Last week my husband and I met with our RE to discuss the failure of our fresh IVF cycle last month. We transferred 3 embryos and none of them stuck.
Basically, our RE said he thinks our embryos are arresting (stopping growth), but he doesn’t know why. This arrested development theory would certain explain our chemical pregnancy and the fact that we only had one embryo (out of 11) make it to freeze the first fresh cycle and none on our second cycle.
The bad news is that this shouldn’t be an issue in someone my age (I’m 33) who responds as well as I do to the stims. The RE said that he usually sees this happen in women in their late 30s and early 40s.
Testing for immune and/or clotting issues is a possibility, but he’s already been treating me as if I had those (with the heparin, aspirin, and Prednisone). He said he’d be willing to refer me to a reproductive rheumatologist, but in his experience, they find immune issues in everyone they see. However, I have been seeing a rheumatologist annually since I tested positive for antinuclear antibodies (ANA) in the past, so I think I may pursue this further.
We also talked about the possibility of trying intra-lipids, and that’s something I’m going to consider. (I’d love to hear from you if you’ve done that).
We asked about pre-implantation testing, and he said that is definitely an option for us, but our embryos need to make it to Day 5 in order to test. So far we haven’t had any make it there, so that would be a risk.
He told us he wanted us to delay our next cycle by a few months (which we were planning on doing anyways) and that I should continue taking my low-dose aspirin and also add CoQ10 and Omega 3 supplements. He said it won’t hurt if I use over-the-counter progesterone after ovulation.
My husband told him he wanted to do everything that could possibly help improve his sperm quality- even if it technically wasn’t proven to help. As long as it can’t hurt he wants to try it in order to eliminate any regret or guilt later. The RE said he’d be happy to recommend some “voodoo medicine” (stuff that might help but hasn’t been proven to) and suggested we try Proxeed. My husband is also going to quit drinking completely (he usually has one drink each evening) starting in September.
So that’s the plan. We’ll do another cycle in January or March after our bodies have had time to benefit from the supplements and “voodoo” medicine. In the meantime, we’ll try on our own and pray for a miracle. Our RE is going to do some more research and speak with colleagues about other treatments options for us.
Thanks again for all the support! I’d love to hear from you if you’ve had any experience using Proxeed or intra-lipids!
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I don’t have experience with either, but hope your body responds well!!!! Hope that during the break you get to rest and find peace and joy!!!
Thank you, Caroline!
Sorry I don’t have experience with either of those but I have heard good things about Fertilaid! Maybe its something you could also look into 🙂
Good luck with everything! I’ll keep you in my prayers 🙂
Thanks, Casey. I’ll look into Fertilaid, too.
Thinking on the immunology side, I believe Dr. Beers clinic is out there? I’ve seen alot of women have success after seeing a reproductive immunologist and following their protocols. There’s a long thread on the Resolve forum for them, most of them using intralipids or IVIG. It would definitely be worth a shot to investigate.
He is, just checked. Might give them a call: http://www.repro-med.net/
Awesome. Thanks for the info, Angela.
I’m praying daily that all goes well for the two of you! We did fertilaid and saw drastic improvements in Ted’s counts. I’ll also bring in my fertile kitchen book for you to look at 🙂
Thanks for the prayers and the book, Erinn!
Praying that your “time off” will be a time of new revelation about God’s love for you and that you are empowered to rest in His promises. Blessings! 🙂
Thank you, Evangeline!
I don’t have experience with either, but I’m also trying naturally and using supplements and dietary changes to see if we can get me pregnant before moving on in January …. I did the fertility rigamarole and would really like to try otherwise since no one can tell why it’s not working for us. Good luck to you and your hubby! I’ll be thinking of you!
Thanks so much, Rachel!
Thanks for the update! I have been thinking of you guys! When I had trouble getting pregnant I took CoQ10 and I got pregnant that very next month… after nearly 2 years of trying. I had poor egg quality so thats what they suggested since I didn’t want to do IVF yet. (since I already had one successful pregnancy so I didn’t want to get into that yet) Hopefully it helps you!!
Thanks so much for the good thoughts, Lauren. I’ve started my CoQ10 and hopefully I’ll see good results, too!
None of the stuff I have done has helped me. I have done CoQ10. I have done an intralipid IV at the beginning of each one of my IVF/FET cycles. I have only experienced one chemical pregnancy out of the six years of trying, so I don’t really have a positive story about it working 🙁
I have since switched doctors, and my new doctor said that the intralipids were a waste. I don’t know if I 100% believe it is a waste- its hard to know what really helps and doesn’t. Maybe it will help you though? I truly hope it does 🙂 Wishing you al the best and looking forward to following your journey to your sweet, precious baby 🙂
I’m so sorry to hear the intralipids didn’t work out for you and that you’ve been through so much in 6 years. Thanks for the kind words. Best wishes to you, too.
I just tried to post a comment and am not sure if you got it or not, so I will repost…
I have tried CoQ10, intralipid IV’s with almost all of my cycles, gone to Mexico twice to do LIT. Out of the six years of trying, I have had one chemical pregnancy.
What doesn’t work for one person may work for another though. I hope that one of these things will help you get to your baby soon 🙂
Hi Lisa
I have to ask: ” low-dose aspirin and also add CoQ10 and Omega 3 supplements ”
What is the reasoning behind these?
I think the CoQ10 and Omega 3s are supposed to help with egg quality. The low-dose aspirin is to help teeny tiny clots and I think it’s also part of what they do to treat people with immune issues. (This is all what I took from my conversation with the RE. I could be a little off in what it’s all for. All I know is that he told me to take those, so I am!).
I’m really praying for you guys! Do share with us on how Proxeed works for you! We’ve tried Fertilaid, Motility Boost, and Count Boost, but it actually decreased DH’s counts and motility.
Good luck!!
Thanks, Michelle! I’ll definitely do an update as soon as we see if it works.
Hi Lisa,
I just wanted to let you know that my husband, who has low morph and a little bit under normal number, has been on Proxeed since November 2013. His initial SA, Morph was 0% and after he took it for 6 weeks, his morph was 3%! Halfway to normal! Unfortunately, it didn’t make a difference in the 3 IUIs and 1 IVF(Chemical Pregnancy) and none of our other embies made it to freeze. We did do the PGS testing and the 1 embie we did transfer had all normal chromosomes, so not really sure what went wrong. We are now saving up to try IVF again with a different protocol in January. I really hope that you can make it through the next few months, I know that the last few months for me, just waiting and not knowing what the future holds is daunting. I also wanted to say, thank you for sharing your story. You are definitely making a difference for people on this long journey! Thank you!
Hi Kristen, thanks for the encouragement about Proxeed. We’re hoping it makes a difference, too! I’m so sorry to hear that your IUIs and IVF haven’t worked out, either. It’s so frustrating, isn’t it? I really hope you get a different outcome in January!