Fresh IVF cycle Negative test at 6dp5dt

[Miarez]

Hi everyone,
This is my second IVF attempt, the first one was last year and it was so emotionally draining, I couldn't get myself to try again until this month. I am now 6 days post blastocyst transfer and I took a pregnancy test which came back negative. I know it's still early but I see so many testing positive from 5 days post transfer so I feel really deflated today. Did anyone test positive later on?

Thank you xx

It depends how sensitive the test you used is, this post has a great explanation of it: reddit.com/r/IVF/s/Z9jfKUxIXB

Essentially if you are using a very sensitive test like a frer and it's negative at 7dp5dt then the chances are not good as if you then get a positive, the embryo would have implanted late which increases the chance of a loss.

@Gardenlady543 good link. Explains everything well.

@Miarez it's probably no help to you but I tested on superdrug early detect this morning at 12dp5dt and it's negative. OTD is Tuesday. I prepared myself psychologically for a negative outcome... Bring on transfer No2. Just wanted to say you are not alone. Might do some online shopping to get myself something nice for all the effort.

This is such a helpful link thank you!! With the first embryo transfer I implanted late and had a chemical loss, so this explains it well. I'm using an amazon test that is supposed to be sensitive. In my heart, I know it didn't work.

@CoCoaButter85 sorry to hear that :( it is all so emotional isn't it.
Do you know when you can do the next one?

Sorry about you results @Miarez and @CoCoaButter85 I started IVF in 2020 I can't tell you how many negative tests I have stared at, currently 21 weeks and it has definitely been a marathon.

@Miarez I had a chemical in December it is very unfair and just drags the situation out, with this pregnancy I tested very strongly positive on 6dp5dt.

@Gardenlady543 congratulations!!
May I ask how many attempts it took? We have 3 frozen embryos but they are average quality and I don't know what to think anymore.

@Miarez I did all single transfers: 2 untested and 4 euploid in me as well as having 2 unsuccessful surrogacy journeys with 3 euploids. I'm an incredibly complicated patient, the vast majority of people aren't as unlucky as me, I managed to develop: autoimmune thyroiditis, progesterone hypersensitivity and submucosal fibroids secondary to IVF. I needed 3 operations and found success with a modified natural FET (followed my own cycle but with low dose stims and supple tart progesterone), a full immune protocol from a reproductive immunologist and open fibroid removal.

Unfortunately it is a numbers game, if embryos are untested the chance of one working is 1 in 3. So until there are 5-6 transfers with no implantation it could all be bad luck.

I meant supplementary progesterone, I would have loved IVF to have included a supple tart though.

@Gardenlady543 oh wow, it really does sound like you have been through a lot!!! Thank you for all the helpful advice, hope you have a smooth and healthy pregnancy!

@Miarez thank you, I actually have Covid right now! So need some good luck sending my way!

@Gardenlady543 oh my!!! 😅😅😅

@Miarez... I just had a cry. Feeling very sorry for myself. Glad didn't wait for Tuesday at least it gives me some time to deal with it not worrying about work at the same time.

I have no idea how soon you can start another one. Probably they will be advise for me to have two more bleeds. We have 2 more in the freezer. So would like all of them done before Christmas. Not sure how feasible this is but we shall see. I will call clinic and hopefully will get consultation booked soon to find out. Happy to keep you updated.

@Gardenlady543 oh wow, seems that you have certainly been on a journey and understand us well. Hope you are enjoying your pregnancy xx

@CoCoaButter85 :( I had a cry today as well. Please do keep me updated, I will do too!

@Miarez @CoCoaButter85 you can technically go straight into a FET with the bleed, many people do. My clinic made me have a cycle off and would do a follow up appointment in this time though, it's a good opportunity to talk about any issues in the cycle and how they could be rectified. Eg for me my lining wasn't great so we would amend the cycle to help with that. I went into planning mode after unsuccessful cycles.

There are some simple things you could look into while waiting:

If you haven't had a saline scan or HSG I would recommend one, this is often not done pre IVF but it can show things like scarring and adhesions that ultrasounds miss.

I also made sure I did a full blood panel (my GP was happy to run this for me):
Full blood count
Urea and electrolytes
Bone profile
Liver function tests
Coagulation screen
CRP
Thyroid function tests
Vitamin D
Haematinics (Iron, B12 and folate)
Fasting glucose
Fasting cholesterol
HbA1c

I also focused on my uterine microbiome, there are tests to look into it this, which I ended up doing after a few unsuccessful transfers. But in the first instance you could look at taking an oral probiotic like: optibac for women, femdophilus or bio femme V.

@Gardenlady543 thank you so much!!I'm going to look now at oral probiotics!

@Miarez how are you getting on?

I did call my clinic yesterday and managed to get consultation booked on 26 Sep only. It's bit of a wait so don't know yet when I will be able to get on with the second transfer. Had a bit of cramping yesterday but don't feel any different today. So hopefully it won't take too long for the period to get back

@CoCoaButter85 I have only gotten negative pregnancy tests so far. I have even emailed the nurses to ask what would the next steps be but they can't arrange my consultant appointment until Friday when my OTD is. I'm 100% I am not pregnant now and want to come of the progesterone already but will wait until OTD. I have now accepted it's a failed cycle so just doing research on what I can do to improve my chances for next time! I am also not sure if I should wait a couple of months before trying a transfer. Would you like to try again as soon as possible?

@Miarez the worst part is knowing that you are definitely not pregnant and having to continue with medication. This is what I did myself but might try and see ways to discontinue it earlier next time. I want to do another transfer as early as I can. But will do it as per doctors advice of course. On one hand I think that I should do everything I can to give myself higher chances but on another hand, given how heavily medicated everything is, does it really make that much of a huge difference... Don't know. I think psychologically it might make sense. But Im at the point where I'm starting to accept that this might not happen at all for us.

I wanted to ask you if you are experiencing any cramping at all? I started really bad cramping day 7/8 after transfer. I thought I might be lucky, embryo is implanting deeper. It clearly wasn't the case.

@CoCoaButter85 I had really bad cramping from day 5 to day 8, now it has stopped completely. I felt really down again today, thinking the same things but I am pretty sure progesterone is not helping our current mood! I bought Optibac probiotics suggested in the thread above and i'm going to try and eat a low carb diet as I was so bloated this cycle!! Even though I know it was predominantly the hormones, my diet didn't help either! How many transfers/cycles have you had so far? I read a post on mumsnet that it took a couple 7 transfers (out of 4 fresh cycles) to get their baby!

@Miarez I understand you feel down. I think it is normal only. My friend and her sister both had their IVF babies at the first go. Because there was nothing wrong with us I thought it's going to be straight forward. I have other friend who conceived two babies naturally and all she does is complain about how hard it is for her. I appreciate it is hard but deep inside I would switch places with her any minute!! get really down when start comparing myself to others. But when I forget about people around and think about myself only it is easier to pick myself up. I had miscarriage a few years back now. That was hard. Had therapy for it. It helped at the time. I think that's why it is easier for me to deal with it now as well. I recommend having therapy is you have ways for it and don't have to pay. Otherwise it's super expensive. There are some help books too. I haven't read but happy to find it for you

I think it might be good to talk to someone if you have anybody. It might be good to share your pain with people you care...

Another thing is helping me is thinking about things I could do if I didn't get pregnant at all (currently thinking about moving the house and new career path). It helps my mind not to go into panic mode. It has something else to concentrate on.

I have 2 cycle non refundable package. This was my first transfer so still have two more left in the freezer. And after that can do one more collection. And I think if none of this works I will probably just give up. I really had high hopes for this transfer. But given miscarriage and this not working I think I need to manage my expectations bit better.

But yes, I find it very unfair and painful. I'm probably into 3 years now into trying naturally/IVF and still nothing.

@Miarez what did you do after transfer? I carried on as normal. Went for lunch afterwards and it was really hit at the establishment and also had a long walk from the clinic. So thinking maybe that's what's caused it. Obviously unlikely but catching straws now

@CoCoaButter85 So many people around me have gotten pregnant since we started. Some really easily, some took some time, but as soon as they had their baby they start complaining how hard it is and forgot the uncertainty we go through is much harder and soul crushing.
More recently we found out that a couple we know went through surrogacy ( as she has some health problems so it's risky for her to carry a pregnancy), had one mild round of ivf, only had 4 eggs, 1 viable embryo and guess what, it stuck and the pregnancy is about 20weeks now!!
I have been so open with everyone about our infertility journey but I realised this now upsets me more than helps me. Because friends ask me for updates and when it doesn't work out they don't understand why so they keep asking questions, like why did it it not work out? Is the clinic good enough? Have you thought of this? Maybe you should try this. So now i have decided I don't want to talk about it anymore because I don't find it helps me now. I feel better today, I exercised last night, and went for a long walk, and I've started bleeding!
We have also been trying for 3 years+, diagnosed with unexplained infertility. I have 3 frozen embryos and if those don't work, I will do one more fresh cycle and probably also give up after.
This embryo was transferred on my bday ( I thought oh what a gift this could be), it was a better quality than the first one as well and I was certain it will stick! After the transfer, we went for dinner and then continued life as normal. I did mow the lawn few days later and pushed myself a bit too much but I really don't want to think I have disrupted the process! I had ohss symptoms and went for blood tests and scans as well, which didn't happen last time, but it all calmed down few days later.

@Miarez just from your recent comment I can totally relate as its pretty much the exact same circumstances with us in the 3 years plus, only one positive after fresh which ended up being a chemical then the FET 3 months after (our clinic wanted a bleed then a cycle off before the next) didn't work. You do get to the point of having nothing to say to people and yet they still expect you to be positive or hopeful. I guess their lives move on quickly 🤷‍♀️. We are now waiting for our 2nd round of ivf and it's like I'd rather they just said something was wrong rather than being told that we have high chances still of conceiving naturally and through ivf when actually those with MFI have conceived better yet their chances are lower?! It is horrible and I hope you're 'journey' has a successful ending soon

@Reddy01 isn't it so frustrating when the consultant and embryologist are so optimistic about our chances but when it doesn't work they don't really know why? I'd also rather know there's something wrong so that we could try and fix it. I mean I do think there must be something wrong but we just don't know what it is! I'm just hoping it is a numbers game and we have been unlucky so far, as otherwise I'll probably be very depressed 😅. I'm hoping we can do our FET as soon as possible. Best of luck with cycle number 2, keep us updated!!

@Miarez I think that's even more painful having it done on your birthday. Maybe try taking it more easy next time? We had our wedding anniversary a week before transfer and went away to a nice hotel. I had two glasses of prosecco in the period of two days. but really doubt that's what caused it.

We had quite busy weekend doing things and I started wondering about my diet. I think it is pretty good but I do eat suggary things probably two often. I don't know how much it impacts it but at least it is something within my control. I'll ask all this consultation and share the feedback with you all.

Hopefully you had good weekend. Enjoying good weather but looking forward for things cooling down a bit 🌺