IVF prep - diet/lifestyle etc - ahead of FOURTH round

[foodiefil]

Hello, I've been on 3 threads previously for each full round of IVF my husband and I have had.

Our situation is that my husband had a vasectomy and the reversal didn't work so we started IVF - I was naive to the process having come at it as someone who "didn't have fertility issues" myself. Each round we have got an embryo and got to transfer but bar a chemical after the first round each following round has been BFN.

Since our last round (ended in BFN Feb 22) I have been taking more supplements (coq10, vit d, folic acid, magnesium) and since NYE haven't drank any alcohol knowing we were planning to try again this Spring.

I only have control over the holistic side of things so that's what I'm focussing on - does anyone have any tips that they found helped them?

Any positive stories after the third round?

TIA

Following! I'll be starting my second round soon hopefully. I've been taking the same supplements as you plus the Wild Nutrition fertility supplement. I've also been reading some interesting things about NMN this morning, so I'm going to add that to the mix: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7063679/

Worth a shot!

Hi @countrypunk that sounds interesting - can you send me a link to what you’ve bought for that?
looks like it’s just me and you for now 😂

So I'm dithering between 2 brands at the moment:

youthandearth.com/products/nmn-sublingual-powder-10g?variant=36505457098915

www.british-supplements.net/products/nmn-nicotinamide-mononucleotide?_pos=1&_sid=dca8d8414&_ss=r

I'll probs go for the British Supplements one because they seem to really focus on provenance of ingredients.

I think I'm also going to start taking a separate niacin supplement because the Wild Nutrition supplement I'm on only contains a really small amount and apparently it can help prevent miscarriage and birth defects.

I haven't drunk any booze since January either! I find being strict with diet and exercise really difficult. I'm not overweight but the stress of it all has led to comfort eating. So I need to get a handle on that.

Do you know when you're starting your next round yet? I'm in limbo at the moment - I got pregnant from our January transfer but we were told it wasn't viable at our 7 week scan. I've since been to the EPU at my local hospital who detected a heartbeat but I'm measuring 2 weeks behind. I've got to go back this week for another scan but I'm just waiting for the inevitable. My clinic have told me I'll probably need to wait 3 months before I can cycle again which is just rubbish.

Oh I’m really sorry about that but that is good you got pregnant ! Did you get any frosties?

i’ve ordered wild nutrition.

how far in advance will you take the NMN?

I totally get the comfort eating thing. Especially with no booze you feel like you want a treat, or I do on a weekend especially.

apparently beef liver is really good for you so I’ve ordered supplements cos urgh I couldn’t eat it. And avocados

Following also!

I’ll be starting a second round in May/June time after a failed cycle in Jan/Feb.

I’ve been told to look at proxeed for women, and the male one for DH which I’ve ordered. Cost a small fortune!

We had a poor cycle, fertilisation rate was poor for ICSI but they don’t know if it was the eggs or the sperm, as both looked ok. Just trying to get healthy, drop some of the weight that I’ve gained over the last cycle before we start again. DH needs a sperm sos stress test too. I’m currently taking pregnacare max, COQ10 and vit D. Will switch pregnacare to proxeed when it arrives.

@foodiefil No frosties left sadly. I'm going to order the NMN tomorrow (pay day) and then start taking it immediately. Have you read It Starts with the Egg? That book explains that the processes that affect egg abnormality start about 3 months before ovulation, so it's good to start supplements/dietary stuff 3 months before a cycle.

@Lauralozzle Hello ♥️ 🙂 I'm gonna have a look at proxeed for DP. Is that supposed to be the best supplement for men? I do wonder if our problem is partly sperm quality. Our embryos mostly dropped off after day 3. DP's sperm test looked good, but maybe there's there a more detailed sperm analysis we can do?

@countrypunk I’m sorry about your miscarriage and that you’re having to do this again. I remember you from the Jan thread.

I think the main big ones for men is impryl and proxeed. Not sure which one is better though.

I had my review today, next cycle we’re changing pretty much everything. Short protocol, less stims but over x2 drugs for longer period of time (hopefully), dual trigger. AOA and Zymot chip to select best sperm as we’re ICSI. OH to do sperm stress test. All this and still technically unexplained! But we’ve been told to wait 3 months and not to go straight away. I think if I have 2 natural cycles after my ivf bleed that should be ok.

Our one surviving embryo was rubbish. It was no surprise it failed as the quality was terrible.

@Lauralozzle I remember you too! Shit isn't it. Can I ask how old you are? I'm 39. I started another thread about protocol but no responses yet... just really wondering if we should change everything next time too.

It sounds like your clinic is proactive which is great. I think we might change clinics next time. I've only seen a doctor once at our current clinic, and nobody seems to care all that much. Did your clinic explain why they think short protocol would be better for you? And what's a sperm stress test? We had ICSI too because of antisperm antibodies.

Sorry about all the questions, I have so many at the minute!

@countrypunk It’s super shit.

So, I asked straight out if they’d try a different protocol or not. They said wouldn’t be long protocol cause they think I’ll respond better to short and partly because of the buserelin shortage. I ended up down regging for 6 weeks before, body literally ignored it and was gearing up to ovulate! so it wasn’t particularly effective until after a second bleed.

They said with different mixture of meds (rather than ovaleap it would be gonal-f and something else for stims ) but slightly less dose might help my follicles grow a bit more evenly. I triggered on day ten and only stimmed for 9 days, she said ideally I’d trigger a bit later. I only have one working ovary, and she said 300 ovaleap might have been a bit much for one ovary!

She also said a dual trigger might help and they’ve seen good success for that. It’d be half hcg I used and buserelin. Not routinely given, but in our circs might be useful.

She also said she’d double the progesterone as I spotted before test day. Although she did say that might have just been because the embryo wasn’t great.

The sperm stress test - it’s sos test for oxiditive stress. DH SA have always been very strong, but given that only 2 eggs out of six fertilised, only one survived and was crap quality there might be something else. I think following that we’ll find out if DH needs extra supplements and then they might also suggest DNA frag test. Whilst he’s not overweight, his diet (like mine, at times) isn’t great so maybe it’ll show something. It’s just frustrating that they don’t know if it’s an egg or sperm issue, but it’s definitely an issue!

We were meant to have ICSI/IVF split but the number of eggs we had were only 6 so we went with ICSI. That was down to unexplained diagnosis and nearly 4 years TTC.

I’ve only seen one consultant but I do feel like she’s on the ball and ready to try different things that might work.

I’m 35 now, turned 35 in Jan.

@Lauralozzle Thank you so much, that's so helpful and gives me loads to ask about when consulting clinics. Definitely want to investigate sperm quality a bit more.

Sorry @foodiefil I've hijacked your thread a bit there!

No apology needed @countrypunk !

welcome @Lauralozzle ❤️ sorry about your failed cycle. It sucks so much. I’m already getting test fear.

ok I think I will also get the NMN and proxeed! I’m throwing everything at this one!

our first 3 cycles were long protocol and I asked for short for our next one because I simply don’t want to inject myself for 3 weeks before anything actually happens and our clinic said it made no difference to the outcome. Just affected dates. I can deal with that.