Egg quality supplements and feeling overwhelmed

[Sunnydaysahead1]

Hi everyone, my wife and I are hoping to conceive via reciprocal motherhood, with me carrying my wife’s embryo. We’ve just had a second failed FET and we’re considering doing another egg collection. My wife is 36 and has low AMH so we’re focussing on egg quality rather than quantity.
I’ve been trying to do a bit of research into supplements etc as I understand the three months before egg collection are vital to egg quality, however I’ve become completely overwhelmed with all the different advice! - NMN, DHEA, impryl, co-q 10 etc etc …there seems to be so much and it also all seems very expensive!

Last time she simply took the Wild Nutrition fertility supplement and had acupuncture, but I’m wondering if this time we need to try something more.

I’m just wondering if anyone has any clarity on it all, or if anyone has found a particular supplement or brand to be helpful? I’ve also ordered the ‘It starts with the egg’ book but am slightly wary of also being overwhelmed by all the info in that!

I’m also wondering how strict people are being on things like drinking alcohol? I pretty much completely cut out alcohol before each FET, and my partner cut down a lot on alcohol before her egg collection, but did have a couple of drinks now and then. Should she cut it out completely?

Thanks in advance, and I’m wishing everyone on this forum the absolute best of luck as this is such a tough thing to be going through.

Hey @Sunnydaysahead1
it can definitely be a bit overwhelming. This is what my clinic, Chinese herbalist and acupuncturist recommender (also on Big Fat Negative they did an episode about inositol and what a game changer that is)

I was on wild nutrition prenatal to start and ended up swapping it for the exact vitamins I needed.

-100mg Coenzyme Q10 (Pharmanord is recognised as the best brand for this)
-methylfolate drops with Vitamin B Nutricare (I have the Mthfr gene, so I don’t absorb folate)
-Inositol (I was given sachets of powder)
-zinc
-fish oils
-DHEA

Also might be worth making sure your uterine and gut microbiome have a good balance of friendly bacteria, as that impacts implantation ( I am doing a Daye test and bought some probiotics,)

I stopped drinking all alcohol and coffee for 3 months pre EC, as that’s how long it takes to mature the eggs.. so anything you take or do in the 3 months before EC will influence those eggs. I hope that’s helpful. I think we will be doing the same and starting again after our wedding.

Good luck! Xx

I wouldn’t read it starts with an egg if you’re overwhelmed - much of it seems very over the top and caused me more stress.

I have low egg numbers and AMH and I:

• Cut all carbs and sugar
• Quit drinking completely (quit 3 months before cycle)
• Quit all caffeine
• Ate lots of really green veg and low carb fruit (avocados, berries)
• Ate high protein
• I took Wild Nutrition (which I really rate and have continued now I’m pregnant)
• Also took CO-Q10, Omega oil, Vitamin D and Inositol
• I also drank 3-4 litres of water daily (I always have done this though really)
• Drank a daily gut shot

I think sometimes the more regimented you are, the more stressful and less enjoyable your life is. I was really relaxed in my cycle, mainly as I didn’t really think it would work because of what doctors had said. I think you need to strike a balance of living a healthy life and also enjoying it - it can be a really long road to getting pregnant and you don’t want to be miserable missing all the good things in life.

Good luck with it - if you do want to read some of the books I read, including it starts with the egg, then send me a message as I have a box of them I am going to get rid of and can post them to you if helpful. 😊

I would agree with everything @HopefulllHolly mentioned above. I followed the same diet points but had to make sure I balanced this with giving myself some enjoyment and trying to relax a bit (especially at special occasions like the holidays) and the process can be long and it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. Xx

Hi @Indigopantha and @HopefulllHolly thank you both SO much for your replies and for the details about what you both took - that is so helpful and I’m starting to feel clearer with it all now. It seems like Inositol is quite a key one - is there a particular brand you both took or just any will do?

I think we might try the Ovum supplement as it has the folate and Co-Q 10 included, and then will add additional omega, vit D and the Inositol. With DHEA I’ve read your hormone levels need to be checked first if that’s correct?

And thanks for the point about microbiome - I’ll have a look at the Daye test too. And yes you’re both so right about finding a balance, I can definitely feel at times I’m not having much fun as I get so caught up in only thinking about IVF stuff, need to try and enjoy life outside of it too 😅

Huge congratulations on your pregnancy @HopefulllHolly! Thank you so much for your offer of the books, that’s incredibly kind of you - I’ll message you.
And huge congratulations on your wedding @Indigopantha! ❤️

Hi OP. We're also a same sex couple, but did not do reciprocal IVF. You will of course have your own personal reasons for going down that route. However, if a further round doesn't produce a pregnancy, it may be worth considering using your own eggs if you're younger than your partner. My partner did not have a strong urge to be the biological mother, and was older, so we were advised our best chances of a child were to use my own eggs, as age makes such a massive difference to egg quality.

Having said that, I responded poorly to stims! despite being in early 30s with a good AMH, so did 2 egg collections. For the second I took inositol and co-enzyme Q10 and did acupuncture. And I did have a better outcome (but we also changed the protocol used significantly).

Focussing on quality rather than quantity works. We had 2 apparently great looking day 5 embryos from first collection, which resulted in a BFN and a CP. We had 3 good looking embryos on day 5 from second egg collection. First embryo is our DD, and I'm 30 weeks pregnant from our second embryo. So it really is quality over quantity

Wishing you the best of luck :)

I haven’t read it starts with the egg to be honest. I just know I would find it extremely anxiety inducing after hearing lots of snippets from it on here. I asked my consultant specifically and what she recommended was melatonin, co q10 and folic acid. They gave me a script for the melatonin/coq10 during my ivf cycle (month I started) but not beforehand. I do think 3 months of taking it beforehand may have been beneficial but this was not suggested. In the early days before I tried ivf she also said “you can try proceive” I tried proceive max sachets and they made me so nauseous I couldn’t hack them. It really is a minefield and the proceive and co q10 (high dose) were ridiculously expensive. I had pgta due to a previous chromosomal abnormality miscarriage. I am also 36 and got 2 euploid out of 5 embryos which I haven’t transferred yet. Consultant said she would expect 2-3 normal embryos at my age. My best graded embryo was one of the abnormals and had to be discarded. I wish you and your wife lots of luck . I didn’t cut out alcohol before the cycle but didn’t drink at all during. I did drink a daily coffee though. It’s hard enough without omitting coffee!

@Sunnydaysahead1 Sorry! Weirdly I can’t send pictures in private messages! It’s these books if you want them ☺️ let me know. I’ve been superstitious and haven’t got rid of them in case something happened with the pregnancy so they are yours if you want them!

@2mumlife Thanks so much for your reply, and it’s lovely that you’re a same sex couple too ☺️ congratulations on your successful pregnancies! I’m so glad it has worked for you in the end. And that’s great to hear you had a better outcome the second time round. It’s important to my partner to try and have a biological child, but like you said we might need to rethink that if we continue not to have success.. we’re going to add in the inositol and co-q10 this time, so I’m hoping that helps!

@Missmarymack2 Thanks so much for your reply ☺️ that’s interesting you took melatonin too, I’ll have to look into that. And that’s helpful to know you got 2 out of 5 euploid, and also that the best graded one wasn’t - shows it’s not always about the grade! Wishing you the best of luck when you transfer them! And I know what you mean about coffee - I’ve struggled sooo much to say goodbye to my morning coffee!!

@HopefulllHolly thank you so much for these!! (I totally get the superstition, I’d be the same!) I’ll message you ☺️

Wishing you best of luck OP

Hi, I was 36 when I started IVF and my AMH was a bit low so my clinic gave me a slightly stronger dose of gonalF. Before egg collection I took this supplements (they are from Spain, I'm Spanish but loving in UK so I bought them there when visiting family but you probably can order them online).
https://lab-seid.com/salud-femenina/seidivid-ferty4/?lang=en
They have melatonin on them so I believe they cannot sell them in the UK but you can order online from a Spanish pharmacy.

I got 16 eggs, 15 matured, 13 fertilised and 8 blastocysts.

Hey, im not OP but wanted to check which of these books you feel is most helpful, as I imagine there's some overlap.

I've been looking for advice on how to raise AMH and optimize things, so all the advice on this thread has been so helpful.

Hi everyone, thanks so much for your messages, it’s been super helpful and I hope it’s helpful for others too.

@Indigopantha I did the Daye test you recommended, and my results came back as less than 1% lactobacilli, which is terrible! So thank you so much for the suggestion as that could definitely be a reason for my failed FETs. Not sure what to do next as I was already taking Optibac Women, but will try a different probiotic and will try and eat more probiotic food. Did you have any luck with your own Daye results?

Hi @Sunnydaysahead1 you should be prescribed antibiotics to get rid of the bad bacteria first then start oral and vaginal probiotics to improve those levels. There is more advice on the Emma/Alice thread (a different microbiome test).

re vitamins and eating if your partner is really committed to improving egg quality there should be no alcohol or caffeine and following a high protein low carb and extremely low sugar diet for 3 months. Lots of water. Vitamins main ones are a good prenatal (proceive woman) plus ubiquinol (purer form of coq10) and a good omega 3 (such as WHC Uno cardio. Re DHEA this was be good for egg quality if testosterone is low so I’d get this checked and monitor levels every month - shouldn’t go above 2 as the impact on egg quality can then be detrimental. Melatonin is useful for better sleep which means healthier overall but mixed information on it actually improving egg quality.

@Sunnydaysahead1
i got my results back and my lactobacilli was about the same as yours and I had very high levels of Ureaplasma. I spoke to my clinic and they recommended both my partner and I take 2 weeks of Doxycycline ( as you can sexually pass it back to one another) and take Probiotics specific for your uterine microbiome. We are getting an Appointment with our GP, but you can go to online pharmacy and request it by saying you have chlamydia and they will send you an online prescription for 2 weeks. I was told 3 months of probiotics (lactobacilli) would o build back up.

@Dochas12111 is totally right, and I have taken a break for my wedding week from the diet mentioned, but from next week back on a very Keto style diet with high protein, low carbs, no sugar except fruits.. and goodbye to coffee ☕️

I start my next round of EC in November, so I have some time. I have started on fish oils and DHEA after asking my clinic and they said that was a good idea. 👍 thanks for all the great advice on this link! x 🥰

Hi all,
looking for a bit of help and guidance. Just finished 4th ivf transfer. 👎 I have low AMH. This thread is really good to look to improve eggs. Could someone please send me links (based on uk) for what they purchased and strengths? Diet.. no carbs?