IVF need some hope

[BluebirdLL]

Hello,
I’m feeling very isolated and overwhelmed with my IVF journey. Looking for some others in the same journey and some success stories. I’m 38 and have had 3 transfers one fresh (miscarriage) and 2 frozen unsuccessful. Doctors now suggest the EMMA AlICE test. I’m really worried about the pain of the test, doing a mock cycle and having to wait months before another transfer and getting older. Loosing hope. I feel like it’s never going to happen.

Hi lovely, I can't offer you much advice but I just wanted to say I'm here if you just want a chat.
I'll be 38 this year and I'm about to start my first ivf cycle trying for baby #1.
I've done several failed medicated cycles and really pinned my hopes on that last cycle working. I'm trying to remain optimistic but I can't help but fear the worst. I'm almost certain our cycle is going to be a failure. I have quite severe pcos and suspected endo and when you factor in age, I just don't think I'm producing good quality eggs at all 😞
How have you found the ivf process?

I'm really sorry. Assuming your frozen transfers were from the same fresh cycle I think you have lots to still be positive about, whilst knowing success rates are of course generally not good. Gold standard recommendations are for 3 fresh cycles as whatever caused your fresh cycle to fail in this round is more likely to have affected the other embryos from that round too. It would be worth reading up about the additional tests they've suggested, the ivf world has differing views on them. Do you have a diagnosis as to why you can't conceive naturally? What tests have you had done so far?

Thank you for replying.

I have had one cycle which was then a freeze all (one embryo) and now on the second cycle and have two embryos left out of 4 which will be transferred after these tests in the last NHS go. I have mild pcos but no diagnosis. The doctor recommend Emma and Alice test to check if there is an implantation problem and thought we need to try something different. It’s all the waiting that is horrible.

@MoonlightDreamer good luck on your first IVF round. I didn’t have a good first cycle but managed to change some things for the second one to get more embryos but they haven’t taken yet. If you want to ask anything I’m happy to answer. I’ve found it really hard not knowing anyone who has been through it.
I feel the hopelessness and it’s so consuming.

@BluebirdLL hey can I ask what changes you made to get more embroyos second time?

Hello @Sherr33. I took some different vitamins-Q10 and I lost 7kg (78-71) as I was nearing 29bmi. Also I insisted on a fresh transfer so they changed the last injection as they over stimulated me last time. So I guess a combination of that. Where are you on your journey?

@BluebirdLL they will be informing me of my start date for cycle im hoping on Wednesday 20th September. I feel like it takes so long and I end up just feeling negative between each contact with the clinic. I think I just want to start the cycle. This will be my first. And my clinic has said ICSI but long protocol? I'm not sure what that means. I need to double check on Wednesday if this is the best option for me. I havent been taking any vitamins consistently 😔 and I fear itl be a bit too late to start

@Sherr33 how are you getting on? It takes so long for everything to happen. I’m frustrated by this too. I have to wait for another month until I have a test and then wait a few months after before I can transfer.
If it’s your first time just see how it goes. You might get it first time! You can start taking vitamins now never to late, im not sure how much they change things but they make me feel like im doing something.

@BluebirdLL this is an alternative to EMMA ALICE www.fertilysis.com/tests/female-infections/fertilysis-female-microbiome I did EMMA ALICE twice and you are right that it is invasive and takes up a lot of time by the time you have done the mock cycle and then waited for the result and then treated if required, you're looking at around three months. After I had poor results twice I went for the menstrual fluid test instead. You collect some drops of menstrual fluid and then do a mid cycle vaginal swab.

This is not true. The embryos created in a cycle are a small sample, and there is nothing to say that one not working has any impact on the others. In fact untested embryos have a 1 in 3 chance of working, tested will have around a 1 in 2 chance.

As a recurrent implantation failure patient I am currently pregnant with what will hopefully be my first child from a batch of embryos created in 2020, out of 9 embryos this was the last but one. Telling people to undergo three collection cycles when they have embryos is ridiculous.

@BluebirdLL so I was a nervous wreck for my appointment. I don't know why. I was sweating and just wanted to vomit. My dr said it's probably because things are moving to the next stage. So I'm not sure why I assumed it would be a long protocol- it isnt, they have said it will be a short protocol but maybe a higher dosage due to my AMH being lower end. We are still going with ICSI. I have opted for progesterone in injection and pessary form as I don't think I can do pessary only. I won't be comfortable. Weve been told the progesterone injection will be at an added cost which honestly I'm not bothered as long as I'm okay. I know with the pessary il just find it too messy and ick and itl just stress me out. I thought we'd be starting next month but again WRONG. We are awaiting nurses appointment to sign paper work and go through medication. After the appointment I felt a little better. The one thing I'm annoyed by is the deciding on the hospital for EC/ET . I told my partner to sit with me prior to this appointment and look at the options we had and go through it with me but he didn't so on the day we just said Leeds because its closer and then he says oh but Babe you mentioned something about Manchester so I just rolled my eyes and thought we can't be having this conversation now. I've only been asking you to help me choose one for few weeks and you decide NOW to discuss it ? Urgh. I don't know which hospital to go with. I'm sure we can change but for the moment its Leeds. We had CARE Manchester, Sheffield and CREATE Manchester as options too.

@Gardenlady543 I think you're being unnecessarily rude. The fact you had success from an embryo when others from the same round were not successful is not evidence that what I say isn't true. Of course plenty of people have success with subsequent embryos transferred via FET. I didn't say they categorically wouldn't work, I just said there is a school of thought that they are less likely to work so going down a route of lots of additional tests (and costs) having only transferred from one fresh cycle may not be necessary. The recommendation is 3 full cycles for a reason as IVF is to a large part a numbers game. What I said is not ridiculous. I'm sorry for your struggles but frankly your eventual success could just be luck and nothing to do with whatever you have done inbetween.

@SErunner you are wrong, you are getting confused with a study that found that after 3 euploid transfers a large majority were likely to get success. There is no evidence that a lack of success of one embryo would result in others from the same collection having less chance of working. The statement about a gold standard of 3 collections is something I have never heard of. I think it is harmful to be expressing a view that people should be discarding embryos from a collection and going through unnecessary collections. Can you post the research articles to back up what you are saying?