Has anyone tried IVF after recurrent miscarriage at 42?

[Lilly1111]

Has anyone had ivf for recurrent miscarriage? In 42 and had my third loss and was told by the consultant that ivf is only really for those who can’t get pregnant. It was a chromosomal issue for third loss and didn’t test for previous ones. No idea if IVF is an option or just keep trying and hoping

I find that a really odd response from your consultant. IVF should absolutely be able to help in your situation and if I were you I would do it asap given your age. At your age miscarriage is highly likely to be due to genetic abnormalities in the egg/embryo, and IVF can give you a chance at fertilising multiple eggs in one go and, if you choose, genetically testing them before they are implanted so it should reduce the risk of miscarriage as only genetically ‘normal’ embryos are implanted. I had two miscarriages at 41 and then did IVF at 42 which was successful the first time.

I don’t think your consultant is entirely correct there because lots of women have IVF for recurrent miscarriage myself included - but it’s more to speed up the process if you like and try and identify the best quality embryo from that month rather than leaving it up to chance

that being said at age 42 the odds of successful IVF are woefully small - I recall age 43 and older the odds are in the single digit percentages - so no better than trying naturally which is perhaps what the consultant is getting at

While im not 42, im 40, my experience differs with advice.
Ive had recurrent loss ( i had 3 within 6 months) my ivf consultant thought that ivf would give us the best chance at getting pregnant because the embryos are graded and you can do genetic testing on them aswell which may be an option considering your last had a chromosonal issue. My clinic also used AI to predict success.

In the end up, we had the medication here ready to start when i fell pregnant again and this one stuck. Im currently 16 weeks.
Ivf is absolutely an option and many clinics offer treatment and support for recurrent loses but if your able to get pregnant, it may very well be a case of just waiting for one to stick.
Have you had any other tests to rule out issues within the uterus or sperm dfrag ?
Success absolutely declines with age but my consultant said that i was managing to get pregnant naturally it gives him alot of hope because he has many patients go through treatment many times and still no success

Sorry for your losses
Yes, I was offered IVF after 2 MC's. By the time I got approvals etc, I was 40 for the 1st round which also resulted in MC and nearly 42 for the 2nd time- where I didn't get pregnant. 2 embryos were inserted each time. Only then did the consultant ask if I'd considered donor eggs. I researched that, then we decided to stop our TTC journey.

There are 3 types of genetic testing on embryos.

PGT-M (formerly PGD) pre-implantation genetic testing is only offered if you and/or your partner are known carriers of a certain conditions that you could pass on- sickle cell, cystic fibrosis etc
PGT-A (formally PGS) checks for genetic disorders often associated with older eggs and recurrent MC's
PGT-SR- looks for genetic rearrangements such as translocations.

I asked my consultant about PGT-A and read alot at the time. Not every facility can do such genetic testing and my consultant was dubious about how accurate and effective it could be because apparently the cell removed has the potential to not show the disorder. Maybe improvements have been made, but this was only 5yrs ago. He said that yes, some private clinics will take your money to provide it though. Another issue is that the embryo needs to reach blastocyst stage, to be large enough to even have cells removed. I can't recall how many eggs they retrieved from me, how many fertilised etc, but over 12 in total in the 2 rounds- and not one of mine made it to blastocyst stage!

Yes .. I am 43 and currently 36 weeks pregnant after 6 miscarriages, 2 were conceived naturally and 4 through ivf .. but we done 3 rounds and got two euploids (genetically normal embryos) so we still have one frozen embryo left to try after this .. I was 41 and 42 when I made the embryos so you definitely are still in for a chance , also we done ICSI not ivf as they can choose the sperm , sometimes sperm can be the issue and not the woman’s age or egg quality .. I advise do ICSI and PGT-a test embryos before transferring .. good luck !

You could also do a few egg collections back to back to ‘bank’ as many of your eggs as you can, then create your embryos and transfer after a couple of egg collections

I only had one loss but I did IVF at an older age and did embryo banking and PGTA testing. There are limits to this and reasons why it isn’t the right choice for everyone including some of the ones listed above but for us it was the right choice as I was 43/44. I can talk you through the thought process if you want but it’s a longer post!

We did 3 banking rounds got 24 eggs, 4 blastocysts and 2 euploids. I had a chemical with one at which point I reconsidered immune treatment. I had always dismissed immunology as the evidence isn’t good but having a failure with a euploid made me question it again. I was then treated simultaneously at CRP in Epsom who specialise in recurrent miscarriage (because they also specialise in the immunology). They were amazing and I would recommend them. They can also support you through a natural pregnancy. Anyway it worked for me.

Yes any experience you can share would be so amazing thank you xx

Thank you all for the comments, it’s actually making me feel better that it’s maybe an option we can explore and not just a flat out ‘no’. After multiple losses it’s hard to keep going and not lose hope. So thank you for sharing these experiences and great to hear of women my age having some success x

@Lilly1111i think you were asking me to say more about why I did embryo banking and why some people aren’t keen on it? So the negatives of embryo banking and testing: Firstly you can only test blastocysts and there may be some embryos that would survive in the body if transferred on days 2 or 3 or if you conceived naturally but don’t make blastocyst. So those don’t get a chance. Testing involves freezing and there is always a chance an embryo won’t make it through that process. There is also always a chance of a false positive or negative as only a few cells are tested. And the concept that some embryos “correct” in the womb. All of that means that unless you get a huge number of eggs on each collection, some clinics prefer not to test but to take a chance with fresh transfers. If you are older and only get 1 or 2 blastocysts the logic is not to risk then but to give them the best chance by transferring. Ultimately time will tell you if they are valid or not. If you can get pregnant naturally then even more reason not to risk an embryo with testing.

the reasons in favour of testing: time, knowledge and emotional impact. When you are older you don’t have time to waste on failed cycles and as a high proportion of eggs and therefore embryos won’t be genetically healthy, it makes sense to test. Each failed IVF cycle loses you at least 2 months and after a miscarriage it can take several months for your body to be ready to start again. Not to mention the emotional impact of a loss which is huge. Testing also means you can rule out one cause of a loss which is chromosomal issues with the embryo. If the cycle doesn’t work as happened to me, then you can start looking elsewhere for a cause.

I was lucky that I was still getting a good number of eggs so testing made sense for me. It might not for everyone tho. Let me know if you have more questions. X