Antibiotics with IVF as a precaution

[Lullabywish]

Hi Everyone, we are about to do our very final IVF FET in a few weeks and after 8 rounds we have had the following success. 2 x miscarriages, 4 failed implantations and our beautiful son. I'm on blood thinners and extra progesterone support. As it's our last try our consultant has suggested giving me antibiotics empirically as a precaution in case there's any imbalance in microbiome or infection. I'm also taking probiotics vaginally and orally and I'm having a daily shot of Symprove as I've read gut health is beneficial to IVF and fertility in general.

Anyway, our consultant has done my protocol so I start my 5 day antibiotics course on the day I start progesterone support which means I'd finish the antibiotics the day before transfer. Has anyone else been out on antibiotics for this kind of reason and if so when did you take them.

I asked chat gpt (I know not medical but was curious) today as I'm worried about my microbiome balancing again after the antibiotics and it's said antibiotics taken when my consultant has suggested could actually be damaging as the microbiome wouldn't have time to recover. It suggested antibiotics should be completed as leat 48-72 hours before progesterone support to allow the microbiome to recover. It also said antibiotics can be very helpful for things like endometriosis inflammation which they suspect I have a little of if taken prior to progesterone.

Any help or advice very welcome

Women sometimes have a biopsy to check for endometritis ahead of a transfer. Others prophylactically take antibiotics just in case, without bothering with a biopsy. It's a reasonable thing to try. Ask if a two week course would be better than 4 days though. And if a hysteroscopy is also warranted given this is your last try.

Hi, I would strongly advise against using AI for medical consulting. When it doesn’t know something, it can generate inaccurate or even fabricated information — and individual medical cases fall exactly into this category. You can even give it random numbers, and it may calculate them incorrectly. AI also struggles with basic tasks like accurately counting words in a text.
To save time, I upload a book I had read and asked for a summary — and about 50% of it was wrong. On top of that, this chat is not trained on specialized medical models, so you can imagine what it might “create” in a medical context.
If you want to double-check medical information, only a second medical opinion from a qualified professional can provide reliable and meaningful insights.

I had antibiotics with my transfers as it’s standard practice in my clinic to ensure no silent inflammation

Yep I was given a 5 day course of antibiotics finishing the day before transfer as a precaution after 3 failed transfers.

Hi @Lullabywish sorry to hear about your tough journey, but that’s lovely that you had your son. I hope this cycle is a success for you. I wanted to ask the same question. My consultant won’t allow me to take a 2 week course of doxycycline before our treatment cycle, only a 5 day course immediately before the transfer. I’ve had 2 MC and surgical management, so it would ease my mind to know we’ve at least tried to clear any underlying infection.

@badjeans and @camelinastorm, thank you for your replies to the OP. I wondered if I could ask if you were successful on this protocol?

Thank you all x

Sadly this latest cycle also failed.

I’m so sorry to hear that @badjeans. I hope you’re doing ok and wish you success and a path through this difficult journey. Thank you for taking the time to reply x

My latest one has worked up to now but I have had 7 transfers this was 4th with antibiotics then previous 3 stuck but I miscarried