Poor IVF Results - PCOS

Anonymous
I'm saddened to hear how our first egg retrieval went. Age 30, PCOS, AMH 3.1, FSH 10.6, No Known Sperm Issues. Antagonist Protocol with Ovidrel Trigger. We had 14 eggs retrieved, 12 mature, 6 fertilized, 2 blasts (5BC morphology grade), pending PGT-A testing. Has anyone had such a poor response with PCOS despite having age on your side? I always wondered about that high FSH, but never received an explanation for it other than maybe something immune related. I had an autoimmune panel test and nothing other than my existing Grave's Disease which is very closely managed with a TSH of 1.5 and excellent FreeT3/FreeT4.
Anonymous
Egg quality is sometimes an issue with PCOS, no matter your age. I had a similar experience, as did 2 other friends who also went through IVF for PCOS. You could look into vitamins/supplements to improve egg quality.
Additionally, my RE mentioned to me that some women with PCOS have fertilization issues because the outer shell of the egg can be a bit tougher for the sperm to penetrate. Did you do ICSI?
Anonymous
Had my kids 20 years ago ICSI did Metformin and acupuncture prior to retrieval due to PCOs got great out put . 20 yr old and 16 yr old from same batch.
Good luck!
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:Egg quality is sometimes an issue with PCOS, no matter your age. I had a similar experience, as did 2 other friends who also went through IVF for PCOS. You could look into vitamins/supplements to improve egg quality.
Additionally, my RE mentioned to me that some women with PCOS have fertilization issues because the outer shell of the egg can be a bit tougher for the sperm to penetrate. Did you do ICSI?
Thanks! I wish they would have done ICSI, but my RE said no sperm issues and it wasn't necessary. Clearly a bad move. I was on COQ10 and Metformin for Manny months. Maybe I should do all the supplements?
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:Had my kids 20 years ago ICSI did Metformin and acupuncture prior to retrieval due to PCOs got great out put . 20 yr old and 16 yr old from same batch.
Good luck!
That's great to hear! I will bring this up.
Anonymous
Definitely do ICSI. It’s standard at most clinics these days. There’s also some research that HCH can help egg quality when added to your protocol.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Egg quality is sometimes an issue with PCOS, no matter your age. I had a similar experience, as did 2 other friends who also went through IVF for PCOS. You could look into vitamins/supplements to improve egg quality.
Additionally, my RE mentioned to me that some women with PCOS have fertilization issues because the outer shell of the egg can be a bit tougher for the sperm to penetrate. Did you do ICSI?
Thanks! I wish they would have done ICSI, but my RE said no sperm issues and it wasn't necessary. Clearly a bad move. I was on COQ10 and Metformin for Manny months. Maybe I should do all the supplements?


I’m the PP. Yes to ICSI. We didn’t do it, and I wonder if it would have helped, although we got our DD from that round and did not pursue another retrieval. Also, check your vitamin D levels and supplement accordingly. Definitely look into other supplements that will boost egg quality.
Anonymous
OP again. I was put on an antagonist protocol. Do you guys think that's part of the problem?
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:OP again. I was put on an antagonist protocol. Do you guys think that's part of the problem?


PP. I was put on antagonist as well. “Low and slow” were the words used by my RE to describe it, specifically to try to avoid frying the eggs.
Antagonist protocol is very common for PCOS.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:OP again. I was put on an antagonist protocol. Do you guys think that's part of the problem?


PP. I was put on antagonist as well. “Low and slow” were the words used by my RE to describe it, specifically to try to avoid frying the eggs.
Antagonist protocol is very common for PCOS.
That's reassuring. I had an OCP start, 150 down to 75 Gonal F, 150 Menopur, Cetrotide 2.5 mg, then Ovidrel trigger. My estrogen never got that high (around 1200), but RE said I had so many good size follicles that I was good to go. I stimmed for 11 days before triggering. Maybe it was too soon?
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:OP again. I was put on an antagonist protocol. Do you guys think that's part of the problem?


PP. I was put on antagonist as well. “Low and slow” were the words used by my RE to describe it, specifically to try to avoid frying the eggs.
Antagonist protocol is very common for PCOS.
That's reassuring. I had an OCP start, 150 down to 75 Gonal F, 150 Menopur, Cetrotide 2.5 mg, then Ovidrel trigger. My estrogen never got that high (around 1200), but RE said I had so many good size follicles that I was good to go. I stimmed for 11 days before triggering. Maybe it was too soon?


I was on similar, but my estrogen was over 4000 just before retrieval, so I was high risk for OHSS.
22 retrieved, 15 mature, 12 fertilized, 7 blasts, 3 normals. One live birth, one ectopic, one failed transfer.
Anonymous
i had two cycles at SGF with just one blast.

the first transfer failed and the 2nd one is coming up

asking for a meeting with the doctor to see what her ideas to improve the third try is


i dont know how to judge what the differnce is btwn clinics and doctors
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Egg quality is sometimes an issue with PCOS, no matter your age. I had a similar experience, as did 2 other friends who also went through IVF for PCOS. You could look into vitamins/supplements to improve egg quality.
Additionally, my RE mentioned to me that some women with PCOS have fertilization issues because the outer shell of the egg can be a bit tougher for the sperm to penetrate. Did you do ICSI?
Thanks! I wish they would have done ICSI, but my RE said no sperm issues and it wasn't necessary. Clearly a bad move. I was on COQ10 and Metformin for Manny months. Maybe I should do all the supplements?


Wow, where did you go that ICSI was recommended? I went to RMA in NY and it’s standard practice these days. I also know someone with PCOS and her RE had the same “hard outer shell” theory and she did ICSI with strong results. That said, she also had like 38 eggs retrieved. With PCOS, generally you tend to see more eggs, many with lesser quality. Since you only had 12 to begin with, I’m not sure the “hard shell” is necessarily your issue but ICSI should have absolutely been used with PCOS
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