Help me solve this infertility mindfield!

[MerryBrickHelper]

Hello,
I have the diagnosis of ‘unexplained’ infertility. I am 37, bmi healthy (teetotal, non smoker) All tests for me and my husband have all returned very positively. I have had an hycosy and my tubes were fine. My only health issue I would say is that I have psoriasis.

I had a chemical in 2022. I fell pregnant in dec ‘23 resulting in a MC Feb ‘24. I have just had an unsuccessful IVF round resulting in another chemical pregnancy. We had 10 eggs collected, 7 fertilised, all made it to day 5 but they did not freeze them with the exception of the 4BB they transferred. We are not sure about if they all made it, why weren’t they frozen?

I do not wish to start another round of IVF unless further tests are done. I have two rounds left on NHS so am tied to my clinic who do not offer the testing I want - ALICE and blood tests for TH1/ TH2 and NK. I feel there is something more wrong than just the fact that perhaps age isn’t on my side!

I am drawing a blank- the only clinics who offer them won’t accept me as they only do them for patients who are going to have IVF with them.

Has anyone experienced this before? Any recommendations on how / who/ where I can get these tests? (Willing to travel and pay)

I have found a clinic for DNA sperm fragmentation.

help me solve this mindfield! Will be so grateful to anyone who has advice on how to navigate this. Thanks for reading if you made it this far!

Sorry I don’t have any info on these things but would like to know myself. I struggled to fall pregnant then got pregnant twice before I started ivf which ended in miscarriage and blighted ovum. I’ve just had my first transfer ivf with top grade hatching egg this has ended in chemical pregnancy today. The only thing I know is I have a blood clot problem but I have been taking blood thinner injections and still miscarried so feel there is something g else. Hope you get the answers your looking for to help on this journey would love to know myself if anyone has any information all my tests and partners have came back fine apart from the blood clot issue

Hi, sorry to hear you’re having such a frustrating time! I can sympathise as also unexplained infertility (although secondary in my case).
have you checked out Dr Tim child on Instagram? He does a live Q&A every week. He did one on recurrent implantation failure where he talked about ALICE, NK testing etc - may be worth a watch.
in terms of the clinic not freezing your other embryos it is worth asking them, but likely that they weren’t of high enough quality. I had a similar first round of IVF where I’d used Gonal F. In my second round we used gonal F (FSH) for the first 5 days of stimulation and then moved to pergovaris (FSH and LH) for the remainder - I got much better quality embryos.
so that could be something also worth discussing!
Good luck!

Hi, as above, if the clinic didn't freeze the embryos then they were not of good enough quality to freeze / didn't look like they were developing normally. The 4BB will have been your 'best' embryo. So I would suggest having a review consultation with your clinic to discuss why your embryos weren't of good quality. Some people find the 'it starts with an egg' book good for trying to improve egg (and subsequently embryo) quality. Wishing you the best of luck

Hi ladies,
unfortunately I’m in a similar boat.
June 2022 - natural chemical
sept 2023 - failed ivf
Jan 2024 - 2nd ivf ended in miscarriage

We’ve done the dna fragmentation and the Chicago bloods. I was also convinced there must be something else other than age. The chicago bloods showed elevated killer cells - I was excited that we may have found something but after 3 months of steroids to treat that, nothing. I also tried 3 months of probiotic instead of doing the Emma Alice test. About to start round 3 IVF. The lack of answers drives me crazy. I can’t believe I’m still in this position to be honest.

sorry can’t offer advice, just empathy!

Hi everyone, thanks for the responses so far! @Em153 Im so sorry for your loss; hope you are ok? I really hope someone can help us with a pathway!
@LucyAvalon - thanks for the recommendations; have followed him today. Those sound like the tests I want; just struggling to find somewhere that will do it!
@2mumlife I have read that book (it’s really good!) and I’ve been following the supplement advice since Xmas 2023.
@Blossomofhope can I ask where you had dna fragmentation as whilst I have found somewhere I’d love a recommendation? Also what are Chicago bloods? Where did you have them? What was the probiotic you took for three months? The absolute best of luck with round 3 xx

@MerryBrickHelper Thank you its a hard journey but hopefully it will be worth it for us all and we get the answers we need ❤️

@MerryBrickHelper Sorry to hear about your struggle. I think getting some tests done after miscarriages is the right approach. I don't have much advice, just wanted to share that we did DNA fragmentation test at the Beaconsfield Clinic under Dr Jonathan Ramsay and would recommend. Hope everything is sorted for you soon, good luck 🍀

Sorry for the delayed response. We did the dna fragmentation at our ivf clinic and they recommended somewhere else for Chicago bloods but I’m based in Ireland so details prob not helpful?
I was recommended nua biome for probiotic