Egg collection

[Toon49]

Just had my egg collection and they collected 9 eggs. Was a little disappointed as 31 so my consultant had expected more but had quite a few empty follicles.
We have unexplained infertility which can be frustrating not knowing the cause and overthinking the amount of eggs collected/empty follicles could be linked to why we haven't conceived naturally although consultant suggested unlikely!
Waiting to see how many fertilise and hopeful as I know it's still a good amount of eggs so fingers crossed a good amount will progress!
Anyone in a similar position?

Hi there 👋

Also diagnosed with unexplained fertility and 32 years old. I understand the frustration with this diagnosis very well!

I had 10 eggs at my first egg collection in January, though sadly, 2 weren’t reachable, so we got 8 out. The hospital here actually aims for 8-12 eggs only, to prevent the risk of OHSS. I was on 300 of Gonal-F daily.

In my case, 5 eggs fertilised, and 2 embryos made it to day 5.

It’s a total crapshoot, even with age.

I’d advise staying off American forums especially, as the approach there is often getting many more eggs each collection - though that doesn’t necessarily equate to more embryos on day 5.

Wishing you the best of luck with the IVF hunger games!

Thank you that's really reassuring, you're right reading some places the numbers seem crazy!
I think it's nice to know it's not abnormal and I know quality is more important anyway! Guess it's just a waiting game over the next 5 days!

All 9 eggs fertilized but when I went in for transfer all failed to progress past a couple of days so we're heartbroken. They were as shocked as us and said it was very unusual with our age (31) and likely an egg quality issue which usually happens when you're in your 40's. They've suggested me taking higher dose coq10 and trying with different drugs but cant guarantee if things will improve or not and suggested not much else we can do.
Feeling like it'll never work now if all fertilised fine but they can't grow so feeling a bit hopeless but trying to stay positive. Our chances have gone from good to pretty poor. Anyone else had anything like this happen?

@Toon49 I’m so very sorry to hear what happened. I can understand this is the worst possible outcome.

The first round is often diagnostic, and it seems you have been able to pinpoint the issue. Especially as your fertilisation rate was perfect. Will you get a second opinion at another clinic? You’re so young, so it’d be awful to give up so soon. There’s also a chance that another clinic may have suggestions for handling this better.

Was your testing all totally normal?

Thank you yes I agree it has been diagnostic and in a strange way it's nice to know what the problem is even though it is a difficult one!
We are going to try again at our current clinic and plan to get a second opinion at another clinic if we're still in the same position as not ready to give up yet.

@Toon49 I'm sorry to hear your results weren't what you wanted, if its any consolidation what my doctor told me is age over number for quality eggs in IVF. I know it's disheartening when you think odds are more in your favour and it wasn't worked out like that, just want to say stay strong and be kind to yourself. Being 31 you will have a lot more advantages, and hope you have better luck on. I also had low follicle count and AMH for my age - 3.9 was most recent testing. I'm 34 and had my egg collection in February, 8 eggs collected, but only 6 were able to be fertilised. In the end had 3 really good embryos. I was on 350 Gonal and 150 Menopur. My doctor told me to take spermadine and melatonin during my STIMS, and I was already taking multivitamins with the usual +coq10.

Did your clinic do all the usual tests for you and your partner - blood tests for thyroid function, vitamin d, smear test, pelvic ultrasound, sperm analysis and DNA fragmentation?

Good luck xx

Thank you yes all tests done and normal other than DNA fragmentation which we have organised now although the clinic seems to think it's more an egg issue although they looked normal under the microscope. I think it's more that although a fair amount of eggs were collected and fertilized none made it past day 2 which I suspect has been our problem over the last few years of trying to conceive. We're going to try again with a different medication regime, they seem to think menopur may help as I suppose we only need one good egg but just disappointing that our chances seem to have declined but we're staying positive and trying to live life normally and healthily in the meantime!

@Toon49 please don't give up hope my story

First collection 8 eggs
5 fertilised snd were 4 cells on day 3 by Day 5 we had no blasts I had 1 morula and 1 caviataring morula transferred however in hindsight I wish we hadn't as it just have false hope- it didn't work.

Starting taking COQ10, folic acid, vitamin D 4000 iu and drinking lots of isotonic drinks. Had a 2 cycle break and did some fun things ( this definitely helped)

They changed my protocol. Got 21 eggs
18 fertilised, 3 made it to day 5 blasts ( more made it but not good enough quality to freeze) Had one transferred and tested positive on 9dp5dt. Our Daughter is nearly one. X

Thank you I think our worry is although all fertilised none made it past day 3 so just hoping changing protocol and taking lots of supplements will help next time so always good to hear positive stories!

Just wishing you luck. Our last IVF we had 5 eggs. One of them is now doing their school exams. It's easy to be flippant and say "it only takes one", but honestly it is true. Unmumsnetty hugs.

@Toon49 changing protocol and higher COQ10 really helped me.

I hope it does you too.

Wishing you lots of luck x

Hi @Toon49 did you do a second cycle? I just had a second failed icsi cycle I'm only 31 but my eggs are terrible quality to top it off my amh is 3! Probably lower now since I last tested a year ago my last ivf cycle I only got 2 eggs that perished day 4. Can't wrap my head around it on why my eggs are so bad with my young age and healthy lifestyle 🙃

Sorry that's really difficult to go through! I'm on long protocol this time starting my stimulation drugs 5th June for my second cycle so will see how it goes! It's just so frustrating when there's no obvious reason for it!

Very frustrating! My doctors kept telling me don't worry about your AMH because your young and your eggs will be healthy.. now we know my eggs seem to be totally fired. But there could be one good one in there just depends on how many cycles you can afford to go ture, I've read a NAD IV drip may help egg quality.
Best of luck with this cycle did they up your meds or lower them?

Never heard of a NAD drip before will have to have a look! This time they've changed the medication I'm taking to meriofert which I believe is LH and FSH which apparently is meant to be better for egg quality than bemfola which I was on previously. Not sure about equivalent doses but don't think they've massively altered it as they were happy enough with the amount of eggs. Apparently my eggs looked fine under the microscope so they think it must be more the genetics not sure if you're the same? I think alot is still unknown about fertility! Have you had any changes in your medications between cycles?
Interestingly we've recently done a seman culture which has shown a bacterial infection, sketchy evidence on whether this makes a difference or not to fertility when my husband's seman parameters are normal but wondering if it may be impacting us so worth getting treated!

Hi,

Really sorry to hear you didn't get a shot at transferring an embryo, that must have been really tough.

We had a disappointing outcome on our first cycle too, 19 eggs, 10 fertilised, all doing well on day 3 with 7 of them top quality, then on day 5 we had one average embryo and the rest were very poor quality. Sadly we had a BFN after transfer.

DH and I have been on lots of supplements for the last 3 months - high strength CQ10 and omega 3. He's on high dose vit c for antioxidants and also Wellman conception. I take myoinsitol (only relevant if you have PCOS) plus folic acid, B12 complex and vitamin D. We both take magnesium at bedtime too.

I found the book "It Starts With The Egg" interesting and we implemented quite a few of the lifestyle changes - no scented cleaning or laundry products, cut out UPF and use glass food containers instead of plastic.

I've no idea if it has helped as we're only just about to start our next egg collection cycle. But we're at a new clinic and they've moved me from Bemfola to Meriofert as they believe that may help, as they said some women don't respond well to some protocols in terms of egg quality.

Personally I've found the supplements and lifestyle changes a good way of coping with delay we had due to changing clinic, I hope they do have a positive effect beyond that though.

Best of luck for your next round!

This is similar to what we have done following the advice from it starts with the egg!
They're changed our protocol to meriofert from bemfola too and to a long protocol so will see what happens!

Oh fab, well fingers crossed it works for us both then 😀 it makes me wonder why they don't use Meriofert on more women in the first place!

Hi there, I am just wondering how you got on with your last cycle on meriofert / bemfola?
My last cycle was unsuccessful, 4 out of 7 follicles empty. Great size, I am not sure why they were empty.
But assume I need to change the meds for next cycle.
It will be my last cycle/ IVF attempt 😞
I'm 42

I was on meriofert on its own and had a one off dose of IM decepetyl on its own as down reg a few weeks before my cycle started. I had 11 eggs collected and one made it to day 5 blastocyst with none to freeze.
Fortunately it implanted and I'm now 17 weeks pregnant! So it really does only take one good egg, we only managed one blast out of 20 eggs from 2 collections, we'll continue to be anxious throughout but it shows their is always hope!

Delighted for you! Big congrats! Enjoy it, and try not to worry 🎉
I'm trying for 3rd 💗