the idea now that each cycle brings learning even if not success just yet, though always hoping. Lots of positive thoughts now for you.

I’m glad you’ve had a hysteroscopy etc already.

Sorry I meant they’re blastocysts that reached day 5, we had 4 of them in total. We’re very lucky we had family willing to help and at least getting the refund element if it doesn’t work out we get a fair chunk of money back to try again.

Take care and really hope all goes well on Monday. Will be thinking of you through your 2WW xx

Hi @Spin101 good luck for tomorrow!
I was in a similar situation to you last year -and when you’ve taken all the meds for it to not no ahead is gutting.
What have you tired to regulate your periods/make them heavier? The reason I ask is this is I’ve always had light /irregular/sometimes no periods. I had pcos diagnosis over 10 years ago. I’m sure my thin lining was because of this as had all the tests possible. Anyway after a three month ivf break and some lifestyle changes I’ve managed to get periods back again etc (and lining to increase and ovaries not looking polysistic)