3rd failed FeT - what next?

[duckling3]

I've just found out my third fet hasn't worked so felling pretty deflated today.

I have a little boy conceived with my first round of ivf. Then an fet which ended in miscarriage, followed by 2 fet that didn't implant.

Will speak to the clinic on Monday but not sure what I want to do next.

I partly want to crack on with another fet as soon as possible, potentially transfer 2 embryos this time? Clinic were reluctant last time becuase I'd had 2 out of 3 transfers implant.

But i don't know if I should pursue any more testing .. see if there is anything in the protocol I should change up
To improve chances in future rounds.

I am feeling some time pressure because
My clinic is moving locations in a few months and the new location doesn't work for me so if I delay too long I may need to look at transferring out remaining embryos to a different clinic.

Plus financially I know I can't keep trying forever.

Has anyone been in a similar situation and could share their experience? Did you chose further testing or just try again.

So far my clinic has suggested sticking with the current treatment plan because I only had 1 failed implantation, now after 2 I don't know if I should be looking to switch things up a bit.

Not quite the same with the FETs but I have had 3 miscarriages and 1 failed IVF over the past 2 years. Because I already have a child conceived naturally they think it is probably age related/quality. However I am also at the same point so I am debating now whether to freeze any successful embryos and do the immunology testing rather than transfer one in naturally after my next round. We chose to do IVF because of the miscarriages to give more chance so it's not going as expected at the moment which is disappointing as I didn't respond well to the drugs they gave me last time and ended up with only 3 eggs. Hoping for more luck next time.

Sorry to hear you're in a similar boat.

What is the immunology testing?

I'm sorry to read this. IVF failure is so rubbish. I wish I could add some words of advice @duckling3 but I don't have any. I am commenting so I can see what others say. I have had 3 FET since my FET for my son and which have all failed/miscarried as well as a fresh transfer. It's hard to know what to do because we know it can work but it doesn't seem to be anymore...

I’m in a very similar boat to you @duckling3 I’ve 3 failed FETs this year from the same batch of embryos my DD came from in 2020, that was a fresh transfer. One FET resulted in an early miscarriage and the other two were BFN.
We have our follow up on in a couple of weeks, but like you I’m not sure what else could be changed or what extra tests could be done.
We have 2 embryos left as well, previous consultant was pushing for a double transfer but I’m not keen on the idea as had a csection for DD and worried if I was to conceive twins (through some sort of miracle!) that it wouldn’t be safe. Not sure I have any advice but just wanted to say I empathise. It’s really hard going through 3 failed fets, even more so when you know it can work! I’m also debating whether we should go for a fresh round if the last 2 fets don’t work but I’m 38 now so not sure it would be worth it and like you said, you cant keep throwing money at it!

Sorry to hear you are in the same boat, I wouldn't wish it on anyone although it's a little comforting to know it's not just me. Most people I know don't seem to be having any problems conceiving ( although perhaps some just aren't talking about it)

I'm supposed to speak to the nurse today to confirm my fet didn't work. Hoping maybe she can provide a little advise. I have 5 embryos left- although quality is not as good as the ones I've already transferred.

Part of me wants to crack on with another round with the next cycle and chance it but I know I won't get a consultant appointment in time to get advise before doing that so not sure that's my best bet.

Hi all,
Hope you don't mind me jumping on to ask for advice too. just found out our 3rd FET has failed.

our situation:
unexplained infertility
one egg collection which we got 14 eggs, 13 fertilised, 8 blastocysts.
-fresh transfer 5BA- BFN
-frozen cycle 4BB- BFN. was on estradiol and cyclogest 3x/day.
after this I had blood tests for sticky blood syndrome and thyroid- all came back clear.
Had endometrial scratch done.
-third frozen cycle 4BB- BFN. on estradiol 3x/day and lubion injection 2 x/day.
Lining has always responded well and has been good thickness.

Feeling so disheartened. don't know what to do next. don't know whether to just keep going with the frozen cycles hoping that it's just luck and it will eventually work. We are NHS funded and can't afford any private testing. I don't think our clinic will do pgt testing or era emma alice as they follow the HFEA recommendations.

thank you for your support in advance xx

@mjet I am sorry to hear that you’re in a similar boat ☹️ It’s so frustrating when things don’t work, even though on paper everything looks fine. I also find the unexplained diagnosis very frustrating too.
I think quite a bit of IVF comes down to luck and there’s so much they don’t understand yet. How old are you if you don’t mind me asking? I read a paper about the number of abnormal embryos at different ages, at age 34 around 50% will be abnormal so it might be that you’ve used these ones…or at least it’s a theory I’m going with as to why our last 3 didn’t work. We had 6 in total, 1 is DD so statistically speaking it’s not abnormal to 3 failed transfers.
Sorry I don’t have any advice. Do you have a follow up appointment? Ours isn’t for another 2 weeks. I have a lot of questions! I have a feeling they won’t suggest further testing at this point as they are quite conservative in their approach.
I hope you’re being kind to yourself tonight. The whole thing is so incredibly unfair ☹️

thank you for your kind words. hope you are holding up OK too.
I'm 31. I did think there could potentially be some abnormal ones since we had a bit more and we've just been unlucky with these transfers..that's what I'm hoping for anyways.
we will have a follow up appointment in 4 weeks. what questions will you ask if you don't mind sharing?

Sorry to hear there are a few of you in the same boat.

I spoke the the nurse after my last failed round last week, and she has suggested not to immediately start another round. I did say I was considering it in case it was just bad luck the embryos didn't stick. And I'm feeling a bit impatient to be honest.

The consultant will review my case this coming Thursday and then they will either make me an appointment to talk options or recommend some further testing to do before trying again. No idea what testing could be though.

I am finding all the waiting around to be quite frustrating.

does she mean not to start a new round straight away from your period after your failed FET or the period after?

I'm not sure what they will say this time around for me either. it will be interesting to hear if they will suggest anything else since I've already done thyroid and sticky blood testing and endometrial scratch. @duckling3 have you had that done?
I hear ya the waiting around is a killer!! im feeling so frustrated having to wait 4 weeks for my next consultation to get more answers 😪

I definitely feel the frustration @mjet and @duckling3 ! It’ll be 4 weeks from the time I found out the last transfer failed to our next consultation. I’ve been trying to use the time to get my head in a better place, we’re on holiday this week which is helping. I’m also a bit scared to go again as these are our last 2 frozen and I don’t know if I’ll do another fresh round.
@mjet I was going to ask about the emma and era tests, I don’t think they will do them as the evidence is patchy. My consultant already had me taking vaginal probiotics for the last transfer and these didn’t make any difference. I’m also going to ask about a hysteroscopy because I had a csection with DD and I’m worried there’s adhesions that aren’t showing up on an ultrasound. I think it’s good your clinic are going to look more closely and see what else they can recommend, rather than that rushing in again and wasting another transfer if there is something fixable.

@duckling3 sorry I didn't get a notification to say you had responded. Basically it's to see if your uterus is hostile and I think in very short terms attacks the embryo/ makes it difficult for one to survive X