Improving egg quality over 35

[M00nknight]

To those if you had an unsuccessful round , did you Incoperate anything that you believe helped the outcome with regards to improving egg quality?
I've seen women saying they took supplements and followed a diet and they had better quality embryos next collection. Turning 40 end of year which is making me very nervous

My clinic advised coq10 vit d,dhea and prescription strength folic acid. Obviously discuss with clinci though because what's right for my case might not be for you.

Unfortunately it didn't help for me but would have regretted if had not tried those supple.nts

Coq10, Alpha Lipoic acid, Vit D, Iron, Omega 3 with DHEA, active lifestyle(as much as possible) to support oxygen circulation, enough sleep and less stress(as if possible in IVF!). It did help with egg quality at 38.

@Arewetherenow that is really helpful thank you.

I am 37 going on 38 later this year, going to start natural modifed IVF end of August for 3 cycles back to back. AMH is 4.3 pmol (was 6 pmol 6 months ago). Prolactin and thyroid all looks good and OH sample was all good, although due to fertilisation not occuring on the 2 eggs in our NHS cycle (one abnormally fertilisatised and the other not at all), ICSI has been suggested for next time.

What were your circumstances as you mentioned you were 38?

@M00nknight yes I had a failed round and my clinic suggested taking ubiquinol for at least 3 months before the next cycle. So I them as well as had no alcohol for 6 months prior

Sorry, hi all by the way! 👋 @M00nknight understand your nervousness, just trying to prep the best I can before going into this next cycle too

I did pretty much everything going (weekly acupuncture, x6 ubiquinol/day, melatonin, vit D, vit E, vit C, Tru Niagen, PQQ, alpha-lipoic acid, inositol plus all the diet stuff recommended in ISWTE and by specialist fertility nutritionist). Although not DHEA, after much debate, as tests showed I didn’t actually have low testosterone.

I started all this the recommended 4 months in advance of cycle 1 and it still took 3 cycles to get an euploid embryo at 39/40 with good numbers throughout. So honestly, I just don’t know if any of it made a difference. All you lose by trying though is money and you’ll be spending enough of that anyway, so I still figure you may as well give it a go if you can afford it. 🤷‍♀️

@Sunflower360 We had the issue of male factor infertility.
My AMH was 11-12. I had hypothyroidism and was put on levothyroxine.
I did have an average egg collection (10-11) but after maturing, fertilisation and 5 days, we only had one viable embryo. We did ICSI.

Hello all
I've heard NMN is supposed to helpful, it's marketed as an anti-aging compound and improves egg quality in animal studies. I started taking it a couple of days ago so I can't speak from personal experience but sounds promising x

I was already taking supplements from it starts with the egg but I upped the amount of coq10 to 600mg and Vit c to 1000. I also did accupuncture weekly.

They upped my stims and changed drug for my second round as I had such a poor response to the first one too.

First cycle 1 blast 3BC failed transfer.

Second cycle 4 blast, 3BC transfer failed. Froze 5AB, 4AB and 4BB.

Just done a FET with the 5AB got a positive a few days ago. I didn't transfer the best one during my fresh because I wasn't happy with the thickness of my lining.

I do think the book is brilliant. With the DHEA doesn't always improve things so speak to your consultant. I did take 50mg for a month but I don't think that's what did it for me particularly. My friend took it for 3 months though with a much lower AMH. She got less blasts but one was her daughter.

Hope it all works out for you x

Meant to add I am 40 x

Hi everyone, I am 37 (38 later) this year) with low AMH 4.3 pmol and going to start natural modified IVF next month. I am looking to how to improve quality too, as quantity is nit really in my favour at all (forst high stims IVF short protocol, got 2 mature eggs unfortunately did not fertilise so ICSI advised for next time).

I am taking Proceive, CoQ10 600mg and Omega 3 1000 IU.

@LittleDoveLove what CoQ10 did you take? I am taking Ubiquinone hence the higher dose as I understand it does not break down as well as Ubuiquinol (which is more expensive I think....but equates to the same when you take more of Ubuiquinone)

Hi,
My first round of egg collection was very poor quality eggs ended up with only one suitable for transfer and even that failed. On my second round of egg collection, I scoured the internet and found that Acai berry is used to improve egg quality so I got some tablets from Holland and Barrat and I can say that the eggs were better quality from what I was told. Worth a try.

Thanks @Asa85 will look into that! If you don't mind me asking what were your circumstances AMH, cycles etc?

Also @Asa85 did you use tablets or powder drink for the acai berry?

@sunflower360 my MAH was 9 if I remember correctly, we had unexplained infertility. My cycles were always regular but they started becoming irregular and super painful about a year ago, I also found out I had Endometriosis about 6 months ago.
In terms of the Acai berry I took the tablets from H&B 1500mg and I was taking about 8 tablets a day.

I would also say take Coq10 as the previous messages say, it won't do any harm, I was taking them as well. I definitely read some articles about Acai berries and its effects on egg quality, apparently, they get prescribed to women in America who are going through IVF.

Thanks @Asa85 will try that! Having googled Acai berries there is quite a bit of stuff on it, surprised it has not been mentioned much (and not in the It Starts with the Egg book), first I've heard of it and I thought I had done a fair bit of research!

I'm already of 600mg of CoQ10 so hopefully that is enough 😬

Are you still going through IVF at the moment @Asa85?

@Sunflower360 I took 600mg 200mg at breakfast, lunch and dinner) of Life Extension Super Ubiquinol COQ10 x

Sorry missed the bracket off! 600mg in total spread across three meals. I read in the book it starts with the egg you can only absorb 200mg at a time x

Yes still going through IVF ,had 2 unsuccessful embryo transfers so far. Its not easy but we keep going. I'm praying that the acai works for you xx

Really interesting discussion, thanks for starting the thread OP!

@Summerishere83 did you ask your dr about NMN? Only wondering if you did your own research or it was suggested. I know sometimes drs provide conflicting info depending on experience etc, so just curious. As mentioned in other threads, our dr was not really into CoQ10 but didnt mind me taking it.

I would really like to be given a list by our clinic with all the stuff that there is consensus works (folic acid, vitamin d) and then the stuff where the evidence may be mixed but it cant harm and then stuff you need to ensure makes sense in terms of your own situation.

@Asa85 very interesting re acai! I would have never thought though understand Vitamin C does the same but is perhaps less potent. Def worth giving it a go I would imagine as it cannot harm (and it is quite tasty in smoothies I think!).

Hi @Loulaki

It's a great topic, absolutely. IVF can't help if the eggs aren't any good which is kind of a given at my age, just turned 40.

Starting NMN is based on my own research, it's widely discussed in the book by David Sinclair called Lifespan and here's a short article separately about it https://healthnews.com/longevity/longevity-supplements/should-i-try-nmn-for-fertility/
It is the type of supplement that won't cause harm if it doesn't help so both myself and my husband started it due to its wide ranging potential benefits.

Beside the standard supplements (folic acid, vit D) I'm additionally taking taurine 750mg before sleep (it does make me fall asleep easily), ubiquinol 600mg, ashwaganda 1000mg and 25mg DHEA.

I should start a mild IVF cycle in August and I hope all the above have an effect!!

Hey

My consultant recommend 600mg ubiquinol one day then 1200mg the next and alternate, apparently studies show it's safe to take in this amount.

Also advise getting vit D levels checked, i take 10,000iu a day now in Gel caps. .mine was very low and since taking it my AMH has doubled