85% of my embryos were abnormal

[Anonymous]

If PCOS is the cause of your infertility it is an incredibly common cause and is highly treatable with a good RE. In this case I would suggest Shady Grove because in this case their large number of patients, huge amount of data and a strong lab should work in your favor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm just so defeated, angry, you name it. I doubled the embryos from my last retrieval and, once again, got only 1 normal embryo. WTF. I hate this process. I started with over 30 eggs and got 1 embryo. FML.

All you need is one. Genetically check it and if it's fine you're likely good to go. Ignore grading. Just focus on genetically okay or not b/c that is a better indication of if the embryo will take.

[Anonymous]

Others have already provided some positive outcomes in your situation, but I can add one. My wife and I started IVF when she was around 40. She produced a ton of eggs, but each time we only had around 4 reach blastocyst stage. Here was our stats:

First round = 5 blastocysts, one viable, failed transfer

Second round = 4 blastocysts, none viable

Third round = 5 blastocysts, one viable, successful pregnancy

So we obviously got very lucky, and I think about that every day, especially because that third round was going to be our last no matter what happened. We have a 3.5 year old little guy right now that is our world. So there is certainly hope at your age.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How old are you? At 40+, that’s within the range of normal.

38

Do you have DOrR?

No - the opposite - PCOS. I had 30 eggs in retrieval and 7 made it to day 6 and only 1 was normal

My moron RE thinks PCOS is a good thing so refused to treat it. Only a few months ago I saw a specialist that was willing to treat it (I was turned down by 5 physicians before that)

Agree with others urging you to quickly find a new RE.

Also, if you haven’t done so already, please get your husband tested; male-factor is a frequent cause of additional issues, and a negligent RE like yours sometime fail to test men like they should.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Any chance that you're being overstimulated during IVF, and that's frying your eggs?
I also had PCOS, and I was on a very low and slow protocol for stims, specifically to try to NOT damage the eggs, according to my RE. I know so many women with PCOS who were overstimulated and had 30-40 eggs retrieved, but then only one or two viable embryos.
I don't think a lot of people realize the relationship between PCOS and egg quality

NP, I was going to say this too! 30 eggs retrieved at 38 years old sounds really high to me. Not a doctor obv, but at least ten of my good friends have done multiple rounds of IVF, and no one was getting that many eggs. Most people were getting avg 8-15. Anyway I’m so sorry you’re going through this…I’ve been there too, and I ended up doing multiple rounds because I would only get 1 or 2 euploid embryos per round. It’s so hard…hang in there!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Any chance that you're being overstimulated during IVF, and that's frying your eggs?
I also had PCOS, and I was on a very low and slow protocol for stims, specifically to try to NOT damage the eggs, according to my RE. I know so many women with PCOS who were overstimulated and had 30-40 eggs retrieved, but then only one or two viable embryos.
I don't think a lot of people realize the relationship between PCOS and egg quality

NP, I was going to say this too! 30 eggs retrieved at 38 years old sounds really high to me. Not a doctor obv, but at least ten of my good friends have done multiple rounds of IVF, and no one was getting that many eggs. Most people were getting avg 8-15. Anyway I’m so sorry you’re going through this…I’ve been there too, and I ended up doing multiple rounds because I would only get 1 or 2 euploid embryos per round. It’s so hard…hang in there!

My baseline, no hormones was 26 follicles. My team chose not to treat my PCOS in any way or take it seriously. I finally saw my 7th doctor that specializes in my kind of infertility who is treating my PCOS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If PCOS is the cause of your infertility it is an incredibly common cause and is highly treatable with a good RE. In this case I would suggest Shady Grove because in this case their large number of patients, huge amount of data and a strong lab should work in your favor.

It's unfortunately not the cause of my infertility but connected to it. It seems my infertility is a gene called PAI-1 and it causes blood clotting issues (in addition to PCOS) so my issue is actually recurrent pregnancy loss of chromosomally normal babies in the late first and early second trimester.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Any chance that you're being overstimulated during IVF, and that's frying your eggs?
I also had PCOS, and I was on a very low and slow protocol for stims, specifically to try to NOT damage the eggs, according to my RE. I know so many women with PCOS who were overstimulated and had 30-40 eggs retrieved, but then only one or two viable embryos.
I don't think a lot of people realize the relationship between PCOS and egg quality

NP, I was going to say this too! 30 eggs retrieved at 38 years old sounds really high to me. Not a doctor obv, but at least ten of my good friends have done multiple rounds of IVF, and no one was getting that many eggs. Most people were getting avg 8-15. Anyway I’m so sorry you’re going through this…I’ve been there too, and I ended up doing multiple rounds because I would only get 1 or 2 euploid embryos per round. It’s so hard…hang in there!

My baseline, no hormones was 26 follicles. My team chose not to treat my PCOS in any way or take it seriously. I finally saw my 7th doctor that specializes in my kind of infertility who is treating my PCOS.

The average doctor stops studying the day they get their medical license. It is absolutely possible to know way more than them on a fringe topic in as little as 60 minutes on google, I am sorry to say.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Any chance that you're being overstimulated during IVF, and that's frying your eggs?
I also had PCOS, and I was on a very low and slow protocol for stims, specifically to try to NOT damage the eggs, according to my RE. I know so many women with PCOS who were overstimulated and had 30-40 eggs retrieved, but then only one or two viable embryos.
I don't think a lot of people realize the relationship between PCOS and egg quality

NP, I was going to say this too! 30 eggs retrieved at 38 years old sounds really high to me. Not a doctor obv, but at least ten of my good friends have done multiple rounds of IVF, and no one was getting that many eggs. Most people were getting avg 8-15. Anyway I’m so sorry you’re going through this…I’ve been there too, and I ended up doing multiple rounds because I would only get 1 or 2 euploid embryos per round. It’s so hard…hang in there!

My baseline, no hormones was 26 follicles. My team chose not to treat my PCOS in any way or take it seriously. I finally saw my 7th doctor that specializes in my kind of infertility who is treating my PCOS.

The average doctor stops studying the day they get their medical license. It is absolutely possible to know way more than them on a fringe topic in as little as 60 minutes on google, I am sorry to say.

I'm a scientist, so yeah it doesn't take me long to review the literature and understand how grossly negligent my care was. Still doesn't mean I can convince them to write a script because ultimately my degree doesn't allow me to.

[Anonymous]

Hi, I also have PAI-1. I took lovenox during pregnancy after an early loss without lovenox. It did the trick.

[Anonymous]

Sorry OP. I was similar. My body just only ever wanted to do what it was supposed to do - produce one egg.

Super frustrating.

[Anonymous]

Which company did you use for DNA testing? That seems much higher than the norm for someone your age. There is definitely substantial variation in the quality of companies offering genetic testing for embryos. It might be beneficial to use a different genetic testing company.

[Anonymous]

I’m so sorry. The whole process just sucks. It really only takes one though. I’ve read sooo many stories where people only got one and it took. Stay hopeful!

I also have PCOS and was 32 at the time of my retrieval. I don’t remember the exact details, but I know they stimmed me on a lower dose of medications for a longer period of time for this reason. I didn’t test my embryos, but I ended up with 38 eggs, 30 mature, 24 fertilized, 10 blasts, 1 failed FET, 1 successful FET (one year old daughter). Did they stim you too hard too fast? Also, for my 2nd (successful) FET we did a natural modified protocol. If you go on to transfer, I would ask if you’re a good candidate for that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hi, I also have PAI-1. I took lovenox during pregnancy after an early loss without lovenox. It did the trick.

I'm not OP but could you share what RE you used who recommended lovenox?
I have a genetic variation MTHFR C677T that can be associated with blood clotting issues. My RE actually did not think it was the cause of my early miscarriages as I was also AMA, but I did take extra folate supplements and baby aspirin during my pregnancy. My RE said there wasn't strong evidence that it helps but it was not likely to be harmful, so thought it would be fine for me to take it. I did have two children via IVF so whether or not this helped I'm not sure, but it made me feel better to try it.

I'm not familiar with PAI-1 but hope OP gets help soon to address it.

[Anonymous]

Just chiming in that your REI may not be wrong

I have PCOS and 37. I ended up with 28 eggs and after the great I ended up with 3 pgt euploids and 1 mosaic embryos.

PCOS can be fine unless you have other issues.

We did basic protocols and I was on metformin and ovavite w coq10