PRP Ovarian Rejuvination

[Lozzy000]

I have low ovarian reserve and just had my 4th IVF cycle cancelled. My clinic have offered Platelet Rich Plasma ovarian rejuvenation.

There's not much research done on this yet, and it's still relatively new, although I believe a lot of the clinics in Spain and Greece have been using it for a while.

Would anyone who's done it be happy to share their experiences please? TIA xx

Updating this post for anyone who may come across it in the future.

I went ahead with the PRP a couple of weeks ago. Procedure was fine - just like an egg collection but with the addition of taking blood before the procedure.

Next step is to have a blood test in 5 weeks to see if my AMH has risen at all. And maybe a scan too.

I will continue update this thread with results.

For reference, I started IVF at 35 with an AMH of 4.4pmol. After a failed cycle (4th cycle) my AMH was 0.2pmol however we think this was affected by buserelin which down regged me so much that my ovaries didn't wake up with stims. Tested AMH a few weeks / month later and it was 1.93pmol.

Will keep an eye on this thread - that’s for bumping it.

Scan tomorrow to see if my 1st cycle will be cancelled. AMH 1.9, 36yo

@ivfjourneyandme hope your scan went okay and cycle wasn't cancelled? So much harder for us with low AMH! What protocol are you on? X

@Lozzy000 hey. I went to egg collection and got 4 eggs. However total fertilisation failure 😢 how are you getting on?

@ivfjourneyandme 4 eggs is brilliant but so sorry to hear that none fertilised 😢 It's absolutely heart wrenching after all the hard work xxx

Have you had a follow up with your consultant yet to see about further male factor tests (DNA frag?) and doing ICSI next time, if you didn't do this time? Hopefully they'll have an idea of where to go next.

@Lozzy000 we did ICSI. One egg didn’t survive the procedure and the others didn’t fertilise. I’m being called Monday to organise a follow up. I want to discuss DNA fragmentation, vitamins and artificial egg activation to see if any will help. I’ve read some threads/articles that suggest it’s not game over; but right now it feels like it 😞

When is your follow up blood test etc? X

@ivfjourneyandme it's definitely not game over - albeit disheartening. I would defo push for DNA frag - we got that done when we moved clinics after 3 rounds and it came back high. So husband is now taking supplements (as before his view was that he was all okay, so didn't need to do anything).

In terms of supplements I take vitamin d, omega 3, ubiquinol (600mg), DHEA, folate (both tablet and liquid), vitamin c, probiotic. All recommended by my clinic.

My AMH blood test will be early January, as that'll be about 5 weeks post PRP. I'll be sure to update this thread with the outcome of it.

@Lozzy000 clinic won’t see me until end of Jan!! I feel so lost. They haven’t told me anything about further tests, vitamins, when to expect period etc 😢

Oh I'm so sorry @ivfjourneyandme - that's horrible you have to wait until end of Jan! Your cycle should start within 10 days I think - mine have always started between 7 and 10 days post collection.

I would have a look at supplements and make sure you add in ubiquinol (coq-10 but the kaneka one as it's best, albeit expensive) and high dose vitamin d (I take 2000iu) whilst you wait for your consultation. Then they can provide further advice, but at least you'll have that in your system for a good few months before your next cycle.

Also - get your partner to take either Impryl or proxceed plus. If you then do dna frag test then it might mask anything, as these help with dna frag, however I believe it takes about 3 months to work, so if I were you, I'd get him to start taking either one to avoid pushing back your next cycle! You can buy both on Amazon. Again, not cheap but both recommended by my clinic.

Good luck! X

Following

Have you tried NMN? I was diagnosed with premature ovarian insufficiency at 29. AMH was 0.589pmol got pregnant at 32 after taking NMN following a failed IVF cycle where my ovaries didn’t respond at all. Since having my son, my periods have gone again, perimenopause is back. Started taking NMN again and got my period within ten days.

@augustbabypending no I haven't. I haven't heard of it - what is it?

@Lozzy000 It’s an anti-ageing supplement. Short for Nicotinamide Mononucleotide

There’s some info about women who had their periods return after menopause from taking NMN. Xx

@augustbabypending oh interesting. I'll have a read into it! Thanks x

To update this thread. I had a baseline scan today in prep for an IVF cycle, as well as another AMH test. AMH has risen slightly to 2.1pmol and AFC shows 1 follicle on one ovary (not great...), but 5 follicles on the other. Don't think I've ever had 5 follicles on one ovary at a baseline scan.

Will update this thread on results of the IVF cycle to see if there was any improvement.

Update on egg collection following PRP.

The number of follicles was promising at baseline and there were 3 at collection (2 big and 1 medium). The 2 big, promising follicles, were BOTH empty. The medium one contained an egg however it won't be mature.

I don't regret doing PRP as I wanted to throw everything at the last cycle, but I can't say it's helped or made any improvements to me unfortunately.

@Lozzy000 so sorry to read this. Giving you all the hugs x

@ivfjourneyandme thank you xx

By way of update. The egg was in fact mature and did fertilise, albeit with a faint pro nuclei. Unfortunately it then arrested at 4 cells. So this is our IVF journey over and with £50k less in the bank 😂

@augustbabypending can you share what NMN you took and dose?

So sorry to hear about your IVF journey. I remember being devastated when they cancelled my cycle. Be kind to
yourself xx

my NMN was from British supplements 724mg daily. I also did the autoimmune protocol diet for a few months before as I’m sure my depleted ovarian reserve was to do with my poor gut health. I did lots of yoga too. I wish you all the luck in the world. Xx

@Lozzy000 thank you so much for creating this thread and updating it. I'm so very sorry to hear that your treatment wasn't successful. I'm in a similar position to you and I've also been advised to consider ovarian PRP. Very undecided as to whether to try it or not. Can I ask if you had your treatment in the UK or abroad? We are in talks with a clinic in Greece but I'd rather not travel as far as that if it was avoidable.

@augustbabypending I have also recently begun to think that my fertility issues could be related to years of poor gut health, which was a bit of an eye opener. Would you mind sharing what kind of things the immune protocol diet included please? I will also have a look at NMN, always good to hear of something new that worked for someone else.

I read somewhere that when your body is under stress (poor gut health, poor mental health, stress etc) your body stops sex hormone production first. Which is why there’s a little bit of truth to the annoying ‘just relax’ I’ve always had problems with dairy which I’ve been ignoring. I’m also an anxious person (controlling/planner) which I tried to work on.

the AIP diet is very restrictive for the first few weeks/ months. No grains, dairy, gluten I think. Some others I can’t remember. I ate a lot of sweet potatoes and steak. I lost quite a bit of weight because of the restrictions so be careful if you’re on the slimmer side. Don’t want to create a different problem! There are some good cookbooks and meal plans online xx

Thank you @augustbabypending i have a follow up with my consultant next week so will ask about NMN. Surely worth giving a go. Will also read up on the autoimmune protocol diet! I don’t think my gut health is poor, but I guess you never know!

@Londubs sorry you’re in a difficult situation too. I had the ovarian PRP done in the UK (London). My clinic offers it x

Hi all,
Trigger warning - success with PRP (for now).
Just to share my experience with PRP - I am 40 now (was 39 when I did IVF and PRP) , I have low ovarian reserve which I discovered 1.5 years ago, low AMH (under 2) and usually between 1-4 folicules visible at scans, depending on the month. My IVF clinic said - chances IVF works extremeley low (the word futile was used).
I had a cyle last autumn - one egg was retrieved - didn't fertilise. I found out about PRP from my accupuncurist (I totally reccomend Erika Fodor from London Accupuncture clinic - she is an amazing woman, offered more moral support than any doctor in the UK).
In December, I had 1 visible folicule at a scan, and was wondering if I should even bother with IVF anymore. Because I had one more free cycle under NHS I decided to go for PRP before. I decided to go for a clinic in Athens - https://lifeclinic.gr/en/ - and I am glad I did, Dr. Dimitri (who was trained and worked in London in IVF clinics for many years) was amazing and the only medical doctor who ever encourage me to not give up and to not go for donor eggs just yet. Their price was 1400 euro. (I found cheaper ones in Cyprus and Warsaw, but I had friends in Athens and decided to go there)
I did PRP in January and some immunology testing with him.
I decide to wait until March for my next IFV cycle - which Dr. Dimitri also reccomended. In March I had 6 folicules and started another cycle - 4 eggs were retrieved, but only one fertilised, and unfortunately did not reach blastocyst stage. Everyone, including other doctors in Romania that I consulted reccomended donor eggs.
I decided to take a little break from IVF and try to heal a bit. To my complete shock, at the end of April this year (after trying naturally that month) I discovered I was pregnant. I was sure is not going to stick - however at the moment I am 13 weeks pregnant and had my first scan, where everythig looked fine. I am still a bit in shock, and things could still go wrong, but just wanted to share - and to encourage everyone, go for PRP, if you can afford it, it might work. Of course everyone is different - however I trully believe PRP is the main reason I got pregnant. Good luck to all!

@Lozzy000 Hi, could you tell me where you had the prp done in London?